Having been in the UK all of my adult life, I found it rather odd when I moved to the UAE that I couldn’t walk into a supermarket, pick up a sim card, buy some credit and make my first call.
Here in the Emirates, there are only two mobile phone providers, Etisalat and Du. Etisalat is older and more established as a provider, so can in some caes have a more refined service. Du, however, can have seemingly better and cheaper offers, in the name of ‘competition.’
Both are also providers for home broadband, home telephone line and television services.
Both providers are divided across the country more or less equally, which means certain areas have better signal with Etisalat and other areas have better signal with Du. This is apparently going to change very soon, we shall see. Most people I know tend to have two mobile phones for this purpose, one for each provider. I have two phones too, except one provider is for work and the other is for family and friends. I chose Etisalat as my ‘work’ provider solely because it is more reliable and even in ‘non-etisalat areas’ you can still get a reasonable signal, and this isn’t always the case with du. Du is used for my family and friends because it has slightly cheaper rates and can be better value for money, if you get a signal.
PAY AS YOU GO VS DIRECT DEBIT
If you would like a pay as you go option, you will need to a Du or Etisalat stall either in a mall, or if you really can’t wait-there should be both at the airport when you land. You will need your passport and must fill in a form. A photocopy of your passport will be taken, and you can be on your way. One of the issues with this is you cannot top up over the phone if you’re in a fix, and sometimes supermarkets or cornershops have run out of top-up. You can top up online, if the website is working, though both Etisalat and Du seem to have frequent issues. Friends can transfer credit to you using *100*yournumber*amount#
Direct debit is much easier, though it also comes with its issues. When you sign up to a contract, you do not get a free phone and the free minutes and sms are paltry when compared to overseas providers. But at the same time you wont run out of credit, so it makes sense to go direct debit. To do this, you will need a UAE-issued debit or credit card and your passport and UAE visa. Copies of all will be taken, a form will be filled and you can go on your way. It does involve standing in a long queue, so be prepared for this.
Once all the paperwork is done, it could take anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 hours for your sim to work. In a lot of cases, the pay as you go starts working quicker, but this isn’t a rule set in stone.
All of the above may seem quite negative but living in the UAE can be fun! There’s constant sunshine, amazing food and restaurants from around the world, cleanliness everywhere you go, brilliant concerts, mosques in every mall, most weekends are infected with a holiday atmosphere and where else in the world is it totally normal for practically every woman who lives here to get manicures, pedicures and massages every week? Also, being a woman is advantageous because in most government offices, there is a separate queue for women which is much shorter and makes your life much easier. AND everyone delivers to your door! Pizza companies, supermarkets, even some branches of Starbucks!
The best part of the UAE, and one I will miss immensely when I go back to England is the safety. There is no violence to fear here- to illustrate that car theft is classified by the police as a ‘major crime’.
So while I’m sure a lot of my posts will probably sound quite aggravated, it’s not all that bad.
In my next post, I’ll cover rent prices and places to stay.
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