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Author Topic: need help for cell phone
doodlebug
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Ok so I'm technically challenged. I know you all told me that I can get a local sim card once I get to Cairo but I don't get the following:

1) will my phone number change since it's a new card?
2) will it be prepaid?
3) do i have to still turn on the international service with cingular?


help! [Confused]

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Elegantly Wasted
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Doodle, since you'll only be there for about 2 weeks I wouldn't go through the trouble. If your children want to get in touch with you just have them call your fiance's cell. If you want to call them either buy credit for your fiance's cell or go to a central. The only time I would go through this kind of trouble is if I were to spend a couple months or more there. Even then I wouldn't bother. I could use my husband's cell or the family's home phone or central.
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Mal
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Hi doodle,
I'm going through the very same thing right now, a friend told me that I should have my phone unlocked to take all sims and buy one in Egypt, but when I called 02 they said that it would only work with UK sims and not international ones. I am considering buying a cheap pay as you go when I am out there but it is a little different for me as the calls I need to make will to be people who are resident in Egypt.

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daria1975
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quote:
Originally posted by doodlebug:
Ok so I'm technically challenged. I know you all told me that I can get a local sim card once I get to Cairo but I don't get the following:

1) will my phone number change since it's a new card?
2) will it be prepaid?
3) do i have to still turn on the international service with cingular?


help! [Confused]

Do you have a quad-band phone for Cingular? Most of their phones don't work in Egypt. [Frown]
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daria1975
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Here's the Cingular page for travelling outside the U.S.

http://www.cingular.com/learn/international/roaming/international-roaming.jsp

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doodlebug
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quote:
Originally posted by Madame M.:
Doodle, since you'll only be there for about 2 weeks I wouldn't go through the trouble. If your children want to get in touch with you just have them call your fiance's cell. If you want to call them either buy credit for your fiance's cell or go to a central. The only time I would go through this kind of trouble is if I were to spend a couple months or more there. Even then I wouldn't bother. I could use my husband's cell or the family's home phone or central.

Oh ok. I thought it was an easy thing but I guess it's not, huh.
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daria1975
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Can't hurt to take your phone and buy a SIM card.

Personally, I want a cell phone while over there, for the times I am not with my husband. I just feel more comfortable being able to dial him directly. And I don't totally understand the phone system there, but sometimes you can't dial a mobile phone number from a home land line. [Confused]

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SayWhatYouSee
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I find it really easy to buy an Egyptian sim card. Vodafone and other shops new cards and explain the top up procedure. I use my UK sim when relevant and make local and national calls with the Egyptian sim. As long as your cell phone can handle international calls, this should be straightforward.
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SayWhatYouSee
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LHSOM, I agree. I like to be able to contact my husband, or know I can, if one of us were to get lost, for example (not likely but we both prefer this).
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Elegantly Wasted
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I guess because when I'm in Egypt I'm with my husband almost 24/7 I don't have a need for it. If I go out with my SILs they have a cell so I can call him with theirs and vice versa. If I were living there it would be different.
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Chef Mick
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MY PHONE WORKED GREAT IN EGYPT I HAVE T MOBILE AND WHEN I GOT THERE I USED VOAGE
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tootifrooti
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If your phone is unlocked just put a mobinil or vodaphone sim in it and it will work fine.
The reason that landlines cannot call mobiles is that the billpayer has not asked for that facility to be added to their account, just like the caller id.

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Shareen
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You can buy a tourist sim card for 25LE plus top up, of course. The line stays open for about 6 weeks I think. But its a cheap way of making local calls within Egypt.
But you will need a phone that isnt locked into one network. You can get them unlocked easily, costs about £10 here in the UK.
Having said that, I just upgraded and they dont have the unlock codes for my phone yet. But my service provider is doing it for me, once I explained I needed to use an egyptian sim card in it for a couple of weeks.

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An Exercise in Futility
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I have got an Egyptian vodaphone SIM card which works absolutely fine in my UK handset.

My (semi-ex)BF got me signed up to a 15 month contract with Vodaphone (but just go in the mobile phone shop and ask about it - you can just put any old address down) which means I get to keep the same phone number now every time I go to Egypt, and as long as there's enough credit on the phone, they deduct 7LE a month to keep it 'live' so I don't have to worry about top ups when I'm not there.

It was still working from my last visit in early September when I'd left about 90LE credit on it, then I tested it over a 'top up' date last week - on the Tuesday it was saying you have to top up by 8th November and the grace period would end on 13th November, then at some point on 8th November, my balance reduced by 7LE and it said top up by 8th December and my grace period would end on 14th December.

The advantage of Vodaphone is that they can set it up to talk to you in English! I started with a mobinil, but the service kept cutting out for hours on end and it was all in arabic.

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doodlebug
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quote:
Originally posted by Shareen:
You can buy a tourist sim card for 25LE plus top up, of course. The line stays open for about 6 weeks I think. But its a cheap way of making local calls within Egypt.
But you will need a phone that isnt locked into one network. You can get them unlocked easily, costs about £10 here in the UK.
Having said that, I just upgraded and they dont have the unlock codes for my phone yet. But my service provider is doing it for me, once I explained I needed to use an egyptian sim card in it for a couple of weeks.

That's pretty darn cheap. With my cingular now even if my daughters call me I still have to be charged the roaming fee just to receive the call! If I had a local number they could just use pingo which would make our calls $.18/minute instead of about $2+ a minute. BIG difference and I'm trying to save $$ where I can.
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