SIM card in Delhi
 

Can onw buy a SIM card in DEL with talk time without hassels? I am told that buyig aSIM card can be accomplished, but activation takes a while for foreigners. Is that correct? How many days does one have to wait? If this is incorect, any ideas on the type of SIM card or locations where one can bu it? Thanks in advance.

Taking a copy of your passport and visa, it's still possible to get a prepaid SIM card activated same day in some places in Delhi at least. There's always the "ask the ___ (e.g., driver) to get one for you (even if in his/her name)" possibility too if that will go faster.

In DEL, same day is still possible. (Email coming your way.)

[Sidenote: In Jammu & Kashmir (at least Srinagar) a prepaid SIM getting same-day activation is generally not possible for most all. The upside of a Kashmir-acquired SIM is that the Kashmir prepaid SIM will work in all of India while Indian prepaid SIMs will generally not work in Kashmir.]

Thanks for your wonderful suggestion and e-mail.
 

Remember to check whether you can still make outgoing calls 7-8 days after the activation. Airtel has twice "lost" the documentation (photocopy of passport) I submitted in order to activate the SIM card for the first time, and cut me off after 7 days until I raised hell with their area manager in the middle of the night.

You are not the only person whom I've heard report a like experience and am glad to hear you had some success by going after the area manager.

The idiocy of the whole procedure is that this "documentation" requirement is being done for so-called "security" reasons and yet it is unlikely that such a cut-off/denial serves much of any useful security purpose when fraudulently acquired ID in India is rather easy to get anyway and when most cell phones used in criminal activities in India -- at least going by the CBI and other LE/security agencies' many more investigations running circles around suppliers rather than acquirers -- seem to be stolen or otherwise fraudulently acquired in the first place.

There's a little Airtel shop just as you exit customs that sells prepaid SIMs. You need your passport (unlikely to be a problem as you're coming from immigration anyway), they'll snap a digital pic and then fill out vast amounts of paperwork just to give you that "welcome to Indian bureaucracy" feeling. Cost is a little over Rs 500 including some talk time and the whole thing shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.

Activation times are entirely random. Sometimes they work off the bat, sometimes it takes a couple of days and you have to yell at customer service until it starts working.

You may need photographs
 

When I was in Delhi earlier this year, I attempted to get an Airtel SIM card. The distributor insisted he needed two passport size photographs to issue a SIM card. Of course, he neither had a digital camera, nor was there a convenient place nearby to get the pictures. He would not accept a copy of my passport either.

Really...I never have problems, but then again my relatives get my SIM for me !!!!

Something similar had happened to me.. they kept
sending me notices.. but never disconnected the service.

Its post-paid now.. all I hate is marketing calls once in a while.

Some of us like to not do anything that would not be quite legal, nor do we want to ask relatives for favors that might make them uncomfortable.

I've never had a problem with local colleagues getting SIM's for me and I certainly don't see anything wrong with it.

I think, it's not legal to get a SIM card one some one else's name. This was the only thing, the Australian Govt Dr. Mohammed Haneef, who suffered in solitary confinement in an Australian jail on terrorism related charges. He also lost his work permit and his visa. DR Haneef had given his SIM card to his cousin, one of the accused in London or Glasgow bombing.

From what I understand about Dr. Haneef, someone in his chain of associates was a terrorist. I know for a fact that I am not a terrorist so I don't feel it is wrong for someone who is a trusted business colleague to buy me a SIM. Also we aren't hiding from the government. They can trace me back to my colleague anytime they want.

The regulation stems from people buying and selling SIM's without a chain of trust. That isn't the issue in my case.

I understand you are not a terrorist. But the regulation is designed to prevent terrorists from benefiting from an innocent activity, such as, having someone else buy you a SIM card. If law says you must buy your own SIM card, then you are breaking the aw if you ask some one else to buy a SIM card, especially if you are a foreign citizen.

Are you expert enough in Indian law to say that a national cannot buy a SIM card for a visiting foreign co-worker?

The widow of a senior political figure is no longer able to go shopping on own and uses cell phones provided by other persons known to her or in her employ. She will not be prosecuted for such a thing nor will those who supply her even if a legal item is misuse

I will ask for the specifics of the law/regulation next week.

I am not an expert on the Indian law, but I have common sense. Are you saying the Australian, the U.S. and the British Governments are more paranoid than the Indian Government that only they would use a frivolous basis such as guilty by association to incarcerate an innocent man for month? Yes, I am still talking about Dr, Haneef.

The user is supposed to furnish proper identification, failing which the SIM card is denied. That's the legal situation. Doing anything else to acquire a SIM card is circumventing the requirement, plain and simple. My nephew got a SIM card for his cousin, who had traveled to Delhi and forgotten his license, as a one time favour. He will probably be OK, especially since the cousin is now back in the U.S. and the card would expire before his next trip. But I told my brother I would not subject my nephew to such a situation where his some might be considered an accomplice in breaking a law.

Making suppositions about the Dr. Haneef case would be kind of foolish. The only thing I know for sure about that case is that I do not know the full story. The media presents what it wishes to present and what it is capable of presenting and neither is ever the full story.

As for common sense, I think that is what I presented. It is common sense that if you have a legitimate chain of trust, especially one based through licensed Indian businesses, you are fine.

Since you admitted above that you are not an expert on Indian law, perhaps you should stop publicly giving advice about it. And the one clear thing I know about Indian law is that almost nothing is plain and simple about it.

Indian law (i.e., required by rules drafted by the legislative branch) is more plain and simple than Indian regulations (i.e., required by rules drafted, maybe but not necessarily, by bureaucrats).

I am not an expert on Indian law either but I do know that Indian government agencies (i.e., of the sort found under the executive branch in the US) can make life difficult for the smallest of regulatory or legal infractions. I also do know that the Indian government is less hesitant about jailing an OSA countries' nationals or Indian national for small infractions, whether merely "considered" or a real infraction, than jailing a well-off foreign businessperson.

Can I just add a word of caution here. We were in India a couple of months ago - purchased a SIM card in Calcutta. No problems (provided all the photos etc) however we had two problems. (1) difficult to recharge in a region different from Calcutta. (2) there is a very weird pricing system (we got a pay as you go). If you recharged for Rs330 you got talk time, but if you recharged for Rs300 only, then all you got was system credit (ie to keep your account activated) - NO talk time. It was all very strange and not convenient.

Just cautioning you to check all the details when you get your sim card and how much you actually have to recharge for if getting pay as you go.

regards

lme ff