SMS Text Messages - To / from India ?

butterball

In the past I've had mixed experiences with sending and receiving text messages to / from India & the UK.

I currently subscribe to Orange in the UK ( Hutch in India ) and find the 'roaming' service reasonably efficient whilst in India. The texts, however, sometimes seem to go into a black hole ! Also receiving them is hit and miss.

I will probably take my existing phone & UK account with me on this, a longer trip of around 6 months, but may well get a local SIM card for cheaper calls & texts..

Is there a difinitive guide to texting to and from India ?

volga_volga

butterball, i do believe buying an Indian SIM card makes sense if you are there for a long time... international calls from an Indian mobile seemed dirt cheap to me.. .correct me if i am wrong!! can't tell which mobile operator my friend uses in Delhi but she always used her mobile (not landline) to call her relatives and friends in the US and Pakistan

volga_volga

btw i also had mixed success with SMS to and from Indian mobiles (they always reached me account but sometime a few days later ). i have T Mobile (German) and fresh (UK) mobile accounts.

mercedes10

It's funny because I just logged in to IM to ask a similar question!! I used my UK T-Mobile phone in India and had no problems making/receiving calls or receving/sending texts messages to/from the UK.

The problem I have though is that I can't seem to send texts to Indian mobiles (though I CAN receive them). It's really frustrating because I now regularly receive texts from an Indian friend (who's on BSNL network) but I can't send any back. Does anyone know a way that I can text to a BSNL Indian phone (number starts with +4491941 ...)? Are there any UK networks with agreements with BSNL?

Sorry - I've hijacked the thread a bit and not provided you with any help!

shere

Yuo are correct, it costs no more to call from a mobile than it does from an STD/PCO place. I was calling back to the UK for 7RS 10 paise a minute. That was on a BSNL Cell One SIM. I was told you could phone overseas for as little as 4RS on some Indian mobile networks but BSNL had the best coverage in villages.

mercedes10

By the way, if you buy an Indian SIM card I think you have to be a bit careful with what type you get. A girl I met over there who'd done that seemed to have endless problems - because she'd bought the card in one state and then it wouldn't work from another state or something. I don't really know what it was all about - but maybe someone else can clarify! Basically, the jist of it was that the card only worked within the state in which it was bought. Anyone else know more??

butterball

Great quick replies guys.. !

Can anyone recommend a good all round SIM / Package ? I will be based in Kerala or Goa but will travel about.. Is this a monthly thing or a pay as you go ? How do you sign up - do you walk into a shop and hand over a credit card number ? A good dealer would be appreciated - possibly Trivandrum or Panaji ?

I use a SONY T610 - SIM cards available ?

I've also been researching GPRS ( see the thread in the 'geek speak' ) internet option for my laptop... any experiences ?

volga_volga

mercedes10, the inter-state calls are considered roaming in India... and are charged at a higher rate than "within the state" calls. so, it makes sense to buy the SIM card in the state where you are going to spend most of the time.

shere

Make sure your T610 is unlocked. Try a sim card from a different newtork provider (use a friends Sim if you do not have another networks sim card).

You can buy SIM packs from all over the place. You can get one on a pay as you go type plan and you pay around 250 Rs for the SIM pack for Airtel Sims. There is no need to give any credit card information. Then you just top up when you need. I paid 750RS for my Cell one SIM card on the black market as BSNL had stopped supplying new SIM packs.

beach

Hutch offers a lot of facilities like sending/receiving SMS through email. You need not have to use an international code to send an SMS in a Hutch mobile phone in India. Each SIM has its email id too, using the same phone number.

So it cost only that of the email to send an SMS to a Hutch phone!


(Hutch mobile number)@delhi.hutch.co.in – For Delhi
(Hutch mobile number)@hutchsms.co.in – for Kolkata
(Hutch mobile number)@south.hutch.co.in – for Karnataka
……..
…….

For example an email to 9830xxxxxx@hutchsms.co.in, will be received as an SMS in the Hutch phone 9830xxxxxx at Calcutta!

They offers many thing like downloading emails into your phones, send email as SMS etc.

The only problem with hutch is that they send a lot of ‘junk’ SMSs.

“Sachin strikes back, game heading to a hair raising end. Dial 1234 to listen to the commentary by Manjarekar”
or
Some one or someone else is lost (won) the gold (so what?) in Athens. Send and SMS to 1234 to get the latest medal tally…

What a coincidence…..Just now I’ve got an SMS which announces a new scheme…
-local SMS @ 30p
-international SMS @ Rs2
-2 hutch to hutch SMS @ Rs1/day
At a one time fee of Rs49 (that is a small rider)

You can get a Hutch SIM card for as low as Rs149

They operate at about 10 states in India (www.hutch.co.in)

But nothing covers India like the state owned BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) with their CellOne brand. It is the single operator with the largest coverage. They have a special scheme for students (STUDENT POWER). The monthly rental is Rs99 and the validity is for the stipulated student period. They can keep the same number beyond this scheme by paying the regular rent when they come out of the scheme.

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mercedes10

Hey Beach! That's interesting info. Do you know if BSNL also do the email to SMS thing? I really want to send SMS to BSNL phone in India but it doesn't work from the UK. Any ideas?? Shukriya!

Jippo

Hutch seems like a good option to go for, what with the free email SMS thingy. What is hutch like for recieving texts from abroad? Sorry if this has been answered before but i didnt see the answer.

Jippo

beach

I'm not sure about the option of direct email to BSNL mobile (Cell One) as SMS. You can try www.funonphone.com It is free SMS delivery service for mobiles in India.
Loads of other India cell phone related stuffs too

As of now the BSNL is the best as they have the cheapest rate and the widest coverage in India.The rider is it is a bit difficult(at times) to buy a SIM card. Many times people sell it in blackmarket. The shortage usually happens immediately after the announcement of some cheap schemes.

Hutch is ok if you are not travelling from one state to another where they do not have service.

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Ikuru

you Can send free sms from some sites on the net to mobile phones....
just google "free sms" and try it out.

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Tagore

Can I send an SMS from I-net to Deli or Kolkata?

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