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Cell phone in Tanzania



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 2nd, 2004, 05:18 PM
Lola C.
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Default Cell phone in Tanzania

Hi there,

I'll be in Tanzania for a couple of weeks and I was thinking on
bringing my GSM phone and buying a Tanzanian pre-paid card to be
reacheable. I'll be travelling in the Northern parks, in Selous and in
Zanzibar.

- How would the coverage be? I'd expect none while 'deep' in the parks
but what about around the lodges?
- Any recommendation on which company (Celtel?/Vodaphone?) is better?

Thanks to all,

Lola C.
  #3  
Old May 3rd, 2004, 04:13 PM
Jarna Sunell
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Default Cell phone in Tanzania

I'll be in Tanzania for a couple of weeks and I was thinking on
bringing my GSM phone and buying a Tanzanian pre-paid card to be
reacheable. I'll be travelling in the Northern parks, in Selous and in
Zanzibar.

- How would the coverage be? I'd expect none while 'deep' in the parks
but what about around the lodges?
- Any recommendation on which company (Celtel?/Vodaphone?) is better?



My own experience from Kenya is that my German mobile phone
works fine without a local card and that local calls inside
Kenya are cheaper than calls from Kenya to back home. Also SMS
is quite cheap for my taste. Check the tarriffs.

And the price didn't even play much of a role, because I needed
the phone only for emergencies and to coordinate meeting points,
for which I needed only short calls.

Hans-Georg


Like Hans-Georg,

I would be quite confident that your home card will do fine. I was
trekking in Kilimanjaro in February, and while I did not take the cell
phone with me, my travelling companions did. The coverage was ok, not as
good as back home, but it was possible to call at least in the hotel and
lodge areas. Even at the high slopes of Kili, there was relatively good
coverage - is was actually quite annoying. Beeb, beeb would the text
messages come through at camp sites at 4000+ meters after the Finnish
trekkers had put their cellphones on... and all of them used their
normal Finnish cards.

Better to send text messages - calling from Tanzania is not cheap and
the messages are stored until you or the receiver has the opportunity to
read them. Of course, if using the home card calling a fellow traveller
in the next hotel room is not cheap because the call will have to go
through the operator at home.

/ Jarna
  #4  
Old May 4th, 2004, 12:18 PM
Rita Daggett
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Default Cell phone in Tanzania

"Hans-Georg Michna" wrote in message
But just one remark---you My own experience from Kenya is that my German
mobile phone
works fine without a local card and that local calls inside
Kenya are cheaper than calls from Kenya to back home. Also SMS
is quite cheap for my taste. Check the tarriffs.

Our experience (admittedly in 2002 I think) was the opposite; Vodaphone
phone (with roaming) didnt work in Kenya (Nairobi) but did in Tanzania (near
Arusha). When we were at Kirawira, the Serena Lodge in the north (west?)
Serengeti, a mobile phone aerial was being installed on a nearby hill but
I've no idea what network(s) - up to then it was only radio phone link from
there to anywhere else.
--
Rita Daggett


  #5  
Old May 4th, 2004, 04:42 PM
Lola C.
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Default Cell phone in Tanzania

Many thanks to both!!

I had already seen another post from Hans-Georg about using roaming
but wanted to have some info on using Tanzanian cards. You can decide
the cost in advance and with a 'free' phone should also work
flawlessly.

Jarna Sunell wrote in message ...
coverage - is was actually quite annoying. Beeb, beeb would the text
messages come through at camp sites at 4000+ meters after the Finnish
trekkers had put their cellphones on... and all of them used their
normal Finnish cards.


I see the major drawbacks of too much communication: we can easily
‘contaminate' these magnificent natural scenarios !!!

Lola C.
  #6  
Old May 4th, 2004, 06:22 PM
nTZ
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Default Cell phone in Tanzania

The problem I found in Kenya was that two networks used different access
codes- one used +, the other 00, I forget which was which. Once resolved a
UK Orange phone worked well in Kenya and Tanzania.

Tanzania has several competing networks, with Vodafone the strongest.
Coverage is growing all the time. Very good in the Arusha area and most of
the way out to the Ngorongoro. Two years ago coverage was only as far as
the park gates. Last Oct there was a mast (and reception) on the crater
rim, and a relay mast providing reception in some places in the Serengeti.

Be prepared for no reception in the Selous, but Zanzibar should be OK.

I tried to buy a TZ sim card in Arusha, but it didn't work with my UK Orange
phone. Should be fine if you have a Vodafone phone.

TZ card will provide cheap SMS and local calls, but may be just as expensive
as your home card if you are wanting to call out of the country.

Like Hans-Georg I found text to be very efficient and cheap for
sending/receiving messages home, and I was happy to pay lots for the
occasional local call - it was still cheaper than buying a phone to take the
TZ cards. SMS is also used extensively within TZ - people are used to
sending and receiving text, but always best to check that the person you are
sending to checks their phone for messages.

But when you are out in the bush, try hard to leave your phone and your
watch behind. Keep your beep beeps and your ring tones to your hotel room -
they do not mix well with bird song and hyena laughs.

David



"Rita Daggett" wrote in message
...
"Hans-Georg Michna" wrote in message

But just one remark---you My own experience from Kenya is that my German
mobile phone
works fine without a local card and that local calls inside
Kenya are cheaper than calls from Kenya to back home. Also SMS
is quite cheap for my taste. Check the tarriffs.

Our experience (admittedly in 2002 I think) was the opposite; Vodaphone
phone (with roaming) didnt work in Kenya (Nairobi) but did in Tanzania

(near
Arusha). When we were at Kirawira, the Serena Lodge in the north (west?)
Serengeti, a mobile phone aerial was being installed on a nearby hill but
I've no idea what network(s) - up to then it was only radio phone link

from
there to anywhere else.
--
Rita Daggett






  #7  
Old May 5th, 2004, 08:12 AM
Hans-Georg Michna
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Default Cell phone in Tanzania

"nTZ" wrote:

But when you are out in the bush, try hard to leave your phone and your
watch behind. Keep your beep beeps and your ring tones to your hotel room -
they do not mix well with bird song and hyena laughs.


David,

or perhaps take them with you for emergencies, but switch the
sound or the whole device off.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.
  #8  
Old May 11th, 2004, 11:12 PM
Mathias Kussinger
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Default Cell phone in Tanzania

Lola C. wrote:
Hi there,

I'll be in Tanzania for a couple of weeks and I was thinking on
bringing my GSM phone and buying a Tanzanian pre-paid card to be
reacheable. I'll be travelling in the Northern parks, in Selous and in
Zanzibar.

- How would the coverage be? I'd expect none while 'deep' in the parks
but what about around the lodges?
- Any recommendation on which company (Celtel?/Vodaphone?) is better?

Thanks to all,

Lola C.


Hi Lola,

i don't know about the north, but in the south west the road from
Dar to Mbeya is covered. At Selous will have no coverage, even at the
outskirts.

Bying a local card is a good idea, much cheaper than the roaming
costs of your card.

- Mathias

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