Blacklist

Blacklist
This list shows these countries where it's impossible to buy a local prepaid SIM card (for data) at the moment. This can be because of lack of technical infrastructure or legal reasons which prohibits the purchase of a SIM card for foreigners. As you see, this list is rather short:

Cuba
In Cuba there are still no data on their GSM network, not even GPRS. The only state-owned mobile provider "Cubacel" only has a kind of intra-net for emails in Cuba running. The only way to log on the internet for foreigners is to go to one of the major hotels and use their WI-FI in the lobby. These connections are billed by time, are severely overcharged and can be very slow. The situation may change with the easing of the embargo by the US in the coming years.

Korea (North)
The state-owned provider "koryolink" sells SIM cards to foreign visitors for their 3G network on 2100 Mhz: a "Visitor Line" with 3 different packages on prepaid and a postpaid "Foreigner Line" for residents. Unfortunately, the Visitor Line has voice and text only, but no data. This can only be booked on the Foreigner Line at astronomical rates, but is inaccessible to short-time visitors.

Graylist
This list shows these countries, where you should think twice of buying a local prepaid SIM card, as it may not be advisable under all circumstances. Because of procedures, legal barriers or technical restraints, you may better look for alternatives like WI-FI or an international roaming SIM.

China
Because of the "Great Firewall of China" a.k.a. censorship your internet can be severely restricted. Facebook, Twitter, many Google sites like Maps, Gmail or its search engine and many others are blocked. Furthermore, China is starting to clamp down on VPNs used to circumvent these blocks.

India
India has a very unforseeable policy of registration which can take a few hours but also more than a week. So you'll never know, when you are actually connected to the network after having purchased a new SIM card.

Palestine
The Palestine Territories have their own networks, but are restricted to 2G and data up to EDGE speed only. This is due to the refusal of Israel to grant 3G spectrum to Palestine operators. You may use Israeli providers instead.

Turkey
Turkey has implemented a questionable scheme of paying a TL 115 tax for all imported devices to be used on a local SIM card. This is added by a whitelist registration system of IMEI numbers. If you dont follow the rules, your devices will be blocked after a few days. Back to main page