I don’t know about you, but I get scared and anxious if I feel for a minute that I can’t communicate with anyone; that’s why in every country I travel to, the first thing I do is buy a SIM card and connect to the Internet.
The trip to Dubai was the same for me, so when I arrived at Dubai airport, my first question to the airport staff was, Can I buy a sim card at the Dubai airport? What do you think their answer was? In the rest of this article, I have investigated this issue.
Can I buy a sim card at the Dubai airport?
Table of Contents
If you read the article “What to do at Dubai Airport,” you will understand that Dubai Airport has many facilities, one of which is free and paid SIM card kiosks.
But it is not as easy as I said; the wide variety of SIM card sales companies and how to buy them may be complicated for some people.
Therefore, I am going to explain to you from the moment I arrived at the airport to the moment I bought a SIM card so that you don’t waste a lot of time buying a SIM card like me.
Where to buy SIM card at Dubai airport?
Fortunately, many places sell SIM cards, but 2 of them are the main branches and offer all SIM cards.
The first branch is located in Terminal 1. You will see this branch when you exit the customs. The second branch is also located in Terminal 3, which you will find by following the signs.
Required documents to buy a SIM card in Dubai
Buying a SIM card at Dubai airport is not too difficult; you must be over 18 years old to buy a SIM card, and a copy of your passport and visa are also required.
Some of these SIM cards are active for a certain period; for example, some are active for one month, and some are active for two months, so when purchasing, find out how long your SIM card will be active. In the following, I will introduce two famous Dubai operators.
Etisalat operator
Etisalat Operator is one of the most famous SIM card operators in the UAE. This operator is top-rated among tourists and citizens of Dubai due to its excellent coverage, reasonable price, offering various and economic tariffs.
Etisalat supports 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G internet and has antennas in all areas of Dubai.
If you want to buy a SIM card from this operator, the price of the SIM card will be 50 dirhams. This SIM card can be recharged up to 25, 50, 200, and 500 dirhams. When buying, you can ask the seller to charge the SIM card as much as you want.
Du Mobile operator
Du Mobile is another active operator in UAE and Dubai. The price of Du Mobile SIM cards, like Etisalat, is around 50 dirhams, with the difference that Du Mobile gives 20 minutes of free calls to its users. Du Mobile operator covers 2G, 3G, and 4G internet in all areas of Dubai and has antennas in all areas of Dubai.
This operator offers tourists who want to buy an Emirati SIM card, a SIM card called Tourist Plan SIM card, which costs 75 dirhams and has 200 MB of free internet and 20 minutes of free international calls.
These SIM cards are valid for 90 days, and you can extend the validity by paying 5 dirhams and dialing *135#.
This operator also has another plan called instant payment for travelers, the price of which is 55 dirhams, and offers users 20 minutes of international calls and free credit for one day. This SIM card is also active for nine months.
Final points regarding the use of SIM cards in Dubai
No one will tell you these tips that I am going to share below, and you will have to spend a lot of time to find each of them. But I will put all of them in one place so that you don’t have any problems related to using SIM cards.
- To buy an internet package from Etisalat operator, dial *170*# and to buy an internet package from Du Mobile operator, dial *135*20#
- The command code to know the remaining balance in the Etisalat SIM card is *#121, and in the Du Mobile SIM card is *#135
- The data purchased on the SIM card in Dubai is valid for thirty days and in 66 countries of the world.
- If there is a problem in the activation of the SIM card purchased in Dubai, ask the SIM card sellers to perform the actions related to the activation of the SIM card.
- The mobile data usage tariff for each operator is one dirham per megabyte of usage.
- Etisalat operator covers more areas in terms of antenna coverage than Du Mobile operator. The introductory price of the Etisalat SIM card is cheaper than the price of two mobile SIM cards. Also, the SMS and call rates of the Etisalat operator are lower than the call rates of the Du Mobile operator.
As has been demonstrated
It is better to know that the government of Dubai gives free SIM cards to all those over 18 years of age for the convenience of tourists. But these SIM cards sometimes do not have a good antenna.
Therefore, if you make a lot of phone calls, be sure to buy a SIM card from the two operators I introduced.
I would like to thank those who have had the experience of traveling to Dubai and using its SIM cards to share their experiences with other users.
