I am located in New Jersey, New York area and I am looking for two cell phones with SIM cards, which I can take to Pakistan. Once I get there I would activate them there for a month.
So which type of cell phone should I buy? I am not looking for fancy, or hi-tech, etc., just a simple phone with good reception. What are my options?
In Pakistan, which company provides good service? I am staying in Lahore, but may travel to Karachi for a while. Would I be buying a pre-paid card?
If you just need a simple cell phone, I'd go for any cheap 900 MHz model. I don't know how easily they are available in the US. Here in Europe, the standard mobiles are dual-band, ie 900/1800 MHz, so they work perfectly fine in Pakistan.
Regarding the phone company:
As far as I know there are six mobile operators currently offering services in Pakistan. The established ones are: Mobilink (largest network), U-Fone, Paktel and Instaphone.
And then there are two new networks which seem to be the hot cake in Pakistan these days: Telenor and Al-Warid. As I don't live in Pakistan I suppose either they are damn cheap or they offer excellent service.
And yes, you would be buying a pre-paid card. You can get those for a quite low amount these days.
figure out what frequency the GSM networks are on. As already said in europe all use 900/1800Mhz (and work in PAK) whereas some US networks use 1900Mhz. So make sure phone you buy supports the frequency.
K-2 I donno enough abt cell fones cause i don own one but My sis took Samsung e315 to pak and is using ufone pre paid service and its working fine for her..however, mobilink is recommended too as ufone deducts minutes for cheking account info whereas mobilink doesnt
You can get a phone from there too, prices are quite decent at hafiz centre etc (Lahore). Certainly much much better than retail prices you will get from western cell phone companies and retail stores.
If you do take a phone from here, you will have to get it UNLOCKED to be able to work with any carrier (usually they are LOCKED to work with only 1 carrier)