How should I handle phonecalls while traveling in S Africa?
June 17, 2010 5:33 PM Subscribe
I'm an American traveling to South Africa for 2 weeks. What are my phone options?
I have never been and am wondering if I will still have iPhone service in Jo-burg, Rustenberg, etc, via AT&T/Edge? I would just be texting/calling friends in SA, not back in the USA. Will the service just be more expensive, or do I actually need to get a separate Vodaphone or something for use while I'm there?
I have never been and am wondering if I will still have iPhone service in Jo-burg, Rustenberg, etc, via AT&T/Edge? I would just be texting/calling friends in SA, not back in the USA. Will the service just be more expensive, or do I actually need to get a separate Vodaphone or something for use while I'm there?
If you want to use your iphone, you'll have to unlock it and get a sim card when you arrive. As far as I know, it's fairly easy to get a sim - you'll obviously want to go for prepaid, and you can add balance just about anywhere - a friend typically adds to his balance at Woolie's. There have been recent changes in the law that make buying a sim a little more annoying, though - they're meant to prevent anonymous cell phones, and apparently require Name/Address/Passport # from foreigners. I'm not exactly sure how heavily that's enforced, though.
You can also rent sim cards and phones - there's a shop in Cape Town International, and I would imagine there's one in the Joburg airport as well. Some car hires offer them when you rent your car.
This thread seems to cover all your possibilities pretty well.
posted by god hates math at 8:39 PM on June 17, 2010
You can also rent sim cards and phones - there's a shop in Cape Town International, and I would imagine there's one in the Joburg airport as well. Some car hires offer them when you rent your car.
This thread seems to cover all your possibilities pretty well.
posted by god hates math at 8:39 PM on June 17, 2010
The good news is that the iPhone (3G and 3GS) comprises the 2100 HSPA band which is the one that South African 3G providers use. So you would not only have GSM 2G service but also, in principle, 3G. The issue is how you access it. If you're going to be making local calls and texts and can do without data (I'd just save that for wifi), then I suggest you take k8t's suggestion and get the iPhone unlocked, and then purchase a local SIM card on arrival in ZA. You can also get a SIM and data but you have to unlock the phone in any event.
The thing is that unlocking an iPhone isn't like unlocking any other phones where you either insert an alien SIM and enter a simple code (motorolas are amazingly easy for this) or else enter an unlock code after first entering a special sequence of keystrokes as with Nokia and Blackberry phones. iPhones entail a complex sequence of idiotic requirements, including getting apps for this and that, but you should go this route; every SIM-card based phone owner should unlock his phone IMO. Just start now to ensure it's unlocked on arrival.
If for some reason you don't want to unlock your iPhone, don't just head there and start making calls roaming. It's going to cost you insane dollars. Either buy an unlocked phone before you leave- you can get a simple quad-band (MAKE SURE IT'S QUAD BAND) model for $50 or less in the US- or else just buy a prepaid phone in ZA.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 8:50 PM on June 17, 2010
The thing is that unlocking an iPhone isn't like unlocking any other phones where you either insert an alien SIM and enter a simple code (motorolas are amazingly easy for this) or else enter an unlock code after first entering a special sequence of keystrokes as with Nokia and Blackberry phones. iPhones entail a complex sequence of idiotic requirements, including getting apps for this and that, but you should go this route; every SIM-card based phone owner should unlock his phone IMO. Just start now to ensure it's unlocked on arrival.
If for some reason you don't want to unlock your iPhone, don't just head there and start making calls roaming. It's going to cost you insane dollars. Either buy an unlocked phone before you leave- you can get a simple quad-band (MAKE SURE IT'S QUAD BAND) model for $50 or less in the US- or else just buy a prepaid phone in ZA.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 8:50 PM on June 17, 2010
I'll paste what I wrote to a friend who recently asked me a similar question:
You can get a prepaid sim card from many places, including many supermarkets. The sim card itself should be less than R10. MTN and Vodacom are the two major providers (there are a couple of others).
There is now an activation process since they introduced the mandatory registration (called RICA). For locals we need to now show proof of ID and address. For foreigners a passport should be sufficient.
You can see the data prices here at http://www.mtn.co.za/FindaPlan/Pages/DataBun.aspx .
Common packages are (as of June 2010):
R189 for 500MB
R289 for 1 GB
R389 for 2 GB
To buy a data bundle, you just buy credit for your cellphone as normal and then convert it to data by dialling 141 (MTN). The shop assistant should be able to help you with this.
The speed is pretty good if you're in an area with good 3G signal. This will obviously depend from place to place, being better in the urban areas.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 12:03 AM on June 18, 2010
You can get a prepaid sim card from many places, including many supermarkets. The sim card itself should be less than R10. MTN and Vodacom are the two major providers (there are a couple of others).
There is now an activation process since they introduced the mandatory registration (called RICA). For locals we need to now show proof of ID and address. For foreigners a passport should be sufficient.
You can see the data prices here at http://www.mtn.co.za/FindaPlan/Pages/DataBun.aspx .
Common packages are (as of June 2010):
R189 for 500MB
R289 for 1 GB
R389 for 2 GB
To buy a data bundle, you just buy credit for your cellphone as normal and then convert it to data by dialling 141 (MTN). The shop assistant should be able to help you with this.
The speed is pretty good if you're in an area with good 3G signal. This will obviously depend from place to place, being better in the urban areas.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 12:03 AM on June 18, 2010
You have most of the relevant info above. When you arrive in Joburg just head for the Sandton Mall and hit up the Vodacom shop there (upper level, near the parking garage). You can get their cheapest unlocked Nokia for like $30 USD (whatever that comes to in Rand) and they'll toss a SIM in it for you and some credit if you ask for that too. Battery will last for freakin ever, and you can use the phone in any other country you travel to in the future. It will be way cheaper than using your US phone, FYI.
posted by allkindsoftime at 12:46 AM on June 18, 2010
posted by allkindsoftime at 12:46 AM on June 18, 2010
I should've prefaced my answer above with the fact that my friend was also interested in using data here. You can ignore the part about data packages if you won't be using it much. Also, you can use the internet without any of the prepaid data bundles, but your cost per MB is much higher.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 1:33 AM on June 18, 2010
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 1:33 AM on June 18, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by k8t at 5:42 PM on June 17, 2010