Can you purchase or rent a SIM card for a cell phone at the airport in Bulawayo? Or is it better to get one in Johannesburg.

I assume I will need a GSM phone.

Can someone who has done this before give me some advice?

I have always used a satellite phone. There are a lot of places the cell phones don't get reception.

Where can you purchase a sat phone? What do they cost to use them?

Rich,
If it is going to be a one time use, there are several places that just rent them by the week or month and you can buy prepaid minutes. If it is going to be an ongoing, yearly thing, ebay sells them as well as buying a new one.
I've always used Explorer Satellite and they are pretty easy to use.
This year, since I could have paid for one over the years and don't plan on not hunting anymore, I just bought one.

I don't want a sat phone. I want a cell phone to use in Bulawayo so I can call my wife and let her know I got there OK, also if guns don't show up, etc.

I wouldn't worry about calling your wife to tell her you got there in one piece. If you don't they'll let her know.

At least that's what I tell mine.

depends on the make and model phone you have it might not work in africa not all american purchased phones will work in africa. you can buy a phone with sims card for 20 or 30 bucks here. you buy air time as you need it.

I don't what phone you have, but I'm going there next week and my iphone will work. Verizon just does something on the computer and I can use it for phone or text.

I am currently in SA and am heading to Zim in a couple of days. My Verizon cell phone from home is a world phone. I call verizon prior to coming and they switch something I then go to settings and switch from CDMA to GSM and I am good to go, no problem with calls. Now it is not cheap. SA is like 2.26/min and Zim is like 4.99/minute. Text is like .50 per text.

quote:

Originally posted by brent ebeling:
I am currently in SA and am heading to Zim in a couple of days. My Verizon cell phone from home is a world phone. I call verizon prior to coming and they switch something I then go to settings and switch from CDMA to GSM and I am good to go, no problem with calls. Now it is not cheap. SA is like 2.26/min and Zim is like 4.99/minute. Text is like .50 per text.

$4.99 USD per min for Zim?