Buying & Using a Moroccan SIM

[Chris Scott]

How about a thread about all we know about running SIMs in Morocco?
Doubtless there may be a good page somewhere on the internet, but here it will get updated by many users.
Compared to outback UK, you will amazed how far out you can get a few phone bars or 4G.
Not much of a phone user myself so only come to this lately: this is what I've found and what I think I know.
Please correct and add. I will edit this OP with corrections and the thread for clarity. Please post useful info, not chit chat.

• Maroc Telecom, Inwi and Orange are the three main operators.
  
• You can buy a SIM card from any town telecom boutique. At these places I have never had to show passport ID; flashier/branded boutiques in cities/airport arrivals may ask.
  
• Get either calls/SMS only, and/or 4G/data. Calls-only SIMs cost from 20dh (yes, < a couple of quid) including 20dh of credit.
  
• At RAK airport, all three ops have desks on the left as you emerge arrivals hall and head for the exit, but at Menara (RAK) you must pay MT in Euros and Inwi wanted €20 minimum. Buy in town.
  
• Not surprised to read that SIMs sold by freelance vendors as you exit a sea port are dodgy or overpriced, etc. Buy and set up at a main street telecom boutique so you can walk away with phone working. These boutiques are everywhere.
  
• 20dh of calls/texts won't last long so buy more on the spot.
  
• Get the telecom savvy youngster to set you up, as it can involve Arabic / French recorded instructions. Get them to set SIM in your language, if that's a thing.
  
• You can buy/recharge SIMs for calls/SMS only ('appel') and/or 4G/data ('internet', '4G' or similar).
  They are different things. Put a tenner on both for more than a fortnight.
  
• Important thing is to get your actual phone number (212 06 XX XX XX XX), not always obvious/written, afaik; as well as the PIN (usually '0000' and which you can soon change).
  
• I believe it is something like dial: #99 to see your number? Could be wrong or only MT.
  
• You can recharge in any village shop, but in the south I have found MT are most easily found.
  
• Sometimes it's a scratch card which you can buy in various denominations from 20D. Just text the scratch number to #555.
  Anyway, I sometimes get them to do it for me so I know it's worked.
  Or with no scratch; the shop bloke credits you off his phone via some special number.
  
• In the same way, any Moroccan pal with a proper phone account (not PAYG) can credit you from anywhere.
  
• There is something about added credit extending your number's validity by weeks, because in the end if unused, the number will expire in a month and gets passed on. (Because of this you can occasionally get calls/SMS from strangers calling the previous number user. May be spam or just wrong number?).
  Same with 4G recharge which I think extends for months.
  
• Most Moroccans use free Whatapp for messaging/calls, not SMS. So get 4G. It is easy to transfer your Whatsapp number to foreign number - and then transfer back at home.
  
• I find 50dh/5gb of data will last a week, if not running live 4G mapping all day.
  
• By comparison, I hear your UK number can work abroad for ~£6 a day with loads of data.
  
• If you need to access your home number regularly (see below), consider bringing a spare (or dual SIM) phone.
  
• I don't know what an eSIM is, but others probably do.
  
• Remember, any internet account access that needs Two-Step Text Verification to your home number can cost you loads, if it's not set up for Morocco. Try and change/add your Moroccan number, but that can only be done when you know your Mk number. There may be other ways round this.
  
• Very often you will find your 4G works better than a cheaper hotel's wi-fi - or at least in any room.
  
• I'm not sure how to tell how much credit you have left.
  When it runs out I recharge in a shop somewhere.
  
• Having tried all three over the years, I have found MT easiest to recharge in remote villages, and MT 4G worked better than Inwi out on the piste. Elsewhere, near the border, Inwi was briefly better than MT. Never tried Orange 4G.