Communication Access in Nepal

While you are away from your home town, you need to deliver massage to your, family, friend and relatives.  Email, telephone, and post office are the main means of communication. Trekking in Nepal often involves traveling to the remote countryside, where internet and phone services are extremely limited. Treks often take longer than expected by several days, so your family and friends often become worried if they don’t hear from you when expected.

Email

Every main city has internet access either in hotels or internet cafes or on your cell phone. Except in remote places, there are internet services available on most of the popular teahouse trekking routes; Everest, Annapurna, Manaslu, Mustang, Langtang, etc. Part of Annapurna, Everest, and Manaslu tea house has free or paid Wi-Fi services. But you cannot accept a very fast-speed connection. You are unlikely to find the internet, though at places like Dolpo, Rolwaling, Kanchenjungha, Rara, Simikot, Makalu etc. You can access the internet (satellite connection) at a high cost.

Telephone

International calls can be made from nearly all the cities you are likely to visit except for when you’re trekking or any other adventure activities in remote regions. In Kathmandu and Pokhara, there are many ‘communication centers’ where you can call, send faxes and emails. A few places have internet phone services that are much cheaper with good speed.

Now a day’s mobile phone services are available in the city and villages also but sometimes it is inconsistent coverage, especially in hilly and mountainous areas, the network is overloaded, so it’s often very difficult to get through.

It is easy to get a Nepali SIM card in Kathmandu or Pokhara or any other city with a photocopy of your passport and two passport photos. However, cell phone coverage is poor in many of the areas where you might go trekking. Even traveling from Kathmandu to Pokhara on the Prithibi Highway, there are many areas where there are no signals.

Some international phone companies have Global roaming agreements exist. Check with your provider before leaving home if you wish to access roaming.

Receiving posts is not convenient as you are normally doing something or traveling during the opening hours of most post offices.
When posting mail to international addresses, it is best to leave your mail at the post office rather than in a post box. In Kathmandu, some bookshops sell stamps and will take your post to the post office for you. Most hotels, trekking, and travel agency can also help you post your mail. It takes quite a long get posted to your address. This is only formal to send a message or remember someone while traveling rather than the right information in time.