Cell phones + phone cards?

"Darby Jo" wrote in message
...
In London and Paris, can you use locally purchased phone cards to
make international calls from a cell phone equipped with a
British or French SIM? Would the call be charged as a local
mobile call to the local access number and then the international
part debited from the prepaid phone card?

As you can probably guess, I'm trying to avoid expensive
international cell calls but still have the convenience of
phoning from my mobile.

Darby Jo

I assume that you wish to bring your cellphone from North America? It
won't work unless it is tri-band (and unlocked).

In principle you can make international calls from UK prepaid cellphones
(I know not of French ones). You may have to call the Company to
authorise this. There are no "local mobile calls" and no "local access
numbers". You just dial the number you want and it is charged at the
cellphone Company's national or International tariff. (which will be
expensive). If you want to receive calls that won't cost you anything as
long as you are in the same Nation as that in which you purchased the
Sim card. You could buy a prepaid phone card in either Country which
would let you make calls at much cheaper rates from fixed phones.

JohnT