What SIM card to get for India?
 

I'll be in India for 3 wks and want a SIM card to let me call around India and let Indians call me for a reasonable price. My GSM phone is unlocked. Anybody have an idea on what to do/buy/rent?

1. Determine what kind of bands your GSM phone will cover.

2. Take a photo copy of your passport and visa with you, go to a store and pick up whatever pre-paid GSM company will best cover where you will be travelling in India.

Airtel and then Hutch are pretty good nationally; Idea, not so much so for my purposes nowadays.

Here's some potential picks and which bands they use in various regions of India:

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_in.shtml

SIM for India
 

BSNL has the most extensive network. Till 10-12 years back BSNL was the only (Gov owned) land line telephone service provider. Which left them in the possession of an extensive network including most remote places in India. It was easy for them to ride on that and start providing cell phone services all over India. And they did that. BSNL is still largely owned by Gov of India so don't expect great service but they have definitely improved in last 4-6 years. You can get their SIM at BSNL authorized dealer or at any BSNL customer sevice center. They cover any and every city and town where they have land lines services.

Now slightly bad news once you are outside the cities in no man's land (especially on a trains) they have almost no coverage. They have coverage on major highways. But on secondary highways they cover you only when you are in and around a city / town. Having said that, I didn't find this to be a major problem during my recent visits.

Airtel and Hutch have pretty good coverage at such no man lands, but only in the regions where they have services and network. Except BSNL no other operator operates all across the country.

For most operators incoming call is free in the home area. When you go out of your home area you are on roaming either with same provider or with another provider. You pay for incoming calls also and pay roaming charges on top of it, which makes both incoming and outgoing calls expensive.

On BSNL as long as you remain in the same state all your call are local and incoming is free. When you go to another state you are on raoming with a different BSNL circle. And you pay 2.00 INR for each incoming and outgoing call. And I assume you are billed for incoming call also (like others).

I was recently in India for a month and I used BSNL very extensively (as I pleased) in Maharashtra, MP, UP, Bihar, West bengal, Karnataka, TN etc and my total bill for 1 month was about 1500-1700 INR (about $30-35) which I think is not bad.

I would recommend that you check with local people about the best operators in the place you are going to be in. If you are going to be at several places check all of them and come to a common denominator. And if you are going to be all over India, don't get into hassels and just pick BSNL.

Here's another thread i started in Travel Technology.

Gist : I used Airtel while in India. Worked well. no issues with connectivity. Mostly 900 mhz though. Quad band nokia worked well. Only some areas of India had 1800 mhz coverage, so the Triband (US 850) failed.

While it is certainly true that BSNL has the widest coverage, their networks are oversubscribed. What that means is there will be times when it is impossible for others to get through to you and for you to call. That made it very unreliable for me - I switched to Airtel and it works fine. Occassionally, if you dont have cell phone coverage and need to make a call from a rural area, head to the nearest PCO. Good luck!

As I've mentioned in the earlier thread, I'm fairly happy with Airtel.
Hutch is just as good.

Fast busy signals -- indicator of overloaded system -- has definitely been more common with BSNL than with the other majors recommended here. Also other providers connecting calls (or SMS) to/from BSNL seems to have caused more issue than should be the case. While those conditions still persist to some degree, we've had less issue with BSNL in the last 6 months than in the 6 months prior to that.

Ditto that ^

My understanding was BSNL doesn’t offer prepaid service unless you already have a landline, that’s why i got Airtel.. Good service in Kerala btw… Incoming is free so that’s a plus, but if you plan on sending international txt’s most likely will not go through. BTw at the airports they offer free calls at least Airtel does in COK..

international SMS not going through? never had such issue with Airtel..
can you elaborate?

I texted people in the US and UK and no1 got the SMS, even though I’m being charged for it.. Only one that received my txt was my buddy in AKL.. This was in 05, maybe it works now.

I use Hutch. Prepaid card for 999 INR (about $22) will get you a permanent number, that you can add minutes/rupees too...i usually put 3300INR on (about $75USD) when i enter India and it lasts for about 3 weeks (and i talk locally and internationally as well)...if you are planning to ever return to india, it is probably the best option...otherwise, you can just buy a prepaid card in the amount you want, which you can use for up to about 60 days...

One note to GU Wonder's post...when you go to the HUTCH store, you must also bring 2 passport sized photos (in addition to a copy of your passport) and proof of a local address (hotel bill will do, so if you ask them to print you one out after your first day that will work...)...

You can refill it just about anywhere....if you will be traveling, be sure to activiate roaming so you dont get charged more for time out of the area you purchase the card in...but in areas in your city of origin, INCOMING CALLS ARE FREE...have everyone call you and save $$...

Good luck..

Your experience doesn't shock me. I couldn't believe it myself until I did some hunting around myself, but in late 2004 and for part of 2005, some of my SMSs sent then didn't arrive until months or even a year or more later. (I couldn't believe it myself until I saw it myself and put 2+2 together after my meal companion said "you just texted me???" when I had not done so for months.) For better or for worse, I haven't noticed an SMS issue when using Hutch or Airtel since March 2006.

make sure you use the numbers statring with +

+countrycode-areacode-phonenumber

this works from almost all GSM networks around the world.

"00" or "011" prefix may or may not work in some places.

Also...
GSM to GSM is great.. but GSM to CDMA or TDMA may or may not work.
It has to do with the destination provider.

if you send an SMS to Sprint or Verizon, it may or may not make it...
but to a cingular or t-mobile, it will work just fine.

At Rs 5 per international text and Rs 7 for a minute of international calling (most countries last time I used an Airtel prepaid card in Dec), its better to call...at least you'll know the message got through.

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.

...and two passport photos as well. (A few places, like the Airtel counter at DEL, just snap your photo with a digital camera instead.)

You need passport photos for everything in India. A tip for some one getting a couple, just go ahead and get at least 10. They are cheap and you never know when you might need them again!

Good to know. Didnt know passport photos are so important.

Best Sim for foreighners
 

Hello my friends:),
I am from Kathmandu and during this winter I am going to India on our college trip.we will be there for 2 months Jan and Feb.I am a teenager and my family is very worried for me:(. I have been thinking of using an Indian Sim card, it would be easier to contact my family and some of my relatives in there.Thus, i am looking for an easy to buy, easy to connect,with fast and reliable network9 if possible cheap or tourist oriented:D sort of) sim card.Please friends give me some suggestions.

all cell phone companies in india offer pre-paid sims that can be used for 2 months....they all offer similar rates & are pretty easy to get....all you need is your passport copy & a couple of photographs....

While it's generally true that most companies offer similar service at comparable costs, there are differences that can make some SIM's completely useless. My Vodaphone SIM had expired and got iDEA this time and wish I had not.

I ended up going to Badrinath and found that, iDEA did not offer service in Badrinath. NO SERVICE at all. BSNL worked as did Vodaphone and Airtel (I think). If you are going to be travelling to remote areas, it might be best to check around before you buy a SIM, or else, you might get stuck with a useless piece of plastic.

I strongly suggest BSNL. I've never had any problems whatsoever with them. Then again, I've never had any problems with AI either...

I guess the GoI likes me :D

you are definitely part of the select few....:p

Or your standards are very low :p (Just kidding)

My biggest problem is, besides procuring a SIM, is to keep it alive. I don't travel to India frequently enough to keep my SIM alive.

Is there a way to keep it alive for a year without spending a fortune?

As far as procuring a SIM is concerned, I don't like having to get one in someone else's name. People with Indian ID think getting a SIM card is as simple as asking for one and forking out a dollar or so.
Not quite.

I had been on the run for two days on my way to Badrinath, and on getting there, I found, to my disappointment that I was to be accorded absolute peace by iDEA. No calls, no e-mails. My SIM card was happy and my data plan was at peace too.

Since it was three days before closure of the temple for the winter, all but one mobile shop, were closed. He too refused to sell me a SIM without a proper Indian ID. He suggested that wasn't worth the effort trying to get a SIM for a couple of days. iDEA resumes it's service halfway between Badrinath and Joshimath. A hotel employee lent me his phone for one day. I just wanted a SIM. I was able to call my wife so that she could call me back. He would not accept any money either. :)

Yes there is a way buy a vodaphone prepaid sim and keep it on back home. It costs Rs. 99 per month. Send a message or 2 sometimes costs Rs 15 to send message recieving is free. Dont make calls with it.
Go to a vodaphone store with your passport photocopies and a color photo sim will be issued and activated in a day to 36 hrs. time.