Telephone The Egyptian telephone system promises to be time-consuming and infuriating. Long-distance and international calls can be made from most government telephone offices (known as centrale), but in small towns you may experience long waits for limited success. In Cairo, Alexandria, and other large cities, you can buy a phonecard (I-E16.55 or LE33) for the orange pay phones in telephone offices, which allows you to dial yourself and speak for three to six minutes to Europe or beyond. Prices stay the same all day, but the card is cheaper than having .

put the call through, and the connection is generally good. In smaller an emp number of minutes, and will be cut off as up, so err on the generous side. Refuse to pay for incorrect con-SOOf1′ ns You can also call from major hotels, but they often hit you with a substan Collect calls to and from Egypt are impossible, despite what you may be told. The American companies AT&T and MCI offer direct-dial to operators within the U.S.: call (02) 356 0200 (AT&T) or (02) 335 5770 (MCI) from anywhere in the country. You will have to pay the price of the call to these Cairo numbers QOpt for 3min. in Cairo LE2 for 3min. elsewhere); the operator can then connect you to any number in the U.S. (if you have their company’s credit card) or place a collect call for you. Some international hotels have MCI and AT&T phones in their lobbies (known as USADirect); some also have UK, Canada, and JapanDirect phones which offer the same services to members. The international phone code for calling to Egypt is 20.

Local calls can be dialed direct to most of Egypt’s larger cities and towns. Public payphones are available in all centrales, and local calls can be made from many hotels, restaurants, and cigarette kiosks. Be wary of using a phone in a private hotel room; proprietors sometimes levy exorbitant fees.