Newcomer Guide

Topic 3 of 14

SIM & connectivity

Jazz vs Zong, biometrics, and staying online up north

Every SIM in Pakistan is registered to an identity with biometrics, for you, that means your passport and a fingerprint scan at an official brand store. It takes about ten minutes and it's the law, so no legitimate seller skips it.

  1. 1Go to an official Experience Center / Customer Service Center (Jazz in F-7, Zong in Blue Area, both in Explore).
  2. 2Bring your original passport, photocopies are refused.
  3. 3Ask for the tourist/visitor package with data.
  4. 4The SIM typically activates within a couple of hours; you'll get an SMS.
Never buy a pre-registered SIM from a street vendor. It's registered to someone else's identity, illegal to use and genuinely problematic at checkpoints.
Rough network folklore that holds up: Jazz is strongest in the cities and Punjab; Zong is the pick for the northern highway corridor (Hunza, Skardu). Serious north-travelers carry both, SIMs are cheap.

Expect no signal at all in remote valleys regardless of network. Download offline maps and tell someone your route before heading past Naran or Chilas.

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