jacquemin-michel@cs.yale.edu (Michel Jacquemin) (06/30/89)
I am going to be in France next month and will need to make some international phone calls (more precisely to Spain). Can people tell me what the most convenient way to do that is? I don't want to have to use tons of coins or have to go through an operator. I think they have some computerized phone cards down there; can you buy them in any postal office, or at airports? In which amount do they come? Stupid question: can I make any use of an MCI or an ATT phone card for that purpose? Thanks, Michel Jacquemin jacquemin@cs.yale.edu; Jacquemin-Michel@YaleCS.BITNET ...!harvard!yale!jacquemin "C'est qu'on a vite fait de manger epice ... mais pas en meme temps", Coluche
johnl@harvard.harvard.edu (John R. Levine) (07/04/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0220m04@vector.dallas.tx.us> Michel Jacquemin <jacquemin-michel@cs.yale.edu> writes: >I am going to be in France next month and will need to make some >international phone calls (more precisely to Spain). Can people tell me >what the most convenient way to do that is? ... > >Stupid question: can I make any use of an MCI or an ATT phone card >for that purpose? Last question first, no you can't; MCI and AT&T don't handle calls that don't have at least one end in the U.S. French payphones are tons of fun. There are two kinds, the kind that take coins and the kind that don't. In Paris, they're all coinless except for the funky little ones you find inside stores, other places they're being converted to coinless from coin as they get around to it. To use a coinless phone, you need a Telecarte (accute accents over the first two e's) which is sold at all France Telecom offices which are generally inside or next door to post offices. They come in two (logical) sizes, 50 units and 120 units. Last year the 50 unit card cost F40 and the 120 unit card cost F100, I don't know if they've gone up. All calls in France are charged in units, with the time per unit depending on the distance, ranging from 12 minutes for a local call at 2 AM to 1.2 seconds for a call to the South Pacific. For calls to Spain, I'd expect a unit to be worth something between 30 seconds and a minute, depending on the time of day. It's all in the front of the phone book. To use your card, you stick it in the phone and wait a moment, and a little display shows you how many units you have left. Then dial 19 for an international call, get a second dial tone, and dial the country code, 34 for Spain, and the city code and phone number. When the calling party answers, the phone starts counting down the units until you hang up. Then it tells the little microprocessor in the card how much it's worth and gives you the card back. I've never used up a card, but I presume if you run out of units if cuts you off and you have to call back with a fresh card. Once you get the hang of this it's very handy. The price per unit is about the same as you'd pay for a call from a regular phone. If you have to use a coin phone, you dump all your change into it and it eats the coins as needed, giving back the ones it didn't use. You get no change. It is still possible many places to call from a post office and pay them, but I can see no advantage to doing so unless you know you'll never place another call and the one you're making will cost less than F40. (F40 is worth about $7.00.) For the particular case of calling back to the United States, you can get an AT&T or MCI operator by calling 19-0011 or 19-0019 and place a calling card or collect call to the U.S. In a coinless pay phone you need a telecarte but it won't deduct any units. -- John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869 { bbn | spdcc | decvax | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something Massachusetts has 64 licensed drivers who are over 100 years old. -The Globe
sdry@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (07/04/89)
>I am going to be in France next month and will need to make some >international phone calls (more precisely to Spain). Can people tell me >what the most convenient way to do that is? I don't want to have to >use tons of coins or have to go through an operator. I think they >have some computerized phone cards down there; can you buy them in any >postal office, or at airports? In which amount do they come? This is only a partial answer. Yes, they have prepaid cards. and you can buy them in post offices, and probably other places as well. If you can go to a post office during normal opening hours, there may be a better solution: use one of the phone booths within the post office itself. In many places, you can pay to the cashier as you leave. I use this whenever I don't have change for a coin phone, or the streets are too noisy. >Stupid question: can I make any use of an MCI or an ATT phone card >for that purpose? Probably not (and anyway, it wouldn't be to your advantage, as you would almost certainly be incurring a surcharge - on top of the French PTT's regular rates for international calls). Sergio Gelato (gelato@AstroSun.TN.Cornell.Edu)
chris@ucsd.edu (Christian LOTITO) (07/04/89)
Hello Michel, you'll find phone memory cards in every french post office. 1) french PTTs are public administration => don't expect to find an open post office on saturday or sunday or after 7 PM (this is France...). 2) There are 2 available cards: 40 and 120 UNITS. An unit correspond to 1 local call. For long distance calls it depend of how far you call and the time of the day: calling after 9:30 PM is 1/2 price, calling Spain is cheaper than calling Bangkok. You'll get info in any post office. Enjoy your trip in France, Chris (born there...) Lotito. - Mon mari me fait cocu - Vous avez de la chance, le mien me fait partout: Coluche.
ab4@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (And Drawn) (07/06/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0222m02@vector.dallas.tx.us> you write: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 222, message 2 of 8 > >>I am going to be in France next month and will need to make some >>international phone calls (more precisely to Spain). Can people tell me >>what the most convenient way to do that is? I don't want to have to >>use tons of coins or have to go through an operator. >This is only a partial answer. Yes, they have prepaid cards. and you can >buy them in post offices, and probably other places as well. One addition -- calls via a telecarte are *much* cheaper than using coins, at least for local calls. I am told that they are same as those from a home line -- having aphone installed is a painstaking procedure,and many people use the quite comfortable and roomy booths as miniature offices. The prices given a few messages back are still current, and the current discount-for-calling-at-off-peak-times schedule (quite involved, including a discount during lunch hour!) is printed on the back of the newer cards. /a ab4@cunixc.[cc.]columbia.edu ab4@cunixc.bitnet {backbone}!columbia!cunixc!ab4