Originally Posted by yosithezet
Define hefty? Do you find that the roaming is cheaper than roaming with a non-Indian phone? For instance, if you were in China you would prefer to roam with your Indian Aritel rather than a US-based T-Mobile phone?
Yes! i'd agree with GUWonder. best thing about Indian phone is the
billing method. Costs calculations are complicated, but they
charge you per minute. Calling local within any market is very cheap.
(may be a little higher compared to a local
pre-paid SIM, but not too expensive)
say in China, the rate per minute including the roaming surcharge
was about 40c per minute(for local outgoing calls)
a 30 second call will cost me about 20 cents. I dont think you can beat that.
Plus incoming SMS are free worldwide.
incoming calls were about $1.25 per minute... and international
calls were about $1.50 per minute.
(including roaming surcharge)
These are steep rates, but much better compared to
US based phones.
in some countries like Cyprus, the rates were pretty cheap.
under 10cents per minute and under 6cents for SMS. (local)