Buying a SIM card in India

Great! You found us looking for a sim card to use in india, but did you know that getting a sim card in india can be quite a daunting task. And then, trying to find the cheapest SIM card in India for a heads up can be absolutely exhausting with so many options available even when the SIM card price in India is mostly affordable.Before getting a sim card, it is important to understand how telecom works in India, It could be very different from what you are used to. Types of SIM card in IndiaHere are two types of SIM cards available in India to help you narrow down the choices. 1. Postpaid SIM CardA postpaid SIM Card is the one where you are billed after having used the services like calling, data, texting. Postpaid plans cost more than prepaid plans generally. Your billing details are given to you in the end. The bill is usually sent to you at the end of a month long cycle.This works out well for residents and not available for foreign travellers. 2. Prepaid SIM Card or Pay as You go SIM CardA prepaid sim card in india for foreigners or a pay as you go sim india is where you pay before hand to avail services like calling, data, texting. The plans on this one are comparatively cheaper. Billing details aren’t provided so expenses remain vague.Most Indians use Prepaid sim cards. This works out better for foreigners as well. However, there are some downsides of getting a prepaid sim card. It needs constant topping up. You will get unwanted SMSs because the service provide does not differentiate between an Indian resident and a tourist. So, you need to register your number for DND, which for a shorter stay may not work out. Also, for indians the activation of SIM card is almost immediate based on their unique identity number called Aadhar. But for foreigners the activations takes a long time. In some cases even about 2-3 days. How to Top up a Prepaid Card?When you run out of credit on your prepaid card, you will only be able to take incoming calls (only those that don’t cost you roaming charges) and you won’t be able to make calls or text or use data.

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Will my Cell Phone Work in India?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions by a traveller who wishes to travel to India. Smartphones and Internet are the essence of life now, however much you want to deny that! However, the answer to this question is not polar. Let’s first look at what all is there that can go wrong. Why will my phone not work in India?Your phone may not work in India with any of the local sim cards unless it is unlocked. In most of the parts of the world, mobile phones are locked to their telecom carriers and only they (your telecom carrier) can unlock the phones for you. You will not be able to insert another sim or use it with another carrier unless you pass their criteria of getting the phone unlocked and then go through the procedure which can take time and may cost you money of you get it done privately.Therefore, if you are getting an iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus or 6s Plus from USA with you, make sure it is unlocked beforehand. Your phone may also not work, even if unlocked unless the GSM bandwidth of your phone is compatible. In India, the compatible GSM bands are as follows:2G capabilities: GSM 900, GSM 18003G capabilities: UMTS 900, UMTS 21004G capabilities: LTE 850 (5), LTE 1800 (3), LTE 2100 (1), LTE 2300 (40), LTE 2500 (41) Some key points to explain the necessity of this: Lower frequency network bands provide higher coverage. Higher frequency network bands provide higher data speeds. Proper Bands are required for VoLTE (Voice over Long-Term Evolution) services as it is a standard for high-speed wireless communication for mobile phones and data terminals. Therefore, one needs to identify their home GSM bands and compare it with India’s for a functional phone.

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Mi teléfono celular funcionará en la India?

Esta es una de las preguntas más comunes entre los viajeros que quieren ir a la India. Los teléfonos inteligentes y el internet son la esencia de la vida hoy en día, por más que lo quieras negar! Sin embargo, la respuesta a esta pregunta es ambigua. Primero hablemos de todo lo que puede salir mal. Por qué mi teléfono celular no funcionará en la India?Es probable que tu teléfono celular no funcione en la India con ninguna tarjeta SIM local a menos que esté desbloqueado. En la mayoría de países en el mundo, los teléfonos celulares están bloqueados por las compañías telefónicas para para que sólo se los pueda usar dentro de su red y sólo ellos (tu compañía telefónica) puede desbloquearlo para que los puedas usar. No podrás insertar ninguna otra tarjeta SIM, ni usarlo con otra compañía telefónica a menos de que los criterios de la compañía permitan que ellos te lo desbloqueen. Una vez que logres que te lo desbloqueen tendrías que realizar todo el procedimiento correspondiente, que te puede tomar tiempo y dinero si lo alguien lo hace por ti particularmente. Por lo tanto, si piensas llevar contigo un iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus o 6s Plus desde Estados Unidos, asegúrate de que esté desbloqueado antes. A pesar de que desbloquees tu teléfono celular, este podría seguir sin funcionar a menos de que la banda GSM de tu móvil sea compatible. En la India, la bandas GSM compatibles son las siguientes:Capacidad de 2G: GSM 900, GSM 1800Capacidad de 3G: UMTS 900, UMTS 2100Capacidad de 4G: LTE 850 (5), LTE 1800 (3), LTE 2100 (1), LTE 2300 (40), LTE 2500 (41) Algunos puntos clave para explicar la necesidad de esto son: Las bandas de menor frecuencia proveen mayor cobertura. Las bandas de mayor frecuencia proveen mayor velocidad para datos. Se requieren bandas apropiadas para VoLTE (Voz sobre LTE) ya que es un estándar requerido para la comunicación inalámbrica para teléfonos móviles y para terminales de datos.

Eligibility & Documentation for e-Visa

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA International travellers whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sight seeing, casual visit to meet friends or relatives, short duration medical treatment or casual business visit can apply for e-VISA. The tourist’s passport should have at least six months validity from the date of arrival in India. The passport should have at least two blank pages for stamping by the Immigration Officer. The traveller should have return ticket or onward journey ticket, with sufficient money to spend during his/her stay in India. This facility is NOT available to travellers having passport issued in Pakistan or whose origin is Pakistan. This facility is NOT available to Diplomatic/Official Passport Holders. This facility is NOT available to individuals endorsed on Parent’s/Spouse’s Passport i.e. each individual tourist should have a separate passport. This facility is NOT available to International Travel Document Holders. DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR e-TOURIST VISA (eTV) ARE Scanned copy of information page of your passport in PDF format.The size of the scan has to be between 10 KB and 300 KB.Digital passport style photograph with the following requirements:Format - JPEGSize of the JPEG has to be between 10 KB and 1 MB.The height and width of the Photo must be equal - it has to be a square photo.Photo should present full face, front view with open eyes.Center head within frame and present full head from top of hair to bottom of chin.Background should be plain, light colored or white background.No shadows on the face or on the background.The photograph has to be without borders. Application PDF (which you can fill out from the Online Order Form. You will need to type your answers, save the PDF and upload it to the form.) Stay connected across India.Getting an e-Visa will also help you to get Trabug.Trabug is a unique solution. It provides you a high-end smartphone and 4G SIM card with unlimited data. All the information about localised services is preloaded and it is delivered at your doorstep anywhere in India. For a better travelling experience get Trabug. Review from a happy customer “We had a wonderful experience with Trabug. The customer service was a minimum 5 stars as we received immediate replies to our questions and tech support if there was a problem - which was mostly user error on my part. Trabug saved us the hassle and inconvenience of trying to obtain a sim card on our own, the phone was waiting for us when we checked into our hotel, and better yet - we were able to work whenever we needed to. We would use them again if we return to India and I would highly recommend Trabug.” KimDon Greene U.S.A.

Comprar una tarjeta en la India

Genial! Estabas buscando una tarjeta SIM para usar en la India y nos has encontrado, sin embargo, ¿Sabías que conseguir una tarjeta SIM en la India puede ser una tarea difícil? Y después de eso, intentar conseguir la tarjeta SIM más económica en la India puede ser totalmente agotador ya que hay demasiadas opciones disponibles aún cuando el precio de las tarjetas SIM en la India es bastante módico. Antes de comprar una tarjeta SIM es importante entender cómo funciona la telecomunicación en la India pues puede ser bastante diferente a lo que estás acostumbrado. Tipo de tarjeta SIM en la IndiaHe aquí dos tipos de tarjetas SIM que están disponibles en la India para ayudarte a reducir el número de opciones. 1. Tarjeta SIM postpagoCuando usas una tarjeta SIM postpago recibes una factura después de recibido los servicios tales como llamadas, datos, mensajes de texto. Por lo general, los planes postpago son más costosos que los planes prepago. Recibes el detalle de tus consumos al final del período de cada mes. Esto funciona muy bien para los residentes y no está disponible para viajeros extranjeros. 2. Tipos de tarjetas SIM:En la India, una tarjeta SIM prepago para extranjeros o una tarjeta SIM con la que pagas a medida que consumes, funcionan con un pago por adelantado para recibir servicios como llamadas, datos, mensajes de texto. Los planes de este tipo suelen ser significativamente más económicos. No recibes una factura con el detalle de consumos por ende los costos quedan poco claros. La mayoría de los Indios usan tarjetas prepago. Esta es la mejor opción para extranjeros también. Sin embargo, hay algunas desventajas de comprar una tarjeta SIM prepago. Tienes que recargarla constantemente. Recibirás mensajes de texto no deseados ya que el servicio que te proveen no diferencia entre residentes Indios y turistas. Entonces, tienes que registrar tu número con el Departamento de Defensa Nacional, lo cual para una estadía corta no funciona. De igual manera, para los Indios, la activación de la tarjeta SIM es casi inmediata ya que usan su número de identificación nacional, Adhar. Sin embargo, para los extranjeros la activación toma mucho tiempo. En algunos casos incluso 2 y 3 días.