Best cell phone rental

The Paris apartment I%26#39;m renting this October lacks a pnone so I%26#39;m forced to bring a rented one even though I expect to use it very little. I%26#39;d appreciate some tips, please.

|||

If you search the forums for comments by those who have rented mobile phones, you may come to the same conclusion I have - NEVER rent a mobile phone.

I recommend either of these two options:

1. If you have an unlocked, GSM tri or quad band phone, purchase a Breizh SIM from PhoneHouse. Cost is 6.90€. Minutes are sold prepaid in increments of 5€. 52 minutes for 10€ or .19€/min

www.phonehouse.fr

2. If you do not have an available GSM phone, purchase one for 29€ ($41) from Virgin (stores all over France). There is no setup fee and it comes with a SIM and 12 free call-out minutes. Additional minutes available in increments of 5€ and charged at .39€/minute. There is no charge for inbound calls.

www.virginmobile.fr/choisir-mon-forfait.htm

__________

There are companies such as Callineurope which provide services and rates similar to Virgin Mobile, however the up-front or registration fees charged by these companies exclude them as cost comparable to Virgin.

|||

I%26#39;d agree with NOT renting a phone, but would urge you to consider Call in Europe, Roam Simple, Mobal, etc., where you can acquire a phone and SIM in advance and all is in English.

If you wait until you get to Paris, will you be able to navigate a phone in French? The manual for the phone? The SIM? Dialing instructions?

|||

Thanks, Sarostro - I%26#39;ll research these.

|||

I%26#39;m able to do phone business in French, djkbooks, so that%26#39;s another option. I%26#39;m glad to know of this possibility.

|||

we now people scammed to the tune of $1000 on calls they claim they didn%26#39;t make and were never properly justified to them with a rented phone -- this kind of scam is pretty common from what has been printed here.

buy a cheap phone or get your US phone unlocked if it works internationally and buy a sim card (our very cheap US phone was unlocked and we have bought sim cards with no trouble -- cheapest way to go)

|||

Thanks, graceh9. I%26#39;ve certainly been scared off a rental phone!