Where to buy a tourist SIM card at the airport or in the city

SIM card is always one thing that we need all the time while going to a new place. If you also want to know about this while going to the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates, then read this post com­plete­ly so that you do not face any kind of dif­fi­cul­ty lat­er.

Many peo­ple want to know whether they should buy a SIM card at the air­port while trav­el­ling to the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates or lat­er. This is a prob­lem that every new­bie faces when they are on a bud­get or look­ing for a par­tic­u­lar ser­vice.

When you arrive at any inter­na­tion­al air­port in the UAE, you will find sev­er­al SIM card-sell­ing stalls with­in the air­port ter­mi­nal. These stalls are usu­al­ly open 24 hours a day, sev­en days a week.

Eti­salat and Du, the two largest mobile phone oper­a­tors in the UAE, have a large num­ber of stores across the coun­try. You can buy SIM cards any­where in the coun­try as their points are avail­able every­where.

If you check the prices of these two sims, there is not much dif­fer­ence between them. DU also does pro­vides the same prices as Eti­salat charges cus­tomers for new con­nec­tions.

Now the question is Where to buy a tourist SIM card at the airport or in the city?

You can buy the tourist sim card in the city if you are on bud­get. Buy­ing a SIM card at the air­port has some advan­tages and some dis­ad­van­tages too. If you buy a SIM card at the air­port, you get lim­it­ed plans and SIM cards there. If you want to buy more data sim card at low­er price then you have to vis­it sim card fran­chise or dif­fer­ent stores in the city to com­pare.

Apart from DU and Eti­salat, Vir­gin Mobile is also wide­ly used in the UAE for data usage. But Vir­gin could end up with a faster 5G net­work. You should check their plans and then buy it. Free SIM cards are avail­able at both Eti­salat and DU at air­ports. If you are look­ing for a free SIM card, ask the Eti­salat or DU staff at the air­port for a free SIM card.

Dubai Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (DXB), Abu Dhabi (AUH), Shar­jah Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (SHJ), Al Ain Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (AIN) and Fujairah Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (FJR) all these places you can buy a free trav­el­er SIM card.

Benefits of buying a SIM card in the city:

1. Cities usu­al­ly have more tele­com oper­a­tors and resellers. This means you will have more choice to com­pare dif­fer­ent plans and prices. If you find SIM card prices of one net­work too high or data too low, you can check SIM plans of oth­er net­works on the stores.

2. It is pos­si­ble that you will not get the SIM card for free at the air­port. If you buy a SIM card from a store in the city, you get a vari­ety of plans as well as a free SIM card option.

3. If you have any prob­lems set­ting up or using your SIM card, you can go to a local store and get help.

Disadvantage of buying a SIM card in the city:

Buy­ing a SIM card in the city may take some time, most­ly due to rush hour. You may also face lan­guage prob­lems as there may not be staff there who under­stand your lan­guage and you may have to get help from anoth­er per­son.

To buy a SIM card from stores in the city, you may need a ride like find bus or Taxi and may have to search for a store. If you go to buy a SIM card at a low price, you may get the SIM card at the same price as at the air­port along with the fare.

Benefits of buying a SIM card at the airport:

• When you buy a SIM card at the air­port, you will find staff who speak Eng­lish and there are also peo­ple who speak oth­er lan­guages.
• After land­ing at the air­port, you can buy a SIM card imme­di­ate­ly, which saves you time and makes the jour­ney eas­i­er.

Disadvantage of buying a SIM card at the airport:

• Air­ports usu­al­ly have a lim­it­ed num­ber of tele­com oper­a­tors and plans avail­able. This can make it dif­fi­cult for you to find an oper­a­tor of your choice.
• The prices of SIM cards here can be high­er than the usu­al SIMs.
• You may have to vis­it the com­pa­ny office or a store to acti­vate the SIM card or resolve any oth­er issues as there is lim­it­ed sup­port at the air­port.

In the end, the best place to buy a SIM card in UAE will depend on your indi­vid­ual needs and pref­er­ences. If you want the most choice or best prices, buy­ing a SIM card in the city is the best option. If you need ease and con­ve­nience, pur­chas­ing a SIM card at the air­port is a bet­ter option. Before buy­ing a sim card from air­port or any retail­er in city, must read our guide best sim cards in UAE.