Let me remind you of the main things you need to know about the Internet and communications in Egypt:
– there is no unlimited internet in Egypt
– there are four mobile operators in Egypt – We (a brand of the state-owned company Egypt Telecom), Etisalat, Orange, Vodafone.
At the airport, there are four operators at the counters in front of the exit.
We and Etisalat offer the following tariffs:
Orange
Everything is strange with Vodafone. Prices are only in Euros, only two tariffs are offered, and 120 GB is two separate SIM cards, 60 GB each
If you are flying to Egypt for a week, take 18-20 GB. At first glance, this may seem like a lot, but as practice shows, tourists usually use about 15 “Egyptian” gigabytes per week.
If you are staying for a month or more, it makes sense to take the We Club 100 tariff for 210 pounds, and then after the traffic runs out, think about what to do next. By the way, about pounds. At the airport, prices are written in dollars and euros, and in pounds in small print. It is more profitable to exchange dollars at a bank window, where you will buy a visa for $25, and pay for the seven in pounds.
Two unpleasant features of buying a SIM card at the airport:
– the SIM card will not work immediately. The wait can be from fifteen minutes to a day. The reason is that to speed up the process, they sell unactivated SIM cards at the airport and scan passports, and only then, when the flow of people from the next flight subsides, they begin to slowly enter data into the database and activate the SIM cards. In order for the SIM card to work after activation, you must turn off and on the smartphone.
– the SIM card may be registered to a third party (another tourist from your flight). Some unscrupulous employees enter data into the database at random, simply take a bunch of scanned passports and enter their data into the database to random SIM cards sold. You arrived for less than 28 days, if the period of stay is longer, there may be a problem.
A SIM card purchased at the airport is automatically blocked after 30 days – this is the validity period of a tourist visa (a SIM card purchased at an operator’s office in the city will also be disabled as soon as the visa expires). If you extend your visa, you must visit the operator’s office and ask to update your visa details so that the SIM card is not blocked. This is where problems will arise if the SIM card is not issued to you. I hope these problems are resolved and you will not have to buy a new SIM card.
The cost of a SIM card without any tariff is 85 pounds and is added to the cost of the tariff upon purchase.
All prices on operators’ websites are listed without taxes. This means that a SIM card with a tariff of 100 pounds is sold for 210 pounds.
If you bought a We SIM card, you will need two USSD commands:
*414# – shows the remaining packages. Usually the remaining Internet package is displayed immediately, but if only the remaining minutes and SMS are displayed, enter 0 and press Enter – the remaining Internet package will be displayed. All texts will be in Arabic (even if you set English in your personal account). You can take a screenshot and “feed” the pictures to Google Translate, but in general everything is clear there.
*688# – shows your number. Knowing the number, you can register from your personal account or mobile application, and also share this number with local residents so that they can call you without the Internet.
The My WE app does not work on all smartphones. If your app shows the first screen, hangs there for a long time, and then says there is no internet connection, change the language in your smartphone settings to another language. The app will start.