Cell Phone

I have a GSM phone that I have used in France by purchasing a Prepaid Access
Kit at a shop in Paris. We will be travelling to Italy later this year.
Are these as easy to find in Rome or Venice? What I am looking for is a
Prepaid SIM card that can be "refreshed" at will, which will allow me to
send and receive calls.

Jim

James B. Spears wrote:

> I have a GSM phone that I have used in France by purchasing a Prepaid
> Access
> Kit at a shop in Paris. We will be travelling to Italy later this year.
> Are these as easy to find in Rome or Venice? What I am looking for is a
> Prepaid SIM card that can be "refreshed" at will, which will allow me to
> send and receive calls.

You wanna make sure the phone you bought is not hard-wired to the network of
the company that sold it to you. Usually they are... In regular
subscription plans the company will consent to unbridle them after a year
of service.

I'm no expert and the only I ways I know to tell are

1) ask the company
2) try another SIM card and see if it works.

Bernard Higonnet

Bernard T. Higonnet <bth@higonnet.net> wrote ...

>> I have a GSM phone that I have used in France by purchasing a Prepaid
>> Access Kit at a shop in Paris. We will be travelling to Italy later
>> this year. Are these as easy to find in Rome or Venice? What I am
>> looking for is a Prepaid SIM card that can be "refreshed" at will, which
>> will allow me to send and receive calls.

> You wanna make sure the phone you bought is not hard-wired to the network
> of the company that sold it to you. Usually they are... In regular
> subscription plans the company will consent to unbridle them after a year
> of service.

My reading of the original post was that the OP hadn't bought the telephone
here in France, but that he had already used it with prepaid kits that he
_had_ purchased here. If this is the case, then the telephone is already
unlocked.

If he bought the phone here, and the purchase date was more than six months
ago, he can write to the company that sold it, quoting Ministerial Decree
of 17 November 1998, and resuiring that they provide him with the code to
unlock it.

They have no choice but to comply.

--
Des in Paris

Bernard T. Higonnet <bth@higonnet.net> wrote ...

{ snip }

>> My reading of the original post was that the OP hadn't bought the
>> telephone here in France, but that he had already used it with prepaid
>> kits that he _had_ purchased here.

> Indeed. Perhaps I shoudl read these posts more carefully (like a phone
> company contract!)

Eh ? Read posts before responding ? Whaddya wanna do that for ?? ;-)=

--
Des in Paris

"James B. Spears" <jbspmci@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:YwcTb.127055$873.2730050@twister.tampabay.rr. com...
> I have a GSM phone that I have used in France by purchasing a Prepaid
Access
> Kit at a shop in Paris. We will be travelling to Italy later this year.
> Are these as easy to find in Rome or Venice? What I am looking for is a
> Prepaid SIM card that can be "refreshed" at will, which will allow me to
> send and receive calls.
>
You shouldn't have any difficulty finding places to buy a PAYG SIM pack in
Italy for any of the networks (TIM is the largest). Almost every high street
has two or more mobile phone shops. If your Italian isn't good, get the
staff to activate it for you (charge your phone battery first). They may
have to generate fiscal code number in order to register. Because of
peculiar tax position, PAYG is usually better value than traditional
contract deal in Italy as it doesn't attract 20% VAT.

Alec