Get Sim Card for your foreign

phone while visiting India

Non Residents of Indian origin, as well as tourists visiting India from abroad, know the cost of cellular phone calls that foreign companies charge when their subscribers use their cell phones abroad. When it comes to international roaming charges, your mobile phone bills can really add up. There is fortunately an alternative that will keep your cellular call costs in control. Now while in India, all tourists have the option of using their foreign cell phones by simply buying an Indian mobile phone Sim Card. This will help you not only save money from those ridiculously high roaming charges but will also give you a cheap method of being able to stay in touch with friends and family as you will have the opportunity to make and receive both local and international calls. Most incoming calls in India are usually FREE!

Information on pre paid Sim Cards in India

Tourists in India to avail telephone services can purchase a pre- paid Sim card in India. To use Indian Sim cards, your telephone must work with your foreign cellular phone: There are four main frequencies on which cell phones work around the world. They are GSM 850, 900, 1800 and 1900. 1. Cell phones can be a single band, dual band, tri-band or even a quad band. So if you have a quad band phone, it should be capable of working on all four bands. Quad band phones are commonly referred to as world phones.Your cell phone must be capable of working on GSM 900 Frequency. Most carriers in India use the GSM 900 and a few use GSM 1800. The GSM 900 is most commonly used. Some of the other countries that also use GSM 900 are Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Kuwait, Norway, Russia, Singapore and United Kingdom. For North America, countries such as USA and Canada do not use GSM 900 but GSM 850 & GSM 1900. However those who have dual, tri or quad band phones will find that their phones can handle GSM900 frequency. 2. Your phone must unlocked. If your foreign cell phone provider has given you a locked phone, then it will not be able to work in India. If you phone is locked by your carrier, they may unlock it for your by providing a code, however the reason they have them locked in the first place is because they don’t want you to use the services of other phone companies and wherever possible charge for roaming. I had my mobility phone unlocked by getting the unlock code online from a private company for just seven dollars. The option to buy a phone in India is also available, a entry level new phone can be purchased in India for less that twenty dollars. 3. Assuming that you have the correct phone, you can buy a Sim card from any of the phone dealers in every major city. can use your cell phone in India without paying roaming charges to your foreign phone company.

Cost of Sim Card in India.

Normally the retail price of a Sim card in India is Rupees 100 (less than three US dollars. There is a big completion amongst phone companies and quite often some dealers will sell you the Sim card for even less than half the posted price if they are trying to promote a particular companies services. • When purchased, Sim cards normally already pre- activated to make local, long distance within India and international calls. Sim cards in India also come with national and international roaming also pre-activated. • New Sim cards usually have no talk time on the card. To use your phone, talk time has to be purchased. As you use your cell phone, your calling value of your Sim card keeps reducing, you can add more call talk time as and when required. Talk time can be purchased for amounts of Rupees 20 or more. • The cost of making a local call is about half a Rupee per minute and long distance calls to any city in India are normally about one Rupee a minute. International calls normally range from Rupees 6 to Rupees 15 per minute depending on the country you are calling. Most calls that you receive on your phone are free. In India, the party that makes the call is the one that pays, where as in countries such as USA and Canada both cell phone users are charged, based on their calling plans.

Tips on using Indian Pre-Paid Sim Cards

• The talk time you purchase for your Sim card in India comes with a validity time period. Unless you recharge to keep the validity period active, your talk time expires. • Don’t put too much talk time at once on your Sim card. Once the validity period expires or when your vacation is over, any money left on your Sim card is gone, as there are no refunds • While traveling within India, keep a recharge coupon with you for emergency use in case you require it. • When calling landline phones in India from within India, first dial the city area code followed by the number you wish to call • To call another cell phone in India locally, simply dial the other cell phone number. • To make calls while roaming in India, dial 0 followed by the number you are calling • To make overseas calls from India, dial 00 followed by the area code of the country you are calling and the number.