Category — Mobile Internet

One good thing I found out from True Move was if you call *9344 you extend the validity of your card by 30 days. If leaving the country and you have credit or simply want to keep you number then you can keep calling the number and each time a month will be added and it will take 3bht per month from your balance.
12call will let you extend your credit but charge you 30bht each time and it may only be for one month. They did however say that if you call their call centre they will work something out for you, so you don’t lose your number for when you return to Thailand.
Snowrat
Trekking in the Himalayas
Ski South America

I recently got a message from Airtel about an offer for 2GB of Internet access but it did not say if it was for one day or one month’s Internet access.
My one month at 498 INR (which according to the website gives 2.5 not 1.5GB) has just come to an end so I gave it a try and it appears to be 30 days for 98 INR with a maximum download of 2GB.
I wish I had know this from the Airtel staff as I leave India, until later this year, in less than 2 weeks. Hopefully some of you will find it useful anyway.

I found out by checking on the Airtel website where there is information for checking what telephone and Internet packages are available…

Airtel Call & Internet Packs

First choose your region / supplier e.g. West Bengal
Next select the type of service you are interested in e.g. GPRS (Mobile Internet) Packs.
Choose the most suitable pack and recharge your phone accordingly.

In Orissa the following are some requirements, costs and some set up details for getting and using a prepaid Airtel Mobile phone.

Requirements: -

• Copy of passport information page
• Copy of Indian visa from passport
• Letter from hotel with local temporary address, signed and stamped by hotel manager
• 2 passport size photographs
• Proof of home address e.g. copy of driving license

Charges (please check these when purchasing your sim card as they do change from time to time): -

• Set up or sim card cost 50 INR (expires 2024)
• Calls 1 INR per minute local and national
• Roaming – Need to recharge with 42 INR to activate roaming for one year and then pay reduced charges for roaming. Quoted as being 0.6 INR per second although this could be in addition to the above standard charge. Whilst roaming you are also charged for receiving calls although receiving sms texts is still free

Internet Options (most suitable for most people***) – If you recharge with the following exact amounts the appropriate plan will be activated: -

• 31 INR – 7 days usage and 15MB free
• 58 INR – 30 days usage with 25MB free
• 94 INR – 30 days usage with 100GB free between 8am and midnight and 2GB free between midnight and 8am
• ***349 INR – 30 days usage with 1GB limit
• 598 INR – 30 days usage with 1GB free between 8am and midnight and 2GB free between midnight and 8am
• 996 INR – 30 days usage with 5GB free

Please note once you have gone over your allowances Airtel deducts 0.3 INR per 50 kb, equivalent to 600 INR per additional GB, from your credit. If you have no credit the connection should fail.

The trouble I had getting my Internet connection working through my Sony Ericsson W715 GRPS mobile was finally overcome. here are the main points regarding the set up and settings to use: -

You first need to set up an Internet profile on your phone. In the new Sony Ericssons you do this under device management within the settings. Then you need to edit the settings of this particular Internet profile.
The key appears to be to set the connection to airtelgprs.com and leave the IP and DNS addresses blank, despite what their customer service and technical help at the call centre says.

Other useful settings are: -

(These have been tested on Airtel West Bengal and work whilst roaming.)

For Airtel West Bengal you can have daily unlimited Internet or you can also recharge with 498 INR and this will give you one months usage with a maximum usage of 1.5GB. This month will run from your activation date so if you start in the middle of this month you are likely to get less than one months usage before having to recharge.

For daily unlimited Internet the charge is 35 INR per day and the settings are: -

Activate *444*1 #
Deactivate *444*2# (or *377# is what they tell you in there text messages but it doesn’t seem to work!)

(edit: be careful as you will be charged for subsequent days if you do not turn off the service when not needed. Worse still if you don’t have the service activated and use your phone to connect you will be charged on a per minute per per MB basis which essentially will drain all your credit in no time at all!)

Customer service telephone number 121

Technical help telephone number 12118 (correct option doesn’t always work)

… and follow the menus!

Today has been quite an adventure. After breakfast and checking my reservation at the Hotel Dekeling in Darjeeling, to find they did not have it, I have spent over 5 hours in the Airtel office trying to get my new mobile sim card and internet connection working.

Please note: Each state in India is treated as a different network so you will pay roaming charges on calls (not sms text or Internet connections). Hence it is necessary to check local rates and procedures, however this is our experience in Darjeeling, West Bengal for Airtel and other states where we have picked up information.
I had previously done all the research to establish which connection I should get. Here is a quick summary: -

• It is recommended to purchase whichever set up you go for direct at one of the operators shops rather than a reseller. The shop or network is required to register your details within 15 days or your connection will cease to work. Once you have left the area this can be quite a problem and involve buying a new sim.
• For the connection you will usually need to provide a copy of your passport and Indian visa, a passport size photograph and proof of address. for this you can usually get a letter from your hotel or guest house. I also needed at Airtel to give a copy of my driving license with home address. all of the above involved trying to find a ‘Xerox’ or copying shop that was working during a power cut.
• Airtel (GPRS) – Rs99 initial cost (with Rs5 credit) and then Rs1/min for calls within West Bengal and Sikkim (where I purchased mine), Rs1.5/min for calls to other areas (roaming in India is in any other state than where you purchase the sim card).
  Be careful as the other main networks don’t all allow full roaming or recharging once you have left the state you purchased the sim in.
  You then have 2 main options for connecting to the Internet
  1) Rs498 per month (runs from the original activation date) for up to 1.5gb per month.

Please note once you have gone over your allowances Airtel deducts 0.3 INR per 50 kb, equivalent to 600 INR per additional GB, from you credit. If you have no credit the connection should fail.

• 2) Rs35 per day unlimited and activated as you need it. This option allows you to just pay on a daily basis when you need to use the Internet. The days run from 8am to 8am so you can use a simple code to activate and deactivate teh service as you wish…
  Activate *444*1
  Deactivate *444*2 or *377#
  If you don’t deactivate you will continue to be charged the daily connection rate from your credit.
  Airtel only offers a USB dongle option for post pay customers.
• TATA Indicom (CDM) is the other main option that works well and can be cost and user effective. For this however you will not be able to use your existing mobile phone (assuming you have a gprs model) and must purchase an additional phone or USB dongle. The USB dongle costs between Rs2000 and Rs3000 depending on where you purchase it.  TATA do offer a true unlimited service and the monthly cost is Rs849 although there are cheaper limited data packages too. Originally I was going to go for this option but the shop didn’t have any sim cards. I chose to take the Airtel option in the meantime as I would need a phone anyway. It remains to be seen whether this will be sufficient or whether I will go ahead with the TATA option at a later date.
• Vodafone, Idea!, & Reliance all have options which appear to be limited by where you buy the sim card. Not just on roaming charges but more importantly on being able to recharge your credit.
• So I have my Internet connection and my mobile phone for a little investment of time and here goes posting my first blog post …