My boss is traveling to Nairobi to carry out the last needs of his dad. He is worried about being able to use his phone, (which we found out is not usable there), so should I rent one for 3 days, or just have him purchase a cheap one at the airport? I read older post here on the forum, but they were from a few years ago. Is there any 2012 information that will be helpful. I appreciate your response.
Hi yes buy cheap one in kenya, then you can also get the local sim for cheaper calls or one at home as long as its tri or quad band.
If you buy the phone at one of the networks' shops they will fit the sim and load some airtime as well. On most networks the calls to North America are extremely cheap, just a few cents
Shamba,
Any phone sold in Kenya will work in Kenya, It doesn't need to be tri or quad band, any run of the mill dual band phone will work in Kenya, tri and quad are only necessary for people from the rest of the world who want to use their phone in North America where they have a couple of bands that the rest of the world doesn't use.
I agree - get a cheap phone here. To USA, a call to land lines and mobiles is just 3/- per minute from Airtel using + or 000 and 2/50 using 888 from Orange. I am not sure about the Safaricom costs because I just use the other two.
sim cards are very cheap. maybe 50/- unless you buy a package with a card (only it may then be locked to that network).
Ann,
Safaricom is 5/- a minute to USA using regular International Direct Dial (no need for the VOIP prefixes of 888, etc)
Thanks, Doff!! I'll continue with Airtel or Orange!!
Sometimes Airtel is cheaper than 3/- - I asked Customer Care and was told it is random, but the maximum is 3/-.
Cheryl can decide.
