Islamabad eSIM
In Islamabad you connect to Jazz or Zong, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The median across the country is 25 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Jazz and Zong
- Real speed in Pakistan
- 25 Mbps median, 6 Mbps for the slowest tenth218 travellers across Pakistan, rolling 90 days
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Islamabad
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $5.89 | $5.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $3.30 | $9.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $2.78 | $13.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $2.09 | $20.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.74 | $34.89 |
How Pakistan compares across Asia
- Speed rank
- 24 of 26 destinations we sell in Asia
- Regional median
- 44 Mbps
- Consistency
- The slowest tenth still reaches 24 percent of the median
- Upstream networks
- 2, Jazz, Zong
- 5G
- 4G only
- Next fastest nearby
- Laos, 26 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Myanmar, 22 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 3: Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad
- tenth percentile
- 6 Mbps
- Behind these figures
- 218 travellers, rolling 90 days
Landing at Islamabad International Airport (ISB)
- Airport
- ISB / OPIS
- Distance
- 25 km from the centre of Islamabad
Getting into Islamabad
- Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus Orange Line (Peshawar Morr Interchange to Airport) (ISB)
- Srinagar Highway to Islamabad; GT Road (N-5) to Rawalpindi (ISB)
Worth knowing about Islamabad
- Islamabad International Airport opened on 1 May 2018, replacing the older Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
- The airport link is bus rapid transit, not rail: the Metrobus Orange Line to the terminal opened on 18 April 2022 and runs every 10 minutes.
- The airport is about 25 km southwest of Islamabad and also serves Rawalpindi via the GT Road.
- A foreigner buys a SIM at an operator customer service centre with an original passport and a valid visa or Pakistan Origin Card. Zong states a maximum of two SIMs per person.
- A visitor's SIM does not outlast the visa. Zong states that SIM validity corresponds to the validity of the visa or Pakistan Origin Card.
- Buying a SIM in Pakistan means giving a fingerprint. The seller scans the customer's thumb or finger on a biometric scanner and sends it to the mobile company for verification from NADRA.
- Under the PTA rules Zong publishes, the customer must give a valid CNIC number or present an original passport with a valid visa or Pakistan Origin Card, and the SIM is verified within 24 hours.
- Islamabad's metro and electric feeder buses take no cash from the rider. Fare is deducted automatically by QR validation, and the rider must hold a balance in a CDA wallet before starting a ride.
- Registering the CDA transit wallet asks for a CNIC, a phone number and an email, and top ups run through debit or credit card, bank account, Easypaisa or JazzCash.
- CDA introduced QR code payment on Islamabad's metro and electric feeder buses and connected over 5,000 merchants and shopkeepers to Raast QR codes in its cashless city drive.
- The CDA transit map lists 22 routes. Feeder services include PIMS to Bari Imam every 10 minutes and Golra Morh to Taxila every 5 minutes.
- Route ST-01 on the CDA transit map runs hourly from PIMS to Daman e Koh, the viewpoint in the Margalla Hills above the city.
- CDA places Islamabad 14 km north east of Rawalpindi on the north eastern fringe of the Potohar plateau, and describes a grid based layout facing the Margalla Hills.
- The airport's own facilities page lists free charging booths, golf cart transport, prayer rooms and mosques, car rental, smoking lounges and baggage wrapping.
- A Pakistan Currency Exchange booth sits in International Arrivals on Level 1 at Islamabad airport. The terminal ATMs are on Level 2 in the visitor gallery and Level 3 in international departures.
- Phones stay in the pocket at Islamabad immigration. The airport tells arriving passengers to remove hats and sunglasses, stay behind the red line and refrain from mobile phone use.