My niece is going to Uganda at the end of May as a part of her nursing program. My brother bought her a PREPAID ZAIN SIM with a 254 (Kenya) country code.
I believe there are AT LEAST 2 web sites for ZAIN, one for Kenya and one for Uganda.
Welcome to Zain :: Kenya
Welcome to Zain :: Uganda
My brother says he has spoken with the ZAIN customer service reps - not clear which country, however, but I think it was Kenya as the ZAIN Uganda site does not seem to offer any PREPAID SIMs. He was told his daughter (my niece) would be charged ~ $0.12 US for an outgoing SMS to the US -- not bad, if true. It is unclear what tarifs will apply within Uganda other than the fact that calling to the directly US will be cost-prohibitive. He is assuming (notice the ass in there) that inbound calls will be free in Uganda even on the 254 number. Mainly he wants to call her in on his own or in response to her SMS or other signal.
At least this SIM works. He bought one from a seller in Canada and that one seems to have been totally defective as it gave a SIM error in multiple GSM phone he has. That seller was unresponsive and he had no recourse. The ZAIN.KE folks sent him a replacement GRATIS.
However, there no USA roaming for the Kenyan ZAIN SIM, so it does not register on any GSM network here.
Does anyone have any experience in this area - Uganda, etc.? Would appreciate any insight.
Thanks,
Stan