Using your phone and laptop in Sri Lanka
Copyright © David Graham
Let’s say you’re visiting Sri Lanka for the first time: You want to be able to keep talking to your family and friends several times a day, you want to be able to get online whenever you feel like it, and you don’t want to pay hefty overseas roaming charges.
There’s a simple solution to the mobile phone problem: Bring an unlocked GSM phone to Sri Lanka. An old Apple iPhone 3G is perfect for the job. If you don’t have one lying around your place, you can probably get a refurbished one from Amazon.
One of the advantages of the GSM standard is that it uses Subscriber Identity Modules (also known as SIMs) which are embedded into SIM cards (these are swappable smart cards that hold your subscriber information, address book and who knows what else). I got my old iPhone 3G unlocked by Mobile Kangaroo in San Jose, California. When I arrived in Colombo, I put a Sri Lankan SIM card into the iPhone, and a few seconds later the phone was primed to make local and international calls.
If you live in Europe, you probably already have a GSM phone. Things are a bit more complicated in the U.S., where mobile phone carriers operate under a hodgepodge of gloriously different standards (hey, it’s the free enterprise system at work). AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile are the two major U.S. carriers with GSM networks that I know of, so if you’re a subscriber with either company, chances are you already have the handset you need.
You could buy an unlocked Apple iPhone from AT&T, but the new iPhone’s SIM card slot is smaller than the industry-standard sized Sri Lankan SIM card. That means you’d have to get your Sri Lankan SIM card trimmed to fit (this doesn’t happen with the iPhone 3G, since it has a standard-sized SIM card slot).
Fortunately, there are people who make a very nice living doing just such technical workarounds. I use Blue Grass Mobile at the Liberty Plaza shopping center in Colombo (you can call them at 0602070322, 0114741828 or 0777550592; and by the way, check out the end of this post to see simple instructions for making calls to and from Colombo without it costing you an arm and a leg).
Talk is cheap
I first tried using a GSM phone in Sri Lanka in 2009, when I bought an AT&T Sony Ericsson W518a phone (now available practically for peanuts on eBay) expressly for this purpose. The Sony Ericsson W518a was a tough little flip phone, and it worked fine for making local and overseas calls. The only downside was that I couldn’t use it to send and receive email. I switched to using an old iPhone 3G to be able to do that.
Sri Lanka’s main carriers are Airtel, Hutch, Mobitel, Etisalat and Dialog, and they all offer SIM cards (essentially your own phone line) for about $1.50 (yes, a buck fifty) with prepaid calling plans. Sri Lanka Telecom, Lanka Bell, Suntel and Tritel are landline operators (called fixed-line operators in this part of the world) that offer voice and data connectivity. International calls from Colombo to the U.S. cost around 14¢ a minute, so a prepaid plan for (say) $20 will buy you about 140 minutes’ worth of talk time.
Getting online with your laptop
Lots of hotels and restaurants in Sri Lanka promise free wi-fi, but you can’t always find a strong enough signal to get online from your room. So my brother Tyrone and I bought USB mobile broadband modems for about $30 each and signed up for the no-strings-attached prepaid data plan, paying $20 upfront—more than enough for downloading and uploading several gigabytes worth of data. (If you use it all up, you can simply buy more online using a service like EzeTop.)
Go ahead and ask me why they call this a dongle: My bro got this Huawei USB mobile broadband modem from a Sri Lankan carrier for about $30; a free SIM card came with it. Prepaid data plans start at less than $5 per gigabyte.
Walk into any Sri Lankan phone carrier’s branch office and ask for a mobile broadband modem and you’re liable to get blank looks. That’s because Sri Lankans call a wireless modem a dongle. (According to my half-brother Naren, who is a genius at figuring things out, this could be because broadband modems come under the Wireless/Bluetooth/Dongle classification in the Sri Lanka Customs HS Code Tariff Guide. Or it could be that Sri Lankans, who are commendably practical people, would rather say a single word like “dongle” instead of a mouthful like “USB mobile broadband modem.”)
At any rate, you can get a mobile broadband modem (ahem, a dongle) from a Sri Lankan carrier for about $30; you’ll get a free SIM card with it. Prepaid data plans start at less than $5 per gigabyte. If you can restrain yourself from watching videos of piano-playing cats, that should be plenty for surfing the web and sending and receiving email for a week or so.
A note on using your phone in Sri Lanka: When you’re calling a number in Sri Lanka from anywhere else in Sri Lanka (even if you’re standing three feet away from the person you’re calling), you need to first dial 0 (zero), just like you need to first dial 1 (one) when dialing a number in a different area code in the U.S.
So if you’re in Colombo and you’re calling me when I’m in Colombo, you’d dial 0722871185 (but please, only if you’re a cute unattached female). But if you’re calling that same number from, say, Santa Cruz, California, you’ll need to add the two digits for international direct dialing plus the two digits for the Sri Lanka country code (94) and dial 01194722871185 instead. In other words, you’ll need to insert four digits (1194) between the zero and the rest of the number.
And if you’re using your phone to call someone in the U.S., you simply dial two zeros and a one before dialing the area code and number. So if you’re in Colombo and you’re trying to reach me in Santa Cruz, you’d dial 0014084725967. Simple, huh?
Copyright © David Graham
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Earlier, this page was titled:
New: Booking Service
Arugam Bay is no longer just a budget traveler’s resort
Our remote Community is proud to be the perhaps ONLY Commission Free resort in Sri Lanka.
We want to remain that way.
Families and Quality Tourists want a One Stop booking service
We are looking for partners, or a suitable webmaster to assist in the following:
To offer a full service and online booking system to our visitors
- Confirmed reservations in any Arugam Bay Hotel
- Efficient transfers arranged by Taxi, Air and ferry services
- Round the island tours booking service
- Air fare booking with unbeatable offers
- Secure online payment by any major credit card
In other words, we aim to make YOUR visit to Arugam Bay as easy, economical and simple as no other agent can offer.
Anyone who wishes to be our Contract partner, or assist in this new project:
Please leave a Comment or mail us:
VisitArugamBay@Gmail.com
Arugam Forum
Arugam Photo Galleries on Picasa
Old Website
Press Coverage
Surf Forecast for Arugam Bay
i want this hotel phone number?
TN Tours lanka (Pvt) Ltd is a reputed travel agent & a tour operator in Sri Lanka. Now we make reservation of A-bay hotels. No booking fees. 01 DBL room is available from Rs.2000.
Hotels now you can book- Tri-star beach hotel, Sunrise beach hotel, Aloha kabanas, Ranga’s beach hut,Hotel point view, sea rock beach hotel, palm groove holiday inn,Hotel Surf’n sun, Hotel Siam view & Hang Loose guest house.
Simply email us & check the availability.
infotntours@gmail.com
.our paying system-Bank transfer-SWIFT,westernunion, moneygram
Our services
? Airport drops and pickups.
? Hotel reservations in anywhere Sri Lanka.
? Guided sightseeing tours (by A/c cars & vans)
We have a budget Taxi service to A-bay from Colombo (CMB) airport, Negombo and Kandy
Special offer- siteseeing guide is FREE
Find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/tntours
Contact us USA Mr.Omantha Omantha@gmail.com
SRI LANKA Mr.Tharindu infotntours@gmail.com
(German,French,Italiano)
+94724563414
hi we are arriving at the airport on the morning of the 3rd july about 9am, we are looking at heading to A bay straight away if anyone is keen on sharing transport let us know we are two people or maybe 4,sargentchris@hotmail.com.
we are hoping to visit arugammbe end of this month.can we find a place to stay two nights around 3000/=?if so please give contact numbers. thank you.
I’d like to stay at the beach hut from the 11th of May till the 24th.
This is regarding our ICT solutions. I m andrew the software engineer in Matrix Total Enterprise Solutions. We are ready to serve our IT technology consultancy services to Arugambay. We can provite static/ dynamic websites with online booking and online payment systems, Computers, network architectures, security camera implementations and all. please contact us through 07791135231 to make your feedback.
My email address is: islanddreams71@gmail.com
Hi,
We have a small guest house with 4 rooms and 2 baths in Arugambay. We rent out the rooms or the whole house to families. It is called Searider and is located next to the Tristar hotel on the beach. You can see the picturs on the web site. You can contact me at the above email with any questions.
The Hilton is now called “Arugam Surf Resort”
You can find them in the hotel list on this page.
Also, a direct link is given to Mr. Rahim’s own web site as below:
#39 Arugam Surf Resort http://arugambay.lk/
Could you kindly let me know whether the Hotel Hillton is sitll in operation? If they have changed the name what is the new name of the hotel?
#37 Hideaway now has its own home page, Ishan. Simply locate the link on the left panel on this very web site here.
“AbaY Hotel Web Site Links”
And you will be directed straight to all the information Hideaway has made public.
Hi how are you doing. I would like to find the contact details for the Hideway Hotel.
Thanks and regards
Ishan
I need information about the services that can be provided and prices involved so that I be able to promote Arugam Bay here in Bahrain
Just to inform:
The enquiry below has been sent to a few web design Companies in India,who have contacted us in the past few days:
Good Day,
And Greetings from Sri Lanka’s East Coast across to India!
Just a quick initial enquiry.
We have a few very successful web sites, such as the one mentioned below.
All are for the promotion of a poor, underdeveloped area. Hit by the Tsunami, forgotten by all the NGO’s, and our Government.
Also we just try to recover from a long civil war.
However, we have identified a need to establish an on line booking service.
Similar to http://www.go-lanka.com
Please also look at our “Taxi” and “New Booking Service” link. This is where we outline our ideas to progress and assist the Community even more in future.
Please give us a quote for the design of such an online booking site.
It will also have to incorporate online payment options, of course.
This mail and request has also bee published, to keep our members, readers and the public informed.
Kind regards
AbHa
Arugam Bay Hotel Association
Arugam Bay
And here is another site:
http://www.anyairportcarhire.com/
Is there anyone out there who knows how to make a page like this, and serve Arugam Bay?
Anyone out there who can help us to create an online booking site similar to this one:
http://www.airportscars.com/
This is what Arugam Bay needs to serve our visitors better!
The stay has been scheduled to ABAY for about two weeks from August 18. I want you to introduce the staying cheapness and near the surf point destination.
I’m looking for an accomodation in arugam bay from august 15 to august 18. At the moment I am in Tangalla.
Best regards