Good internet is a problem in Tajikistan. I tried Megafon, Tcell, Zet Mobile and Anor to find the fastest internet. I will also talk about two tough features of getting a SIM card for a foreigner, read the article to the end.
Ranked from best to worst:
In the author’s personal opinion.
Megafon is the best internet in cities, but terrible in everything else.
The fastest in terms of speed and ping. It is the youngest operator in Tajikistan and if you are not planning to be out of town for a long time, but to be in Dushanbe or Khujand, it is not a bad option. If you run out of Internet package, it will not charge the balance for each megabyte as other operators do. Megafon’s Internet is the only good thing about it, otherwise it is the worst and meanest company.
Tcell is the most popular telecommunications operator among the population.
Internet speed is also good, a little slower and ping is a little higher. Due to the popularity of cell towers can be overloaded at lunchtime and in the evening, up to complete absence of Internet (Welcome to Tajikistan). In remote areas there is a more developed network of towers than Megafon, in villages many people use it for this reason.
Zet mobile – there is 5G in some places.
The quality of communication is the same as in Tcell. It used to be a Beeline operator. The first time I was refused to open a SIM card because the head office did not like the copy of my registration, I guess this is an isolated case. Zet mobile works well in many villages.
Babilon is a very old operator.
Its tariffs are strange and its branches are very rare. This is the only operator that I have not used personally, it does not inspire confidence from the stage of finding it even on the company’s website.
Anor is the worst telecom operator in Tajikistan.
And it’s not about the Internet, it’s not bad there, because it works on the Megafon mobile network. This operator blocks the SIM card at its own discretion, does not return the money on the balance, can not provide any support when applying to the branch (more than 10 times I went). It is better not to buy a SIM card.
For the sake of completeness of the article, it is possible to pay for the communication of such operators in the mobile bank:
But other telecom operators are rare and not important to the tourist.
Peculiarities of SIM card registration for a foreigner
You will be issued a SIM card by any operator on your passport (as a non-resident).
Once you insert a local SIM card into your phone that you bought outside of Tajikistan, you will have a month before it is blocked by IMEI.
If you are traveling within that time frame, it won’t bother you. Just the next time you enter Tajikistan, your IMEI will be on the blocked list and the phone will not connect to the tower.
If you plan to stay in Tajikistan for a long time, you need to worry about filling out a T-6 declaration form at customs in advance. Having no idea how to do it, I was one of those who did not know about this peculiarity. Not having filled this form, in a month you will receive SMS notification with the offer to pass identification on the site imei.tj where it will be necessary to pay 15% VAT from the cost of the phone, 10 dollars of customs duty and 50 somoni as procedural payments. And actually use your phone for good.
The SIM card will work for you for exactly as long as you can be legally in the country.
After that, it will simply be deactivated. The issue is solved by registration, it will be scanned at the office of the mobile operator and you can use the SIM card without restrictions until the end of the registration period.
Conclusion
Here are all the intricacies of buying a SIM card in Tajikistan. I hope it was useful for you!
