Almost Buying Prepaid Sim Cards in India

The first day here in Hyderabad the Internet in our apartment stopped working. I went to the landlord immediately and told him it wasn't working. He told me, "30 minutes. 30 minutes." The Internet didn't come back up and after an hour later and asked him how his efforts to fix it were going. He said that he had a call into the service provider. I went and got my laptop and it worked in the office/lobby but not in my room. Finally I talked him into coming to our room and looking at it. I showed him how it wasn't working and did everything he asked and it still wouldn't work. I took my laptop and worked in the landlord's office for a few hours because I needed to get something done and because I wanted to stay on his mind.

This morning the Internet was still down and so I set off to find a way to provide my own Internet connectivity. My plan was just to buy a data sim for my mobile hotspot.  Easy, right? We tried several stores. The first store, "The Mobile Store", said, "We don't sell sim cards or service plans. We just sell devices." They were very kind and referred us to a couple of nearby service provider stores.

At the second store, Airtel, after waiting in line for 20 minutes we learned that they did not have any prepaid sim cards in stock and that I could get them from any shop on the street.

The third store, Vodafone, explained that they didn't have any prepaid sim cards in stock either and even if they did I would need my passport, my temporary address, proof of temporary lodging from the apartment, and a passport photo.

The fourth store, Reliance, re-explained the bit about the passport, temporary address, etc and added that it would take a couple days to activate. When I asked, "Is there no other way?" I was told that that was the way it is.

The Internet at the apartment was fixed early this afternoon so my immediate need is filled and we are only here for 5 more nights so I probably won't bother with getting a phone or data sim as long as the Internet continues to work...