My family just completed a trip to India and we had the concierge at our first hotel in Delhi get us some SIM cards. It took him less than an hour, basically while you eat breakfast the first day. He needed some passport photos that we brought with us and a copy of our passport. We ended up with two cards on AirTel and two on Idea. We put Rs 1000 on each card and they last a little more than 2 weeks, the duration of our trip. We used them fairly frequently and traveled all around the country. The local calls in Delhi when we got there were billed at 1p/sec, Rs6.4/min to the US (about USD 15 cents/min. When we were in other parts of the country it was Rs1-1.5/min for local calls and 9.4/min for calls to the US.

Thanks for the info. Im heading there tomm, ill try for a vodaphone card.

Place to buy Sim Card at MAA?
 

Is there a store that sells pre-paid Sim cards in the arrivals area of MAA airport? I'm assuming that Airtel or Hutch would be easiest to find. For what its worth, my flight arrives around midnight.

I've read that the requirements are copy of passport, passport photos, and proof of residence. Will a hotel reservation suffice as proof of residence?

Anything else I should know?

Thanks!

Nothing in the airport arrivals area I'm afraid. However, if you drive out of the airport you'll find several stores .. none of which are likely to be open at midnight.

You might wait for the next morning and buy it yourself from almost anywhere in the city (you'll see shops with signs advertising Airtel, Vodafone <- new name for Hutch, Tata Docomo, Uninor etc etc SIMs), or if you've scheduled a pickup from your hotel, you can have the hotel concierge send you a SIM along with your driver. If you want the SIM to be in your name you can just fax / scan + email them your details.

Yes - passport + 2 photos should do the trick.

I had good luck buying an Aircel SIM at Big Bazaar in the Ambiance Mall yesterday.

I know that I overpaid for the SIM (it's labeled Rs. 49 and I was charged Rs. 250+90 and then sold an Rs. 500 refill), but I managed to walk in with nothing but my passport and a locked iPhone and have my photos taken, phone unlocked and everything taken care of in about ten minutes. I've bought SIMs in the states and had a harder time.

They were perfectly happy with my hotel address and multiple-entry business visa. They photocopied everything and had me sign each of the copies (and across the photo). Even had a nice chat with the guy about the new unlocking method for the iPhone that only requires browsing a website.

good stuff....its normally very easy to get a sim in india so you were never bound to have much problems....

But arent we supposed to give address proofs and then tht is verified .. they call and verify the address with many getting physical visits..maybe I am not updated but thts what i know..
:o
:eek: u mean u got ur iphone which was locked to a specific provider unlocked in an aircel shop.. and without any charge.. did they unlock ur phone and activate it for the new aircel sim u brought ?? I thot this was only possible in the back alleys of the cities, not in any prominent shop, atleast not openly :confused:..

not for pre-paid connections....

my airtel guy does this as well....not officially of course....

thts wht.. am aware of the unofficial way, but as it was mentioned below tht he got it done in an aircel shop in a mall , i was surprised..

i think he said it was big bazaar & not an aircel shop....

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....