# Cell phones in cairo!



## m57009

I am loving this forum, so many answers to my many questions. However, could someone kindly give me infor on cells phones. 

Wanted to know whether we will be able to use our cell phones, which are unlocked. We have Samsung ACE, iPhone 3Gs and Blackberry 8330. And if not, how much would it cost to buy one locally.

Thanks.

Maryann


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## bagato

If it is an international version, Factory unlocked, so works with all SIM cards with no crack needed. 
about how much would it cost to buy one locally. for the blackberry you can visit vodafone egypt website and lookin for business solutions for black berry range


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## khater

maryan,generally when it comes to electrical power ,communication,measuring systems in egypt we r using SI or system inetrnational,in oither words european standards nor bristish or american,so whatever u can use in europe u can use here.
cell phones might be little bit expensive than europe and not very good deals with service providers for providing the phones but phone calls r cheap about 0.2 pound fr local call and 2.5 pound for international
USB modem about 150 pounds and DSL line 90 pounds monthly


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## m57009

Thanks Bagato and khater for your responses. Yes one of the phones has international capability, not sure about the iPhone and the blackberry, I will visit the Vodafone website to look at their deals. Glad to know the rates are reasonable. 

Maryann


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## BBusyB

If your Phones are unlocked they should work fine. However The 3G might not work, depending on which 3G bands are supported. Egypt I believe uses the 2100Mhz band for 3G so if your phone supports it you will get 3G service other wise you only get slower GSM service.

As for the iPhone, if you purchased it from At&T its definately going to be locked, and they will not officially unlock it. There are ways to unlock it yourself, though it is a little technical and will void your warranty.

You can get Blackberry service from Both Vodafone and Mobinile. Vodafone offers both BIS and Blackberry Enterfprise if you are using a exchange account. Do be care full, as some Staffers at Vodafone stores ma tell you that you can't get a blackberry plan on your own phone and try to get you to uy a new one from them. Be firm, as it is available, and can be implemented quiet easily. You may however have to first get a normal subscription, and then get the Blackberry service added by CS over the phone, as they are they are the only ones who can usually do anything about it.


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## m57009

*Unlocking blackberry!*



BBusyB said:


> Thanks all for your responses! Finally got to Cairo....hit the ground running...but haven't managed to use my blackberry...anyone with infor on how I can use a local sim card...they Vodaphone staff seem to want to sell new ones, haven't been helpful....the local phone that I have just drops calls anytime, not sure when you hit the right spot!!!


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## MaidenScotland

m57009 said:


> BBusyB said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks all for your responses! Finally got to Cairo....hit the ground running...but haven't managed to use my blackberry...anyone with infor on how I can use a local sim card...they Vodaphone staff seem to want to sell new ones, haven't been helpful....the local phone that I have just drops calls anytime, not sure when you hit the right spot!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi and Welcome in Egypt
> 
> I have a friend who got her Blackberry unlocked at a Vodaphone shop of course it was done unofficially and she paid the guy I think 100LE.
> I have dropped calls all the time when I use my mobinil phone and despite changing my sim card. phone etc it still happens daily.. personally I think they just give a crap service. My vodaphone phone has no problems when I use it in the exact same spot as the Mobinil one so I know it is the service.
> Strange thing is with Mobinil I cannot get a call when I am at the front of my apartment which has open space all the way to down town no buildings in front of me and yet if I go to the back of the apartment I can get a signal despite numerous tall buildings overlooking me. I for one would not recommend Mobinil.
> 
> Maiden
Click to expand...


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## DeadGuy

m57009 said:


> Thanks all for your responses! Finally got to Cairo....hit the ground running...but haven't managed to use my blackberry...anyone with infor on how I can use a local sim card...they Vodaphone staff seem to want to sell new ones, haven't been helpful....the local phone that I have just drops calls anytime, not sure when you hit the right spot!!!


Had to dig up a bit to find this post, someone was asking a similar question......




DeadGuy said:


> Shouldn't cost more than a 100 EGP. to unlock iPhones to be able to use it with a local SIM card by the way, 150 EGP. max, depending on the shop and the area where it's located, same goes for the BlackBerries.
> 
> Do NOT leave the handset in the store, it takes around 5-10 minutes to unlock it if they really do know how to unlock it, so if you're asked to leave it and to go pick it up in a day or so, that means something isn't right


As for the calls dropping thing........you're probably just having some bad luck with the calls, it happens with me sometimes, not all the time, but usually it gets fixed in couple hours, my calls are usually short though, 2, 3 minutes max, so it goes well, I guess 

Oh by the way, I personally prefer Etisalat, better coverage, not to mention better deals and offers.......


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## txlstewart

m57009 said:


> BBusyB said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks all for your responses! Finally got to Cairo....hit the ground running...but haven't managed to use my blackberry...anyone with infor on how I can use a local sim card...they Vodaphone staff seem to want to sell new ones, haven't been helpful....the local phone that I have just drops calls anytime, not sure when you hit the right spot!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Hello!
> 
> I have a friend with the iPhone 3Gs (through AT&T), and he had it unlocked. He uses it all over Europe and SE Asia.
> 
> Vodaphone is good if you plan on travelling in Europe as well (or so I've heard). Their website is less than useful (or I have been spoiled....)
> 
> I will be moving to Cairo in August--hope things go smoothly for you and me!
Click to expand...


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## m57009

MaidenScotland said:


> m57009 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi and Welcome in Egypt
> 
> I have a friend who got her Blackberry unlocked at a Vodaphone shop of course it was done unofficially and she paid the guy I think 100LE.
> I have dropped calls all the time when I use my mobinil phone and despite changing my sim card. phone etc it still happens daily.. personally I think they just give a crap service. My vodaphone phone has no problems when I use it in the exact same spot as the Mobinil one so I know it is the service.
> Strange thing is with Mobinil I cannot get a call when I am at the front of my apartment which has open space all the way to down town no buildings in front of me and yet if I go to the back of the apartment I can get a signal despite numerous tall buildings overlooking me. I for one would not recommend Mobinil.
> 
> Maiden
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Maiden! Crazy as it may sound, its comforting to hear its happening to others too!! I have Mobinil and a Vodaphone sim card, though I rarely use the Vodaphone one, guess I should make a permanent change.. My only spot in our apartment is in the living room, though I had a friend who was suggesting forwarding cell to the house phone when I am in the house, not sure how that works and hopefully to give it a trial..I will perhaps try a different Vodaphone shop, but thanks for sharing... Still trying to get used to the traffic (people and traffic) but its been great so far the most egyptians have been very friendly....
Click to expand...


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## m57009

DeadGuy said:


> Had to dig up a bit to find this post, someone was asking a similar question......
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As for the calls dropping thing........you're probably just having some bad luck with the calls, it happens with me sometimes, not all the time, but usually it gets fixed in couple hours, my calls are usually short though, 2, 3 minutes max, so it goes well, I guess
> 
> Oh by the way, I personally prefer Etisalat, better coverage, not to mention better deals and offers.......


Any specific place I can get a Etisalat store, first time hearing it. Most of my friends have Vodaphone and Mobinil, would be great to try it. Please give infor on the store...I live in Maadi...


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## Sam

m57009 said:


> Any specific place I can get a Etisalat store, first time hearing it. Most of my friends have Vodaphone and Mobinil, would be great to try it. Please give infor on the store...I live in Maadi...


Hi,

Glad you made it to Cairo safely.

I'd also recommend Etisalat. I don't know how well it goes in Cairo, but I've never had any problems here in Sharm - either my mobile or for my dongle.

Etisalat

This link above is for the Etisalat website to find which store they have closest to you (I hope it works!).


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## MaidenScotland

m57009 said:


> MaidenScotland said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Maiden! Crazy as it may sound, its comforting to hear its happening to others too!! I have Mobinil and a Vodaphone sim card, though I rarely use the Vodaphone one, guess I should make a permanent change.. My only spot in our apartment is in the living room, though I had a friend who was suggesting forwarding cell to the house phone when I am in the house, not sure how that works and hopefully to give it a trial..I will perhaps try a different Vodaphone shop, but thanks for sharing... Still trying to get used to the traffic (people and traffic) but its been great so far the most egyptians have been very friendly....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am a mobinil premium customer and they telephone me to ask why I wasn't using my phone as much and I explained the problem and they gave me a number to call, which I did but the call get dropping!! New sim card, new phone, nothing works.. just a lousy service ohh and the best one is I often get the 2 missed calls notice up.. yet I have not missed a call.. the phone has been sitting on my desk in front of me
> I
> Maiden
Click to expand...


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## DeadGuy

m57009 said:


> ......................
> though I had a friend who was suggesting forwarding cell to the house phone when I am in the house
> .....................


Hi there,

Sam provided the link earlier, as for the service in Cairo by Etisalat, I do travel to Cairo a lot and it works just fine in there, so hope you'd get a better luck with them.

As for your friend's suggestion........Think you both need to know that one of the call forwarding rules in here is that you will be charged for whatever call you get by your own SP, will be charged according to the minute rate for calling a land line in that case, which is not that cheap in most plans!

Good luck


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## DeadGuy

MaidenScotland said:


> I am a mobinil premium customer and they telephone me to ask why I wasn't using my phone as much and I explained the problem and they gave me a number to call, which I did but the call get dropping!! New sim card, new phone, nothing works.. just a lousy service ohh and the best one is I often get the 2 missed calls notice up.. yet I have not missed a call.. the phone has been sitting on my desk in front of me
> I
> Maiden


Well, doesn't make any sense here to be honest, along with Etisalat I do have a MobiNil line and it's not as bad as your situation.......

And I don't get the missed calls notice anymore, thank God for that


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## MaidenScotland

DeadGuy said:


> Well, doesn't make any sense here to be honest, along with Etisalat I do have a MobiNil line and it's not as bad as your situation.......
> 
> And I don't get the missed calls notice anymore, thank God for that


DG

You know what the strangest thing is... I may get the missed call message 5 HOURS after I am supposed to have missed it. I am now wondering if it has anything to do with with my phone being registered to an embassy????


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## DeadGuy

MaidenScotland said:


> DG
> 
> You know what the strangest thing is... I may get the missed call message 5 HOURS after I am supposed to have missed it. I am now wondering if it has anything to do with with my phone being registered to an *embassy*????


Well, the SMS services in here simply sucks, there's always a delay with that, specially with MobiNil.......I send an SMS now and the other end gets it like 2/3 hours later, knowing that the person I sent the SMS to had his/her cell switched on all the time........And considering the fact that the missed calls notice comes as an SMS, it doesn't surprise me that much to be honest.

Local *** low IQ guys can be "smart" enough to mess with phone lines, but I seriously doubt that either them or their bosses would wanna mess with a line registered to an embassy, specially Her Majesty's embassy.........But you never know how "smart" can those ****** get though.....

If you're having doubts then report it to the security department at the embassy, there are ways to find out if some idiot is messing around with GSM devices......

Or an easier solution?? Wanna trade lines?


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