Mobile phones in South Africa

Dr Devious

How does changing a sim card work when you arrive? Will the phone work as normal when i input the local sim card, ie normal text messages and whatsapp will receive and send etc?

uck51js9zml2yt

It will be a local number and work according to the package you purchase.

Caranica

You also need to be sure your phone is unlocked so that it will recognise a sim card from another network

El Tarangu

For the data to work, you will normally need to fiddle around with the Access Point Name (APN) settings. Just google 'APN + [name of SA provider]' and it should be straightforward enough.

biko

I went in to a bricks and mortar provider with an unlocked phone and they changed the sim over and tested it for me.

Dr Devious

Thanks for your replies, so basically I'd nearly be as well off to load up with credit on my 20 quid a month vodaphone package because I'm only there for about 10 days, really only need the phone texts and a browsing.

CelticRambler

Depends on whether you're travelling and/or communicating with people in the same local area. While you might get away with being able to make a WhatsApp call over data, you wouldn't want to be dependent on it if you have to phone your accommodation for some reason.

Assuming you have an unlocked phone, you drop into the first service provider's shop you see, pick a package, buy the sim. Your phone may or may not need to have the APN set, but the salesperson should be able to do this for you if you don't want to do it yourself.

I did a trip to East Africa during the summer, used three different SIMs (plus my "home" SIM in a dual-SIM phone) and considered each one good value for money, even though I had loads of call and data credit left when I swapped each one out for the next. I don't know what it's like in South Africa, but in Kenya and Tanzania, your phone number is your default ID, and being "local" makes things a hell of a lot easier when filling in forms.

All that said, check that your phone is compatible with the SA networks! Not much point paying for a great package and finding that the phone doesn't connect to the network (something that happened to me in the US).

El Tarangu

Dr Devious wrote: »

Thanks for your replies, so basically I'd nearly be as well off to load up with credit on my 20 quid a month vodaphone package because I'm only there for about 10 days, really only need the phone texts and a browsing.

Check what vodafone charge for roaming in SA; I was outside the EU for the first time in ages lately (Serbia), and burned through €10 checking my emails in the airport.

steve-o

Dr Devious wrote: »

How does changing a sim card work when you arrive? Will the phone work as normal when i input the local sim card, ie normal text messages and whatsapp will receive and send etc?

Whatsapp will use your usual number regardless of which SIM you are using. It doesn't depend on the SIM to send and receive.

I always get local SIM when I'm outside the EU, but a new quirk is that if you plan on using your credit/debit card online then you will probably need to have your Irish SIM in the phone at that time - new banking rules mean that you are likely to need to receive an SMS with a code to confirm the transaction.

Swapping SIMs regularly is fiddly, so the best solution is if you can beg borrow or steal an old unlocked phone with the sane SIM card size, then you can put your Irish SIM in that just to be able to receive SMS and put your South African SIM in your own phone.

As El Tarangu suggested, don't even think of using your Irish SIM for data, or making or receiving calls. It will cost you more than your flights.

Caranica

steve-o wrote: »

As El Tarangu suggested, don't even think of using your Irish SIM for data, or making or receiving calls. It will cost you more than your flights.

I used Vodafone red roaming and it cost me a fiver a day that I used it (not everyday because since places had decent WiFi) for 500mb. Not ridiculously expensive. I've done the local sim in other countries but didn't have the opportunity to do it in SA and was happy enough with the price

Dr Devious

Yeah, there is a lot of hassle with changing sim cards over and back etc, based on your replies I'm leaning towards a red roaming plan with a data cap per day. Would only use it for restaurant recommendations on tripadvisor and the likes so hopefully it won't be too bad. At least with PAYG you can see quickly what your spending as against getting the bill later.

uck51js9zml2yt

Recommend you don't have your phone on show when out in public. It's liable to be stolen.

Dr Devious

Brendan Delightful Rebellion wrote: »

Recommend you don't have your phone on show when out in public. It's liable to be stolen.

I'm well aware of it and even at that its no guarantee it wouldn't happen.