Prepaid GSM card
 

Traveling to Bangalore and New Delhi and wonder if I can buy a prepaid gsm sim card with local number during my one week visit. I usually pick up similar cards when in China and HK, and can even keep them active for up to a one year as long as I top off before I leave.

Can these be had when I land in Bangalore, or will business centers in hotels sell them? Any particular carrier that has good reception? This is more as courtesy to business people I will be visiting, to avoid asking them to dial a long distance mobile number.

Thanks

there are 3 or 4 carriers that have GSM cards available. I don't know if you will be able to get one in a hotel, altough I am sure that you will eithe rbe able to get it at your hotel or have a bellman go out. if not, any of the thousands of kiosks around town sell them. you can get a driver to talk you out and pick one up.

I would go with Reliance or Bharti

Reliance operates on CDMA, so no GSM cards available so easily.

Due to the perceived terrorist use of mobile phones, India officially has resrictions in place. You theoretically have to show some form of indian residence proof when you want to get a prepaid SIM card. This gets registered by the phone company before the card is 'unlocked' in their system.

I know of longterm western foreign 'tourists' in India who have problems getting a SIM card nowwdays. Definitely not available from the bellboy or concierge in a hotel :). My suggestion would be to ask a friend/business partner to take you to a mobile phone store and get the card there.

Yes, you can purchase a prepaid GSM SIM card. I do it everytime I visit my hometown of Goa. Make sure your phone is tri-mode. I usually use Idea Cellular since they have a good footprint in Goa. There ought to be lots of kiosks and options in Bangalore when you land. Ask your hotel concierge.

You can buy a SIM card at any mobile phone shop in Bangalore - ask the hotel concierge. You just need to give them a photocopy of your passport and they will accept the hotel as a residential address. Make sure you have nationwide roaming activated when you buy the SIM - there are some really inexpensive pricing plans that only work for the city you buy it in.

I personally use an Airtel prepaid SIM when I'm in India - putting about Rs 3200 (~$70) on it keeps it active for a year. See also: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=379627

You can get a cheap phone on ebay and if you can wait airtel is great, if you what a phone number now go to http://www.cellularabroad.com/indiappsc.html
or http://www.planet3000.com/SIM_CTRY_india_DTL.shtml.

You use them and get a number before you leave ($85 USD). You can recharge the card while there.

I just yesterday bought a cheap Nokia (for around Rs 4000) phone in DEL as my last one got lost and put an Airtel prepaid sim good for one year on it.No ID was asked for but I'm sure the concierge at the Sheraton Muraya has some credibility at the shop he deals with. Airtel is the best,I'm told for country wide roaming. Reliance is not that good for national roaming IMO as I had one of their prepid sims some time back. This is my second Airtel prepaid.

Thanks for everyone's input, seems AirTel is the way to go and i will pick one up when I check into hotel. :)

This sim card is only good in Mumbai. You can not get a top up card outside Mumbai.