legionnaire

Interested in being able to make/receive calls primarily in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. I'll be trying to use my Nokia 6682 (Cingular in the US, but unlocked. This is a 850/1800/1900 mhz phone). Will mostly be in BLR or MAA, but may travel a bit outside the city up to a 150mi radius .

Primarily need:
- to be able to make/receive calls within India.
- to be able to receive calls from the US, Singapore.
- voice mail.
- SMS
- about a month's worth of use.

GPRS would be nice to have but not a must.

From GSMWorld's coverage maps, it looks like Airtel and Hutch offer services in the 1800 freq.

Any recommendations of one over the other? How do the plans over there work? Can i get a prepaid card that can be recharged on demand? Do they require any address/identity proof when purchasing the card?

roberto99

WOW, after looking at www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_in.shtml I think that I've never seen so many different GSM carriers in the same country! Sadly, few have their service maps posted.

cpx

In India, Airtel mostly operates on 1800 Mhz range. I personally Prefer (and have) Airtel.

www.airtelworld.com
www.hutch.co.in

You can easily get a pre-paid card and recharge as you need it.
Just keep copies of your passport.. you will need them to get the SIM.

coverage area is usually the entire state and anything outside the
state is roaming.

Roaming charges are not a lot.. just about 2x the in-state calls..
but your incoming calls will also be charged when roaming.
(about 10c per minute or less airtime) GPRS is available
but I dont have any personal experience with it in the area.
Calling International is approximately 30-50c per minute

Coverage is excellent almost everywhere in India. If you see cars
in the area, chances are you have coverage.

ScottC

11 operators for a country the size of India isn't that much. The USA has 67 seperate GSM operators and many more operators on different systems.

Bundy Bear

Don't Cingular have agreements in place with Indian cell phone companies.

Yeah the call costs are cheaper but it would be so much less hassle.

cpx

Yeap! I think you can roam with your Cingular, Tmobile,
Sprint or Verozon phones in India (Yes.. you also have CDMA
roaming there)

ROW2Aisle

I've used Cingular & T-Moble roaming in India and was paying around USD$2.99/minute. I use two phones while in India; a local pre-paid account for all calls and use my US based one only to receive emergency calls from the US. You are better off getting a local pre-paid SIM card and using that for local & international calls. Incoming calls with your prepaid are free in your local calling zone.

Make sure before you leave the US that your US based phone is setup with your US service provider to allow for international roaming.

If you have a US based callback service for making international calls while traveling then you can use your prepaid local India number as the one to receive your callback as you'll not be paying airtime but only the callback rates. Do this only if your USA based callback service rates are lower than your outgoing calls made with a prepaid India based account.

legionnaire

The carrier's site itself makes no mention of frequency in Karnataka and Tamilnadu states. GSMWorld says that Airtel uses 1800 in Tamilnadu and 900 in karnataka. Hutch seems to use 1800 in both states, but GSMWorld shows stated coverage only in the city of MAA.

1. Does Airtel have 1800 mhz service in both Tamilnadu and Karnataka?
2. Does Hutch have 1800 mhz service outside of MAA? Primarily the road from BLR to MAA.
3. Does Hutch's coverage on 1800 in Karnataka extend to second-tier cities like Mysore and Mandya (spelling?)?

cpx

I'd like to believe GSMWorld.
now dont quote me on this one, but usually all major providers have
service on and around the major highways.

I can't comment on the frequencies in each local area though.


You can email them and find out:

For Airtel its: [email protected]
Hutch: I dont know off hand. but their website should have some contact info. (i'll post it if I can dig one up)

cpx

you may contact hutch at:
http://www.hutch.in/contactus/contactus_feedback.asp

legionnaire

cpx Thanks.

I posted questions to both carriers. Will post here if i get a response.

legionnaire

The mail to 121@airtel returned multiple times saying the Subject line must have my cell # on it in a specific format. Trying to fool it with fictitious #s failed.

I dug out the e-mail for someone called a grievance officer for the Karnatka state. Mailed this person. Let's see if anything comes back.

No response yet from Hutch.

cpx

I've just sent an email to my account rep @ Airtel, lets see what she has to say.
(might take a while)

but I just realised, if you have Airtel service, when you are out
of the primary area, you can either roam on Airtel or Hutch.

Roaming costs are the same I believe.

legionnaire

Thanks.

That's good enough. Given the equipment i have, as long as i have service on 1800 mhz, i am good. Be it from Airtel or Hutch, i don't care if I roam on both their n/w.

I have 10 more days before i hit BLR, so i can wait for a response from either carrier.

For now, I am thinking, I will pick up an Airtel Prepaid card and go with it.

cpx

Good idea. Try to get one with 1 year validity.
(you could receive SMS and incoming call around the globe with that one)
SMS will be free, but incoming calls will cost you @ Rs. 50 per minute
rounded off to a minute.