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hey all

was looking for a bit of advice re mobile phones. Would it be possible for me to pick up a pay as you go type phone while I am getting started? Also are calls expensive?

All advice appreciated

x

airyfairy wrote:hey all

was looking for a bit of advice re mobile phones. Would it be possible for me to pick up a pay as you go type phone while I am getting started? Also are calls expensive?

All advice appreciated

x

You have to buy a phone and then the pre-paid wasel cards... Thats the only way to start off...

Calls are very cheap I think... At least on a local level

Liban is right-international calls are expensive.

I disagree. International calls at least to UK are stonkingly cheap.

My UK contract phone costs me eqiv 13Dhs min, Wasel works out at 3Dhs min.

thanks all. If I arrived on a Friday would I be able to sort a phone out (ie are any shops open). Don't mean to sound ignorant - I now that Friday is the religious day so everything is shut. Does everything mean EVERYTHING? Arniegang, do think Dubai is cheaper than London?

thanks all again

Hey,

No man all the sjops are open! Dubai is liberal so Friday is THE shopping day of the week. Or if you don't want the expense of buying a new phone, bring your UK one and if it's locked to a network, one of the little backstreet mobile phone shops will unblock it for you for around 50DHs, tne you just buy the Wasel SIM card.

But don't forget for your SIM card you will need a photocopy of your passport and a copy of the visit visa page.

arniegang wrote:I disagree. International calls at least to UK are stonkingly cheap.

My UK contract phone costs me eqiv 13Dhs min, Wasel works out at 3Dhs min.

To Canada its much more than that....

Though to Lebanon, I beleive its about that amount...

thanks all, thats another one off the list x

liban

how much to canada ?

to canada I pay AED2.37/min from my mobile in Dubai. Off peak it is about 1.5. I can't believe it is that expensive in the UK AED 13 is outrageous. I use to pay about AED .03 (cdn 1 cent) to call anywhere in north America and cdn 5cents to call the UK using my CDN mobile and a calling card. For me Dubai is very expensive.

fayz wrote:to canada I pay AED2.37/min from my mobile in Dubai. Off peak it is about 1.5. I can't believe it is that expensive in the UK AED 13 is outrageous. I use to pay about AED .03 (cdn 1 cent) to call anywhere in north America and cdn 5cents to call the UK using my CDN mobile and a calling card. For me Dubai is very expensive.

I kid you not Fayz. Int calls on Vodaphone is £2.10 about 13 Dhs per min. Within UK the average cost of mobile to mobile is 40p about 3 Dhs per minute.

If you calls cost that little to Canada, why does Liban think it is so expensive. To me its as cheap as chips.

However in fairness to the UK unlike Dubai with our "contract" phones we get them FREE. IN UAE you have to pay for your phones. However our monthly cost is quite high i think. My contract is for 750 mins any network and 4 phones costs me on average £250 a month approx 1500 Dhs. But again on the other hand phones you would pay 1500-2000 Dhs, we would get free

Yes i know calls are cheap in america i visit there regular. The problem is the US like UAE have only 2G networks and considered old technology by the UK standards.

In UK we have 3G and are looking into 4G within next 18 months.

3G is far superior, for instance i can receive live video streaming, video to video calls, receive live footbal and any other sport coverage and within the last 3 months we can receive Cable TV channels on our phones. So i can now watch sky news, history and discovery channels anywhere on my phone.

I dont think dubai will have this technology for at least another 3 years.

Hey, I currently have a 3G phone, will this work in Dubai?

arniegang wrote:However in fairness to the UK unlike Dubai with our "contract" phones we get them FREE. IN UAE you have to pay for your phones. However our monthly cost is quite high i think. My contract is for 750 mins any network and 4 phones costs me on average £250 a month approx 1500 Dhs. But again on the other hand phones you would pay 1500-2000 Dhs, we would get free

Yes i know calls are cheap in america i visit there regular. The problem is the US like UAE have only 2G networks and considered old technology by the UK standards.

In Canada there is the option of getting contracts as well, many of them include free mobiles if you bind yourself for a year or 2. for comparisons sake my contract was AED 120/month (CDN 40), included unlimited evening and weekend minutes (all incoming/outgoing calls from 7pm to 7am and from Friday evening to Monday morning) plus 400 mins of calling during daytime hours, and it was 3g, although I’m old school I've never had the desire to watch tele on my phone and admiditly the 3g content was lacking, but it did exist.

I can't speak for Liban but for me UAE phone services are outrageously overpriced, they may be as cheap as chips for you but man they are way more expensive than French fries for me

Airy --> a 3g phone will work but you won't have 3g content, well very little. The thing you should make sure is that the phone isn't locked to your provider. In Canada if you get a "free" phone another phone companies SIM won't work, you have to hack the phone to remove the lock.

Compared to the 15 cents a minute I used to pay in Canada for my overseas calls, even the 1.5AED/min off peak is $$$$$$$$$$$$$....

I am going to go to dubai to have my 6-month internship in a hotel this saturday. I would like to know how much for calling to Macao from Dubai per minus? And if I bring my mobile, will it work or I need to buy a new phone?? Thanks a lot!!!!