On a GSM phone, you can set it to send you back a confirmation after the
message is delivered. I use it all the time and works great!

I did

I text’d my friends and family back here, who had Cingular, I also txt a friend in UK on Vodafone and my friend in AKL received it fine on his Vodafone, NZ network..

I had no problems txting within India tho..

May be its the local network there.. I generally use it somewhere
between Pune and Delhi. Had good reception.

Only time I had an issue was in PEK, when the phone could not lock on to the
service for a couple of hours within the city.. but thats about it.

I don’t know, because i had the alert setup if its undeliverable, and I never received any and Airtel kept taking my money.. I even called CS and they said it cant be credited.. :mad:

WHat i didn't like is the fact every single person who calls does a miss call.. I had to refill every week.. Always Rs.350

LOL.... you either play the game.. or pay up. I refuse to respond to any
missed calls... . unless its someone important.

Its a pretty crappy game, when the entire country is doing it.. Not only that you get Fwd txt's as well... :td:

Unless you're exclusively in Tamil Nadu, don't use Aircel, roaming's quite expensive... I made the mistake a few weeks ago...

What SIM card to get for India?
 

An India Prepaid SIM Card, together with a tri-band unlocked GSM cell phone, will allow you not only to have a local cell phone number for India but also to pay local rates and without a contract. The rates are extremely advantageous especially for incoming calls from anywhere in the world. For your next trip to India, make sure to purchase a prepaid SIM card.

Is this advice still valid? Airtel the best choice for travellers?

Going to chennai for three weeks, possibly a week andhra (hyderabad/tirupati), and connecting in mumbai on my return flight. I have an unlocked motorola SLVR from france which i believe is quad band. Mostly incoming calls with some local calls, but would be nice if calls back to the US were fairly cheap.

I use Hutch (now Vodafone India) and have never had a problem roaming in India or internationally with it.

I use airtel + blackberry - never had any problems at all with it!

Any place to buy these SIM cards at the DEL airport?

I suppose the airport gift shop should sell it. If not any and every grocery store / pharmacy etc stocks these. Just tell your cab driver you want a SIM card.

Note - you need valid photo ID to signup for cellphone service, even prepaid, in India.

I would reccomend Vodafone since it's very easy to recharge online! I've used an international CC in past to recharge a Vodafone card and haven't had any issues. Airtel is decent too but I'm not sure if you can recharge online using an international CC.