Cell Phone for Chennai
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Boca Raton
Programs: Delta Platinum, Starwood Platinum Preferred, Marriott Platinum,Delta Gold Medallion
Posts: 113
Cell Phone for Chennai
Will the questions never end? I have Verizon Wireless - and looked online and they have $10/day for Intl for everywhere - except India?????
So now what? Leaving tomorrow evening - so any great ideas for me for India? I use phone for Email (I guess I c an skip that) and to talk on business conf calls or back with family
Thoughts?
So now what? Leaving tomorrow evening - so any great ideas for me for India? I use phone for Email (I guess I c an skip that) and to talk on business conf calls or back with family
Thoughts?
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Trident Plat, DL Diamond, AI Maharajah
Posts: 29,673
i use t-mobile & get free data pretty much anywhere in the world....i also get free wifi outgoing calling & incoming calls are cheap when on international roaming....not sure if you can grab a t-mobile sim for just the time you are here but that might be worth exploring....
the alternative is to get a local sim here....they are pretty easy to get at the airport....data & calling is extremely cheap when compared to rates in the us....pick up either a jio or airtel sim....
jio is running a scheme where you have free incoming & outgoing calls, free sms & 1gb data per day till the 31st of march....i believe the sim itself will cost around inr 200 to buy & activate....after that its all free....there have been some reports that foreigners have not been able to get a jio sim because an aadhar card is required to activate the connection which only people living in india can have....you could always ask a friend or your client to get one for you to use while you are here....
the alternative would be airtel....you can get that at the airport & all you need is your passport & picture....the rates are pretty low & you will probably end up paying less than inr 1k for the full month for all your calls, data & sms....
the alternative is to get a local sim here....they are pretty easy to get at the airport....data & calling is extremely cheap when compared to rates in the us....pick up either a jio or airtel sim....
jio is running a scheme where you have free incoming & outgoing calls, free sms & 1gb data per day till the 31st of march....i believe the sim itself will cost around inr 200 to buy & activate....after that its all free....there have been some reports that foreigners have not been able to get a jio sim because an aadhar card is required to activate the connection which only people living in india can have....you could always ask a friend or your client to get one for you to use while you are here....
the alternative would be airtel....you can get that at the airport & all you need is your passport & picture....the rates are pretty low & you will probably end up paying less than inr 1k for the full month for all your calls, data & sms....
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Boca Raton
Programs: Delta Platinum, Starwood Platinum Preferred, Marriott Platinum,Delta Gold Medallion
Posts: 113
great info again TY!! I got a plan from Verizon but I think if I call my sister who has AT&T the call will cost her money So free for me to call but costs US people money? Does that make sense I may be misunderstanding. She has a US number as well.
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Trident Plat, DL Diamond, AI Maharajah
Posts: 29,673
calling the us is pretty cheap with an indian number....i believe the rates are around 10 cents a minute so once again it may be better for you to get an indian sim....
#6
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,203
Unless employer is forcing you to use Verizon, it does not make sense to not use TMobile anymore. Much cheaper, good coverage (yes - much improved) and free international data and text. Works beautifully (with fast internet in most Indian metro cities for free)