Any one who is in India or have visited, can you please comment:

Which is a good provider that has good and reliable BB/BIS service that covers Northern India and Central Southern part of India as well.

Any particular benefits of signing up for post paid? Is prepaid better option?

Any special offers or gimmicks?

You will not get BlackBerry on prepaid as far as I know.

One of our esteemed members is from Mumbai, and she uses Vodafone. Vodafone has a solid reputation worldwide, so I would go with them.

thank you for the feedback. Now do providers support BBM or its blocked there completely. I know Indian Govt and RIM were in thorns recently of backend access to data.
Appreciate
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

As far as I know it is still allowed...

Yup
RPT-UPDATE 1-RIM says confident of resolving India concerns | Reuters

Thanks for your feedback. Looks like I will try Vodafone prepaid to start with and see how's is their network.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

I visit India once an year, and use my BB there regularly.

I normally roam on Airtel, as it has services all across India, at least wherever I have been (cities in North, Punjab, Bombay). However, Vodafone, Reliance (called RIM) and BSNL (the incumbent) also have large networks. Quality-wise, there is no difference I have seen. Everyone seems to partner with everyone else.

I do the prepaid BB. Service plans (everyone seems to be the same, these are Vodafone, Airtel, I was told, is Rs5 cheaper).

Unlimited Surfing: Rs99
BIS: Rs399 (I was told later it should have been Rs299+Rs99 above)
BES: Rs1299

These are unlimited per month. You activate by putting enough money in your normal prepaid, then call helpdesk, they tell you the SMS to send. Activation was 15 mins.

There seemed to be major confusion about the Rs99 plan. I was told that you have to specifically top up with a Rs99 scratchcard; but I did not do this, and was able to surf. You should remember to SMS the correct code to stop the service when leaving, or it will drain your balance for your next trip.


There is immense confusion with the guys who topup. This is because

1. There are too many promotions, and they sell all of them
2. They are in the sales, not support, business
3. BB is too small a business for them to bother about

However, Airtel helpdesk was excellent.

Also, note that buying a SIM does NOT activate it. You can buy a SIM from anywhere. But to get it to work, you must go to an Airtel/Vodafone shop (not a shop that sells Vodafone stuff, but a shop owned by Vodafone). You will need 2 Photo IDs, and maybe proof of a local address.