Trekking and Mountaineering in India - Hiking the hills or going on a walkabout.

Which Cell SIM card best for north ?


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Old Jun 19th, 2007, 13:57   #1
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Which Cell SIM card best for north ?

I have a Mumbai Orange (Hutch) cell phone .. that rarely works when I am headed North for my travels in Uttaranchal, HP, Sikkim etc.

Of course, I don't expect it to work on the trek-trails, but at least it should in most towns, till the trail-head. I saw Hutch recharge outlets in many places, in Uttranchal but most places signal not good. I found the Locals mainly use BSNL and that seems to work pretty well, in most hilly regions.

Any Suggestions or Advise (solicited ) on this from experienced Users? ... should I go in for a MTNL/BSNL SIM Card? Or Airtel? Or Something Else?
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Old Jun 19th, 2007, 14:16   #2
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From my personal experience..I found that BSNL works pretty well in remote areas. But if you are in towns like Gangtok or Nainital..then all of them works well.
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Old Jun 19th, 2007, 14:24   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bhaswaran View Post
From my personal experience..I found that BSNL works pretty well in remote areas. But if you are in towns like Gangtok or Nainital..then all of them works well.
Ditto. I also found BSNL working well in towns/villages in Raigad, Mangalore and Kunnur districts. I was finding it dificult to get signals on my Hutch cell phone.

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Old Jun 19th, 2007, 14:31   #4
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If you are going to be in the mountains, it is difficult to find any service other than BSNL. In the plains, any SIM will do fine, may be airtel is the better of the lot.
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Old Jun 19th, 2007, 21:24   #5
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BSNL is the best in mountains as they have towers more or less everywhere.
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Old Jun 22nd, 2007, 05:01   #6
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Enough answers already..all right ones.

Just to add, if you are heading for Himachal Airtel is pefect as well..brilliant connectivity alomst everywhere. However, in Uttaranchal, its got to be BSNL. Airtel just doesnt work beyond the bigger towns.I also used my Airtel at Ladakh and Spiti and it gave me mostly no troubles.
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Old Jun 22nd, 2007, 05:36   #7
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Thanks! everybody!! ... I think the consensus is that BSNL is best for the mountains

(psssssst... actually, I prefer not to carry my cellphone to the mountains ... I am quite happy with my Hutch, as their signal doesn't reach most towns in Uttaranchal!* ... But I may go in for BSNL as one of the "give & takes" to wifely pressures, that I talked about in some other thread. I will now find out the BSNL cost and if the budgetting wife says why waste money on a 2nd SIM? ... I will be really happy )

* I must be one of those rare roaming customer of Hutch, who carries their cellphone, because they dont have network signal everywhere!

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Old Jun 22nd, 2007, 08:55   #8
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Agree with BSNL. Not only in the hills, but if you are going to travel outside cities, BSNL gives the best coverage.
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