Ok so I have a phone that is able to get all international bands...whatever that means. lol

I want to make a call to Egypt but I have no clue how. Do I have to call cingular first to turn on the international do-hicky thing or can I just make the call?

When I called Egypt, I used an AT&T phone card. After entering all the numbers, I dialed:

011 (international dialing code) 20 (country code) 40 (Tanta city code, which is odd, since the code for Mahalla is 43, but meh)

Check this out - http://www.countrycallingcodes.com/

Definately call your cellphone provider and have them walk you through it. For Sprint, I needed to pay a monthly fee if I wanted to dial internationally. Tamer just uses Skype to call home.

I PAY EXTRA INTERNATIONAL FEE TO CINGULAR TAKES COUPLE DAYS TO TURN ON

I believe a phone card would be cheaper. My cell company charges $1.99 per minute to Egypt. The phone cards I use only charge $0.10 per minute.

Ok this was a stupid post. lol. I just remembered that someone here told me about pingo.com so I just used it. It's a local number so you don't need to activate anything.

I think I'll have to call cingular before I go to Egypt though.

Thanks.

I was gonna say the same thing.

Sure, you can do that . . .just be aware that you probably will get dinged big time for roaming fees . . .long way to roam from home!!

I got a sim card in egypt for one of my old phones . . . so i actually have an egyptian number but i think it might be expiring soon since no one has used it since March, LOL!!!

If you use your cell from Egypt you're going to get HAMMERED with the cost.

Actually PINGO has a local Egyptian number that I would call, so it wouldn't be bad I don't think. Just local minutes, but then I could be wrong. I usually am.

Does anyone know...when a pingo call says "this person is unavailable" does that mean it was a busy signal or does it mean that the phone is out of order?

What phone card is that? does it have connection charges?

NOpe. It's 98 cents/month and .18/minute USA to Egypt.




wow that's cheap! What card is that?

I used Africall and it's pretty good... of course my phone company, Vonage, only charges me like 28 cent per minute to Libya so it's not too bad... I believe it's cheaper to Egypt but I'm not sure.

I use a card called STI Michigan Plus. For $5 I can talk for 49.30 minutes or something to that effect. That's if I call Mohamed's mobile..if I call the home I get about 10 less minutes. It's only offered in Michigan but other states may have the same thing. I buy mine at a few gasstations around town and the MidEastern markets. There are no connection fees but they do have a weekly fee if you don't use the card within the same week...yeah right like that would ever happen.

Yes most cell companies charge a lot unless you sign up for a plan. Verizon claims they charge $0.20/min to RP if you pay $3.99/month. Sprint has something similar with even better rates to RP I think. Qwest told me $0.16 land line and $0.21 to cell phone.

Did you check your usage to see if they are really charging you $0.10/min to Egypt? The sad truth about calling cards is that you NEVER get the advertised rate, especially if you are calling a cell phone destination. If you check the burn rate you will find you are paying a lot more than the advertised rate.

I just tried the Smart Phone Card from www.ppoutlet.com and they actually charge you what they advertise.

https://www.ppoutlet.com/prepaid

https://www.ppoutlet.com/prepaid/rates/

With call records for your VISA evidence too!

When I dial the number it claims I have 1 hr 12 mins but actually it ends up being 49.30 or so minutes which is still great for $5. Once the card runs out I throw it away and use another. I prefer this to using a long distance rate plan. That way the amount of money I spend for calls is more controlled.

I have t-mobile quad band which allows me to receive and make calls anywhere in the world. BUT I had to first call t-mobile to activate international roaming otherwise my ohone would not work. Using the phone this way was $3 a minute.



another option is ifyour phone has a sim card. you can temporarily replace your sim card with a local sim card and make cals using the loacl phone system. Of course your mobile phone must be unlocked for the new sim card to work.

If anyone is looking for a reliable calling card try www.stsprepaid.com , they have a large variety and I have seen Egypt as low as 6.9cents per min. Try to get a card that has no connection fee and per minute billing.




#1 choice for me!

Yep, that's what I had done while in Egypt . . . but with an old phone that I was no longer using . . . just in case. But a co-worker (has the same model of samsung that I do) did it with the one he currently uses and has no problem.

I have t-mobile too and it is expensive to get/make those calls . . . but it a pinch it is fine. Of course, I do a log of txt msgs!!

Cell phone reception in Egypt sucks. Toss in that today is feast there and EVERYONE is on their phones you most likely can't get through. We were going through this nonsense last night and I know tonight will be impossible.

When I was using PINGO and got this recording, sometimes Khalld was just in an area that was bad and the call could not get to him, or the call actually didn't go through. PINGO really was my favorite means of calling him while he was still in Egypt.

try www.ppoutlet.com they have fantastic deals and soooooooooo many cards with no connection fees...

Ya. I am using ppoutlet Smart Phone Card
https://www.ppoutlet.com/prepaid/
and so far I like it. They actually charge you what they advertise.

make sure you have a plan to call egypt on your cell..
other wise the bill can be something ugly.
I called pakistan on my phone the fking call cost me $25.00 per min . thats not a made up figure either!
I was not happy..


I also use ppoutlet.
Have been for nearly 2 years now. excellent company..

I have the sony ericson 600i which has all the bands you can get. Where would I get a local SIM card?

In country....

gee thanks i never would have thought of that.

i meant where in Cairo but nevermind.

Cingular's "WorldConnect" rate to Egypt is 38 cents/minute to a landline, and 39 cents/minute to a cell phone. World Connect is $3.99/month. I use my cell to call Sian in the UK all the time. 1) It's more convenient 2) I hate entering numbers and more numbers 3) Did I mention it's convenient?

Of course, calling the UK is only 6 cents/minute, too....

Still, I would get WorldConnect on your phone. Then if you *have* to call, you can. For the record, the "standard" rate to the UK - not using WorldConnect - is $1.50/minute. The "standard" rate to Egypt is $2.69/minute. I would DEFINITELY get WorldConnect on your phone.

Does your phone have a sin card inside that is removeable? If so then you can buy a sim card when you traveling and insert it in where your card goes. BUT the new new sim card will not work if your phone is locked. You can get information about unocking the phone from different websites online if it is locked.

I don't know what cairo is like but wherever I have travelled they are simply available everywhere. Kiosks, street vendors, convienience store, internet cafes, cell telephone vendors... just about everywhere. There is the initial sim card to purchase and then yo buy refillable minutes....

When I bought it on ebay it was listed as being unlocked. Don't know if it's now locked or not but I'll check it out, thanks.

Then it's probably unocked and you should have no problems. Good luck

It should still be "unlocked". Usually if you get your phone from t-mobile/cingular/etc it is "Locked" by them.

Like someone else said, you can probably go to any mobile kiosk/shop and get a sim card. I had Ahmed do all of that for me since it was easier, hehe . . . he had to do all the running around (while I got to go shopping) . . . plus he was good at checking how much time I had left. He had to re-charge it for me and made a comment about how I was talking alot .