One of my least favorite moments living in Dubai is being caught off guard without credit left on my cellphone.
When I arrived in Dubai and learned that I need to buy telephone cards in denominations of 25, 50, 100 dhs, etc and load my mobile phone with it every time (prepaid style is the norm here), I almost freaked out. I’ve lived in Japan for more than 10 years prior to my move in Dubai and the mobile service I used there was postpaid, meaning, I can use my phone anytime:
- without the fear of using up all my credit in the middle of a very important phone call
- without getting frustrated when I try to make a phone call and find out I do not have any credit left
Having to check my mobile credit and load it consistently is inconvenient.
Of course, there was an option to go prepaid with the mobile provider Etisalat but the process before was tedious and running cost, expensive — until recently when they announced a promo (until September 30, 2010 so hurry!) that made me decide to shift! Switching to Etisalat prepaid account is free, lets me keep my existing number, and I get 20 dhs of free credit every month for 12 months! The phone bill comes twice a month, payable at any Etisalat customer service counters and offices.
PROS OF GOING POSTPAID
The liberty IS nice. No more interrupted phone calls, no more panic looking for stores selling telephone cards. Happy. 🙂
CONS OF GOING POSTPAID
While it is very convenient and Etisalat promises bigger savings and discounts on monthly bills, it is very EASY to go overboard. Those small (unnecessary) chats and SMS’s could pile up. I normally have a budget of 100 dhs/month for my mobile bill but sadly, as of end of August, it was 120 dhs.
So I was 20% off my budget. Need to get a grip next month!
What do you use, postpaid or prepaid?
You can check out the Etisalat website for more details regarding the postpaid mobile. This post is NOT sponsored by Etisalat. 🙂
Finding Backroads 
Wow, it would be so hard to have to always restock your phone with minutes! Almost everyone here uses the post paid system. Usually it’s actually much cheaper that way as well. You can run over your allotted free time though and then it’s really expensive! We did that one month and like you, paid about 20% over our usual bill!
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I have a paid plan, but it covers me for just about everything I could want. It covers text, sms, and calls up to 700 hours, plus, if the other person has my calling company *like Verizon) then the call is free!
.-= Maribeth´s last blog ..Maribeth?s Spaghetti Sauce =-.
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Man I would never have to courage to go postpaid, I’ve got used with prepaid and I know that when i finished my credit that’s it for that month and I dont go overboard with massive phone bills. Well where I live, I can recharge my phone with whatever amount i want and my operator has a nice feature where i can borrow some credit for 30 days if I need to phone someone urgently and I ran out of credit. Wish you good luck and cheaper phone bills :))
.-= Jocuri´s last blog ..Appa Bizonul Avatarului =-.
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i have a plan which I negotiated down to the minimum cost at near max value. i say near mas bec I called and renegotiated my sis-in-law’s phone account and she got an even better deal than me. lols.
still have not called back to renegotiate my plan. it is okay though I have a landline in the office at my finger tips.
i have a different post paid account for overseas call.
.-= Gin´s last blog ..Finances- eh =-.
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check keyword position in Bing rank checker,google rank checker and yahoo rank checker in the http://www.keywords-positions.com/ and decide whether to go for post paid or prepaid…
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prepaid. i don’t want to go overboard and i don’t want to use something in advance before paying. it’s a lot like a credit to me.
.-= Rose´s last blog ..the water dilemma- a sequel =-.
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An automotive website with daily updates on new and future vehicles, motor shows, the tuning industry, classic cars and more.
.-= carsfresh´s last blog ..Mazda validation concept version Shinari =-.
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I have been using prepaid for as long as I can remember and the only inconvinience is going down to your local grocery store to buy a card! I dont think its that difficult as you make it out to be. besides as you said your budget is only 100 Dhs then its simple, jus recharge your phone with 100 dhs and you can keep a spare 25 dhs recharge voucher on you( its just a piece of paper). It did sound alot like an Etisala sponsored ad 🙂
Oh and since your an expat you dont have to worry about non payment of bills while away on holidays 🙂
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