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Mobile Phones and Contracts in Qatar

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66

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 31 March 2012 - 09:51

There are QTel shops in both Villagio and Landmark, actually probably in all the malls. You can go there to buy a sim card. Local call costs are more on hala card as compared to their shahry contracts. However, I did find out recently that overseas calls are cheaper on a hala card than on a post paid shahry contract. it's only 0.66 riyal per minute to call abroad on a hala card. On Shahry, it is qr1.50 per minute for 1st 5 mins and then you get the next 5 mins free. Strange tariffs!!!

8

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 30 March 2012 - 18:12

Thanks for that Gail. Both my husband and I have RPs so that won't be a problem. I didn't know you could get the phone contracts in C4 so that's a help knowing that. We currently have qtel pay as you go but wanting to get an iPhone here on a contract but didn't know how to go about it.

198

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 29 March 2012 - 08:41

You need to buy the phone and sim separately. I used an old phone with a hala top up card to start with, you can get the hala cards in all the malls. I then got a new phone and contract both in C4, where they seem to have Qtel and vodafone booths so you can choose. To get a contract you need RP, so my phone contract is in DH's name.

8

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 28 March 2012 - 21:39

Just regarding contracts out here - can anyone tell me how you go about it... Do you buy the phone first then get a contact sim card to put in it separately or do you get it all together as a package (phone & sim)?? Thanks for your help.

11

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 26 March 2012 - 01:52

Thnks all for the info - ideas are much appreciated by a newbie !

453

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 24 March 2012 - 11:09

We had a magic jack sent to us after we arrived and use it to hook up to one of our laptops. For $95 US for 5 years we can call back to Canada free of charge. That's a lot of talking! It also gives us a local number in Canada that we can use when needed...

676

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EW GURU

Latest post on 24 March 2012 - 11:02

I call my parents' landline (and a few friends who refuse to join the 21st century) using Skype Credit. The cost is based on the country you're calling to (UK/US/Oz all same price), and whenever it gets down to £1 left, it auto recharges and puts another £10 of credit my UK credit card. This works out to about every 6 months for me, so is cheaper than buying their unlimited call packages.

171

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 24 March 2012 - 10:15

I came here from USA and had a skype account, costing 7$ a month which gives unlimited landline calls to a country of your choice....kept it going so I can phone Uk. Might be worth looking into seeing if you can set this up....need it for both sets of parents and a couple of friends so well worth it. Used a USA credit card....not sure how it goes with that side.

11

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 24 March 2012 - 03:35

Thank you for these responses. I am planning to mainly skype / facebook to keep in contact with home, but for parents I will be calling home. It sounds quite cheap - I just wanted to get a handle on how much it is likely to cost and whether it was going to be outrageously expensive - your answers have reassured me that it will be similar to UK. Thx..

171

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 March 2012 - 12:27

When I had skype issues earlier this year, I checked with QTel to see what would be the cheapest way to call UK. Landline was approx 3 QR peak times and 1.5QR off peak per minute.....using prepaid mobile was 66 dirhams per minute.....mainly because they have more deals on international calls from a mobile phone.

697

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 22 March 2012 - 11:08

I found the vodaphone qatar plan complicated as there doesn't seem to be a way for you to "go over" on your pay monthly plan as it just resets the monthly value. The pay as you go plan seems to do a lot of if you pay this amount - you get this amount free - and I just can't be asked to figure out what is going on. The Qtel pay monthly plan (shahry) is very straightforward and similar to say O2 in the UK. My plan is 200 QR for 700 min, 100 text and I think 100 mb of data. It's not really a lot of texts so the fact that you are going to keep the BB for BBM is a good idea. Lot's of people here use apps like Viber or Whatsapp for messaging over data. The international min to the UK are cheap considering they are cheaper than calling an 0845 in the UK! We don't use them often to call intl but for the odd holiday or bday call to the grandparents, I never really notice it on the bill (and I am a really frugal). :)

616

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 20 March 2012 - 11:50

Might be an obvious point but when Safiya says Vodaphone she means 'Vodaphone Qatar' obviously related to the UK Vodaphone but a different company. Your UK Vodaphone phone will need to be unlocked to take a Vodaphone Qatar SIM. Re international calls - umm what's cheap? They're not rediculously expensive (don't know exact prices) but I don't make a habit of calling from my phone!

11

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 March 2012 - 00:07

Thank you for this info - I might stick with Vodafone then!

Safiya Dafiya43781

121

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 19 March 2012 - 08:55

I have a BB, went with Qtel when we first came over to Doha but have since changed to Vodafone as they have a cheaper monthly rate.

16

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 19 March 2012 - 08:30

Check www.qtel.qa Qtel is the telecom provider in Qatar.

11

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 19 March 2012 - 02:28

Ladies hope you can help - I am planning on keeping my iphone for calls and also getting a blackberry for BBM when I come to Qatar. Can anyone recommend a supplier? Are international calls (to UK) cheap when in Qatar? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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