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Does anyone know if a wasal prepaid sim card is charged for receiving calls when roaming abroad, or is only to make calls?

Wasel (pre-paid) roams by default as long as you have enough credit. To receive calls & SMS for sure it can. For making calls when roaming, I haven't tried it.

Post-paid doesn't roam by default. You need to make deposit of 2000 AED to enable it.

xty wrote:Wasel (pre-paid) roams by default as long as you have enough credit. To receive calls & SMS for sure it can. For making calls when roaming, I haven't tried it.

Post-paid doesn't roam by default. You need to make deposit of 2000 AED to enable it.

You mean I can just go to Saudi and Oman and I'll still receive calls? Interesting. Although once we were stranded in Oman and I think we were not able to make calls though (or maybe we just saw the Oman Mobile logo and didn't try, I don't remember).

gtmash wrote:

xty wrote:Wasel (pre-paid) roams by default as long as you have enough credit. To receive calls & SMS for sure it can. For making calls when roaming, I haven't tried it.

Post-paid doesn't roam by default. You need to make deposit of 2000 AED to enable it.

You mean I can just go to Saudi and Oman and I'll still receive calls? Interesting. Although once we were stranded in Oman and I think we were not able to make calls though (or maybe we just saw the Oman Mobile logo and didn't try, I don't remember).

You certainly do get charged for receiving calls, and it is not cheap.

I was in London last week, made and received about 10 phonecalls and it cost over 200 dirhams.

Thanks Bleakus BTW, you owe me about 4 dirhams... lol!

It's bloody expensive and you can't send SMS messages.

Chocoholic wrote:It's bloody expensive and you can't send SMS messages.

You can now.

you can even make fone calls.

I believe if you register with Etisalat the country youre visiting, you can make calls. You are charged about 20% + intl charges - Outrageous...

I know you can make phone calls, but can never figure out how to SMS, it just never works.

Chocoholic wrote:I know you can make phone calls, but can never figure out how to SMS, it just never works.

It just works for me. I don't do anything different, just make sure you're roaming with O2 or Vodaphone in the UK, not Orange or T-Mobile.

Never go to the UK, don't know about that. But in Egypt, Lebanon, Bahrain etc you can't text, only call.

All depends on the service provider chocs. Also, for post paid if its under a corporate account you don't have to put down the 2k deposit for roaming - just call to activate.

Under Wasl you can call whilst roaming now, which is great. But it would be better if I could SMS, but it's not possible.

here is a list of countries and what roaming services are available:

http://www.etisalat.ae/assets/downloads ... nglist.pdf

Chocoholic wrote:Under Wasl you can call whilst roaming now, which is great. But it would be better if I could SMS, but it's not possible.

No, no I was referring to the service provider you pick up whilst roaming with regards to your sms services.

XRW-147 wrote:Also, for post paid if its under a corporate account you don't have to put down the 2k deposit for roaming - just call to activate.

Only when the company is owned by UAE national.
I have corporate number but owned by expat (office in DIC).

From Etisalat site:
How to Subscribe

UAE Nationals:
International Roaming is automatically provided to all UAE nationals subscribing to our Postpaid service, as well as to companies fully owned by UAE nationals

Expatriates: Non-UAE nationals and companies not fully owned by UAE nationals have to apply to use the service. AED 2000 is required as a security deposit. Your deposit is refundable at the time of cancellation/disconnection of the International Roaming Service.
Alternatively, you may present a bank guarantee or company guarantee at any Etisalat branch before using the service.

Thanks for elaborating xty, but you still don't have to pay 2k - company guarantee suffices.