Iran - Andrew Burke [326]
Remember that bargaining is not a life and death battle. A good bargain is when both parties are happy and doesn’t necessarily require you to screw every last toman out of the vendor. If you paid more than your travelling companion, don’t worry. As long as you’re happy, it was a good deal. Remember, too, that no-one is forcing you to buy anything. Your money will stay in your pocket until you decide to take it out. And, unlike at home, if you do get ripped off in Iran the damage won’t be too great.
* * *
Some old-style payphones still work and take IR50 and IR100 coins. Cards for newer payphones are available in newsstands and come in denominations of IR5000, IR10,000 and IR20,000. Calls are so cheap that you’ll need to really like the sound of your voice to get through the larger card. Local calls are just IR42 per minute, though it’s more if you’re calling a mobile or long distance. In our experience, however, every second card phone is broken and you can’t make international calls from them. In some cities international calling cards are available from newsstands, grocery stores and coffeenets, where you dial a local number and punch in a code.
Local calls are so cheap that if you ask nicely most hotels will let you make a few free of charge. Airports and major bus terminals usually have at least one public telephone permitting free local calls.
International calls are also relatively cheap – just IR1700 per minute to most countries. These rates can be had at small, private telephone offices (usually open from about 7.30am until 9pm). The process is pretty simple: give the number you want to the front desk and wait for a booth to become available. You’ll normally be charged a minimum of three minutes.
You can’t make reverse-charge (collect) calls to or from Iran. Iran’s country code is 98, to dial out of Iran call 00; if calling from outside Iran, drop the initial 0 from all area codes. See also the inside front cover for some useful numbers.
Mobile Phones
Iran has three mobile-phone networks. Government-run MCI and private Thaliya have very extensive coverage but are for residents only and their whopping sign-up costs average US$300 (down from US$1000 a few years ago). For travellers, a much better option is Irancell (www.irancell.ir) whose pay-as-you-go SIM card costs just IR300,000. We just had to show our passports to get one, though in some places you might need a local friend to fill the (all Farsi) papers and provide a local address. To top up your credit, buy scratch cards from vendors displaying yellow and blue MTN signs, who usually charge more than the card’s face value (haggle). At the time this book went to print calls cost about IR850 a minute domestic, and IR4000 a minute international. Irancell also offers a ‘Data SIM’, which only allows SMS messages, at IR100 locally and IR1500 for international. Irancell is growing fast and in early 2008 had coverage in all but three provinces – Kerman, Sistan va Baluchestan and Khuzestan.
Thuraya satellite phones also work in Iran.
Return to beginning of chapter
TIME
Compared with some of their Middle East neighbours, Iranians are fairly punctual and will expect you to be the same.
Time throughout Iran is 3½ hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), so noon in Tehran is 3.30am in New York; 8.30am in London; 10.30am in Turkey; 11.30am in Azerbaijan; noon in Afghanistan; 1.30pm in Pakistan and Turkmenistan (note this when preparing to cross borders); and 6.30pm in Sydney. For more, see the World Time Zones (Map–1).
For years