Tomorrow we fly to Paris, where I’ll be based for the next five weeks. To help myself prep, here are a few of my notes from conversations with friends and my own inadequate research…
- Offbeat Guildes. Already have ours. We can update it during the trip too.
- La Cantine. Co-working
- Via @slatteryz Paris – interactive map of public wifi:http://bit.ly/cXfzEm – interactive map of cafes with wifi:http://www.cafes-wifi.com/
- Paris Wi-Fi accessible dans les jardins parisiens
- Via @esmevos free wifi in Paris libraries and public buildings
- Orange for iPads, and SFR’s iPad page (currently down)
- fnac
- Telestial (France SIM card for visitors)
- Cellular Abroad (another SIM card for visitors)
- Mobiho (recommended here)
- free.fr (the ISP for the place where we’re staying)
Mobile phone SIM recommendations are especially welcome. We plan to cripple our U.S. iPhones for the obvious reasons AT&T details here. Our other phones include…
- Android Nexus One (right out of the box)
- Nokia E72 (it’s a Symbian phone)
- Nokia N900 (a computing device that does have a SIM slot and can be used as a phone)
- Nokia 6820b (an old Nokia candybar-shaped GSM phone that hasn’t been used in years, but works)
Ideally we would like to go to a mobile phone store that can help us equip some combination of these things, for the time we’re there. The iPad too, once it arrives. It will be a 3G model.
Au revoir…
[Later…] We’re here, still jet-lagged and settling in. Here are some other items we could use some advice on:
- “Free” wi-fi. This is confusing. There seem to be lots of open wi-fi access points in Paris, but all require logins and passwords. Our French is still weak at best, so that’s a bit of a problem too. One of the services is called Free, which also happens to be the company that provides TV/Internet/Phone service in the apartment. Should this also give us leverage with the Free wi-fi out there? Not sure. (Internet speed is 16.7Mbps down and .78Mbps up. It’s good enough, but not encouraging for posting photos. I’m also worried about data usage caps. Guidance on that is welcome too.)
- Our 200-watt heavy-duty 220/110 step-down power transformer crapped out within two hours after being plugged in. We want to get a new one that won’t fail. The dead one is a Tacima.
Again, thanks for all your help.