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".