In Egypt, cell phone are a way of life. Walking down any street, or on a crowded bus, it seems that most Egyptians are addicted to cell phones (similar to what you may find in Japan or Korea). Instead of using your phone from your home country (which often tend to carry very high roaming fees), consider obtaining an Egyptian SIM card or cheap unlocked phone. The 2 main carriers in Egypt are Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt , with UAE's Etisalat a growing 3rd player in the Egyptian market. Mobinil and Vodafone offer the best coverage, but for tourists Etisalat is the best option because it gives the most bang for your buck with minutes and seems to have the lowest calling rates abroad out of any of the 3 (a difference of paying $0.55USD per minute for a call to the States than paying $2.50 USD for using your home GSM provider on roaming).
You can find mobile dealerships in every section of Cairo (frankly, you can't avoid them), and getting set up is fairly easy. SIM cards for any of the 3 providers go for about 5-20 LE (about 1 to 5 USD). You will need to bring your identification (its recommended to bring a copy of your ID, as you may not want someone walking off with your passport in a shady shop to make a copy). If you don't have an unlocked phone, many shops will sell cheap older models (usually Nokia phones) as secondhand phones. But beware, make sure that the phone is fully functional before purchasing it, and buying a used one is at your own risk (as a good percentage of these tend to be stolen ones).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cairo
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Cairo - updated Apr 2024
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Cairo Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
