Honestly, I don’t know how some people can say no to that question. But in reality, a lot of people totally make it through 6 months of being abroad with only a burner flip-phone on them, or just sticking to using Wi-Fi on their smartphone. Some claim (Hi, mom and dad!) that having a working smartphone abroad is just another luxury that Millennials claim they can’t live without. And if you currently manage without one while in your home country, then by all means continue that lifestyle. But don’t be scared away from your comforts of home just because you’ll have to jump through a few more hoops while abroad. It’s really quite painless!
Why you should:
Getting a phone plan abroad is one of first things I do when I arrive in a new country. I am constantly using a mixture of Google Maps, TripAdvisor, and Yelp when I am trying to familiarize myself with a new area, so having data is a must during my initial acclimatization period. In addition, you’ll find yourself in a lot of situations that require you to have a local phone number. This could be something as trivial as making dinner reservations online, or as important as opening up a bank account. And I’ve found that recently, paying for data to send text messages through apps such as Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger is actually cheaper than paying for an SMS plan. What a world we live in!
Tips for opening up an account while abroad:
- Keep in mind you will need to bring and show your passport when you first open your account. This has been the case in every country I’ve gone to.
- Get a pre-paid or pay-as-you-go plan. Other phone plans will have you tethered to their service for a full 12 months, so make sure you’re on a plan that only has you pay month-to-month if you’re only there for a semester.
- A new law passed in Europe that your cell phone provider must offer you service within all countries in the European Union. This means your French phone plan will work when you travel across the border to Germany or Spain, yay!
Some potential setbacks:
For me, the only foreseeable setback to opening a phone account abroad is not having your phone unlocked before you get there. Your phone needs to be “unlocked” by the phone company in order for it to work with other providers, both in the US and internationally. But luckily, a lot of companies have started to unlock your phone automatically once you fully pay it off. You can also easily check if your phone is unlocked or not by just popping in your friend’s SIM card from another carrier, and seeing if it works.
This very nice guy selling me my iPhone at an ~unnamed~ electronic store actually told me about a way you can unlock your phone for free, without paying off the whole thing first. My unopened, boxed iPhone was already tethered to AT&T, but when he turned it on for the very first time he popped a Verizon SIM card inside instead. Then, he switched back to my original AT&T SIM card. I guess this confused the phone and it automatically unlocked my phone for me!
These are the top phone providers in Paris:
- SFR (Societe Francaise du Radiotelephone): One of the main, big brands in Paris. Some friends have said the SFR coverage is less widespread than Orange, but they do have SFR Wi-Fi hotspots pretty much everywhere in the city. I was considering going with SFR, but they messed up my SIM card registration twice, so they quickly lost me to Orange. For 20.99 EUR a month you get unlimited calls and texts, and 1 GB of data.
- Orange: This is a well-known international brand, so it’s automatically high up on my trust-worthy list. I was just on the website, and saw that Orange France has been voted No. 1 for quality of calls and download speed for the 7th year in the row. Also, if you’re paying for cable or internet in your flat, Orange offers really great bundle deals. I’m currently paying 30.00 EUR for unlimited calls and text, and 15 GB of data.
- Free: The cheapest by far! But the reason why I stayed away from Free was because I heard the coverage was sometimes spotty. Also, there’s only one brick and mortar store in all of Paris. For 19.99 EUR a month you get unlimited calls, text, and data.
- Bouygues Telecom: This is a Parisian company, so it wasn’t even an option for me when I was first setting up my phone in Lyon. I don’t know any friends that have a plan with Bouygues, but when my Belgian SIM card was roaming in France, it picked up Bouygues and the service was pretty quick. For 20.00 EUR a month you get unlimited calls and text, and 2 GB of data.
Wherever you end up studying abroad, you’ll have tons of people giving different opinions about which service provider and plan is the best. For convenience sake, I usually go with the company that has the most stores in the city so I can easily top-up my plan no matter where I am. As is my argument for most things study-abroad, I’m only here for 5 months. So I can justify paying 5 or 10 euros more a month for quicker service and more accessible stores. Save your stress for an unavoidable situation instead, like trying to open up an account completely in a different language!