Flying into Mumbai next wednesday.
I thought we were going to wing it with wifi but my travel companion now wants a sim with data.
We are there for 30 days
My research says that getting a SIM for a foreigner is difficult. Is this the case?
Research also suggests that getting a sim at the airport on arrival is the quickest, most efficient method. Can anyone confirm and suggest which network?
Or can I get something reasonably priced in Australia before I leave?
Sorry for late notice.
Thank you
I thought that might be the case but some of the reports I read have suggested it's difficult and sim activation takes days.
I believe the requirements are passport, visa and a passport size photo.
thanks!
Recently came back from India. Activation was done within a couple of hours. Airtel has the best network it seems and plans are cheap too - Rs 249 ($5) for 28 days..1.5GB data per day and all local calls free.
Thanks mate.
Sounds good.
India has never been on my bucket list but am looking forward to the experience.
Activation isn't instantaneous. Takes a few hours. But you can get one anywhere, and it's cheap - 650 rupees for 30 days @1.5GB/day.
thx
don't really need it until the next day.
I might even email the hotel we are staying at and ask if there is somewhere nearby I can get it from.
I had a mixed experience like many people on the internet seem to. Got the sim in Delhi, but it worked further south
I took a passport photo, and a printout of the prepaid page of their website with the 28 day sim I wanted.
The airport store wanted to charge me 3x the price. Perhaps if it looked like it would be an easy transaction I would have paid the inflated price for convenience, but the guy had been having a screaming argument with the woman ahead of me and was clearly unhappy I had a printout with the regular price on it so I just left.
The next store I tried, downtown, said they were out of sim cards.
The third store, also downtown, were really nice, sold me the sim exactly as outlined on their website. Filled in a form, didn't take took long, activated about 4 hours later.
Once I found a place to sell it to me, it was really easy. I had planned to just walk around my first afternoon there and had seen a number of stores on Google maps. I can understand buying at the airport if you are short on time, but seems you pay a price, and would be harder to return to the store if it never activated.
I remember thinking I should have downloaded the airtel app to my phone beforehand, but now I can't remember why.
We're a bit short on time in Mumbai. The GF went a bit nuts booking overpriced tours. If it cost $15 instead of $5 I can live with that.
It's somewhat ironic that Airtel's Indian website appears to be down at the moment. :-) edit: and now it works!
I bought at the Dehli Airport. It was 900ish Rupees so basically the dude there sold me a recharge on top of just the SIM. I didn't get around to inserting the SIM for two days and it worked straight away. Install the airtel app on your phone and get an extra 5 Gig of Data… Worked everywhere except the sensitive military areas in the Himalayas where prepaid is blocked.
I'm down south
Mumbai
Ratnagiri
Thivim
Agonda
Hampi
Mysore
Bangalore
Tiripati
Chennai
Rameshwaram
Trivandrum
Allepy
Thekady
Munnar
Cochin
Should not be any issues. On the expressways etc the speed was great.
I was using jio and you won't go wrong with Airtel either. There are plenty of their own exclusive outlets which is better for quicker sim card activation
Some providers only sell to Indian people - I luckily met some locals who got me a sim :)
I used Jio and it was great. Sims are sooo cheap once you are in India, worry about it once you're there.
For convenience, try the airport.
Was in India about a year ago, got a sim card in Amritsar without any issues at first major store (Airtel). Data only, decent speeds.
I payed shop keeper a few dollars extra (seemed a lot for Indian sim, maybe $10?) and it worked no problems at all.
They didn't ask to see passport or anything like that. Whole process took about 5 minutes, very easy.
I think technically they aren't supposed to sell sims to foreigners? Even then you should have to register, etc. But I might be wrong?
As a foreigner, probably 'not allowed', might vary by region. But in India money talks and there's always a way!
If a shop won't sell it to you, just try the next one.
Good luck!
To close this:
Mumbai Airport Singtel kiosk is directly as you leave customs. The guy(s) there will ask for IR1000 cash for a 28 day SIM that normally cost IR250. They basically rip off their boss and pocket the extra IR750.
I got 2x 84 day Singtel SIMs (we were there for 31 days) for approx IR1300 from a shop near our hotel. They photograph the passport and the shop set it all up for me while I waited. The process took 30 minutes for 2 phones that both worked when we left.
Airtel. Buy it at the airport. That's the easiest way