Prepaid 4G SIM card in Egypt: how much does it cost? Where to buy it?
Being taken care of by our tourist agency upon arrival at the airport, we had the good surprise to be offered a SIM card upon arrival containing 3 GB of data.
Buying a SIM card at the airport: it’s theft!
As we like you, dear readers, we still inquired about how to buy a SIM card at the airport.
In our case (Luxor airport), it’s very simple, since a Vodafone stand is present in the area where we pick up our luggage.
It’s very simple but expensive, judge for yourself:
3 GB for € 17 + € 5 SIM card: for Egypt, it’s theft!
Unless you need the Internet right away, we recommend that you wait until you get to town to buy a SIM card.
Note: as a comment, we are told that the rates are softer at Orange, still at Luxor airport.
Buying a SIM card in the city in a Vodafone store
Since we wanted to blog during our 12 days of travel, we thought that 3Gb wouldn’t be enough and went looking for a Vodafone store (just type Vodafone on Google Maps to find the nearest store).
- Attention n°1: you must absolutely have your passport to buy one.
- Attention n°2 : the prices indicated are exclusive of tax. And we are talking about 50% tax, so ask for the price “with tax”.
Rates 2018
Here are the prices we found in November 2018 in a Vodafone store in town.
These are prices including all taxes and *the purchase of the SIM card*
- 1.8 GB: 123 LE
- 2.5 GB: 138 LE
- 4 GB : 148 LE
- 6 GB: 177 LE
- 8 GB: 205 LE
- 12 GB: 277 LE
Well, so we took 12 Gb 😀
So 3 GB at the airport cost 440 LE.
12 GB in the city cost 277 LE.
lol
How do I reload a SIM card?
To recharge your SIM card, you must go to a Vodafone store or a phone store like you can find everywhere. Indicate the credit you want and give your phone number.
Specify to the seller that you want to use your credit for internet. He will subscribe to the right offer to turn your credit into data.
Unless you read Arabic, it seems impossible to choose the offer by yourself, nothing is indicated in English.
In addition, we advise you not to top up if your balance isn’t yet exhausted, it seems that a top up will erase the remaining credit (not sure about this information, it may be an impression).
What about flow?
The flow is very good, we had an average of 19 mo/s going down and 22 mo/s going up, the best.
To our surprise, the coverage seems very good as well. We used the SIM during our cruise on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan and we did not experience any interruption.
On the other hand, on the road in the desert between Aswan and Abu Simbel, it is more complicated, no network 😀
To know more about it
All our articles on Egypt (budget, addresses, travel books) are to be consulted here
Hotels we recommend in Egypt :
- In Cairo: don’t sleep in the city center, but just in front of the Sphinx in Giza, we recommend the Egypt Pyramids Inn (link Booking), located right in front of the light show. From your room you can see the Sphinx staring at you
- The mythical Mena House (Booking link), which overlooks the Great Pyramid, also in Giza
- In Luxor: the mythical Winter Palace (link Booking) is a must, you must choose the historical wing, 6mn walk from the Luxor temple, you can make the night visit quietly. More info on this
Do not go to Egypt without reading our FULL GUIDE:
