How to call France from abroad?
Despite the widespread use of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Messenger, and others that have revolutionized international calls, there are still times when you need to call a phone in France directly.
Just last week, I needed to do this twice: once to call my bank, and once to call a client.
Here’s a quick overview of the solutions I’ve used to call France from abroad at very competitive rates.
Free Mobile
Check out my detailed article on Free Mobile.
Free Mobile offers an exceptional plan for travelers.
With the €20/month subscription, you can call France unlimitedly from about forty countries.
If you’re in one of the covered countries, you can use your phone as if you were in France to make calls.
OVH
Check out my detailed article on OVH telephony.
OVH is a VoIP phone service, meaning the phone works over the internet.
OVH’s offer is absolutely crazy since for €1/month, you can call French landlines unlimitedly. Calls to mobiles cost 8 cents per minute.
It’s truly an incredible solution, but from experience, reliability isn’t top-notch. I’ve had several times when the service wasn’t usable when I needed it, and I had to contact support to resolve the issue.
So it’s better to have an alternative as a backup.
Skype
It’s relatively little known, but in addition to contacting other Skype users, the software lets you buy credits or subscriptions to call landlines or mobiles. So I’ve made Skype my backup if OVH doesn’t work.
You can buy credit: €5, €10, or €25.
A call to a French landline will cost you 2.4 cents per minute. A call to a mobile will cost you 8.2 cents per minute.
If you call a lot, monthly subscriptions can reduce the per-minute cost, or even offer unlimited calling.
Like OVH, Skype requires an internet connection to be used.
Drimsim
Read my detailed article on Drimsim.
Drimsim is an international SIM card I love: the value for money is incredible.
I mainly use it to have internet on my phone no matter which country I’m in.
But it can also be used for calling.
Rates to France depend on the country you’re in.
For example, from Albania where I currently am, a call to a French landline costs 12 cents per minute. 35 cents per minute to a mobile.
This solution is pricier than OVH and Skype but has the advantage of using the traditional phone network: you don’t need internet.
Rebtel
Read my detailed article on Rebtel.
Rebtel is a great solution I used a lot in Central and South America.
In those regions, it’s common to have a slow internet connection that doesn’t allow efficient use of solutions like OVH or Skype.
Rebtel lets you call France for the cost of a local call. Rebtel will actually turn the French number you want to reach into a local number of the country you’re in.
The price for France is very affordable: €0.038 per minute or €6/month for unlimited.
On top of that, you’ll have to pay for the local call cost.
Local SIM card
You might not think of it at first, but some prepaid local SIM card offers allow calling abroad.
This is the case for example in Albania where our local SIM card, bought for about ten euros, gives us 100 minutes of international calls.
Ask around in phone shops.
