# Etisalat mobile in UK and France



## Simey (Dec 4, 2012)

I'm traveling to the UK and France soon and have an Etisalat mobile (an iPhone 5). 

I'm new to both Etisalat and to the world of sim cards since my previous American phone was locked. Previously, I would just buy a roaming package through AT&T (my former carrier).

Can someone walk me through my options? I'd mainly need this to receive calls and texts from people who have my UAE number, as well as perhaps occasional google searches while traveling. It's great also using GPS when you don't know a place but of course that's a data hog. 

Thanks!


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

Etisalat should automatically go into roaming when you get there, you will be able to receive/make calls, but will also be charged on incoming calls because you are roaming (as opposed to just being charged for the calls you would make). These would be the relevant charges depending on the type of account you have:

Etisalat - Mobile - International Roaming

You could also register for some of their roaming plans (details on the other tabs in the link I posted). The only other option would be to get a U.K/French sim card for while you are there and just give people that number, not sure how to go about that though...


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## Lamplighter (Jul 20, 2010)

I'm a bit rusty on the details, but I recommend you should enable/activate roaming with Etisalat whilst still in UAE before your trip. When we travelled to Europe previously, we assumed that our sims would just connect to local networks on roaming, but they did not. To activate, we were supposed to have visited an Etisalat customer "service" centre (or some such other) which clearly we couldn't then do having already departed. I think it is related to a deposit required for post-paid accounts. Perhaps it's changed since...


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

I have actually heard the same thing from other people, but have had Etisalat jump onto roaming in India and the U.S without making the call, I agree it would be better to call them just to make sure ...


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Simey said:


> I'm traveling to the UK and France soon and have an Etisalat mobile (an iPhone 5).
> 
> I'm new to both Etisalat and to the world of sim cards since my previous American phone was locked. Previously, I would just buy a roaming package through AT&T (my former carrier).
> 
> ...


I have just looked at the Etisalat international roaming charges and they seem very expensive.

In the UK you can buy a local Pay as you go SIM from numerous outlets and you dont need to show passport or ID - this would certainly be the cheapest way to use a phone whilst in the UK.
You simply buy a SIM for as little as £1 then purchase top-ups - just like Wasel here.
Give your friends and family in the UAE your temporary UK number as it would still be fairly cheap for them to call you - compared with the Etisalat roaming charges.
The best UK SIM that I have found for making international calls is from a company called Lebara.
They charge 16p (around 1AED) per minute to call a UAE mobile and 9p (around 0.5AED) per minute to call a UAE landline.
I would not use this SIM in France - as then you would be incurring much higher roaming charges because you were using a UK SIM.
I am sure there is an equivalent in France, but I do not know the SIM purchasing procedure or best companies to use there.

Hope this helps!!
Cheers
Steve


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## Simey (Dec 4, 2012)

Stevesolar said:


> I have just looked at the Etisalat international roaming charges and they seem very expensive.
> 
> In the UK you can buy a local Pay as you go SIM from numerous outlets and you dont need to show passport or ID - this would certainly be the cheapest way to use a phone whilst in the UK.
> You simply buy a SIM for as little as £1 then purchase top-ups - just like Wasel here.
> ...


Are these the ones that I have seen at the airport? Do they include data as well?

As a practical matter, what happens if someone calls my UAE number or sends me an sms while I am on the UK sim? I think that's a pretty likely possibility even if I send an email. 

Sorry for all the questions. This is very helpful guys.


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## MessyGuy (Dec 4, 2012)

Simey said:


> Are these the ones that I have seen at the airport? Do they include data as well?
> 
> As a practical matter, what happens if someone calls my UAE number or sends me an sms while I am on the UK sim? I think that's a pretty likely possibility even if I send an email.
> 
> Sorry for all the questions. This is very helpful guys.


You probably have seen them at the airport, they have kiosks EVERY WERE in the uk!

And I would imagine once you top up the lebara sim, there will be data included 

To do this, however, you would actually need to swap your Etisalat sim card with the new lebara sim card, so you wouldnt get any notification of calls or texts on your UAE number.

If you need to be available on your UAE number at all times then you would need a to get a second phone to house your UK sim. Cheap if you go into any supermarket in the UK, i.e. Tesco you can buy an unlocked mobile for about £10 - 50 dhirams ish, but depending on how much you plan to use it/ how long you plan to use it the costs could outweigh the benefit!


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

If you should put in a sims from the country you go to, side note that whatsapp will not function with your uae number any more. I dont know too many people who still use text messages anymore in the uae so just throwing that out there. I would suggest for you to carry a second small cheap phone to use the international sim in to make calls on. 

You do have to sign up for the international roaming feature by going down to the etisalat store and putting down a deposit. My bb package has a roaming data package included. Your package may very well have a set amount included as well ?


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## fcjb1970 (Apr 30, 2010)

saraswat said:


> I have actually heard the same thing from other people, but have had Etisalat jump onto roaming in India and the U.S without making the call, I agree it would be better to call them just to make sure ...


I believe that for pre-paid it will jump into international mode without doing anything special. For post paid account it needs to be enabled, or included in part of the plan.

Be very very careful with data when roaming (especially if post paid). International data charges are outrageous and I have heard some horror stories of people running up HUGE bills while roaming


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## Simey (Dec 4, 2012)

Thanks all, lots to think about. I'm beginning to think what may be easiest is to enable an international plan but then use it very sparingly by keeping cellular data off most of the time and relying on wifi. Presumably the phone roaming charges only occur if I make or receive a call and those I can do sparingly. This seems to still leave me vulnerable to sms messages and HSBC and others do have an annoying habit of sending lots of texts. 

If this turns out to be an issue I'll pick up a sim card there. 

I do also have a work blackberry that works everywhere. I try to only use it for work purposes but its available, even if I hate my BB.

But this is a bit clunky and it's pretty much what I used to do 5 years ago before AT&T started offering economical international plans.


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

Simey said:


> Thanks all, lots to think about. I'm beginning to think what may be easiest is to enable an international plan but then use it very sparingly by keeping cellular data off most of the time and relying on wifi. Presumably the phone roaming charges only occur if I make or receive a call and those I can do sparingly. This seems to still leave me vulnerable to sms messages and HSBC and others do have an annoying habit of sending lots of texts.
> 
> If this turns out to be an issue I'll pick up a sim card there.
> 
> ...


You aren't charged for receiving SMS whilst roaming. They cost more to send, but not too bad unless you send loads.

Take a look at World Sim. An initial outlay, but if you travel a bit it would be worth it in the long run. You can often buy it on the plane from the shopping magazine in the seatback.


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## sonyjohn2 (Feb 9, 2014)

Hello everyone 

Hope you all are enjoying roaming in European union.I need to say something about a service provider who provides Call from EU to EU phone at {0.19} EUR/min.It name is xxsim anyone feels better than that pls make a comment.


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## Malbec (Jan 2, 2014)

I understand that buying local SIM will always work cheaper but this give you a disadvantage of not being able to keep your original number.

Either I am looking wrong, or I would say roaming rates charged by local operators are very competitive. I checked DU offer and found the following Easy roaming plan. Looks not so bad for both voice and data usage.

I believe Etisalat should have something or maybe even exactly the same.


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