Internet and Calls in Morocco: Which Carrier to Choose

These days we’re used to having easy access to the internet, which feels even more essential when travelling, letting us stay in touch with friends and family, share our experiences on social media, find information about places to visit, and much more. If you’re planning a trip to Morocco and want to stay connected during your adventure, we’ve put together a practical guide on how to get internet: having spent 3 months in the country aboard our campervan, we’ve gathered as much information as possible to help you avoid panicking.

Wi-Fi Hotspots

Wi-Fi hotspots are widely available in Morocco’s most touristy cities and in accommodation. Hotels, restaurants, campsites, cafés and shopping centres often offer free Wi-Fi to their guests. Keep in mind, though, that connection quality and speed can vary.

Wi-Fi hotspots can be a convenient solution for uploading a few photos to social media or looking up information, but they might not be reliable for activities that need a stable connection, like streaming videos or downloading large files.

Local SIM Card

A highly recommended option for getting internet during your trip to Morocco is buying a local SIM card. There are three carriers in the country:

• Maroc Telecom
• Inwi
• Orange

Maroc Telecom

Maroc Telecom  is the best choice if you want internet available everywhere, even in the middle of the Sahara desert! You can easily buy the SIM at authorised shops, stations and airports. It’s also the only option available if you’re planning a short stay (less than a month).

Of course, since it guarantees a stable connection everywhere, it’s the most expensive carrier: when we were in Morocco (early 2023), the price worked out to about 1 euro per gigabyte used (10 dh/GB).

To top up the SIM, just go to any shop displaying the “Maroc Telecom” sign and buy a top-up based on your needs. Then just send an SMS to 555 with the 14-digit code followed by 3 (e.g. 123456789012343). Don’t forget to add “*3” at the end of the message, otherwise instead of topping up your internet you’ll only get call minutes for use within Morocco!

Maroc Telecom also offers some promotions for unlimited internet, though they’re not cheap (around 70 euros a month), and we weren’t able to access them.

PROS

• Easy to find
• Works even in the Sahara

CONS

• Expensive

Inwi

During the three months we spent in Morocco, we always relied on Inwi  , and overall we were happy with it, even accounting for a few connection issues.

This carrier’s advantage isn’t so much its pay-as-you-go plans (which cost the same as Maroc Telecom) but its subscription services, which range across various offers.

During the three months we lived in Morocco, we used the following plans:

• Social Plan  : for 49dh a month (about 5 euros) it offers unlimited access to social media: WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (by the way, did you know you can follow us by clicking here?  )
• i-Dar  : starting from 199dh a month (about 20 euros) you can get unlimited internet! The basic version runs at full speed for the first 3/4 GB each day, after which it slows down, though you can still browse without problems. It doesn’t work with portable routers, but it does let you hotspot from a smartphone (this is how we managed to upload videos to our YouTube channel  , using our phone as a hotspot).

These plans are great value, but you can only activate them if you’re planning to stay for more than a month in the country. To access these plans you need to go to an official Inwi store with your passport and take out a subscription.

After activation, the subscription renews on the 18th of each month for the following month, in three ways:

• at official Inwi stores (only found in the bigger cities)
• at Cash Plus stores
• through the official app ( iOS  - Android  ), which, however, might not accept credit cards.

How to Cancel

To cancel the subscription you need to:

• call Inwi customer service
• request a “résiliation”, meaning contract termination
• go to an official Inwi centre to sign the contract closure

Important: customer service only speaks French, and cancellation must be requested two months in advance. What does that mean? Let’s use an example to make things clearer, assuming you want to stay in Morocco for 3 months, from 1 January to 1 April:

• enter Morocco on 1 January
  • take out the 199dh subscription
  • by 18 January, pay another 199dh for the following month (i.e. February)
• between 19 January and 1 February
  • call Inwi customer service and request a “résiliation”
  • go to an Inwi centre and close the contract
  • by 18 February, pay 199dh for the following month (i.e. March, so you have internet until 1 April)
• you can leave the country with peace of mind, and internet will keep working until the end of the month (March)

What Am I Risking If I Don’t Cancel the Subscription Properly?

When you leave the country, at the customs check, they might stop you and send you to an Inwi centre to settle the current month’s debt. We want to give you all the information we gathered, because in our case two different operators gave us two different answers, so we delayed closing the contract, ending up paying for the next month without using it — and if we ever go back to Morocco, we’ll probably have to pay yet another month..

In this video we tell you live what happened.

PROS

• Unlimited internet
• Costs little

CONS

• Only available as a subscription ...
• ... which isn't easy to renew and ...
• ... isn't easy to cancel!

Orange

We haven’t personally tried this carrier, which other travellers told us about, so we’re reporting their experience here.

Orange  doesn’t offer unlimited internet plans, but it does have a great pay-as-you-go SIM at reasonable prices (about 0.50 euros per gigabyte). Also, few people use Orange in the country, so the network works pretty well without overload.

Topping up the Orange SIM isn’t the easiest, but you can find a few points of sale around the country.

PROS

• Costs little
• Decent coverage
• No need to cancel anything

CONS

• No subscription option!
• Few official stores to top up at

The internet situation might sound a bit complicated described like this. It genuinely was for us, since we needed internet for work, especially because of some misunderstandings. If you’re planning a longer stay but at proper accommodation (in our campervan we always camped wild), a simple pay-as-you-go SIM will do the trick.

If you have any questions, write to us in the comments!