SFR offer prepaid in France but it ain't easy and it ain't easy to find out about.
If you don't have a French credit card the 9 euro card would seem to be the only option. This gives you three days "unlimited" use.
I have a Fench credit card so I opted for 1gb for 21 euros which lasts for one month. The process is somewhat painful requiring passport and proof of address in the form of an electricity bill or in our case car registration document. As these were only asked for as they came up on the computer it involved three trips to the car park. The very nice lady kept saying" this is France, it is difficult". She was right.
3G seemed to work ok and I was delighted with my patience. Untill I tried to connect to one of the "three million wifi hotspots" SFR claim. No joy despite trying everything I could think of. and of course there are no instructions whatsoever included so I checked out the SFR site and couldnt find anything.
Back to the very busy SFR shop in Cannes where it really is the luck of the draw with who get. Some are unfailingly helpful and knowledgeable and some are thick and ignorant, not to put too fine a point on it. Same everywhere in my experience.
After about an hour of this idiot on the phone an messing about with my iPad, obviously not having a clue what he was doing he decided to ask the girl in after sales who told him immediately that I needed an app from the French iTunes site. I asked her were there any written instructions anywhere in either English or French and wouldn't it be a really good idea just to have a sheet of paper saying this and give instructions. A Gallic shrug and "I know how this works because I work here"
So to iTunes. After a few blind alleys and checking it out on google I set up a new French iTunes account (my main account is UK) and downloaded the SFR apps for wifi tv and navigation to my MacBook, synced my iPad and bingo, there they were.
An unnecessarily long and tedious process but I'm looking forward to using my iPad on our drive to London from the south of France next week. It's great for finding hotel and restaurant reviews on the road
If you don't have a French credit card the 9 euro card would seem to be the only option. This gives you three days "unlimited" use.
I have a Fench credit card so I opted for 1gb for 21 euros which lasts for one month. The process is somewhat painful requiring passport and proof of address in the form of an electricity bill or in our case car registration document. As these were only asked for as they came up on the computer it involved three trips to the car park. The very nice lady kept saying" this is France, it is difficult". She was right.
3G seemed to work ok and I was delighted with my patience. Untill I tried to connect to one of the "three million wifi hotspots" SFR claim. No joy despite trying everything I could think of. and of course there are no instructions whatsoever included so I checked out the SFR site and couldnt find anything.
Back to the very busy SFR shop in Cannes where it really is the luck of the draw with who get. Some are unfailingly helpful and knowledgeable and some are thick and ignorant, not to put too fine a point on it. Same everywhere in my experience.
After about an hour of this idiot on the phone an messing about with my iPad, obviously not having a clue what he was doing he decided to ask the girl in after sales who told him immediately that I needed an app from the French iTunes site. I asked her were there any written instructions anywhere in either English or French and wouldn't it be a really good idea just to have a sheet of paper saying this and give instructions. A Gallic shrug and "I know how this works because I work here"
So to iTunes. After a few blind alleys and checking it out on google I set up a new French iTunes account (my main account is UK) and downloaded the SFR apps for wifi tv and navigation to my MacBook, synced my iPad and bingo, there they were.
An unnecessarily long and tedious process but I'm looking forward to using my iPad on our drive to London from the south of France next week. It's great for finding hotel and restaurant reviews on the road