Travel Advice #1

For travelers who are staying for a long time, even just two weeks, good advice is to get a cell phone in country, or at least a local SIM. I did a lot of research before coming to Tanzania about which phone services to use. While it is possible to get a new SIM card in each country for pretty cheap ($2 or less for cheap ones), since I was traveling to several places, and it was better to have a consistent number, I got a SIM card on the Zain network. (For travelers just in Tanzania, Tigo is good/cheap/easy to find too.) Both Zain and Tigo phone cards are available everywhere in Moshi. When you fill up, the price is on the card, so you don't get ripped off. Everyone knows Zain cards, so it's great. The rates are pretty good (5 cents for a text message in country, 1 Tsh per second calling on the network) and you can call America for roughly what you would pay elsewhere. (~$.50/minute - much better than the $4.99 Verizon wanted to charge me. Other networks have better deals, but it is hard/rare to find something better than $.60/minute).

Even if you don't have a SIM card enabled phone, you can get one for under $40. I was able to get The phone, the SIM card, and put 5000 shillings on the phone for Tsh 46000, about USD$38. Zain.com has a lot of information about the rates for each country. One of the best parts is you can buy the top up cards in each country and just pay at local rates. Zain has an extensive network, making it a great phone for travelers who are crossing a lot of borders. When deciding, I emailed a few Zain representatives to figure out which phones to buy, and they were very helpful.