Lusaka - Post Report Question and Answers
Do you have any recommendations regarding mobile phones? Did you keep your home-country plan or use a local provider?
MTN is the best, and inexpensive: 2.5gb/month of data is K50 for 30 days. If you are primarily in wifi areas, that is plenty for a month and a great bargain. - Mar 2022
MTN is inexpensive and widely used. - Dec 2021
I brought an unlocked iphone, and use the local Zambian provider MTN. It's fine. - Nov 2017
The Embassy has issued us BBs/iPhones, which work pretty well on MTN. You can also purchase a local SIM easily and top off "air time" as you go, including from vendors on most busy street corners. - Jan 2017
Whatever you do, don't get Zamtel; you will lose money and never get the full amount of time that you bought. There is also MTN and Airtel. Right now MTN seems to be working pretty well. - Jun 2016
Bring an unlocked phone and you will have several options for pay-as-you-go or monthly plans. - May 2016
MTN, Zamtel, or Airtel are fine. - Aug 2014
Bring an unlocked, they are expensive here. - Jan 2014
Get one here. There are many options/companies, cheaper than US plans. - Apr 2013
Buy local. Phones brought from the US that are supposed to work rarely get as good reception as the cheap local ones. There's both pre and post pay available and it's reasonably priced. - Jul 2010
They are available and tend to be pricey to use. - Mar 2009
Celtel just became Zain (strange name that) they have the best coverage nationwide. All the companies are about the same price - which is more than you'd expect. we text instead of chat quite a lot. Don't bother bringing a fancy phone from the USA - the reception tends to be better on the ZK150,000 (US$35) local motorola phone available all over town, but it doesn't have too many bells and whistles. - Aug 2008
