Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHARGING DEVICES
There is talk of public transport company RATP jazzing up bus stops of the future with
phone-charging stations, but until then charging phones and other devices on the
move remains challenging. Carrying your own charger and cable ups the odds dra-
matically of getting more juice - don't be shy to ask in cafes and restaurants if you can
plug in and charge. Ditto for taxi drivers, an increasing number of whom carry a selec-
tion of smartphone-compatible cables and chargers. It's easy to recharge at
Biblio-
thèque Nationale de France
.
Or do it yourself at Gare de Nord, Gare de Montparnasse
or Gare de St-Lazare at a pedal-powered charging station.
Phonecards
Although mobile phones and Skype may have killed off the need for public phones, they do
still exist. In France they are all phonecard-operated, but in an emergency you can use your
credit card to call.
A
télécarte
(phonecard; €7.50/15 for 50/120 calling units) can be purchased at post offices,
tabacs,
supermarkets, SNCF ticket windows, metro stations and anywhere you see a blue
sticker reading '
télécarte en vente ici'
(phonecard for sale here).
You can buy prepaid phonecards such as Allomundo (
www.allomundo.com
) that are up to
60% cheaper for calling abroad than the standard
télécarte
. They're usually available in de-
nominations of up to €15 from
tabacs,
newsagents, phone shops and other sales points, es-
pecially in ethnic areas such as rue du Faubourg St-Denis (10e), Chinatown (13e) and Bel-
leville (19e and 20e). In general they're valid for two months, but the ones offering the most
minutes for the least euros can expire in just a week.
All public phones can receive both domestic and international calls. If you want someone to
call you back, just give them France's country code (33) and the 10-digit number, usually
written after the words '
Ici le…'
or '
No d'appel'
on the tariff sheet or on a little sign inside
the phone box. Remind them to drop the '0' from the initial '01' of the number. When
there's an incoming call, the words '
décrochez - appel arrive'
(pick up receiver - incoming
call) will appear in the LCD window.
