my mistake but even that.. anyway..

IIRC, the address proof is also needed for pepaid connections since last few years, and phone cos ''claim'' to be strict on this..

not really....the address on your passport & the local address of the hotel you are staying at are good enough....

Pardon my cluelessness
 

OK I'm normally not this tech-illiterate, but can someone explain how this whole sim-card thing works? I was planning on bringing my iPhone with the appropriate AT&T international plan, like I do for Europe. Bad idea?

What is iPhone coverage like in India? I'll be in Delhi, Agra, Chennai, Cochi and Kerala backwaters (I don't expect coverage there).

What's the deal with the sim card vs using my regular iPhone (+ Skype when I can)?

See. if u r bring an international AT&T plan, I believe they would charge intl roaming charges while u r in india, and thts a small amt..In India IPhone is sold by most of the major telecom operators and it will work in all places normal mobile phones work unless u go to some very far off place where there is no network from the indian service provider ( rare)..
Ur Iphone would in all probability be currently locked to ur current service provider and if u want to use an Indian Sim , then that needs to be unlocked and this is not 'official'..else u can bring any other gsm phone to india and just put in a Indian Sim and start using it..
Just some info..Indian mobile rates are among the cheapest in the world so it makes a lot of sense to take a Indian SIm if u being in India for more than 1 week..@:-)

if you use your iphone with the at&t international plan then you will be paying for international roaming which will be quite expensive....my friend used the same international plan when he was in india earlier this year....when he went back home his international roaming bill was over $1,000....

iphone coverage in india is the same as it is with any other phone....in other words it is quite good....i use an iphone & i get great coverage in dehi, agra, chennai, cochi & even in the kerela backwaters area....

if you buy a sim card here you will not be able to use it with your iphone unless it is unlocked....my suggestion would be to switch the roaming data off on your iphone & use it for emergencies....when in india just buy a cheap phone (around $40) & get a pre-paid sim card....you will only be able to use skype when you are in a wi-fi area, & normally you would have to pay for wi-fi access so it defeats the purpose of a free skype call....

SIM cards - you know where you carry an unlocked phone, and then pick up a prepaid phone card (like ATT Gophone stateside)?

If you carry your iphone and roam in India you're likely to end up with some extremely heavy bills, especially if you use your data plan and sync music / updates etc.

So if your iphone is unlocked (its with ATT so I guess it isnt) you can just use a SIM from a local carrier in India.

at&t gophones are locked as well....they won't work with another sim & their sim won't work in any other phone....

Eh. If you buy the PHONE you get a locked one. You just buy a SIM and it works in any unlocked phone. I have a gophone SIM that I keep around for US trips so ..

interesting....the sim from my gophone doesn't work on any other phone....next time i'm back in the US i think i'll get a new one....

Thanks!
 

Thanks, everyone. That makes sense now. I'm glad to hear the iPhone coverage is so good.

I tend to rely on my iPhone heavily while travelling internationally (esp for Google Maps) and just buy the data plan that covers me best. I usu avoid the calls to avoid int'l roaming, but maybe it'd be worth getting a cheap phone for voice in India for that. The rates are good even for calling back to the US?

Rates would be averaging abt Rs 7-10 ( USD .20 -25 avg)depending on phone compnay and plan..but mostly for US calls u get prepaid calling cards which give great value ( I believe arnd USD.10 per min approx)..
Check out the sbelow sample links of some telecom operators..
http://www.vodafone.in/newusers/whyv...d.aspx?cid=hyd
http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect...Calling+Cards/
http://www.rcom.co.in/Rcom/personal/...=USCanadaCards

There are many other operators also like Aircel, Idea Cellular etc.. but the above will give u a good idea of the rates..

Cheers
Abhi

The other big benefit of having a local SIM is that you have a local number. My driver isn't about to dial the US number on my BB. Nobody seems to have a problem with calling my new local number.

+1.. good point here..most drivers nowadays are given cellphones with local /std facilities to contact clients , but not ISD..

You can jailbreak iphone 3/3gs easily and unlock it. Works like a dream.
It is almost impossible to get an Indian Simcard without proof of address. Best is to ask a friend (??Bellman) for one and use it.

Best to buy an unlocked cheap Indian phone which costs about $20 and buy a Sim Card. Latest is videocon which allows calls to USA from the mobile at 60 p a minute (Around 1.5 cents)
The Indian BPOs are quite good and they charge around 5 cents a minute. BUT BEWARE OF SCAMS:eek:

They're perfectly glad to take your hotel address. No need to get one in the bellboy's name at all.

You can buy sim cards at the hotel gift shop (overpriced) or just take a short walk to the nearest grocery / stationery store etc that has signs advertising cellphone sim cards.

I had read that phones without a valid/unique IMEI number, i.e. Chinese phones were banned in India around December 2009. One could however use those phones by having an INEI number assigned to the phone on payment of a feel. IS this facility still available?

There used to be a list of locations in India that could legitimately provide such service, but I haven't run into any that do that any longer.

Can the government easily tell if an IMEI number is faked/cloned or not? [That's a question touching upon the utility of locking the barn door after the animals have escaped.]

your home address on your passport & your local address (hotel) will be good enough....no need to use the bellman....

Saad appreciate the clarification. So essentially just be armed with a copy of ones passport along with a couple of passport pictures and the hotels reservation/address and that should be it?

yup....

This wasn't my experience last month, at least for a prepaid data card. I went through extensive procedures in coordination with the (excellent) concierge at the ITC Royal Gardenia and at the end of the day, the phone companies (both Tata and Reliance) wanted way too much documentation.

Hotel arranged for reps from both Tata and Reliance to visit my workplace and the hotel, respectively. At first, we started with Tata and were told that they would only require passport photos, a copy of my passport, and drivers license. Then, we were told they would also require an "official" letter from the hotel, which the hotel provided within 10 minutes. Then, Tata told us we would need a letter from the Police Commissioner, so we started with Reliance. Reliance actually gave us the device, but then later refused to activate it without the Police Commissioner letter.

Requiring me to go down to the Police Commissioner (and probably have to pay him to get this letter) was just too much. Especially considering the nature of my work, which is anti-corruption related.

This process was drawn out over a couple of weeks. FWIW, my own company (an international accounting/consulting firm who gives these data cards to every Indian employee) could not even arrange for one of these in my own name.

Eventually I just gave up, hope you can do better.

wow....that's not good....my uncle needed a data card when he was here last month & all we had to do was go over to the tata customer care center & they wanted his passport copy, local address & passport pictures....the card was activated within 4 hours & he used it for the 2 weeks he was here....

It is not easy
 

We were in India (Hyderabad, Delhi and Ajmer) this past February and had a very difficult time getting and using the sim cards. After a day of wrangling with a local cell phone store in Hyderabad we finally got Indian passport photos taken, photocopies of our passports and paid an extra INR 200 for the owner to "take care of it". The phones worked for 7 days after which we got a call from the provider telling us that they did not have our documentation. By that time we were in Ajmer and could not get the number of the store we dealt with in Hyderabad. Next time my friend who lives in India is going to get our sim cards all worked out before we even get there.

It is no longer a sure thing you will get a sim card and the situation is individual each time, so bring along your international phone just in case. We had to use ATT for the last three days we were there.

seems like you had a bad experience....it is now possible to get a sim card at the airport in del & everything works just fine....

Recent KYC (know your customer) norms has become a pain in the a$$ without doing a thing to increase security. Experiences mentioned here are not common and the list of "acceptable documents" is non-standard at best.

I recently applied for and got a pre-paid SIM card and Vodafone at first refused to accept documents that were on their own website and I had to fight my way to make them accept the documentation.

Frankly, if security is the issue, this non-sense does nothing to enhance it. If someone wanted to do something - it is not hard to get a prepaid card from outside with roaming activated and make all the calls you want without a trace....so security theater at best.

In my experience also, every vendor has his own interpretation of the requirements for a SIM card. One vendor would not give me a SIM card without a proof address in India, such as a DL/PAN/Voter ID. The same vendor had no problem recharging the borrowed SIM I had without any documents when I did not even remember the telephone number associated with the SIM. This was in Delhi. In Haridwar, a vendor had no issues with accepting my non-Indian passport as a sufficient.

You will have an easier time getting a SIM from a location that's used to selling to foreign tourists, The Delhi vendor was in a residential area not frequented by tourists while the other one was in touristy town.

One note of caution, which is not as serious a restriction now, is that iPhone worked only on GSM, (until recent introduction of 3G technology in India), making it only slightly better than any other phone.

Is the SIM card available in both areas, domestic and international, and where in the terminal is it located? I'm going to try my luck in getting a prepaid card for voice & data from Airtel for my unlocked and APN editable AT&T iPhone.

not sure....i had some clients over from the uk a couple of weeks ago & they told me they got their sims at arrival....

i remember seeing an airtel booth at arrivals at the old domestic airport which is now being used for lcc airlines....

If your trips to India are semi-regular (like mine are) it might be best to get a post-paid SIM card. IIRC a few years ago, MTNL/BSNL as well as AirTel and Vodafone had a "no monthly rental, lifetime validation" scheme for postpaid accounts.

I've got an MTNL SIM card that I pop into my mobile before landing in BOM and the phone is good to go. Added benefit of all my contacts in India having my local number, which doesn't change from trip to trip :)

Buyer Beware
 

[QUOTE=SQ421;16168967]If your trips to India are semi-regular (like mine are) it might be best to get a post-paid SIM card. IIRC a few years ago, MTNL/BSNL as well as AirTel and Vodafone had a "no monthly rental, lifetime validation" scheme for postpaid accounts.

I am now on my third "lifetime" SIM as each time I dissapear for a couple of months the number gets reallocated!!!
Airtel, Aircel, and now Vodaphone, let's hope this one is ACTUALLY lifetime.

i believe it's more than a couple of months....the number has to be inactive for 6 months in order to get reallocated....

Yeah, I'm trying to disconnect a postpaid MTNL card we have had for years and not used, but they are refusing to disconnect it! :td:

Offered only to make it a prepaid one - may have to go this route...

:eek:
they dont want to reduce their client base ;)..
are they still charging monthly rentals or is it life time free ? I guess they hv atleast made it lifetime free since u were not interested in the 1st place..

I haven't had the time to address this, but I think that they did in fact offer the lifetime "free".

I respect your beliefs, however
 

Aircel was 6 weeks.

my bad....you are right....it used to be 6 months initially when airtel first started over 10 years ago....

I tried to find out validity of my vodaphone lifetime SIM, in absence of regular use. I did not get a satisfactory answer. The vendor where I re-charged the SIM told me the credit does not expire. I specifically asked him about non-use for an extended period of time. He insisted that whenever I go back to India, I would be able to use the same SIM. I am skeptic though. There has to be some time limit.
I considered sending a SIM every so often. But any use when roaming overseas incurs a monthly charge of Rs 99/. If it's one time charge for the month in which you use it, it's ok. But if it triggers a recurring monthly charge, the SIM would be useless pretty fast.

There are ways
 

If you can't join 'em.....
Have a local chum send a text every 3-4 weeks to the number.
That seems to help.
Also my latest victory with Vodaphone seems to be that I have not called and stopped the tin can marketing music and canned speeches that auto-call you every few days.
And to save confusion for all in the last few - Aircel and Airtel are significantly different services both in price and coverage.

The point that is being clarified in the lifetime SIM debate is that there are rules, then there is the implementation of those rules.
If all you get is "sorry" because your number was "liked" by a friend of the agent, then you lose your credit.
A learning - never top up too much at once, you can do it online with Vodaphone so - little and often is a good creed.
China is easier, just get loads of 14's in the number, but that's a different string, sorry......

Another post on here jogged my memory about my past experience trying to get an Indian SIM card for data use.

Last week, within an hour of requesting one from my hotel, I had a working Vodafone 3G USB device in my hands. Required copy of passport, a single passport photo, and about 5 signatures on the application.

Approx INR 4,000 for the device and 5GB of service. Can't complain.