You wished for a blogpost about this topic and I have to say that this is something I wanted to write about anyway. If you don’t buy a moroccan Sim-Card and you plan a trip like ours, you’ll often have the problem that you don’t have any internet connection. Sure – the moroccan net was missing a few times, but that wasn’t the case very often. But let’s start in the beginning.

How do I get a Prepaid SIM-Card and how much will it cost ?

I bought my SIM-Card directly at the airport. At first I wanted to go to the Maroc Telecom Shop but we had to wait very long at the passport controll, so the shop was already closed. Next to it there’s a little kiosk, which I asked about a SIM-Card and – yes they also sell them! The vendor put the card into my phone, activated it for me and wrote down the number for me. You can buy 1 GB, 5 GB or 10 GB. Since I didn’t know how long we’d stay „out of civilisation“ I bought 10 GB, so that my boyfriend and I had enough datavolume for E-Mail, Work, Postings and Whatsapp Calls. It was also very cheap.

I paid 50 Dirham for the SIM-Card and I booked 100 Dirham to use it, which makes it 150 Dirham – around 15 Euro. I stored my own SIM-Card in my purse for the whole week and I didn’t use it.

Is the internet covered in the whole country?

No, not really. The country Morocco is covered pretty good in terms of internet, but sometimes we didn’t have any signal. For example on the way from Ouarzazate into the desert to Zagora – we didn’t have a signal for about half an hour. In the mountains around the Toubkal the signal was bad as well for a couple of times. It works very well in the cities though – you can surf with 4G in the cities.

Does the Wifi in the Hotels work?

Naturally there’s Wifi in most of the hotels – if not in your room, then at least in the lobby or the spaces that everyone has access to. But with this Wifi signal you won’t be able to work without problems, because the connection is very slow. In the Riad at Ait Ben Haddou as well as at the one at Toubkal I wasn’t able to open Mails with an attachement or load pictures via WhatsApp.

I had a Digital Detox (which I didn’t really wish for). I knew that the internet wouldn’t be the best, but I didn’t expect it to completely fail and that you can’t do anything. I couldn’t even check my Instagram Feed or my Facebook. Instagram Stories was able to upload Pictures, but Videos didn’t work.

It only worked at the Riad in Marrakech. If it didn’t work, I used my phone a Hotspot. This wasn’t fast either, but at least I could send e-mails. All in all you can say that as an online Entrepreneur in Morocco (at least on land), you’re screwed. I don’t know if I’m a benchmark, but for me the Internet has to be super fast. I constantly work online – that’s why I need a good connection.

As already mentioned – the internet was really fast in the city of Marrakesh. The wifi worked in the room as well as on the rooftop of the hotel. My connection was good too, when on the streets of the city and I was able to surf with 4G. Outside of the city you have to expect that the Internet and mobile connection gets worse or fails.

Which alternatives are there apart from a SIM-Card?

Next to a SIM-Card for the phone, you can also get a Skyroam. (You can find more Info about this Hotspot on the website) or you can just use one of the Cybercafés in Morocco. In the cities you can find various Cafés where you can use a computer. But I can’t tell you about how fast the connection there is and what kind of computers you can work on. I read a lot of these Cafés online.

So, I hope my blogpost was helpful for you. If you have more questions, just write a comment. And if you already visited Marrakech, tell me about your experiences. Did you also use a SIM-Card and if yes, did it work well? I’d be happy to read from you and wish you a wonderful day.