TELEPHONES
PAY PHONES:
Except for a few expensive coin-operated ones
on private premises (especially in the W.C. area of cafés,
restaurants,
etc.), none accept coins, but rather require a TÉLÉCARTE,
a CARTE
TÉLÉPHONIQUE, or a credit card account such as AT&T
to operate.
The “Télécarte”
(tay-lay-CART) is a card you can buy at
the post office and some other locations, such as news stands, tobacco
shops, etc.; €7.50 or €15 worth of calls. You insert it, and
a computer
chip on the card keeps track of how much credit you have left.
More useful (because it can be used from any phone, not
just pay phones), and easier to find, but not quite as convenient, is
the “carte
téléphonique,” (cart tay-lay-foe-NEEK)
available many
places. These do not have a computer chip. There is a toll-free
(sometimes four-digit) number you dial, and then input a code that is
on the back of the card. When you buy the card, the code should not be
visible. To see it you take a coin or your fingernail and scratch to
reveal it.
Buying the right “carte téléphonique” for
your needs is
somewhat of a crap-shoot, as they are all specialty cards, each one
offering cheap rates only to certain destinations, such as France,
French cell phones, U.S., North Africa, Europe, etc., and you really
can’t tell what the rates will be to various destinations.
PHONE NUMBERS:
All Paris area phone numbers now begin with
01. Other areas of France are 02, 03, 04, and 05. If you are calling
such a number FROM THE US, drop the “0”. For example, if
the number is
01 45 23 45 67, from the US you would dial 011 33 1 45 23 45 67. (011
is foreign access, 33 is France, 1 is the Paris area.) To make a
foreign call from France, dial 00, then he country code etc. (U.S. is 1)
Phone numbers BEGINNING WITH 06 are
cell phones, and it is THE CALLER (YOU) WHO PAYS. Such calls are
expensive.
The equivalent of US “1-800" numbers is “0 800" in France,
and MANY OF THEM ARE NOT FREE.
To see a picture of a Paris payphone and what to expect, go to:
http://www.americansinfrance.net/Store/French%20Payphone%20How%20To.pdf
INTERNET:
There are quite a few Internet cafés and Internet clubs,
but not in all areas. Be sure they have a U.S. keyboard available -
“clavier américain”(clahv-YAY ah-may-ree-CA[n]) or
you’ll wish you had
stayed home. Rates vary quite a bit. Most recently we used Znet, 18,
rue de la Bûcherie, a little side street running east from the
very
beginning of rue Lagrange, across the Seine
(“Pont-au-Double” bridge)
from Notre Dame Cathedral. One hour was €4, a 4-hour membership
(“abonnement” - aah-bun-uh-MAW[n]) card was €10, and a
10-hour was €20.
[À propos of bridges, for an interested rundown on Paris
“ponts” (bridges) with photos and history, go to
http://www.pariswater.com/ponts/ponts.htm.]
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