Sponsored Post: French Phones Made Easy (With A Giveaway!)

 (illustration via One Day In May)

When you’re coming to Paris, whether you’re a visitor or student, you dream of all the lovely things you’ll be doing in the city: eating croissants, seeing great art, making eyes at the handsome locals. What you never dream of are the little logistics that make life in the city possible, like, using your phone. Should you pay exorbitant roaming fees? Attempt to navigate the local phone companies (which can be tricky and are always completely in French)? So many people just stick to texting because they’re afraid of the crazy fees associated with calling from their regular cell phone. Luckily, the folks at Paris Hospitality (a great resource for short-term Paris rentals) have come up with a solution that takes the guesswork out of using your phone in France.

LeFrenchMobile offers SIM cards to travelers of Paris, complete with your own lifetime French phone number. Just pop the card into your own mobile device (make sure that it’s unlocked!) and call, text, and send/receive data, with whomever you choose anywhere in the world for a far cheaper price than your regular provider or French providers. If you’re your mobile device isn’t “unlocked,” don’t worry – LeFrenchMobile also sells cheap phones too. You can easily stay in contact with new friends you’ll meet here, call restaurants for reservations, use Google maps to know where you’re going, even use all the smartphone apps you’ve collected in anticipation of your French journey – all on the cheap (compared not only to roaming fees but also to local calling rates – up to a whopping 70% savings). It’s the same rate calling North America and Europe as France. (Go ahead, call your mom, she wants to hear your voice from France.) There are no hidden fees or activation costs – just order your SIM card or phone and call away. When you use up your minutes, hop online and buy more minutes in an instant. Best of all, LeFrenchMobile includes support in English, so if you ever have a problem, you’re taken care of with ease and clarity.

Check out the LeFrenchMobile site for a breakdown of rates and options, but for my money, I would say this is the best deal for keeping in contact while traveling in Paris.

BONUS: LeFrenchMobile is generously sponsoring a giveaway of FREE SIM cards to FIVE of our lucky readers! Just leave a comment below and the winners will be chosen at random on Friday!

*Prize: 5 SIM cards at 15 Euros including 60min of airtime credits


***UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who entered the contest! The winners are commenters Barry in Portland, Cherie, Albert, Tracie, and Nymhéa. If you won, please email me at parischeapskate (at) gmail (dot) com to claim your prize!