Tunisia airport WiFi is unstable and requires a local number. Suggest spending 8 dollars in advance to buy 1GB eSIM, install before boarding, and open roaming upon landing to connect to 4G in seconds, saving 30 minutes of queuing to buy a card, achieving instant internet connection.
The Reality
Airport Free WiFi
The plane lands at Tunisia-Carthage Airport T1 Terminal. The mobile phone connects to the public network named “WIFI_AEROPORT_TUNIS”, and a white authentication box pops up on the webpage requiring a mobile phone number.
Fill in a non-Tunisian local number and press the send button, the mobile phone has a high probability of not receiving that verification SMS with 6 Arabic digits. International roaming SMS passing through local gateways is extremely easy to lose.
- North America +1 numbers are often intercepted by the system
- Europe +44 numbers easily receive garbled characters
- Japan and South Korea numbers are nearly 100% unable to receive
- Virtual numbers such as Google Voice are rejected in seconds
Borrow a local number to get the verification code and fill it into the webpage, the WiFi icon finally lights up in the upper right corner of the mobile phone. The network speed performance is extremely bad, and the download speed shown by the speed test software is only 0.4 Mbps.
An Airbus A320 passenger plane full of 160 people lands, and hundreds of travelers gather in the border inspection hall. The old airport router cannot bear high-concurrency connections, and the network is congested and messy.
- Refreshing pure text emails takes a long time
- Sending 500KB scene photos has the progress bar stuck
- Map software loads grey-white mosaic squares
- WhatsApp voice calls have serious packet loss
The system only allocated 30 minutes of internet time limit to each device. From the second the confirm button is clicked, the background timer starts an adjusted countdown.
Spending 15 minutes at Carousel 3 to get the checked 28-inch suitcase. Pushing the cart to the arrival hall door ready to open Bolt to call an online ride-hailing car, the network is cut off on time.
The webpage pops up a line of red French again, prompting that after the same device exhausts its duration, it enters a 15-minute mandatory cooling period. The traffic limit for a single connection is locked at 50MB, and the VPN tunnel protocol encounters firewall interception.
The terminal area is vast, and signal blind spots are densely distributed. Standing at an ATM ten meters away from the currency exchange counter to withdraw Dinar cash, walking to the open-air asphalt lane 5 meters outside the glass door, the WiFi signal disappears instantly.
- No signal in the basement floor restroom area
- Network disconnection at the end of the border inspection hall queuing area
- Disconnection behind the pillar between Carousel 3 and 4
- Unable to refresh webpages deep inside the duty-free shops on the second-floor departure level
Physical SIM Card Counters
Walking out of the customs channel of T1 Terminal, ahead are the three business counters of Orange, Ooredoo, and Tunisie Telecom. Dozens of travelers dragging suitcases are crowded in this area.
At three in the afternoon, three passenger planes flying from mainland Europe sent out 500 passengers within 40 minutes. The queuing fence in front of the Orange counter was circled three times. Standing at the end of the line, 25 people are queuing in front.
Buying a local phone card must show the original passport. Staff take the documents to start tedious real-name registration.
- Input the 10-digit passport number word by word
- Take the passport to the copier for copying and filing
- Ask and manually enter the name of the check-in hotel
- Print three A4 contracts printed with Arabic text
There are only two employees behind the glass window handling business. Welcoming one traveler takes an average of 6 to 8 minutes. Queuing after 25 people, you have to stand in this hall for more than one hour.
A package containing 25GB of traffic sells for 30 Dinars in cash. Travelers who just got off the plane holding 50 Euro notes can only leave the original queue. They push carts to the foreign exchange window 50 meters away to re-queue and exchange local currency.
Hand the cash in and get a brand-new card board. Employees break off the tiny Nano-SIM card and ask you to unlock the phone screen in French with a heavy accent.
Android phones often cannot connect to the internet after inserting the card, and one must manually enter system settings to change the APN to internet.ooredoo.tn. Just finding the settings and spelling letters took another 3 minutes.
- The original card taken out is extremely easy to drop on the ground
- Some new packages need to dial a specific USSD code to activate
- iPhone’s iMessage needs to wait a few minutes to re-bind the number
- Counters do not provide plastic storage boxes for old phone cards
eSIM
Sitting in Paris airport waiting for the flight, spent 18 dollars to buy a 15GB Tunisia internet package. One minute later, the mailbox received a QR code.
Scan it with the mobile phone, and a new option appears in the network settings.
The processing takes less than two minutes. No need to find a needle to poke the small hole on the side of the phone, and the original phone card still stays well in the body.
- Background spends 45 seconds silently downloading the configuration
- A download progress bar jumps out on the screen
- Label names can choose “Travel” or “Personal”
- Completely saves the trouble of manually filling in the APN address
The plane lands in Tunisia, 28 degrees Celsius outside the cabin. Turn off flight mode, wait for 15 seconds, the signal bar in the upper right corner of the phone jumps a few times.
The screen changed from No Service to Ooredoo LTE, full signal bars.
While others are still rummaging through backpacks in the overhead luggage rack, your phone is already connected to the internet. A pause of less than half a minute brought smooth network before getting off the plane.
Open the speed test software to run a score, the download speed reached 35 Mbps, and the latency is only 45 milliseconds. Walking in the cabin aisle, casually sent an 8-second scene video to a friend.
More than 200 people are queuing in front of the customs counter. Keep the original main number on roaming standby, specifically used for receiving bank SMS from the other side of the ocean.
- Received a 50 dollar credit card deduction reminder
- Downloaded two business emails with PDF attachments
- Scrolled social software and watched a dozen high-definition pictures
- Listened to three long WhatsApp voice messages
Internet traffic all goes through the purchased package, and the main card only receives pure text SMS that doesn’t cost money. The phone completely avoids the sky-high roaming fees of a dozen dollars per megabyte in the North Africa region. Waiting for that 28-inch checked box at Carousel 3, casually open Bolt to call a car.
The system quickly locates at the arrival hall exit. The screen shows a silver Hyundai Elantra is still 3 kilometers away from the airport. Estimating the car fare to La Marsa beach is 22 Dinars. Calling this ride only used about 1.5MB of traffic.
US version Apple phones after 2022 completely cancelled the card slot. There is no place to even stuff the purchased 30 Dinar physical card.
The digital code downloaded by scanning in advance has become the only way for no-card-slot phones to connect to the Tunisia 4G network.
The phone automatically connects to the 1800 MHz and 800 MHz frequency bands. Without the interference of rusting and oxidation of physical card metal pieces, data transmission has been very stable.
- Avoid repeatedly plugging and unplugging to damage the phone’s waterproof ring
- Bypass the error that some old phones cannot read the chip
- One phone can store 8 digital numbers
- Switch to foreign base stations immediately after getting off the plane for cross-border transfers
Setting Up a Tunisia eSIM
Pre-Flight Checklist
Take a look at the hardware parameters when buying a phone. iPhone XS released in the fall of 2018 starts with a built-in chip. US version iPhone 14 to 15 series removed the physical card slot. Samsung Galaxy S21 to S24 Ultra kept one nano card slot with one digital card slot. Press #06# on the dial pad to jump out the 15-digit IMEI code.
The screen displays 32-digit EID characters representing that the machine can write digital numbers. That string of numbers starting with 89049032 is printed at the bottom of the back of the phone box. Machines with carrier contracts cannot write into the Tunisia network. Go to Apple phone settings, click General, find About to see the Network Lock status. Displaying No SIM Restrictions represents release.
Text prompting SIM Card Restricted will make the phone reject the SM-DP+ address of the Tunisia network. North America AT&T machines have to wait 60 days. T-Mobile requires 40 days on the network to settle bills. Verizon sends instructions from background programs after 60 days of activation to unlock restrictions. Japan docomo customized machines go to the webpage to knock 16-digit credentials to cancel the contract.
Old systems cause communication errors. iOS 17.4 fixed the trouble of signal connection delay for cross-border base stations. Android 14 solved the problem of several configuration files occupying 2GB running memory. Tunisia Ooredoo and Orange use European standards for the 4G networks they laid.
Base stations transmit B3’s 1800 MHz and B20’s 800 MHz FDD-LTE signals. Douz town on the edge of the Sahara keeps the B8’s 900 MHz frequency band. North American single-card Android phones often lack the B20 frequency band. Going to the Carthage ruins to play and being blocked by thick stone walls will drop back to 2.5G EDGE network.
The eSE security chip capacity on the motherboard is limited. iPhone 13 can store at most 8 downloaded network files. At the same time, at most 2 numbers can be hung on the network. Before boarding, manually delete old files left from playing in Japan or Europe to free up 50KB storage margin.
Keep backup plans to guard against network disconnection and loss of contact:
- Screenshot and save the activation code of 32-digit alphanumeric combinations
- Forward emails with SM-DP+ serial numbers to partner’s email
- Save the provider’s WhatsApp international hotline in phone contacts
- Stuff a 0.8mm diameter metal card pin in the wallet
Downloading the configuration file uses up 5MB of traffic. Don’t use the free network in Frankfurt airport waiting room to download. Data packet interruption makes the digital card stuck on the download interface. Home 100Mbps fiber network tested to run through the progress bar within 15 seconds. Before clicking download, turn off the system iCloud Private Relay.
Proxy node IP jumping randomly triggers security risk control interception. The screen pops up Unable to Complete Cellular Plan Change error box. A few machines cannot grab APN parameters. Airalo needs to enter the cellular network menu and knock globaldata in. Holafly requires fixed filling of orange.tn.
Capitalizing the first letter or pressing an extra space will cause DNS resolution errors. Go to the third page of the PDF file attached to the purchase confirmation email to find the 15-digit parameter table. Two numbers on standby will consume electricity. iPhone 14 Pro Max opening dual cards has a 15% faster power drop speed per day.
Lock the frequency band of common phone cards in the No Service state. Searching for network action awakens the baseband chip every 10 minutes and eats 2% of power. Turn off data roaming of the main card to avoid bills of 15 dollars per megabyte. Keep the voice channel to receive 6-digit SMS verification codes. Check system settings to see if enterprise MDM profile is hung.
Profiles installed by the company freeze the permission to add network configurations. Go to the Settings menu, pull to the bottom and delete the profile. Before departure, call customer service to find AT&T’s 611 line. Open roaming SMS reception function to prevent landing and not receiving verification codes.
Cut off the 3GB traffic package being stolen by the background:
- Turn off App Store consuming cellular network to download updates over 200MB
- Change iCloud photo 4K video synchronization to run only in WiFi environment
- Stop WhatsApp chat group high-definition photo automatic local storage function
- Manually clear and reset traffic monitoring statistical values on the day the flight lands
Choosing Your Provider
Buying Airalo’s Marhaba traffic pack costs 4.50 dollars, giving 1GB traffic for 7 days. If staying for a full month, take out 11 dollars to buy the 3GB version. Bind a Visa or Mastercard credit card in the payment interface to complete the deduction. The device connects to 4G signal towers built by Ooredoo.
Strolling on Tunis coastal avenue and the beach near Sousse, the signal at the top of the phone is full. Run Speedtest once to test network speed, download 45Mbps and upload 18Mbps. Local numbers are ranked in front, and this card’s network speed is squeezed to the back. At 8 o’clock at night, crowded in the Medina old town, brushing Instagram video freezes for 2 seconds.
If unable to bear the video circling, go and pick the traffic pack listed by Nomad. 3GB is priced at 8 dollars. Take out 13 dollars to buy 5GB can be used for 30 days without disconnection. This one’s network connects to Tunisie Telecom’s base stations. Running to the edge of the Sahara desert outside Tozeur, the signal is actually full and penetrates walls.
Driving on A1 highway towards Sfax, Nomad’s network speed drops to 3G HSPA+ frequency band. Clicking YouTube to watch 720P video, a buffering circle appears in the middle of the screen. They allow the phone to open a hotspot to share the network. Connecting to a tablet to reply to several emails consumes 500MB of traffic.
Before deducting traffic, pay attention to where these providers’ server rooms are built:
- Airalo’s data packets run to the Orange server room in Paris, France to make a circle
- Nomad’s traffic runs to the Truphone node in London, UK for exchange
- Yesim places the access point server room in Madrid, Spain
- Holafly runs to Dublin, Ireland to calculate your traffic bill
The closer the server room is to Tunisia, the lower the Ping value number runs. Airalo connecting to the Paris server room tested a Ping value of 65 milliseconds. Making WhatsApp voice calls has no echo at all. Nomad circles around to London, and the Ping value number jumps to over 115 milliseconds.
If not caring about millisecond numbers, go to get Holafly’s 5-day unlimited pack sold for 27 dollars. The purchase page didn’t mention a Fair Usage Policy hidden in the background. Brushing 2.5GB traffic a day, the network speed is pinned to the turtle speed of 256Kbps. Brushing one picture on a webpage takes 15 seconds of waiting.
Network speed becoming slow can only send pure text WhatsApp messages. Waiting until 12 o’clock the next morning for the network speed limiter to unlock. This background connects to both Orange and Ooredoo base stations simultaneously. When the phone reaches a dead corner without signal, it jumps to the other’s signal tower itself.
When switching signal towers, Holafly does not allow the phone to open a hotspot. Holding a computer in a cafe cannot connect to phone WiFi to send files. Going out with several devices, go to flip through Yesim’s quote, take out 11 dollars to buy 3GB traffic to use.
Yesim promotes a pay-as-you-go deduction method. Top up 20 Euros into the account, and deduct 0.03 Euro per megabyte in Tunisia. Skip the step of calculating stay days to buy a large-capacity pack. Save the trouble of calculating how many days to stay and what size pack to buy.
Save time to flip through the scores of several companies in the App Store for a bottom check:
- Airalo accumulated 150,000 buyer reviews, the score stops at 4.7 stars
- Nomad got 30,000 scores, the score remains at 4.6 stars
- Holafly’s 4.5 rating is mixed with 20% one-star complaints about speed reduction
- Yesim’s full English interface blocked a group of buyers from downloading
Airalo relies on Airmoney points in the App to retain people. Buying a package for 11 dollars returns 0.55 dollar tokens stored in the account. Using a referral code to pull in newcomers, the old account can get 3 dollars. Nomad catches up with Black Friday shopping festival and sends out 20% off promotion codes.
Take the promotion code to buy Ubigi’s very small traffic blocks. Spending 3 dollars for a 1-day transit in Tunisia to buy 500MB traffic. Often taking long-haul flights, go to buy the 39 dollar Africa roaming pack. 3GB traffic can continue to be used in 15 countries including Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt.
Flying to Cairo airport for transfer doesn’t need to spend money to buy a card again. Ubigi gives the phone a permanent ICCID code. It’s fine to leave it idle for half a year when traffic is used up. Going to Tunisia again, click the App to spend money to top up and immediately connect to the network.
Before connecting to the network, take a look at the refund rules written in the background. Buying the wrong package without scanning the code, go to the webpage to find customer service for a full refund. Airalo customer service processes emails for up to 12 hours. Buying the wrong package that doesn’t adapt to the phone is easy to get stuck in the refund process.
Cannot wait for refund, go to click the chat box on the Holafly webpage, money is returned to the card in 5 minutes. Scanned code and installed configuration in the phone will absolutely not be refunded. Even if 1KB of traffic hasn’t been used, the opposite side types to refuse return and exchange. You have to keep a close eye on traffic consumption to prevent being disconnected.
To prevent wrangling, you must look at the traffic digits left in the background:
- Nomad’s progress bar reconciles with the operator every 15 minutes
- Airalo background calculates traffic 1 to 2 hours slower
- Ubigi how much traffic is left is refreshed by pulling down the screen with a finger
- Yesim remaining margin display is one step slower and easy to generate bills with extra deductions
Installation and Configuration
After buying the Tunisia roaming pack, don’t close the payment webpage. The mailbox can receive a letter with a 5×5 cm black-and-white QR code in a few minutes. While at home connected to a stable 5GHz frequency band fiber network, finish the configuration. Running to Tunis-Carthage airport to rub 2Mbps free network to scan the code has a high probability of getting stuck.
Taking the QR code needs two glowing screens to cooperate. The PDF file with images is sent to a companion friend’s phone to show. Going out alone, print the screenshot on an A4 white paper to bring along. Take the Apple phone to enter the settings and click the cellular network menu, holding the lens to scan the picture.
If the lens cannot scan the black-and-white squares, change to manual typing. Pull down the email to find a string of 32-digit irregular alphanumeric codes. Copy this long character string and switch back to the phone configuration page to paste it in. Paste the string called SM-DP+ server long address together.
If not wanting to switch screens back and forth to copy, go to click the install button in the App. In the Airalo software, flip through the My eSIMs page to find the blue Install button. Grant the system pop-up permission to modify underlying network files. Staring at the screen circling to wait 20 to 30 seconds to run through the progress bar.
Different machines run progress with different hitches:
- Machines running iOS 16 system follow the screen with a few presses
- Android 13 machines enter the security menu to grant software modification permissions
- Google Pixel phones reading the bar to 85% progress get stuck and play dead for a few seconds
- Samsung phones with battery below 20% refuse to run the configuration installation process
After running the progress, the phone motherboard chip has an extra network label. The system forces a name of Business or Travel. Manually click on it and re-type it as a combination of Tunis-Ooredoo plus the expiry date. After changing the short name, recognize the Tunisia network card at a glance in the number list.
After changing the name, manually handle the card switch status. Flip the switch of the just installed Tunis-Ooredoo traffic pack to the off position. Staying in the country and having it on will crazily search for North Africa base station signals. The back of the machine gets hot and consumes electricity, eating up 5% of battery storage in one hour.
Keep the old number in the physical card slot on to receive calls and SMS. Go to the data tab and lock the channel for traffic strictly on the original card. Don’t touch the green switch that allows switching cellular data channels. Slipping the hand to click it open and landing in Tunisia to run a few megabytes off course will bring dozens of dollars in bills.
Controlling the roaming switch determines whether there is network after getting off the plane. The data roaming button of the old number remains unmoved in the grey off state. Click into the newly bought Tunisia digital card and flip the Data Roaming switch to bright. The roaming switch actions for the two sets of cards must absolutely not be reversed.
If the progress bar is stuck at half installation and doesn’t move, don’t press the power button to force power off. Hard cutting off makes the unfinished 3MB configuration file become unidentifiable garbled characters. Retreat to the desktop and switch to other software to brush a few minutes of video and wait for the background to run itself. After full 5 minutes and the screen is still circling, go to open flight mode to disconnect and retry.
Scanning for the second time if installation failed will only result in red text reporting error. The QR code given by the provider contains a 32-digit code allowed for one-time consumption only. Scanned once it’s void, and scanning the original picture after wrong installation or accidental deletion will jump Invalid Code prompt. Find customer service to report the 15-digit device IMEI code for a new picture.
If configuration cannot be installed, go to check several easily missed machine parameters:
- Phone having VPN software open and tampering with real IP location attribution
- System date and time not aligned with the network and being slow for a few minutes
- Machine running iOS 15 old system cannot unlock new version encryption protocols
- Storage space less than 200MB cannot fit new network card protocol packs
Landing Activation
The plane lands on Tunisia-Carthage Airport 01/19 runway. The aircraft wheels touching the ground and taxiing towards the terminal takes 5 minutes, casually turn off flight mode. People with Apple phones enter the Settings menu and find the Cellular column. Flip the already stored Tunis-Ooredoo traffic switch to the green on position.
The old number in the physical card slot is kept on all the time to receive 6-digit SMS verification codes. Press the roaming button of this card firmly in the grey off state. Go to the Cellular Data option and hand over the task of running traffic to the Tunis-Ooredoo network card. Don’t touch the button below the screen allowing data switching, running off course a few megabytes will cause 30 dollar bills.
Click into the just bought Tunisia digital card, flip the Data Roaming switch to bright. Without opening this, the top of the phone shows 4G but cannot run 1KB of traffic. The background takes the 32-digit code to find Ooredoo base station for handshake. Waiting for 45 seconds, LTE letters jump out in the upper right corner of the screen.
Handshake too slow and the phone will fall into the 2.5G EDGE turtle speed network. The background system always jumps back and forth between several signal towers. Enter the Network Selection menu and turn off the Automatic green light to manually pick the network:
- Select Ooredoo to connect to 1800 MHz frequency band and run full 60Mbps network speed
- Select Orange to penetrate the thick stone walls of Carthage ruins 800 MHz frequency band
- Switch to Tunisie Telecom frequency band to deal with Douz town 900 MHz no network area
- Avoid pure letter networks without 4G label to prevent disconnection
Manually picking the network can save 2 minutes of empty consumption of restarting the phone to search for signal. Compare the network speed performance of the three carriers in various cities of Tunisia. Match with the coverage area of each carrier below:
| Operator Base Station | Main Frequency Band | Measured Download Speed | Signal Coverage Area Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ooredoo | B3 (1800 MHz) | 45Mbps – 60Mbps | Tunis coastal avenue, Sousse resort beach |
| Orange | B20 (800 MHz) | 30Mbps – 45Mbps | Inside thick stone walls of Carthage ruins, Sfax old town narrow alleys |
| Tunisie Telecom | B8 (900 MHz) | 15Mbps – 25Mbps | Sahara desert Douz town, Tozeur south mountain highway |
Signal bar showing 3G or No Service, don’t press the power button to shut down. Take a finger and click Cellular Data Network menu to supplement APN parameters. Airalo buyers knock in globaldata letter combination in three lines of blank boxes. Holafly buyers follow the email and fill orange.tn in the box to grab IP address.
Changing parameters takes 10 seconds, open Safari browser and type google.com to test network speed. Webpage refreshing search box in 3 seconds proves 4G traffic two-way path is open. Click open Bolt software and drag the positioning dot outside Gate 2 of the arrival hall. Call an online ride-hailing car to Medina old town, estimated fare marked as 15 Dinars.
Mobile phone connecting to external network, a dozen software in the background run out to grab that 3GB traffic. Cloud album synchronization and game refreshing eat up 200MB quota in 10 minutes. Enter settings and manually cut off the networking permissions of these large traffic consumers:
- App Store background silently pulling software update packs over 150MB
- iCloud 4K photos silent upload action via cellular network channel
- Spotify playlist pulling 320kbps high-quality cache files
- WhatsApp relative and friend group chats receiving dozens of megabytes of video default image saving setting
- Google Maps offline map packs up to 300MB background location pulling
Physical SIM Cards at the Airport
The Three Major Operators
Pushing the luggage cart past the duty-free shop, three signboards of different colors appear ahead. On the left, the 6-meter-wide red background board is Ooredoo, the 3.5-meter-wide orange counter in the middle belongs to Orange, and the blue neon light box on the right belongs to Tunisie Telecom.
At 14:30 in the afternoon, an AF1084 flight from Paris lands. Hundreds of European travelers pour into the hall, and more than 20 people crowd in front of Ooredoo. Going to the next door Orange to handle a card can save half an hour of queuing.
Ooredoo occupies 42% of the Tunisia communication market share, and active devices in the network reach 7.5 million. Walking on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis city, the 4G+ label is constant at the top of the phone. Speed test software can run 65 Mbps, and watching 1080P YouTube videos has no freezing.
Taking a bus on the A1 toll highway to the east coast for vacation, Orange’s network frequency band is very smooth in Sousse and Hammamet. Local Bolt ride-hailing drivers mostly hang orange labels, and the network latency measured by the software remains at around 35 milliseconds.
Tunisia’s 4G network is supported by Band 3’s 1800 MHz and Band 20’s 800 MHz frequency bands. Unlocked phones connect to Orange channels, and making a 20-minute WhatsApp video call while sitting in a beach cafe, the number of frame drops is less than 3 times.
| Operator | Signboard Color | Downlink Peak | Signal in Remote Areas | 20GB Package Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ooredoo | Red | 55 – 65 Mbps | -105 dBm (weaker) | 22 TND |
| Orange | Orange | 45 – 50 Mbps | -98 dBm (medium) | 20 TND |
| Tunisie Telecom | Blue | 30 – 35 Mbps | -85 dBm (extremely strong) | 18 TND |
Tunisie Telecom, the state-controlled enterprise on the far right, occupies about 25% of the sales share. Testing speed in the northern bustling business districts is only a bit over 30 Mbps. Driving south along the RN1 national highway towards the edge of the Sahara desert in Douz, the companion’s Ooredoo phone shows No Service.
Tunisie Telecom relies on 800 MHz low-frequency base stations and still keeps two 3G signal bars in the desert. The weak network speed of a few dozen Kbps cannot brush Instagram, but can help you send a 30KB pure text help email.
- Around the capital: Stay in Tunis city or Carthage ruins, Ooredoo’s network response is extremely fast.
- Eastern coast: Go to Sousse beach, Orange has the lowest congestion rate during evening peak.
- Southern desert: Booked a tent camp, spend 18 TND to get a Tunisie Telecom as a spare machine hotspot.
- Landing in the early morning: Arriving at the hall at 2 o’clock at night, pick a counter with fewer than 5 people queuing, the price difference is less than 2 dollars.
Tunisian telecommunications department restricts VoIP calls, and using these three companies’ 4G to make Messenger voice calls will result in no sound. Installing a WireGuard node with obfuscation protocol to connect to a European server can solve communication obstacles. Mobile phone power below 20% will limit data, and sending messages on WhatsApp will freeze for 2 to 3 seconds.
Renting a car for self-driving in summer, outdoor temperature is 40 degrees, and the phone backplate above the dashboard soars to 45 degrees. Baseband chip overheating and frequency reduction, the efficiency of processing LTE data packets is halved, and the navigation map refreshes half a beat slow. Loading an Orange card into a spare phone in the backpack is a good option.
The spare phone turns on the 5GHz frequency band Wi-Fi hotspot for the navigation phone. Turning off the cellular network antenna of the main device can cool the body by 5 degrees. From 20:00 to 23:00 on the last day of the month, base stations are at full load, and Ooredoo’s speed will be squeezed below 15 Mbps.
- Offline download: Save 2.5GB Tunisia map while connected to hotel Wi-Fi.
- Backup power: Put a 10000 mAh power bank in the bag to prevent disconnection.
- Change exchange: Use 50 Euros to exchange for a handful of 10 and 20 TND notes.
Processing Procedure
Walking 15 meters out of the luggage extraction area, the three operator counters are just outside the frosted glass door. Hand the original passport to the Tunisian clerk behind the glass partition. Local regulations stipulate that foreign tourists can at most register 3 prepaid SIM cards under real names. The clerk puts the passport on the machine to scan and file, and the operation takes about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
- Original passport with remaining validity over 6 months
- Unlocked phone supporting LTE band Band 3
- Tunisian Dinar notes in denominations of 10 or 20
- Metal card pin with a diameter of 0.8 mm
Passport photo page down against the scanner, the machine reads the two lines of machine-readable codes at the bottom. Name, date of birth, and 9-digit passport number are automatically transmitted to the system database. Passport film reflection or wear leading to garbled codes, the clerk knocking the keyboard to manually correct spelling errors will take an extra 5 minutes.
The plastic card board obtained is a three-in-one cut-free design, along the dotted line dig out the 12.3 mm by 8.8 mm Nano-SIM card. The card holder on the outside must be kept well. Flip to the back of the card holder, the silver coating in the lower left corner scraped off reveals an 8-digit PUK code.
Phone off, use a card pin to top out the side card tray. The side with pure copper contacts down, placed flat in the position of card slot 1. After power on, the screen jumps a password pop-up, entering the wrong password 3 times consecutively will trigger the motherboard anti-theft lock card protection.
- Ooredoo initial power-on password: 0000
- Orange default unlock digits: 1234
- Ooredoo balance and traffic inquiry: Dial 124# on the keyboard
- Orange account margin check: Dial 100# on the keyboard
- Screen displays native number: Dial 111# on the keyboard
The signal bar in the upper right corner of the screen displays No Service in the first 30 seconds. Wait for the antenna icon to jump from 3G to H+, and stabilize at 4G or LTE label. In the system settings, disconnect the 1.2Mbps public Wi-Fi of the terminal. Encountering full signal bars but unable to go online, go to the mobile network menu to build a new APN, and fill in internet.ooredoo.tn.
Open WhatsApp to send a 2.4MB landscape photo to a friend, the upload progress circle finishes in less than 3 seconds. Use the browser to input tap.info.tn website, and the webpage images load in 1.5 seconds. After dialing the inquiry code, the screen pop-up will display TND balance and remaining high-speed traffic MB in lines.