A lot of people travelling from USA or UK or Australia want to keep their main phone for use and don't want to carry a secondary phones. Recently we noticed that the service from US based service provider was not working well in haram and nearby places.
We needed to have communication among our family and decided to get an e-sim for our android phones. The procedure for apple is same.
First thing, before you leave from US/UK or even from your hotel room as soon as you reach there, get your phone unlocked from your current provider. Do not try those online services, which does that for fee, most of them are scams. This is a Free service that can be done through your own cell phone service provider.
Once you have your phone unlocked, Go to Nearby Mobile Service Office Shop. Office shop means a proper office in a building where they have computers available (There are local stalls like shop as well but they only sell physical sim).
There are so many companies like STC, Zain, Mobily. We located all three next to each other closer to our hotel. They all work same and have similar plans. And for 2-3 week the usage is not so much so go for the least amount or according to your own usage. We went for the least charges for Mobily.
They gave us a barcode form of sim. You scan it with your phone and activate it right there. Its only 5 to 10 mins process but having connection with your family is such a peace of mind especially when we were separate. The service for Mobily was great, the data was enough and it covered the days we were there.
This barcode can only be activated once so make sure your phone is ready and unlocked. If you just in case need another bar code they will charge few more riyal for Sim Swap service to print you another one.
This new E-sim can be turned off anytime you want via going into Sim manager of your phone settings.
This post is solely to share our experience and assist others in making their own informed decisions. We were not compensated for this post.
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