Internet cafes ar eplentiful & cheaper than in the hotel. Wifi is widely available too & free is some places.

Calling & texting back home is expensive. If people ring your UK mobile, you will pay to receive.

The cheapest way is to take an old, unlocked handset with you & buy an Egyptian sim card; they are about 40-50LE. You then buy credit at 5,10,20,25, 50 or 200LE as well. If you haven’t got an old spare handset, you can sometimes buy one out there. There are shops & booths all over the place! The guy will set it up for you.

Ask people back home to text  on the UK one, so they aren’t paying any more than normal, then  reply on the Egyptian one, or phone them with that. The sim is usually valid for 30 days but you can get ones that last longer if you know that you will revisit Egypt in coming months. 3m ones are available.

Calls to the UK on an Egyptian Sim card cost around 4 LE a minute & texts to the UK about 50 piastres (100 piastres = 1L.E.) To keep an eye on your credit, text *868*1# & you’ll receive a text with the balance.

There are 3 companies; Vodaphone, Mobinil & Etisalat. Vodaphone is a popular one.

You may also wish to check out sites that do global sims / international calling cards, like Iphone.

There are several online companies offering special access numbers for people wishing to ring abroad from the UK so if you want people back home to have the freedom to ring your mobile at a reduced rate you may want to check some of these out, for e.g.

See here for info: http://www.0844calls.co.uk/index2.php

There are no set up or subscription costs, just enter their access number for Egypt, wait for verbal instructions & then enter the Egyptian number:

Egypt landline – 6p a minute – 0871 754 9090 followed by landline number

Egyptian mobile – 5p a minute – 0844 566 6969, then the mobile number.

Please double check with your service provider as some companies (e.g. Virgin) charge a fee, making the calls 9p per minute.