Indian Sim Cards in Foreign Phones | Indian phone frequency

Don't assume that your United States cell phone will work in India. Unless your phone has the capability to work on the frequency on which Indian phone companies transmit, your US or European phone will not work in India.

All cell phones use radio waves to transmit conversations between telephone users — similar to radio stations. You can hear a particular radio station only if you tune in to the exact frequency it is transmitting on. The same goes for cell phones. While you do not manually change frequencies on your cell phone, they are preprogrammed to work on certain frequencies.

Cell phone frequencies used in India

There are five frequencies used today by most cell phone companies around the world:

• 800 MHz
• 850 MHz
• 900 MHz
• 1800 MHz
• 1900 MHz

Sim Card for India

To use your foreign phone in India, if it is capable of handling the Indian frequencies, you will have to buy a SIM card in India. SIM cards are available at just about every major corner in the larger cities.

Due to increased terrorism concerns, there has been a check on the issuance of SIM cards in India. Unless proper identification is provided, it is no longer possible to buy a SIM card in India.

Using your foreign cell phone in India

You can buy a cell phone today that can work on one, two, three or four frequencies. When shopping for a cell phone you will often be told that a particular phone is dual-band, tri-band or quad-band:

• A dual-band phone works on two frequencies.
• A tri-band phone works on three.
• A quad-band phone works on four different frequencies (also referred to as a "world phone").

Usually these phones are capable of auto-detecting the frequency, so no manual setting is required from the user.

When buying a cell phone abroad, make sure that the phone is capable of working on 900 MHz, as this is the frequency used by most cell phone companies in India. Don't get taken in by salesmen who tell you that 850 MHz will work in India — it should be 900 MHz.

Indian Telephone Sim Cards

The cost of a telephone SIM card in India is currently only around Rs. 100/-. Many companies discount this and even offer SIM cards free to get customers to use their services.

When selecting a SIM card, opt for one that has wide coverage in the area where you expect to stay the bulk of the time. For instance, if you expect to stay in the State of Maharashtra, the Idea SIM card has pretty good coverage.

Visitors to India – Sim Card Talk Time

Those who are visiting India should not add too much talk time to their cell phones. The reason: once your telephone is not used for a period of six months, the SIM is automatically cancelled. So if you are thinking of returning abroad with a SIM card from India, keep this in mind — unless used, it will be cancelled.