Use of Mobile phone.

doofus

Please forgive me if this subject has been axhausted before. I just want to make sure that I have understood what I have to do.

I have a Nokia 3510i. I have used it abroad when I was in the philippines a couple of years ago. They had to unlock it for me to use whith a local sim card.

I am now assuming that the phone then remains 'unlocked' for the remainder of it's life. can I assume that?

I arrive in Goa/Colva. I remove my 'orange' sim card. I then go along to a store with my phone, passport and a photograph.

I purchase a sim card from them. I am not sure what this costs and what it includes. I will ask them to put in the new Sim card and be connected to the best company for my area.

I will then have a 'new' local mobile number.

With the new sim inserted I will then be able to amke txt messages home to the UK at local charges. I can make calls home at local charges.

Can I receive calls from the Uk? If so, will I have to pay to receive or will it be free. the same applies to receiving txt messages from the UK.

i hope I have explained myself fully. I would appreciate your encouragement on this.

regards, pete

john.sw

You can check that your phone is still unlocked by borrowing a Vodaphone or T-Mobile SIM from a friend and trying it in your phone. A 3G SIM will not work in your phone because the Nokia 3510i is not a 3G phone.

You should remove your Orange SIM card whilst you are still in the UK. If you remove it in India, Orange will know you are in India and will charge you 80p (approx) a minute when anyone leaves a message on your answering machine, even after you have removed the SIM card!

If you want to use your Orange phone in India, you should ask Orange to switch off the answering machine before you leave the UK. If you don't do this and receive 5 calls a week, each lasting 1 minute, you'll have a £40 bill waiting for you when you return to the UK after a 2 month trip...

When you're in Goa you can buy a SIM card. If they mess you about, either go to a different shop, or get your driver to buy it with his ID, photo, etc.

I have Airtel in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, but there are plenty to choose from. You buy a SIM card (starting cost is about Rs.100/- depending on how much talk time it has on it) and a pre-pay card. I think the biggest pre-pay card I can get is Rs.2000/-.

Ask the shop to put the SIM card in the phone and set the language to English. If you don't do this you'll have to sign up for Hindi lessons or you won't understand announcements like "all lines to this destination are busy - please hang up and try later" or even what your remaining balance is!

You then have a new Indian mobile phone number. You do not pay to receive calls UNLESS you are out of state, i.e. if you go to Delhi, you will pay a roaming charge to receive calls (I pay a massive Rs.7.5 a minute, which is why I have different SIM cards for Kerala and Tamil Nadu) but whilst you are in Goa you pay nothing to receive calls.

You do not pay a roaming charge to receive SMS messages.

You can dial direct to the UK, and a 3 minute call will cost you about £1.00.

A text message to the UK will cost about Rs.3.5

Tell your friends and family NOT to call you using BT. It will bankrupt them!

Tell them to use a dial-through company. They will pay about 5p a minute to an Indian mobile phone, and can find a list of dial-through companies at http://www.niftylist.co.uk/calls/

__________________
www.nilgiris.asia your guide to the Nilgiris, Ooty, Coonoor, Kotagiri and Gudalur

doofus

John,

Many many thanks indeed for that excellent information. My daughter is on Vodafone. So all I need to do is put her sim card in my phone and , if it works, then I can safely assume that my phone is still unlocked.

Good advice about having the 'answerphone' switched off. I take it that tha is straightforward to do and they wont ask questions as to 'why' I want it switching off etc.

It does make sense to have the Orange sim card removed first here in the UK, I can see the sense in that. Thanks for that. I probably would not have done that.

I dp appreciate your help in this. I feel much clearer about it now.

regards, Pete

john.sw

You're welcome!

That's what India Mike is for.

Orange don't ask questions when you switch your answering machine off or back on again.

I take my Orange SIM to India so I can ring from the airport on the way out to India and when I arrive back in the UK. Once I forgot to have the answering machine switched off and it cost me nearly £60 - most of the "messages" were just the sound of people hanging up!

The Chosen One

John I am in US and I have Cingular. Not sure if you're familiar with that or not. I wasn't planning on having my Voice mail turned off. I don't think that I will get charged if someone leaves me a message. Is that just a UK thing?

jehenry

Useful thread. I'm with O2 and was planning on paying £2.99 extra a month for their International service. This is a right bargain - 99p/min in/out versus £1.70/min in/out.

I have cancelled my voicemail and checked that my phone is unlocked so now feel comfortable that I can get a local SIM in India. Will this also work throughout the rest of Asia e.g. China/Vietnam/Cam/Loas.Thai etc. ?

Also I presume I can't cancel my basic O2 contract as I will want to keep the number for when I get back?

Cheers.

doofus

On this site a few days ago somone started a thread about having an 'Indian Sim card' for sale here in the UK. Apparently he had just returned. he said that it had 65 days expiry left and may need a top-up soon. He was selling it for £1.50(one pound, fifty pence).

He wanted the payment through 'paypal'. I did exchange the odd email for more info. he only ever gave me his email addy and nothing more.

I have tried to find the 'thread' again but it seems to be missing now. I did email the moderator of this site for advice as to whether this was a 'scam' or not but have received no reply.

Did any of you guys see it. What do you think? Was it genuine or a scam?

regards, Pete

jehenry

Didn't see it myself.

TYP0

Chosen, Cingular doesn't charge for the VM feature regardless of whether or not you use it. It is a free feature with all their price plans. If you want you can always check your VM from anywhere including overseas by dialing your number, then press # once you hear your message. Then just follow the voice and she'll tell you what to do.

shere

Its not much of a bargain if you look at the cost of using an Indian sim card. Calls to the UK can cost as little as RS7.2 which is less than 10pence a minute. A few phone calls and you will have recovered the cost of buying a new sim card.

Once a phone is unlocked it usually remains unlocked unless you go to a phone shop and ask them to lock it again for you.

The Chosen One

Thanks Typo. ALso do you know what company I should go with once I am in India? I wanna get the best deal all around. I will be travelling in Delhi, Agra, punjab and rajasthan. Will be roaming be too expensive? is there a plan that doesn't charge you roaming. Any suggestions?

john.sw

Hi,

I am not familiar with American phones. Sorry!

john.sw

99p a minute to receive a call is a lot more than receiving a call on an Indian SIM which costs 0.00p.

99p a minute to call the UK is a lot more that calling the UK using an Indian SIM which costs approx 30p.

Your Indian SIM will cost about £2.50 and work only in India.

You can buy a Thai SIM on Orange for about £3.00 and calls are cheap.

The same goes from Hong Kong - the Orange SIM I have cost about £3.00 and the calls are very cheap - even to call the UK.

TYP0

Chosen, you're not thinking of getting an International roaming/dialing plan are you?! Please don't as they simply aren't cost effective. Not to mention that they are so rarely put on your account correctly. Somebody always forgets at least one of the codes.

As for what prepaid plan to go with here... For that i'd look for people who have been here longer than I. I personally have Airtel and have been able to get good signal in all the places you have listed and never though the roaming charges were bad.

jehenry

I was being sarcastic about the 99p/min bargain by the way!

Thanks for you help John.