topic Re: O2 use in France in Pay Monthly

O2 use in France

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 23:31:17 GMT

Hi All,

I'm am O2 Monthly customer.

I'm preparing for a trip to France in a few weeks time and whilstI#'m there I'll need to keep accessible and in contact with about a dozen UK numbers who will be in France at the same time.

Although I've got the O2 Travel bundle I'm still debating just taking an old functional phone, as i won't be data roaming. The problem I have with this is it's an old style sim card rather that the micro sim in my current phone

Is there any possibility of getting a normal size sim on the same number temporarily?

My other option would be to get a pay as you go sim and divert my current number to that - though I'm ont sure how this would work with O2 Travel etc...

Can anyone advise?

Grateful for any other suggestions/insight on this.

Thank you

Chris

Re: O2 use in France

Cleoriff — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 07:01:16 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

Just pop into your local O2 store and ask for a sim adaptor. It's a much simpler option and will allow you to use the current sim in the phone of your choice.

They are free instore as you are an O2 customer.

Have a great time in France:smileywink:

Re: O2 use in France

cyrillicguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 07:13:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi All,

I'm am O2 Monthly customer.

I'm preparing for a trip to France in a few weeks time and whilstI#'m there I'll need to keep accessible and in contact with about a dozen UK numbers who will be in France at the same time.

Although I've got the O2 Travel bundle I'm still debating just taking an old functional phone, as i won't be data roaming. The problem I have with this is it's an old style sim card rather that the micro sim in my current phone

Is there any possibility of getting a normal size sim on the same number temporarily?

My other option would be to get a pay as you go sim and divert my current number to that - though I'm ont sure how this would work with O2 Travel etc...

Can anyone advise?

Grateful for any other suggestions/insight on this.

Thank you

Chris

As Telephone_user said, there's a fair chance you can get your microsim working in a standard size sim card slot.

Or, you could buy one of them micro-to-standard sim adapters on eBay.

Or, you could buy a whatever sim card from a supermarket or corner shop, as they normally are "two sizes in one", which means that you could push the microsim out, leaving just a standard-sized shell, like this:

Then carefully place your O2 microsim in that shell it and insert it into your phone.

Or, maybe just taking your current O2 phone with you and switching the data roaming option in its settings before you leave the UK, would be an option, too?

Mind you, that if you've got the O2 Travel bolt-on, you would be charged a minimum 50p per call, either made or received. It's a 50p charge, then it's free to talk for an hour, however if you're going to be making/receiving series of short calls, it might be better opting out of O2 Travel before you leave for France (call O2 Customer Services for that) and opting back in once you back in the UK. That way you'll be paying just standard EU roaming rates.

Re: O2 use in France

cyrillicguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 07:14:58 GMT

@Cleoriff wrote:
Hi @Anonymous
Just pop into your local O2 store and ask for a sim adaptor. It's a much simpler option and will allow you to use the current sim in the phone of your choice.
They are free instore as you are an O2 customer.
Have a great time in France:smileywink:

I've just posted my reply and then noticed your post as well I didn't know that O2 gives out free sim adaptors for its customers. Good to know.

Re: O2 use in France

Cleoriff — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 07:24:44 GMT

@cyrillicguy wrote:
@Cleoriff wrote:
Hi @Anonymous
Just pop into your local O2 store and ask for a sim adaptor. It's a much simpler option and will allow you to use the current sim in the phone of your choice.
They are free instore as you are an O2 customer.
Have a great time in France:smileywink:
I've just posted my reply and then noticed your post as well I didn't know that O2 gives out free sim adaptors for its customers. Good to know.

And they are free @cyrillicguy They usually have a drawer full

Also this method will ensure the OP's current sim will work ..rather than actually trying to adapt the sim without it...:smileywink:

Re: O2 use in France

cyrillicguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 07:29:11 GMT

@Cleoriff wrote:
@cyrillicguy wrote:
@Cleoriff wrote:
Hi @Anonymous
Just pop into your local O2 store and ask for a sim adaptor. It's a much simpler option and will allow you to use the current sim in the phone of your choice.
They are free instore as you are an O2 customer.
Have a great time in France:smileywink:
I've just posted my reply and then noticed your post as well I didn't know that O2 gives out free sim adaptors for its customers. Good to know.
And they are free @cyrillicguy They usually have a drawer full
Also this method will ensure the OP's current sim will work ..rather than actually trying to adapt the sim without it...:smileywink:

Agree

Re: O2 use in France

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 08:03:24 GMT

Personally I would never try to fit a sim into a phone where the sim is not the correct size. It is likely to cause issues and you may end up damaging the pins and thus your phone. This may even end up detracting your focus from your time in France

Would recommend you go to your local o2 store and pick up a free adapter or if your local store is a distance away order one online from o2 then you know you are getting the right kit. If you phone o2 customer services they might even send you one for free given that sims are free.

Re: O2 use in France

MI5 — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 08:24:47 GMT

You can do this and make as many calls as you like for £15.
The trick is to get a Three 3,2,1 PAYG sim and top up with £15. Once topped up buy the unlimited data bolt on which gives you 300 minutes, 3,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data (for 30 days).
You can use this allowance in France too, so you just need to divert your UK number to this sim so your contacts will still call your UK number and the only difference they will see is the Three number when you call or text them.
Overall this is a cheaper option for you.

Re: O2 use in France

cyrillicguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 08:52:26 GMT

@MI5 wrote:
You can do this and make as many calls as you like for £15.
The trick is to get a Three 3,2,1 PAYG sim and top up with £15. Once topped up buy the unlimited data bolt on which gives you 300 minutes, 3,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data (for 30 days).
You can use this allowance in France too, so you just need to divert your UK number to this sim so your contacts will still call your UK number and the only difference they will see is the Three number when you call or text them.
Overall this is a cheaper option for you.

Feel At Home! But of course! In terms of cost it's absolutely unbeateable, the only thing to keep in mind is that the handsed the OP is planning to use in France (he has mentioned some old phone in his post) is a 3G compartible one, otherwise his Three sim might simply refuse to work in it.

Re: O2 use in France

MI5 — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 08:55:36 GMT

and unlocked to all networks, of course.

Re: O2 use in France

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 09:34:28 GMT

@MI5 wrote:
You can do this and make as many calls as you like for £15.
The trick is to get a Three 3,2,1 PAYG sim and top up with £15. Once topped up buy the unlimited data bolt on which gives you 300 minutes, 3,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data (for 30 days).
You can use this allowance in France too, so you just need to divert your UK number to this sim so your contacts will still call your UK number and the only difference they will see is the Three number when you call or text them.
Overall this is a cheaper option for you.

The unlimited data is capped at 25 Gb when used in Europe, and also cannot be used for tethering. Also, texts will not be forwarded from your O2 number, only calls.

But if that is not an issue, it's a good solution.

Re: O2 use in France

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 09:36:25 GMT

Correction to the above post. 25 MB and not gb

Re: O2 use in France

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 11:18:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Personally I would never try to fit a sim into a phone where the sim is not the correct size. It is likely to cause issues and you may end up damaging the pins and thus your phone.

Please provide a reference to somebody damaging their phone or sim in this way, as you admit that you have no personal experience of this.

It's very common practice in the area of Brasil I stay in, where sim adaptors are not freely available, and I have never seen or heard of a single damaged phone or sim.

Looking at the standard layout of connections on a sim card I can't even see a way that wrong insertion would cause damage.

Re: O2 use in France

Bambino — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 09:46:10 GMT

@cyrillicguy wrote:
@MI5 wrote:
You can do this and make as many calls as you like for £15.
The trick is to get a Three 3,2,1 PAYG sim and top up with £15. Once topped up buy the unlimited data bolt on which gives you 300 minutes, 3,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data (for 30 days).
You can use this allowance in France too, so you just need to divert your UK number to this sim so your contacts will still call your UK number and the only difference they will see is the Three number when you call or text them.
Overall this is a cheaper option for you.
Feel At Home! But of course! In terms of cost it's absolutely unbeateable, the only thing to keep in mind is that the handsed the OP is planning to use in France (he has mentioned some old phone in his post) is a 3G compartible one, otherwise his Three sim might simply refuse to work in it.

If the 3G sim from Three isn't the right size the OP could use the sim adapter provided by O2. A sim from Three should be backwards compatible for a 3G phone.

Re: O2 use in France

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 09:52:20 GMT

@Bambino wrote:
@cyrillicguy wrote:
@MI5 wrote:
You can do this and make as many calls as you like for £15.
The trick is to get a Three 3,2,1 PAYG sim and top up with £15. Once topped up buy the unlimited data bolt on which gives you 300 minutes, 3,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data (for 30 days).
You can use this allowance in France too, so you just need to divert your UK number to this sim so your contacts will still call your UK number and the only difference they will see is the Three number when you call or text them.
Overall this is a cheaper option for you.
Feel At Home! But of course! In terms of cost it's absolutely unbeateable, the only thing to keep in mind is that the handsed the OP is planning to use in France (he has mentioned some old phone in his post) is a 3G compartible one, otherwise his Three sim might simply refuse to work in it.
If the 3G sim from Three isn't the right size the OP could use the sim adapter provided by O2. A sim from Three should be backwards compatible for a 3G phone.

I think what he is saying is that the old handset might not be 3G, or might be incompatible with the frequencies used by three and their partner networks in France. I don't think the issue is with the physical sim size, as all new three sims are universal pop out types anyway, so you get whatever you want.

Re: O2 use in France

cyrillicguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 09:57:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Bambino wrote:
@cyrillicguy wrote:
@MI5 wrote:
You can do this and make as many calls as you like for £15.
The trick is to get a Three 3,2,1 PAYG sim and top up with £15. Once topped up buy the unlimited data bolt on which gives you 300 minutes, 3,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data (for 30 days).
You can use this allowance in France too, so you just need to divert your UK number to this sim so your contacts will still call your UK number and the only difference they will see is the Three number when you call or text them.
Overall this is a cheaper option for you.
Feel At Home! But of course! In terms of cost it's absolutely unbeateable, the only thing to keep in mind is that the handsed the OP is planning to use in France (he has mentioned some old phone in his post) is a 3G compartible one, otherwise his Three sim might simply refuse to work in it.
If the 3G sim from Three isn't the right size the OP could use the sim adapter provided by O2. A sim from Three should be backwards compatible for a 3G phone.
I think what he is saying is that the old handset might not be 3G, or might be incompatible with the frequencies used by three and their partner networks in France.

Correct

Re: O2 use in France

Bambino — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 10:05:51 GMT

As the OP never specified whether the old phone was 3G compatible or not, any reference to the phone itself is conjecture. I didn't see anything wrong in covering all the bases in my comment. The OP should now have all the options.

Re: O2 use in France

cyrillicguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 10:13:32 GMT

@Bambino wrote:
As the OP never specified whether the old phone was 3G compatible or not, any reference to the phone itself is conjecture. I didn't see anything wrong in covering all the bases in my comment. The OP should now have all the options.

That's what I've done as well, trying to cover all the bases (or as many of them as I could think of at that time) for the OP. Didn't know whether or not his phone would be a 3G compartible one, but wanted him to avoid any possible pitfalls in case that phone was an old 2G-only one.

Re: O2 use in France

MI5 — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 10:15:24 GMT

There are also ways to forward text messages if that is important too.

Re: O2 use in France

cyrillicguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 10:22:37 GMT

@MI5 wrote:
There are also ways to forward text messages if that is important too.

Any tips on that one, MI5? There're only two ways of forwarding incoming texts that I know: 1) Has to be supported by a network provider, and as far as I'm aware O2 does not support that. 2) Via an app, but in this case the device which receives and forwards texts has got to stay turned on.

If there's another trick to that, it would be interesting to know. Some sort of TuGO+IFTT combo perhaps? (just a random guess really...:) )