How to receive/make cheap mobile calls in Egypt?

Cairo_Kid

I have a work-owned UK mobile number that I will shortly transfer to my own personal contract. As it has been my main phone for many years I need to keep the number. I now live in Egypt so want friends in the UK to be able to phone my UK mobile which will then roam to me in Egypt. Can anyone advise on the best deal to allow me to receive cheap calls in Egypt ? Ideally I would also like to be able to make cheap calls to the UK : VOIP ?

coolesticeking

If you are going to be in Egypt for a long period of time it would be cheaper to buy a SIM Card from a local operator.

If you send a lot of texts its would then be cheaper for you to use the local SIM Card to send texts and since it does not cost anything to receive a Text Message while Roaming on a UK SIM your Friends could simply just reply using your UK Number instead.

Here is a list of Charges for Calls using a UK SIM Card:

O2
PAYM Make Call £1.70/Min
PAYM Rec Call £1.41/Min
PAYG Make Call £0.99/Min
PAYG Rec Call £0.99/Min

Vodafone
PAYM Make Call £1.65/Min
PAYM Rec Call £1.30/Min
PAYG Make Call £1.60/Min
PAYG Rec Call £1.30/Min

Orange
PAYM Make Call £1.70/Min
PAYM Rec Call £1.00/Min
PAYG Make Call £1.75/Min
PAYG Rec Call £1.00/Min

T-Mobile
PAYM Make Call £1.50/Min
PAYM Rec Call £1.50/Min
PAYG Make Call £1.50/Min
PAYG Rec Call £1.50/Min

Virgin Mobile
PAYM Make Call £1.00/Min
PAYM Rec Call £0.50/Min
PAYG Make Call £1.70/Min
PAYG Rec Call £0.80/Min

Tesco Mobile
PAYM Make Call £1.49/Min
PAYM Rec Call £1.49/Min
PAYG Make Call £1.49/Min
PAYG Rec Call £1.49/Min

So VoIP does look like the most cheapest alternative!

Here are a few links to the Mobile Operators in Egypt:

http://www.mobinil.com/default.aspx
http://www.etisalat.com/
http://www.vodafone.com.eg/en/Home/index.htm