Palmer - Gidday! Glad you've finally hit the dirt, dust and mayhem of Qatar! Haha!

Until you get your Qatar ID you will need to just get the basic thing - "Hala" because you only need to show your Passport as ID to get that! You can get it at all the local shopping centres - there are Qtel booths or offices there or go directly to the main Qtel office just off Salwa Road. To recharge, nearly every shop here sells them or there will be a shop nearby that does! :)

As far as internet is concerned - same thing applies I think - you will need to have your Qatar ID before you can set that up with Qtel. To be honest, I am not sure about all that as things change like the Qatar laws and regs here - on a whim - so you will need to pop in to one of their offices or call them.
When we first arrived we got a Virgin USB for internet - worked out well for the first few months until husband got his ID. There is a Virgin shop in Landmark Mall and a booth in City Centre Mall. Probably other places too!

My husband uses Qtel Shahry as he uses the mobile phone all the time here locally for work and it is cheaper that way. I only have Qtel Hala cos my use of my mobile is minimal!

Did you get my PM by the way? give me a call and I will give you a heads up on all this stuff huh? LOL

kiwiinqatar123 I agree Qtel Shahry is the best but not sure you can get that until you have your Qatar ID??