[john.sw]

UK Mobile Phones are the same spec as Indian phones.

If you UK phone is "unlocked" you can buy an Indian SIM card and use your phone all over India.

You can check that your phone is unlocked by borrowing a SIM from a friend who is on a different network from you and trying it in your phone. A 3G SIM will not work in your phone because the Nokia 3510i is not a 3G phone.

You should remove your UK SIM card whilst you are still in the UK. If you remove it in India, your operator will know you are in India and will charge you 80p (approx) a minute when anyone leaves a message on your answering machine, even after you have removed the SIM card!

If you want to use your UK phone in India, you should ask your network provider to switch off the answering machine before you leave the UK. If you don't do this and receive 5 calls a week, each lasting 1 minute, you'll have a £40 bill waiting for you when you return to the UK after a 2 month trip...

When you're in India you can buy a SIM card almost anywhere, but you need to fill in a form, produce ID and supply passport photographs!. If they mess you about because you are foreign, either go to a different shop, or get an Indian friend buy it with his or her ID, photo, etc.

I have Airtel in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, but there are plenty to choose from. You buy a SIM card (starting cost is about Rs.100/- depending on how much talk time it has on it) and a pre-pay card. I think the biggest pre-pay card I can get is Rs.2000/-.

Ask the shop to put the SIM card in the phone and set the language to English. If you don't do this you'll have to sign up for Hindi lessons or you won't understand announcements like "all lines to this destination are busy - please hang up and try later" or even what your remaining balance is!

You then have a new Indian mobile phone number. You do not pay to receive calls UNLESS you are out of state, i.e. if you bought the SIM card in Tamil Nadu and go to Karnataka, you will pay a roaming charge to receive calls (I pay a massive Rs.7.5 a minute, which is why I have different SIM cards for Kerala and Tamil Nadu) but whilst you are in the State where you bought the SIM card you pay nothing to receive calls.

You do not pay a roaming charge to receive SMS messages.

You can dial direct to the UK, and a 3 minute call will cost you about £1.00.

A text message to the UK will cost about Rs.3.5

Tell your friends and family NOT to call you using BT. It will bankrupt them!

Tell them to use a dial-through company. They will pay about 5p a minute to an Indian mobile phone, and can find a list of dial-through companies at http://www.niftylist.co.uk/calls/

[fromusawithluv]

Great information John.  Just curious - does your "phone number" change from sim card to sim card?

[captmahajan]

yes it does.

[delhi123]

good info   thanx!

Edited by malkers, 25 February 2008 - 08:35 PM.
advertising cheap phone calls on first post!

[malkers]

Hi Mr Delhi123 and welcome to the tree.

Once we've established that you are here with a genuine interest in India then we'll allow your signature on your posts.

If on the other hand you only came to advertise your cheap phone calls then farewell dear friend!

[puchoo]

FYI - The facility for number transfer is something a lot of subscribers are looking forward to being implemented this year. There has been substantial pressure from the consumer base and obviously resistance from the operators but its expected to come through.

fromusawithluv, on May 28 2006, 09:17 AM, said:

Great information John.  Just curious - does your "phone number" change from sim card to sim card?