[dave_is_away]

Hi all,

I finally arrive in India on Monday.  As I will be living in Tamil Nadu for 3 months, I am considering getting a SIM card.  I have read the information on the forum about this.

However, seeing as my phone is nearly dead, I was thinking of getting a new phone.

Can anyone tell me how much a basic phone costs in India?

Thanks,

Dave

[Strawberry_Blonde]

dave_is_away, on May 9 2006, 08:05 PM, said:

Can anyone tell me how much a basic phone costs in India?

Try looking on somewhere like www.fabmall.com it will give you a rough idea of models here and their price range. Once you have got that in mind you can then trot off to the markets and start bargaining!

Cheers

SB

[malkers]

Hi Dave

You can get a very basic phone from around Rs2000 upwards, the all singing all dancing camera phones tend to be quite expensive so you'd be better off bringing one like that from home!

There is also of course a massive second hand market for nearly new and really old phones!

I'd recommend Airtel as the provider of your mobile service as my signal has been good in all the states I have visited to date, the only downside is that they spam you with useless text messages but apparently Hutch do the same!

Cheers
Malc

[sahib]

dave_is_away, on May 9 2006, 10:35 AM, said:

Hi all,

I finally arrive in India on Monday.  As I will be living in Tamil Nadu for 3 months, I am considering getting a SIM card.  I have read the information on the forum about this.

However, seeing as my phone is nearly dead, I was thinking of getting a new phone.

Can anyone tell me how much a basic phone costs in India?

Thanks,

Dave

Hi Dave
bought a phone in Calcutta in January, signed up with Hutch and then travelled to the South - It was a nightmare - apparently the Hutch people never received my documents (passport copy and picture, etc) and thus only activated the phone for a couple of days (emergency access) each time I went to a Hutch office and screamed at them - At one point they told me I had to go back to Calcutta to fix it  - I was in Mangalore at the time. Also the SIM is regional it seems and thus wherever you bought it, the calls are then charged  long distance through that city - seems incredible but I went through two SIMS (losing a few thousand rupees in the process) and even then it didn't ever work properly - I hear from lots of people that they work well but not in my experience.

Generally Hutch seemed to be trying but was consistently failing as well. In many parts of India there is a veneer of the new infrastructure but scratch it and the chaos of India is still there lurking beneath the surface.

Links to a couple of shots relating to me and a phone in India

http://static.flickr..._25b0ee3271.jpg

http://static.flickr..._91970b36af.jpg

Eric

[fromusawithluv]

Hi, just wanted to add to this discussion:
There are many phones/plans out there..and some require you to buy their phones WITH the SIM cards attached..e.g. Reliance.  

If you're planning on using your phone for long distance phone calls (esp. int'l), I would suggest Reliance for one of the cheapest rates.  I've been roaming all over the place...and have been getting pretty good signal.

I agree with Malkers - about airtel.

you do get some messages in Reliance but it has been FAR LESS than compared to my airtel friends.  (e.g. once or twice in a month for Reliance).  Correct me if i'm wrong, but I think India passed a new law against sms spammers!  

Prices are reasonable..I think the lowest I have seen was around 2000 rs. too.  I bought mine Oct. 2004 for 5000 rs, and it had color, speaker phone, internet connection, int'l dialing...but that same phone is (I believe) half as much right now.

[Hyderabadi]

I'm going to have a cell phone which I will bring bring from here (US), unlocked, I'ts even been used in India before, I think on the Airtel network. I want to use it in Hyderabad, Hampi, Delhi and Tirupathi. How good is the Airtel network where I'll be visiting? I'm also told that there are generally no incoming call charges in India. Is this true?

Edited by Hyderabadi, 10 May 2006 - 06:11 AM.

[larki]

I am with Verizon in the US and they gave me a list of all the cities that my phone would work in, even though I have CDMA and the general format is GMS (I think that is what it is called).  Reliance or Tata offer CDMA fomat.  I think the cost is high though.   I am still checking into it.  Any ideas would help,
Thanks

[Hyderabadi]

larki, on May 9 2006, 10:24 PM, said:

I am with Verizon in the US and they gave me a list of all the cities that my phone would work in, even though I have CDMA and the general format is GMS (I think that is what it is called).  Reliance or Tata offer CDMA fomat.  I think the cost is high though.   I am still checking into it.  Any ideas would help,
Thanks

I'm with Verizon too, could you please post what cities they said it would work in, and the model of your phone?

[fromusawithluv]

Yogagal, I think you mean ISD service..they have STD/ISD booths in almost every corner in almost every city/town in India!  I think ISD stands for international subscriber dialing, and STD stands for subsciber trunk calling (used for domestic state to state calls).  That is definetely an option for those who don't want to pay the $3/min.  It roughly comes to about 6 to 7 rs./min to call the states.  On my reliance phone (SIM attached)..w/card I pay little more than 4 rs. /min to anywhere in the states!

I had a T-mobile service too...and brought the phone down here to switch out the SIM card, but found that to call states - it's cheapest with Reliance.  If you're just calling for a 2 min. call, then any plan out there would work...  

As far as incoming calls, I can confirm with Reliance (I think it may be the same with Airtel)..as long as you're within your "home" zone, calls are free.  Otherwise, it's a roaming charge receiving or making phone calls..and the price varies according to the plan you're subscribing to.


btw..there are differences between Prepaid and postpaid services.  You almost always have to pay for incoming calls with prepaid services.  

Here are some websites to check out

airtel

reliance

Edited by fromusawithluv, 10 May 2006 - 07:44 PM.

[cyberhippie]

Here's a link to my site where I've done a basic section on mobiles and coverage. It's not extensive by any means as I'm a mobile phone Luddite,
It may helpe in issues of coverage for posters though!!

Gone India Mobile Phones

[larki]

Hyderabadi, on May 9 2006, 10:29 PM, said:

I'm with Verizon too, could you please post what cities they said it would work in, and the model of your phone?

I have a motorola 810 Picture phone.  I will email you the list, it is quit long.

This sim card,  is that the little card that fits in the phone????  
I have a place for a very little card (like a photo disk) is that what it is????

[Hyderabadi]

larki, on May 10 2006, 10:52 PM, said:

I have a motorola 810 Picture phone.  I will email you the list, it is quit long.

This sim card,  is that the little card that fits in the phone????  
I have a place for a very little card (like a photo disk) is that what it is????

That would be the 'sim' card that usually sits behind the battery, although some of the newer phones do not seem to have a 'sim' card and have to be taken to phone company store to programme. I had to do this when I changed my hadset from a Motorola-V60 (very, very good, it's been dropped from 100ft, trampled.. and still works) to a Blackberry.

The other place you have for the little card could be the slot for a flash memory card, to store your pictures.

[larki]

Hyderabadi, on May 10 2006, 09:08 PM, said:

That would be the 'sim' card that usually sits behind the battery, although some of the newer phones do not seem to have a 'sim' card and have to be taken to phone company store to programme. I had to do this when I changed my hadset from a Motorola-V60 (very, very good, it's been dropped from 100ft, trampled.. and still works) to a Blackberry.

The other place you have for the little card could be the slot for a flash memory card, to store your pictures.

So how do I know what I have.   My slot is in the back of the phone,  but I had to buy a card and I didn't.
Will it say SIM    What does SIM stand for??

[Hyderabadi]

larki, on May 10 2006, 11:15 PM, said:

So how do I know what I have.   My slot is in the back of the phone,  but I had to buy a card and I didn't.
Will it say SIM    What does SIM stand for??

SIM at wikipedia:

A subscriber identity module is a smart card which securely stores the key identifying a mobile phone service subscriber, as well as subscription information, preferences and text messages. The equivalent of a SIM in UMTS is a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM).

The SIM stores network state information such as its current location area identity (LAI). If the handset is turned off and back on again it will take data off the SIM and search for the LAI it was in. This saves time by avoiding having to search the whole list of frequencies that the telephone normally would. Each SIM is uniquely identified by its ICCID [International Circuit Card ID].
More>>>

[larki]

Hyderabadi, on May 10 2006, 10:02 PM, said:

SIM at wikipedia:

A subscriber identity module is a smart card which securely stores the key identifying a mobile phone service subscriber, as well as subscription information, preferences and text messages. The equivalent of a SIM in UMTS is a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM).

The SIM stores network state information such as its current location area identity (LAI). If the handset is turned off and back on again it will take data off the SIM and search for the LAI it was in. This saves time by avoiding having to search the whole list of frequencies that the telephone normally would. Each SIM is uniquely identified by its ICCID [International Circuit Card ID].
More>>>

I am guessing I don't have a sim card, since I didn't have one to begin with.
Thanks for the information.
Check your mail, I sent the file to you.
Thanks so much for the infomation

[john.sw]

This is what a SIM card looks like


 DSC02865.JPG   34.3K   42 downloads

[larki]

john.sw, on May 11 2006, 01:50 AM, said:

This is what a SIM card looks like
attachment

Thanks John,
I have seen the cards, but I didn't buy one.  I am going back to my dealer and ask about it.

I have 26 days to figure it out!

[Hyderabadi]

Thanks larki for the email!

[larki]

Hyderabadi, on May 11 2006, 08:26 PM, said:

Thanks larki for the email!

You are most welcome!

Oh, I am on the phone with verizon and they said that I don't have a sim card.
They do not do sim cards.

[Hyderabadi]

larki, on May 11 2006, 10:36 PM, said:

You are most welcome!

Oh, I am on the phone with verizon and they said that I don't have a sim card.
They do not do sim cards.

Like I said in post #14, I don't think they have SIM cards any more...you need to take the phone to the store to have it re-programmed, at least here in the US.