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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