[Bumblebee]

Hi,

Last time when I was in India I did not bring my mobile phone, but many travelers I met did and it seemed a great way of keeping in touch and making appointments on where and when to meet. Also it may be a back-up in situations where I don't feel safe traveling alone as a girl. So, next time in India I would bring my phone and buy a sim card in India. I was wondering how expensive it is to use a mobile phone in India, both for text messages, for calling to other mbile phones, and for calling to non-mobile phones (don't know the English name for that). If the latter is cheap I could use my mobile also for administrative calls whenever I need information..

Greetings,
helga

[batistuta]

Bumblebee, You can get a pre-paid sim card and then use it. I am not sure about the exact rate for calls to Belgium, It won't exceed Rs 9/ min. The service provider is Airtel. Earlier the roaming charges were high, Now it has come down.(Roaming means when you are calling from a different state than the one where you got the sim from).

If you are calling a landline, it may come to arnd 2 Rs/ Min. If you calling other CP, It will be Rs 1. You can also choose different pack based on your usage.

Regards,

[iwanttogoback]

with prices like that i wouldn't even think of using my sim card next time. i used global roaming with my australian sim last time and the costs were outrageous, text messages frequently weren't received and i had trouble making calls. i'm sure it was because it was i wasn't using a local carrier. people who bought indian sims didn't seem to have any problems at all.

[Serena]

While in Ladakh last year I use a prepaid Airtel card :it was 150 Rs for the card and you can choose the range of the pre-paid traffic from a minimum of 300Rs. It was around 7.50  per min. to Italy.
Remember that if you talk for 1 min and 1 second  you will pay as it was 2 minutes!!
I think I will do it again next time.....Xmas time!!!!

[jw46]

Bought a Airtel card for my time there...

It worked fine... really cheap rates to the states.. But I should have added local calls to the package.. Tried to make a reservation @ a hotel... number was not available..

Live and learn...

[john.sw]

I have an Airtel sim for my phone and a separate Reliance phone for my CDMA internet connection.

The Airtel sim is pre-paid.  There are plenty of deals to choose from, so go for the one that suits you best.

There are two aspects to consider when topping up Indian sim card.

• The amount of money on the card for making calls
  
• The validity period of the card

Even if you have a balance of, say Rs.100/- on your card, you cannot make calls if the validity period has expired.

You can buy top-up cards that extend the validity period of the card and add rupees to your balance, but there are other top-up cards that only add to your rupee balance and do not extend the validity period.

SMS messages to the UK cost about Rs.3/-

Calls from the UK to an Indian mobile phone currently cost from 3p a minute if you use a dial-through provider listed at http://niftylist.co....o/india/mobile/

If you use BT to ring an Indian mobile phone it will cost you an arm and a leg!

[cyberhippie]

You'll find a list of mobile network providers here. it is listed state by state

Mobile Networks

[Bumblebee]

Thanks a lot!

Seems really cheap.. !

[Abhijit Sur]

You can visit individual sites of mobile operators in India.

Hutch

Airtel

Idea

They are the major operators. You can get connected anywhere in India. Of course there is some restriction in J&K with pre paid connection. If you are interested in other operators we can furnish details. BSNL Cellone is good but very difficult to get a sim.

[YETI]

Remember you'll need an unlocked mobile phone.

A lot of people recommended Hutch to me in Goa for good coverage.