moving to Riyadh

Buy the laptop in Saudi, that way you have a local guarantee in case anything goes wrong.

Facebook is not blocked here. So no problems.

Just realised your from near Chester ... home for me is Altrincham. Not too far from you.

If you want a fairly high spec laptop then it's probably best to bring it with you.  The computer shops here are excellent and reasonably cheap if you don't want anything too high spec. But newer technology is quite expensive here - I tried to get a 32 GB micro SD card for my mobile. Only a very few place stocked it and the costs was twice the UK price.  But, I could get the 4 GB card for less than half the UK price!

I mostly use my mobile for Facebook and some phones also support skype (iPhone) so you can talk to friends and family at home.

Cheers

Hi, thanks for the prompt reply. We actually live in North Wales, just over the border from Chester. We are waiting to hear what compound we will be housed in Riyahd. Another question, is it best to have mobile unblockd over here, so as we can get a sim card over there that will work. When we were over recently on a visit, we used uk blackbery and nokia mobile's, needless to say the bill was rather large when we got back lol. Thanks again for the prompt reply.

Hi (again), the previous post was thanks to Serial expat. Now it is thanks to Gin Skipper, all info much appreciated.

Hi SaudiUK, sorry referd to you as 'serial expat', I will learn in time lol. Made the same mistake with Red Goblin, refered to him as Khober.

Taff57, not to worry.

Regarding mobiles unblock your mobile and get a local sim once you arrive.

Mobile phones hand sets are lot more expensive in Saudi, due to the fact you are buying the handset out right. They are sim free so that is an advantage here.

Most mobiles are on a pay as you go and you top up just like UK.

I use vonage to make calls from Saudi to UK.
You may wish to look up the vonage before you come. Its VOIP based so the box plugs into your internet on one side and telephone on the other.

I have a subscription £6 per month and that gives me free unlimited land line calls to the UK. Mobiles UK cost is 6p per mins.
The big advantage is that they give you a local (UK) number so people from UK can ring you on a local UK number and it costs them the same as a local UK call. (no charge to you).

You need to subscribe in the UK and bring the box with you. Its light weight and small easily transportable.

Thanks so much SaudiUK, reference mobiles. Now, where can I purchase what I need? please. You have been very helpfull, thanks very much.

i feel all ur questions are being answered... but my suggestion abt the laptop is to bring from there... u get better deals

Hi Taff57,

The vonage details are http://www.vonage.co.uk/call-plans/v-plan-UK/

Order online and it will be delivered in a few days. You can use it in the UK to make sure its working.

Regarding laptops - Shahab is correct - yes you may be paying more here, however if anything goes wrong in the warranty period, its headache sending the laptop to UK and then getting it back. Thats why I suggest you purchase here at least it gives some peace of mind.

Regards

Hi to SaudiUK and shahab.ali, thank you both for your input. We went on site for vonage last night and have ordered the required package. Thank you again. We cant decide at the moment ref laptop, both ans are very acceptable. Still have a few day's left, to make our mind's up.   This site is so informative, with very helpfull expat's. Thanking you all once again.

ur welcome taff... one more thing regarding laptops... i bought 3 laptops from america through some deal a dat websites and none of them crashed till now... 2 of them are 3 year old and the 3rd one is just abt 6 months...
wat saudiUK suggested is also valid but mostly they dont go wrong...

Hi Taff,

One final point from me about the laptop...

I agree with SaudiUK that a local laptop would make it straight forward to get warranty repairs.  However, a few retails offer international repair warranty.  An example of this is Dell who provide it automatically with a Next Business Day On-Site warranty upgrade.

However, for me it is pretty much 'swings and roundabouts' and boils down to cost - UK price with International Repair v Local Price.  High spec means higher price here in Saudi lower spec probably means good deal in Saudi...

So the rest depends on what you want and how you plan to use it.

Cheers

Hi ginskipper, thanks for your input. You all have very valid and good reason's. Thanks again

Hi, SaudiUK, vonage box arrived today, works great. Thanks again for the info.

it is very easy to do that , only go to any shop then will finf that and all coputer is easy to instl facebook or any programe

Hi uk1430, thank you also for the info.

Hi ,
I had problem with apple international support and warranty for my laptop .
Basically they did not have enough experienced staff in apple mac. program.
I resolved my problem back in sydney . It was very simple problem. IT  who works  for apple support  in Riyadh need get better experience .

Thanks ellia, for the tip. Im not that clued up on laptop's, but at the moment we have a o2 wireless router,could it work over there?

Sorry Taff the o2 router is set up for o2 internet.

You will have to get a local router for it to work in Saudi.

Not to worry router's in Riyadh are available and not that expensive.

Hi SaudiUK, thanks again for the prompt info. Did'nt think it would work, but thought it was worth asking.

@ellia... can never expect any customer service here!
and ya, routers are cheap

and yay! that was my 1000th post!

Hi, SaudiUK, do we need to bring a uk phone handset over with us for the vonage to work? or will the box work with a handset from over there. Time getting closer now to our move. Thanks

BTW.. Jarir Bookstore and Extra Stores.. These are the two places you should be looking at for all your electronics and gadget related purchases. My bet is if you can't find anything there.. you wont be able to find it else where as well.

Phones have the same adapter here, so if you have a UK phone it will work here.

Hi, thanks to you both for your input, much appreciated.

Hi, thanks for the info on the stores. Forgot to mention we are going to be Jeddah for our first 6wks. If we purchase wireless router package in Jeddah will the system work in Riyahd? Anyone know of any stores in Jeddah? thanking you all.

Hi Taff,

Router will work throughout KSA.

Your best place for a router is "Jarir Book Store". You will find them throughout Saudi. (they are the equivalent of WHS Smith in KSA, as well books they do computers and smart phones etc..)

Also check with your compound in Riyadh with what sort of internet (if any) is provided.

If Internet is not provided you may wish to consider "wimax" technoloy. You dont need a telephone line, the box plugs into electric socket, you can connect to the "wimax" box wirelessly (like a router).
Wimax boxes are supplied by GO and Mobiliy. (its very popular, and works out cheaper than broadband on phone line)

taff57 wrote:

Hi, thanks for the info on the stores. Forgot to mention we are going to be Jeddah for our first 6wks. If we purchase wireless router package in Jeddah will the system work in Riyahd? Anyone know of any stores in Jeddah? thanking you all.

Jarir and Extra both have branches in Jeddah as well as Riyadh. I think Extra have 2 stores each in Riyadh and Jeddah and Jarir has branches in all major districts in both cities.

Jarir Sells all available broadband/wimax connections.. so your one stop shop for all internet needs as well.

As SaudiUk suggested.. it is best to go for a 3 or 6 months of subscription of Go Wimax Connection . I personally have had very bad experiances with Mobily Wimax Connections. You dont need to worry about installation or anything and you can take it anywhere with you. Once you get settled in Riyadh.. you can continue to use it, or go for the faster and more stable DSL. Depending on where you will be staying in Jeddah.. internet access might be available but its usually very high priced

~best

Thanks so much for your input saudiUK and kamiii. SaudiUK do we not need a wireless router for vonage? or will the wimax work with it? thanks again everyone

well i dont know how vonage works but still i will try to answer u... i m sure the phone adapter has an ethernet port through which u get the internet connection.... u can wire it to the modem (i think wat u r calling wiMax here)... the vonage adapter just needs internet

Yes..thats right .. the vonage adaptor has an ethernet port.. and just needs internet connection, be it coming from a WiMax, DSL Router, or a WiFi Access Point

I use vonage with my "Go" wimax. The vonage plugs into the wimax box.