It was not until relatively recently that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was opened up for tourism.
It took until 2019 before tourist visas were issued.
Previously, primarily those visiting the Kingdom for work, Hajj, or Umrah could enter the country.
Saudi Arabia has always been an interesting case in terms of mobile telecommunications.
It has been in the top 15 with the fastest speeds for the longest (with a few of its neighboring Gulf states).
So, I wanted to try out the Saudi networks for the longest.
In Saudi Arabia, I tried out three Saudi SIM cards, including Mobily, and seven travel eSIMs (Saudi Arabia-only ones, regional ones & a global one).
I spent over 250 USD for my Saudi Arabia SIM card and travel eSIM review series – I went all out 😎.
In most countries, getting a local SIM card is the cheapest way to stay connected (and you will have a local phone number, something you often do not get with a travel eSIM).
The same can be said about Saudi Arabia, where SIM cards are not too expensive – even the tourist ones or those sold at international airports.
Mobily is a brand by Etisalat from the United Arab Emirates, which is the best option on its home turf.
So, is it any good in Saudi Arabia? Let's find out.
Original publication: 15th of January 2024. Last updated: 23rd of January 2024.
Who is Mobily?
Mobily, by Etisalat from the United Arab Emirates, is the second-largest mobile operator in Saudi Arabia.
It was the mobile operator to end STC KSA's monopoly.
Subsequently, it was also the first to offer 4G/LTE in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
In Saudi Arabia, you have three mobile operators and three Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) offering prepaid services easily accessible to travelers:
- STC KSA
- Mobily
- Zain KSA
- Jawwy (STC KSA sub-brand)
- Lebara Mobile KSA (Mobily MVNO)
- Virgin Mobile KSA (STC KSA MVNO)
As you know, I tested the other two mobile operators during my stay in Saudi Arabia. You can read them here: STC Saudi Arabia & Zain Saudi Arabia.
The first section of this review will be about Mobily's coverage, but here is a quick overview of the frequencies used by Mobily:
- 2G: 900 MHz & 1800 MHz
- 3G: 900 MHz & 2100 MHz
- 4G/LTE: 1800 MHz (Band 3), 2500 MHz (Band 41) & 2600 MHz (Band 38)
- 5G NR: 3500 MHz (n78)
Followed by the APN settings:
- Name: Mobily WEB2
- APN: web2
Note: make sure to use “web2” as a prepaid user. APN “web1” is for postpaid customers only. Leave anything not mentioned above untouched.
Mobily Saudi Arabia Coverage + My Experience
Depending on who you ask, coverage is more important than the speed you can get with a mobile operator.
Some others may value speed more (because they stay in urban areas where coverage is expected, for example).
A balance of both is essential (although I focus on speed slightly more than coverage – I am not an off-the-beaten-track kind of guy).
So, how good or bad is Mobily's coverage?
Fantastic, you can say – but you should not expect anything in deserts.
With that, I mean not being near a paved road or something. You will still have reception there if people live nearby or it is a tourist attraction. But if you go to the middle of nowhere, expect no reception at all.
But even then, you will have close to perfect reception in populated areas with any Saudi mobile operator (all with an availability score of more than 95.7%).
When looking at 5G NR availability, Mobily has the second-best availability (22.0%). Ahead of Zain Saudi Arabia (19.9% – review) but behind STC Saudi Arabia (22% – review).
Those are excellent figures, but how was my coverage experience with Mobily?
Honestly, it was perfect – although I was in Jeddah/Saudi Arabia shorter than I would have wanted to be, affecting the results.
Initially, I was supposed to be in Riyadh for two days. Because I wanted to visit my friend, Majed, in Qatar instead, I chose Jeddah as a long layover (24 hours). Saudia thought our afternoon flight to Casablanca (Morocco) was scheduled at a sensible time and pushed it to the early morning. To make things worse, the drive from the airport to the hotel took 1:30 hours instead of 30 minutes due to rush hour and multiple accidents – even less time in the Kingdom 🥲. Oh yeah, people drive like maniacs in KSA!
But yeah, I had no reception issues with Mobily – and I was on 5G NR all the time (unlike with STC KSA and Zain KSA, which were mostly on 4G/LTE).
Below is a Mobily coverage map before I tell you how to get a Mobily SIM card and how much they cost.
How to Get a Mobily Saudi Arabia SIM Card (or eSIM) + Prices
You can get a Mobily SIM card at Mobily stores and international airports, including Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED).
Unlike most countries, including those in neighboring Middle Eastern/Gulf countries, I do not actively discourage you from getting a SIM card at a Saudi airport.
Mainly because they are not overpriced (the so-called tourist/convenience tax) compared to the official prices.
Not only is it more convenient to get a SIM card at an airport because the employees there are efficient and proficient with the activation process (at least at Jeddah Airport), but the waiting time can be significantly shorter than at a Mobily store.
In regular Mobily stores, all types of customers go to the store to deal with their issues or purchases. Some inquiries can take ages to resolve, and there are not always enough employees to help you. At airports, the staff members deal with tourists wanting SIM cards – quicker and easier than dealing with a complicated billing inquiry, for example.
But that does not mean you will be done within a minute at airports… but it will be faster than you think (especially compared to airports worldwide).
I bought my SIM card at Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED).
The guide above covers all you need to know about buying a SIM card at that airport, including options from other mobile operators. I encourage you to read if you fly into Jeddah and want to compare Mobily's offers with its competition.
There, it sells a combination of tourist SIM cards (Visitor Plans) and some regular plans (the mid-range and expensive ones only).
If you want more choices, go to a regular Mobily store in Jeddah proper or wherever your final destination is).
During Hajj, Mobily may have Hajj plans (but it has not been as consistent lately).
The same applies to Umrah-specific plans – Mobily used to have them all the time… but not so (much) anymore.
Anyway, at Jeddah Airport, Mobily will have a piece of paper with all its plans: ones with international call credit and others without.
The following three plans with international call credit (some of which are Visitor Plans) are sold by Mobily at Jeddah Airport:
| Price | Data | Social Data 1 | Local Minutes | International Minutes | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 115 SAR | 20 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | 200 minutes | 14 days |
| 115 SAR | 10 GB | 15 GB | 500 minutes | 25 SAR | 28 days |
| 172.50 SAR | 15 GB | 25 GB | Unlimited | 40 SAR | 28 days |
1 for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp & YouTube
Then you have these four plans without international calls are sold by Mobily at Jeddah Airport:
| Price | Data | Social Data 1 | Local Minutes | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 172.50 SAR | 59 GB | Unlimited | 3000 minutes | 28 days |
| 207 SAR | 79 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | 28 days |
| 253 SAR | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | 28 days |
| 395 SAR | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 28 days |
1 for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp & YouTube
The plans without international call credits are called Prepaid (by Mobily) and can be purchased in Jeddah proper as well, for example.
But cheaper plans will be available there, unlike at airports, as shown below.
I bought the 115 SAR SIM card (with 20 GB of data) because I had less than 24 hours in Jeddah.
I paid by card, but you can pay by cash if you want, but only in Saudi Riyal (SAR)).
Because I flew with Saudia and had an onward flight with it too (within 96 hours/4 days), I was eligible for a reduced stopover visa (94 SAR/25 USD) instead of the regular tourist (e)Visa (535 SAR/142 USD – multiple entries for up to 90 days each stay within a year).
If you fly with Flynas or Saudia (like I did) with Saudi Arabia as a stopover and not as a final destination (so from country A flying to Saudi Arabia for less than 96 to country B with the same airline (Flynas or Saudi), you can get the Stopover Visa for free. But fees may apply. I had to pay 94 SAR because I booked my flights before the 90-day timeframe. Although others claim these “free” visas have not been free for a while.
If a visa label has been attached to your passport, you only have to show that one.
Biometrics, your fingerprint(s), are also captured as part of Saudi Arabia's SIM card registration laws.
Mobily captures your right index finger.
Once all is settled, the SIM card is handed to you… and you have to figure things out yourself.
Well, not really – the SIM card is ready to go once they hand it to you.
But almost all mobile operators selling SIM cards at airports, and even regular stores, I have been to at least want to confirm your SIM card work.
This was not the case with the Mobily employees at Jeddah Airport 🗿.
That is all I needed to do to get my Mobily SIM card.
As I said, more options should be available if you get a Mobily SIM card from a regular Mobily store (so not at an airport).
As a traveler or someone doing Hajj or Umrah, it may be more challenging to get a normal Mobily plan instead of a visitor package – you may have to go to multiple shops to get what you want.
But if you eventually manage, cheaper plans are available.
Heck, even cheaper visitor plans exist, as shown below.
I encourage you to check out my Saudi Arabia SIM card buying guide to explore all your options.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot – does Mobily have eSIMs for prepaid customers?
Yes, it does. But they are not sold at airports (such as Jeddah Airport) – you need to visit a Mobily store.
And they are often unavailable for tourist plans – only regular prepaid plans.
You can also consider a travel eSIM from Airalo, Alosim, Holafly, or Nomad – all of which I also tried (including regional and global eSIMs).
You can read more about them in my Saudi Arabia eSIM buying guide or individual reviews (on the Saudi Arabia review page).
Mobily Saudi Arabia Top-Up, Recharge & Balance Check
Mobily top-up vouchers are sold in Mobily stores and many other establishments, such as kiosks, gas stations, and grocery stores.
To top up your Mobily SIM card, dial *1400*VoucherCode#. The same can be done by calling 1400. Citizens and residents have to dial *1400*VoucherCode*Iqama#.
For example, if your voucher code is 123456 (and your Iqama is 123456), you would dial *1400*123456# or *1400*123456*123456#.
You can also tell the salesperson how much credit you want, your phone number, pay, and they will top up your SIM card with the POS system.
You can also recharge online with (international) debit and credit cards.
Dial *1411# or text 1411 to 1100 to check your Mobily balance.
You can also top up and check your balance on the Mobily App (Android/iOS).
Mobily Saudi Arabia Speed Test Results in Saudi Arabia
Mobily is regarded as the second-fastest mobile operator in Saudi Arabia in Q4 2023 by Opensignal.
With a 5G NR average download of 210.90 Mbps, Mobily was slightly behind STC Saudi Arabia (242.40 Mbps – review) but ahead of Zain Saudi Arabia (198.2 Mbps – review).
When looking at 4G/LTE average download speeds, Mobily (38 Mbps) was once again just behind STC KSA (40.20 Mbps) but far ahead of Zain KSA (24.10 Mbps).
What about upload speeds? Mobily is doing well, with an average download speed of 8.90 Mbps. Not as “fast” as STC KSA (11.10 Mbps) but not as bad as Zain KSA (6.80 Mbps).
And the same can be said about upload speeds on 5G NR.
23.80 Mbps with Mobily, while STC KSA has an average upload speed of 25.10 Mbps and Zain KSA 17.60 Mbps).
I suspect all these numbers to be higher due to Opensignal having far fewer data points than Speedtest (which did not have a report out for the country at the time of writing).
So you can expect even faster speeds with Mobily, STC KSA & Zain KSA 😎.
One thing I like about Mobily, and all the Saudi mobile operators, is that 5G NR is available to prepaid customers without additional costs.
You do not have to get the most expensive plan to access its 5G NR network (unlike some other mobile operators worldwide).
Or worse, that feature being restricted to postpaid customers.
So, during my short time in Jeddah, I had 5G NR access with my 115 SAR SIM card.
I did speed tests with the Speedtest app throughout Jeddah.
For reference, I consider an average download speed of 25 Mbps and an average upload speed of 10 Mbps fast enough.
Why is that? A more than 25 Mbps download speed is enough to video stream content @ 4k resolution.
Social media sites that do live streaming, like Facebook Live, recommend an upload speed of at least 10 Mbps.
I have way higher standards, but not everyone demands a download speed of 500 Mbps 🤪.
In the section below, you will find various colors and formatting.
Results in dark green mean that the result was the fastest download or upload among all SIM cards and travel eSIMs I tested at that location.
Whereas results in light green were the fastest download or upload within the category (among all SIM cards OR all travel eSIMs) but not the fastest when considering the other category.
The same applies to dark red and light orange results – the slowest download or upload among all (dark red) or the slowest within a category (light orange).
All underlined results are on 5G NR, while results in italics are on 3G – results without additional formatting are on 4G/LTE.
That should clear up the colorful speed test results in the next section.
For now, let's see how Mobily performed in Jeddah.
Mobily Saudi Arabia in Jeddah Speed Test Results
Even though my time in Jeddah was not as long as I planned, I did as many tests as possible.
However, this resulted in the results being more unreliable than usual.
At least I have a reason to revisit Saudi Arabia 😎.
Mobily SIM cards could be bought in the arrivals hall of Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport (not at baggage claim as with some other airports).
As a result, I only tested at five locations with Saudi SIM cards (whereas I could test at seven with my travel eSIMs because I pre-installed them and used them upon arrival).
So here are the results:
Blazing-fast speeds with Mobily in Jeddah!
Even with the limited results I got, Mobily was surprisingly fast.
It was faster than Zain KSA but slower than STC KSA (just as determined by Opensignal in the earlier section).
Let's go through each test location because there are only five anyway.
At Albaik (located at Nahdat at Talif), I got a download speed of 69.02 Mbps (5G).
This was slower than STC KSA (225.54 Mbps (5G)) and even Zain KSA (131.18 Mbps (5G)).
The eSIMs that were slower than Mobily were Airalo Discover (9.65 Mbps) and Nomad Saudi Arabia (14.15 Mbps).
Both were on 4G/LTE and using the Zain KSA network (but they had 5G access at other test locations).
I guess Mobily cannot always be in the middle in terms of speed 🤪.
At the arrivals hall at Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport, I got a download speed of 141.37 Mbps on 5G NR.
This was faster than STC KSA (118.27 Mbps (4G)) and way faster than Zain KSA (18.95 Mbps (4G)).
Here, no travel eSIM was faster than Mobily (although the Nomad Saudi Arabia eSIM came close, with 136.49 Mbps (4G)).
Mobily was also the fastest at Red Sea Mall (213.25 Mbps (5G)), with STC KSA getting a speed of 169.82 Mbps (4G) and Zain KSA 123.94 Mbps (4G).
At Novotel Jeddah Tahlia, I got a download speed of 149.38 Mbps (5G).
This was way slower than Zain KSA (268.88 Mbps (5G)) and way, way slower than STC KSA (668.09 Mbps (5G)).
Yeah… competition was stiff there 🗿.
So much so that the Airalo Red Sand (Saudi Arabia), Airalo Menalink (Middle East), Alosim Saudi Arabia & Nomad Middle East eSIMs were faster than Mobily (403.03 Mbps, 310.13 Mbps, 219.63 Mbps & 164.82, respectively (all on Zain KSA's 5G NR network)).
Finally, we have the result at Prince Majid Park.
I got a download speed of 225.80 Mbps (5G) with Mobily. Behind STC KSA (300.30 Mbps (4G)) and far ahead of Zain KSA (63.55 Mbps).
While it may have been hard to spot among all these results and numbers, I was on 5G NR at every test location with Mobily (only twice with both STC KSA and Zain KSA).
So Mobily seems to have a better 5G NR reception in Jeddah (at least, based on my limited sample size).
Overall, I got an average download speed of 156.76 Mbps with my Mobily SIM card (median of 149.38 Mbps).
That is quite impressive!
Regarding upload speeds, there is not much to say – all results were faster than 13 Mbps (with 13.51 Mbps being the lowest (5G at Red Sea Mall) and 29.85 Mbps being the highest (5G at Albaik).
But both STC KSA and Zain KSA did better in terms of uploading, with neither having a result slower than 13 Mbps as well (the slowest was 13.54 Mbps (4G) with Zain KSA at the international arrivals hall of Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport).
So yeah, you will be fine with the Mobily SIM card in Jeddah.
My Overall Experience with Mobily Saudi Arabia – Is It Worth Your Money?
I would recommend Mobily, and it would be one of my top recommendations for anyone wanting to buy a Saudi SIM card.
Getting a Mobily SIM card at Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport was easy, and the activation process was smooth and quick.
This can be the opposite during peak airport hours (especially during Hajj at Jeddah Airport).
If you do not want to buy a SIM card at the airport, you may have to deal with (even) longer queues, depending on the Mobily store you visit.
Regardless of your plan, whether for tourists or a regular package, you will have 5G NR access on the Mobily network without paying a surcharge (assuming your phone supports 5G NR).
While Mobily's 5G NR coverage is slightly worse than STC KSA's, I was on 5G NR all the time with my Mobily SIM card (unlike my STC and Zain SIM cards).
If you go to the middle of a desert where nobody lives except nothing.
Mobily's plans sold at the airport were reasonably priced for airport SIM cards (starting from 115 SAR).
However, STC Saudi Arabia (review) sold a plan for almost half the price with about the same benefits.
And it has a better network than Mobily – you would think the latter would try to compete on price 🤔.
Taking the five speed tests into account, I had an average download speed of 156.76 Mbps and a median download speed of 149.38 Mbps with Mobily.
When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 20.68 Mbps and a median upload speed of 17.57 Mbps with Mobily – the slowest in the Kingdom.
Many travel eSIMs, including those I tested in the country, can access the Mobily and Zain Saudi Arabia (review) networks.
We determined that Mobily's network is alright but not the best.
But most travel eSIMs cannot use the STC KSA network – at least you can use the second-best option.
With excellent coverage, reasonably priced data-featured prepaid plans/tourist SIM cards & fast (5G NR) speeds, there is nothing to complain about Mobily, which is why I recommend it.
Saudi Arabia SIM Card & eSIM Reviews
Besides Mobily, I also tested STC Saudi Arabia and Zain Saudi Arabia in the Kingdom.
I encourage you to read those reviews to decide which Saudi SIM card suits your needs.
>>> STC Saudi Arabia | Zain Saudi Arabia <<<
Besides Saudi SIM cards, I also tried various travel eSIMs from Airalo, Alosim, Holafly & Nomad.
You can find those below.
>>> Airalo Red Sand (Saudi Arabia) eSIM | Airalo Menalink (Middle East) eSIM in Saudi Arabia | Airalo Discover (global) eSIM in Saudi Arabia | Alosim Saudi Arabia eSIM | Holafly Saudi Arabia eSIM | Nomad Saudi Arabia eSIM | Nomad Middle East eSIM in Saudi Arabia <<<
- Check out my eSIM reviews page if you want to read all the other eSIM reviews I have written, including those I tested in other Middle Eastern countries.
