Mobile service in Sri Lanka: internet and calls

To get around the island, it is very useful to have a local SIM card with mobile internet in your phone: to check an online map, look things up, read reviews, make a Skype call, and so on. Which SIM card should you choose for mobile service in Sri Lanka?

Mobile service and mobile internet in Sri Lanka

We chose a SIM card from the mobile operator Dialog because of reviews about the best internet and coverage in Sri Lanka (jumping ahead, I'll say that we used mobile internet for more than a month and were happy with it: it never let us down once, and the speed was often faster than Wi-Fi). You can see which internet packages are currently available in the relevant section of Dialog's website. Pay attention to how long a package is valid. Once you've looked through the list of all available internet packages, you go to any dealer (kiosks with operator logos and SIM card ads) and say you need a Dialog SIM and such-and-such internet package. The SIM card itself will cost 150 rupees, and the rest of the money goes directly toward paying for the internet package.

Topping up your balance

The easiest way to top up your balance with the Sri Lankan mobile operator Dialog is to top up through your account on the operator's website with a credit card. No fees, no trips anywhere, and no other hassle.

Of course, you can always go to the same dealers and top up through them.

In this article we haven't covered calls back home using mobile service in Sri Lanka, since we've never done that ourselves: all our communication with home happens over free internet services.

Overall, we had no complaints or problems with mobile service. There was signal both on Adam's Peak and on Sigiriya. Everywhere we went.

And finally, a quest for the biggest geeks, to unlock the 4G ability: get a regular SIM card from a dealer (since they don't have 4G uSim), make it to a Dialog service office (find an official center), and swap the SIM card for a 4G uSim. All the same internet packages will work on 4G too, only many times faster. 4G is available in Sri Lanka only in cities and only from Dialog. Of course, this quest requires a quest item: a phone with FD-LTE 1800 MHz, Band 3.

Stay connected ;)