Slash Your Phone Bill: Urgently Disable This Feature to Avoid High Charges!

If you have a mobile plan in France and are planning to travel outside of Europe soon, it’s highly recommended to urgently deactivate a specific option to avoid a hefty phone bill.

As the summer vacation season quickly approaches, many of you may have already booked flights for an international trip. Typically, French telecom operators like Orange, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, and Free Mobile offer mobile plans that include unlimited calls and SMS/MMS to the European Union and France, along with a specific amount of mobile data for use within Europe.

However, once you step outside of Europe, the cost of your mobile plan can skyrocket if you connect to a network in a country categorized under the “rest of the world” zone. For instance, if you have an Orange/Sosh subscription and find yourself in such a country, the following rates apply for usage beyond your plan:

• Outgoing calls: €2.90 / minute
• Incoming calls: €1.40 / minute
• Outgoing SMS: €0.28 / SMS
• Incoming SMS: Free
• Outgoing MMS: €1.10 / MMS
• Incoming MMS: €0.80 / MMS
• Mobile internet: €13.31 / MB

Regarding SMS, it’s important to note that the limit is 160 characters per message. Thus, if your SMS exceeds 160 characters, the cost can increase significantly.

As for incoming calls, don’t be surprised if telemarketers contact you during your stay. Even if you don’t answer, these unwanted calls will unfortunately still be charged by your provider. For example, a telemarketer might let your phone ring for three seconds. The local operator in that country will then consider this brief moment as a full minute-long call.

Deactivating a Feature in Your Mobile Plan Can Prevent Unwelcome Surprises

At Orange and Sosh, the telecom provider and its budget subsidiary automatically activate an option called ‘Communicate from Abroad’. If you do not plan to use your mobile line in a “rest of the world” zone, you should know that deactivating this option can be done from your customer account area. To do this, simply:

1. Visit espace-client.orange.fr
2. Enter your mobile number as the username and your password
3. Click on “Offers and options” then on “Control your usage”
4. Click the “Modify” button
5. Check the ‘No’ box if you do not wish to communicate from abroad
6. Finally, click on the “Validate” button

You can also deactivate this option via an Android smartphone:

1. Open the MySosh app
2. Tap on “Offers and options”
3. Select “Control your usage”
4. Tap on the “Modify” button
5. Check the ‘No’ box if you do not wish to communicate from abroad
6. Finally, tap on the “Validate” button