Sim card for holiday in Dubai?

mummymania

I am going to Dubai for a week and want a simcard that I can buy to put in my current Vodafone Samsung mobile, so I can ring home, or accept calls, from my children at the lowest cost. I can't do passport on Vodafone as I have a 'special rate' contract that I beat them up for and don't want to jeopardise that.

Anywhere online I can buy a sim from?

ilikewatchingtv

As far as I'm aware there's only one mobile operator in Dubai (Etisalat) and the their Al Wasel (prepay) sim card can only be bought within the UAE. You'll need to provide copies of your your passport when applying.

Some info here: http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/09/14/10067422.html

System

Vodafone will vary between £1.60-£1 a minute for calls there.

If you are expecting many calls from your children, you can get an roaming sim.

The Story telecom ones costs a £25 top up,but incoming calls would be free and it would have an Isle of man mobile number, which is fairly cheap to call from the UK or sometimes free from mobile inclusive minutes.

http://www.storytelecom.com/roaming/

Check if your Samsung mobile phone is unlocked tho, and if you would expect to spend £25 on a weeks holiday.

System

Vodafone will vary between £1.60-£1 a minute for calls there.

If you are expecting many calls from your children, you can get an roaming sim.

The Story telecom ones costs a £25 top up,but incoming calls would be free and it would have an Isle of man mobile number, which is fairly cheap to call from the UK or sometimes free from mobile inclusive minutes.

http://www.storytelecom.com/roaming/

Check if your Samsung mobile phone is unlocked tho, and if you would expect to spend £25 on a weeks holiday.

redux

For just a short visit, the Etisalat SIM would probably work out cheaper than a global one

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/uae/etisalat.html

Here are the int'l charges,

Here is a bit more info on the Etisalat site
http://www.etisalat.ae/index.jsp?lang=en&type=service&contentid=ccfc28476514b010VgnVCM1000000c24a8c0RCRD&currentid=a648c15f5006b010VgnVCM1000000c24a8c0____

blackfritz

Etisalat will soon have a new competitor "Du" who I think launch end of January or early Feb. Getting a SIM over there is a pain - I have just returned from 2 months working there, lots of documentation required, copies of this and that and forms galore!
I know a lot of Hotels will "rent" you a SIM but don't know the cost.
If you are going to make a lot of calls its definitely worth getting a SIM out there. Call costs to UK on SIM are around 2 DHs a minute ( roughly 30p/min) as opposed to over £1 a minute on UK networks.
Have a good time!

qadri

or https://www.simplytravelsim.com

:beer:

black-saturn

I'm with Orange pay as you go and I was still able to make and receive calls from my mobile when I went to Egypt.