Cell service providers and sim cards

two main providers are My.T (Mauritius Telecom) and Emtel. You also have Chilli. All 3 operators offer pre pay and post pay packages. For pre pay, you pay as you go, there is no contract and for post paid , you will be required to subscribe to a contract.

My.T and Emtel have both overall good coverage. I don't know about Chilli. The difference that i see between My.T and Emtel, is that Emtel has a slightly weaker internet coverage depending on where you are on the island.

You can check for their packages (prepay and post pay) on their respective websites :

https://www.myt.mu/mobile/https://www.emtel.com/ > Mobile services
http://www.chili.mu/services/

My.T (Mauritius Telecom) is good, they have good coverage though they had a breakdown recently due to a "series of Distributed Denial of Service that are known as the DDOS attacks".

They are both alright. I personally don't really like Emtel as they keep sending me unsolicited promotional sms (games etc) even though I have already informed them that I don't wish to receive any of these. It is common for people here to have 2 phones, 2 sim cards, one of each network. Also, most of my acquaintances/friends etc use My.T so, it is more convenient for me.

You can register at a shop (all sim cards are registered) whether Emtel or Mauritius Telecom by presenting your passport. Pay as you go is a good option, a starter pack will cost you around Rs 100.00 with some credit in it and free data.

Regards,
A

Natasha,

If its only GPS you're after, you can actually do without network coverage. This app called Sygic is excellent, and for a reasonable fee you can download any map of the world you want.  It doesn't need WiFi to use. I use it all the time when travelling from Botswana to SA the latter place at which I don't use mobile data.

Thanks all for the info.

The above information is very clear, thank you. But as I am very bad in those things, could you maybe help with the question how much data shall I buy if I will use the SIM for getting around the island when walking for example and I will also use it to contact a Mauritian taxi, diving center, friends etc. on the island. Not a whole lot of calling.

Thank you.

@oshudofsky try asking at the telecom booth at the airport, just as you come out of the luggage area. There were many booths and this was at one end. They had special offers for visitors but I am sure you can then extend or get onto a different deal. The staff were very helpful when i visited in July 2022. Got a Sim card valid for 1 month for calling and data, cost me about Rs 600 all inclusive as far as I remember. The lady there let me choose a number and put the sim card into my phone. It worked very quickly and I had to reboot my phone for all the features to work. Coming from the UK, it worked out quite cheap!

@oshudofsky if you're here for a relatively short stay (2-3 weeks) then I would recommend you get the MyT starter pack at Rs 100 which gives you 15GB of data, Rs 87 of call credit and 150 local SMS (https://www.myt.mu/mobile/getting-a-new-sim). The call credit should be enough to tie you over if you're not planning to make a lot of calls - you can always make calls via WhatsApp which will make use of your 15GB data in stead of the call credit. If/once you run out of the 15GB data, I suggest you top up with the 24H No Limit Data pack at Rs 15 per day (https://www.myt.mu/mobile//prepaid-mobile-data).All of the above should keep you within Rs 300 - Rs 350 for your entire stay.

@vrtlmadness thank you very much for your great help. I will certainly do buy that package suggested by you.

Be aware there are 2 types of SIMs in Mauritius, one is called a "Tourist SIM" (these are the ones generally sold at the airport) and this will only work for one month (can extend for another week or so but that's about all), after that you need to get another SIM with a different number. So if your intending staying make sure it isn't a tourist SIM that your buying.

@oshudofsky , whenever I go to Mauritius, I buy the emtel tourist pack ->https://www.emtel.com/tourist-pack.  You will need to order this ahead of time online and then pick up the SIM card at the airport.  You would need to install the WhatsApp application as most people use this app to text and call.  WhatsApp uses cellular data and the tourist pack data plan is sufficient for me to stay connected when I am not nearby a wifi hotspot.  Hope that this helps.

@andrew9799 thank you for the warning, this time I will stay only 2,5 weeks so then I will buy the tourist pack, which also the other helpful people here suggested.