[jonat8]

Hi

I'm going away to France and will be staying in a remote part where there'll be no land line coverage... but there is mobile coverage (apparently, according to a friend).

I'm taking a laptop and my PDA and want to hook my phone up to them to be able to download and send e-mail occasionally. What would be the cheapest way of accomplishing this? Bearing in mind I am going for one month.

I currently have an O2 contract phone with 400 free WAP minutes a month which I use to connect to the Internet and grab e-mail etc. when I'm out and about in the UK, but I don't know if they're valid abroad so although I can apparently use O2 WAP services they might be charged at the roaming rate of 70p or whatever per minute... Which I don't fancy paying. Anyone know whether they will be free or not?

I have £41 on an O2 PAYG SIM too but you have to dial a special prefix and get a dial back or something to use PAYG abroad so that would be no good for using with the laptop/PDA... only voice calls, which is a pity.

My phone is unlocked so could I buy a PAYG SIM over there and put say 20 Euros or something on it and use a French WAP service? Do you think this will be cheapest way?

Finally, my phone is 900Mhz/1900Mhz and not 900Mhz/1800Mhz like most european phones, so it only works on O2/Vodafone over here and it also works in the US, which of the French networks are 900Mhz? Anyone know?

Tia
Jonathan

[Everything Goes]

There are 3 Frech operators SFR, Orange and Bouygues Telecom. All appear to support 900Mhz and 1800Mhz. So you should be ok if you want to buy a French pre paid SIM card. This would be the chepaest option. For more info and the companies website details here: GSM World - France