# Egyptain sim cards



## Sofia Cooper

:confused2: I have heard that you can't get an Egyptian sim card unitl you get there, .....but then i was told i can buy thru Vodafone online, i have checked their website but can not find any. :confused2:


----------



## moataz123

Sofia Cooper said:


> :confused2: I have heard that you can't get an Egyptian sim card unitl you get there, .....but then i was told i can buy thru Vodafone online, i have checked their website but can not find any. :confused2:


You can't buy a Sim card until you get here, yet there are some restrictions to buy one due to the laws.

If you will buy a line with a monthly bill, you need a valid passport - residency permit AND work permit or a letter from the company you work for - if you were not working, you must provide them with a bank statement with a balance more than 3000 L.E (nearly 400 pounds) or a fixed "insurance deposit" 1000 L.E. - your current address and a prove for it (a contract or an electricity bill in your name) and the current fixed phone number.

If you will buy a pre-paid card, you need only the valid passport - residency permit - your current address and a prove for it (a contract or an electricity bill in your name) and the current fixed phone number.

You can ask a friend to buy the pre-paid line for you in his/her name.

There were pre-paid cards before for tourists visiting Egypt with a limited time, but I think it was stopped by the law, not sure.

The are cheaper plans than Vodafone, you should check Etisalat Egypt and compare.


----------



## Sofia Cooper

moataz123 said:


> You can't buy a Sim card until you get here, yet there are some restrictions to buy one due to the laws.
> 
> If you will buy a line with a monthly bill, you need a valid passport - residency permit AND work permit or a letter from the company you work for - if you were not working, you must provide them with a bank statement with a balance more than 3000 L.E (nearly 400 pounds) or a fixed "insurance deposit" 1000 L.E. - your current address and a prove for it (a contract or an electricity bill in your name) and the current fixed phone number.
> 
> If you will buy a pre-paid card, you need only the valid passport - residency permit - your current address and a prove for it (a contract or an electricity bill in your name) and the current fixed phone number.
> 
> You can ask a friend to buy the pre-paid line for you in his/her name.
> 
> There were pre-paid cards before for tourists visiting Egypt with a limited time, but I think it was stopped by the law, not sure.
> 
> The are cheaper plans than Vodafone, you should check Etisalat Egypt and compare.


Gosh it isnt easy then ...i can understand about the monthly line , and the needing of good id .,, so iam not so worried about that ,for now ...
So the Egytian sim has to be bought there ? ok....but still has restrictions .......so it will have to be the prepaid tourist sim until i settle and live there ....and yes Vodafon here isnt the best of them ......
thanx for that info Moatez,,,its a great help


----------



## DeadGuy

A link for Mobinil tourist line: Mobinil - personal - GSM tourist line

However this kind of lines do NOT provide reasonable call rates for local calls (Calling a number in Egypt) In the mean while, it provides a much better call rates for international calls (If you're gonna call people back in UK a lot, then it's the line that you should buy).

I've checked my own line's contract, there's a space for putting the passport's number (It says that it's for "foreigners") So I don't really think it would be a hard thing for a none Egyptian to purchase a regular Pre-paid SIM card in here.

I'd never buy a line and register it under my own name if I'm not the one who's gonna use it though, I'm not stupid enough to take the legal responsibility for someone else's actions! Friends of mine aren't that stupid either! But sure you can find someone that will be "ok" with buying it for you....! But it's not really worth it, just visit the nearest official outlet, MobiNil is not the only SP in here, there's also Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Egypt, and all 3 SP's do have MANY official outlets all over the country, specially in Cairo, so it shouldn't be a problem to locate one when you're here and it's just a 10-15 minutes process and you'll have a line registered on your own name!

Good luck!


----------



## jojo2005

....well thats good to know. I guess the same thing applies to prepaid USB internet connection? I will be over in a couple of weeks to finalise my apartment and as this will be my third trip this year so far have promised my boss that I will do some work! It would be good to know in which direction to head in order to set myself up with a dongle! Or will my British one work?


----------



## DeadGuy

jojo2005 said:


> ....well thats good to know. I guess the same thing applies to prepaid USB internet connection? I will be over in a couple of weeks to finalise my apartment and as this will be my third trip this year so far have promised my boss that I will do some work! It would be good to know in which direction to head in order to set myself up with a dongle! Or will my British one work?


Yes, I believe that it's the same for the USB Stick modems' thing.

Don't think your British one would work in here, unless your British SP got arrangements with local SPs in here, but most probably it will cost a lot more than using one of the local SPs.


For Internet, I'd recommend Etisalat though, not MobiNil or Vodafone.

Here's a link for Internet via USB modems' offers from Etisalat: Etisalat

And a link to locate the nearest official Etisalat outlet: Etisalat

Good luck


----------



## Sam

jojo2005 said:


> ....well thats good to know. I guess the same thing applies to prepaid USB internet connection? I will be over in a couple of weeks to finalise my apartment and as this will be my third trip this year so far have promised my boss that I will do some work! It would be good to know in which direction to head in order to set myself up with a dongle! Or will my British one work?


Hi,

A British dongle will work with an Egyptian sim card. So you wouldn't need to buy the unit over here, just get the sim, it'll work out cheaper 

Sam


----------



## Sam

Sofia Cooper said:


> Gosh it isnt easy then ...i can understand about the monthly line , and the needing of good id .,, so iam not so worried about that ,for now ...
> So the Egytian sim has to be bought there ? ok....but still has restrictions .......so it will have to be the prepaid tourist sim until i settle and live there ....and yes Vodafon here isnt the best of them ......
> thanx for that info Moatez,,,its a great help


Hi,

I've recently changed my number and bought a new sim card, and there aren't any restrictions. 

I am with Etisalat... I went to their desk, asked for a new number, they gave me a bunch of sim cards and said pick your number... that's it.

They took my address, but didn't need any proof of address, they checked my passport (not my visa, and the type of visa is irrelevant) and it cost me 10 LE.

5 minutes, job done, new number, thank you very much (and the guys business card thrown in just in case I ever needed to call him, lol).

Don't worry, very easy to do... just make sure your phone is unlocked to accept a foreign sim card.

Sam


----------



## Sofia Cooper

Sam said:


> Hi,
> 
> I've recently changed my number and bought a new sim card, and there aren't any restrictions.
> 
> I am with Etisalat... I went to their desk, asked for a new number, they gave me a bunch of sim cards and said pick your number... that's it.
> 
> They took my address, but didn't need any proof of address, they checked my passport (not my visa, and the type of visa is irrelevant) and it cost me 10 LE.
> 
> 5 minutes, job done, new number, thank you very much (and the guys business card thrown in just in case I ever needed to call him, lol).
> 
> Don't worry, very easy to do... just make sure your phone is unlocked to accept a foreign sim card.
> 
> Sam


 Yes i either have to get an unlocked phone or get my iphone unlocked 
So its easy enough then ,, until you go n contract, then of course like anywhere it needs setting up correctly 
So thanx Sam ,,, and it made me laugh about the business card, yes have a pocketful from my last hol to Sharm ,,and a few personal ones as well looool tut tut


----------



## josmiler05

DeadGuy said:


> Yes, I believe that it's the same for the USB Stick modems' thing.
> 
> Don't think your British one would work in here, unless your British SP got arrangements with local SPs in here, but most probably it will cost a lot more than using one of the local SPs.
> 
> 
> For Internet, I'd recommend Etisalat though, not MobiNil or Vodafone.
> 
> Here's a link for Internet via USB modems' offers from Etisalat: Etisalat
> 
> And a link to locate the nearest official Etisalat outlet: Etisalat
> 
> Good luck


Hi Deadguy,
Thanks for posting the link for etisalat good site, but there are so many plans to chose from!!


----------



## Beatle

[QUOTE=moataz

There were pre-paid cards before for tourists visiting Egypt with a limited time, but I think it was stopped by the law, not sure.

The are cheaper plans than Vodafone, you should check Etisalat Egypt and compare.[/QUOT

I got a Vodafone tourist sim card when I was there in March. Didn't need passport or id. But not sure how rates compare with other networks


----------



## jojo2005

DeadGuy said:


> Yes, I believe that it's the same for the USB Stick modems' thing.
> 
> Don't think your British one would work in here, unless your British SP got arrangements with local SPs in here, but most probably it will cost a lot more than using one of the local SPs.
> 
> 
> For Internet, I'd recommend Etisalat though, not MobiNil or Vodafone.
> 
> Here's a link for Internet via USB modems' offers from Etisalat: Etisalat
> 
> And a link to locate the nearest official Etisalat outlet: Etisalat
> 
> Good luck


Thanks for your help with that DeadGuy and Sam. Sounds as though it should be quite straightforward - if all else fails there's an Internet Cafe on the corner!!:clap2:


----------



## jojo2005

Beatle said:


> moataz
> There were pre-paid cards before for tourists visiting Egypt with a limited time said:
> 
> 
> 
> It certainly helps to get all these tips before I get there. Thankyou to eveyone. My USB is Three network so I don't expect it will work but I can't see that those things are locked so perhaps I can just get the sim card and top up. Phone is paid for by work and being a blackberry I use that for emailing, unfortunately the boss will be expecting me to log on to the company server while I am away.....now if anyone knows of a good screenshield so that I can work on the beach (joking - doubt if they will be impressed if I get it filled with sand):ranger:
Click to expand...


----------



## mardini

moataz123 said:


> You can't buy a Sim card until you get here, yet there are some restrictions to buy one due to the laws.
> 
> If you will buy a line with a monthly bill, you need a valid passport - residency permit AND work permit or a letter from the company you work for - if you were not working, you must provide them with a bank statement with a balance more than 3000 L.E (nearly 400 pounds) or a fixed "insurance deposit" 1000 L.E. - your current address and a prove for it (a contract or an electricity bill in your name) and the current fixed phone number.
> 
> If you will buy a pre-paid card, you need only the valid passport - residency permit - your current address and a prove for it (a contract or an electricity bill in your name) and the current fixed phone number.
> 
> You can ask a friend to buy the pre-paid line for you in his/her name.
> 
> There were pre-paid cards before for tourists visiting Egypt with a limited time, but I think it was stopped by the law, not sure.
> 
> The are cheaper plans than Vodafone, you should check Etisalat Egypt and compare.


Hi Moataz, you are right to the point, and ..... by the book. If I may add, Sofia might very well find many shops that will help her and provide a sim-card, but not online of course.

Sofia, a little advise, don't buy monthly subscription type, it is a BIG rip off, BIG TIME. The prepaid are best, this is of course according to what I experienced.


----------



## Beatle

mardini said:


> Hi Moataz, you are right to the point, and ..... by the book. If I may add, Sofia might very well find many shops that will help her and provide a sim-card, but not online of course.


It's also worth going to one of the big stores - I have been ripped off at some of the smaller stores who have overcharged me for the sim card (I can never remember what I paid for it last time!).


----------



## moataz123

Beatle said:


> It's also worth going to one of the big stores - I have been ripped off at some of the smaller stores who have overcharged me for the sim card (I can never remember what I paid for it last time!).


Actually, for sure you will be ripped off at the smaller stores, if not in the card price, it will be that they can give you a "used" number, which happens when the mobile provider (specially vodafone) withdraw a number from a user and redistribute it through a distributer!! The first time I heard this story I was like  , but when it happened to my son I was like .... (there is no icon to describe it).


----------



## mardini

moataz123 said:


> Actually, for sure you will be ripped off at the smaller stores, if not in the card price, it will be that they can give you a "used" number.


An excellent point. It happened to me, I purchased a Mobinil sim card from a small alley shop, and at the minute I inserted it in my phone, it rang and when I answered in surprise, the other party started saying horrible cursing words, terrible, I tried to explain that I had just bought the card and I am definitely not the person you want, but to no avail. I kept getting similar phone calls from different numbers for about 4 days and I finally took out the card and put it to sleep, I had already charged it with 100 pounds that I lost.


----------



## Beatle

mardini said:


> An excellent point. It happened to me, I purchased a Mobinil sim card from a small alley shop, and at the minute I inserted it in my phone, it rang and when I answered in surprise, the other party started saying horrible cursing words, terrible, I tried to explain that I had just bought the card and I am definitely not the person you want, but to no avail. I kept getting similar phone calls from different numbers for about 4 days and I finally took out the card and put it to sleep, I had already charged it with 100 pounds that I lost.


On more than one occasion I have had unknown men ring my number and when they discover I am not the person they want to speak to, they ask me if I am looking for a boyfriend!


----------



## mardini

Beatle said:


> On more than one occasion I have had unknown men ring my number and when they discover I am not the person they want to speak to, they ask me if I am looking for a boyfriend!


 kinda like a by product thing.


----------



## moataz123

mardini said:


> kinda like a by product thing.


I called vodafone customer service to replace my son's card and they refused to do it because I bought it from a shop! I don't care about the card or anything actually, but I cared to let someone know there are frauds in their markets, and they don't care.

The conclusion: don't deal with anyone but the official company outlet, and make sure to be more "cool nerves" and "ready to "live whatever happens" when you go there.


----------

