[data77]

I may be visiting India for Business. How to buy 9900 which will be compatible to AT&T?

Dont want to get stuck with T-mobile bands and get screwed..Appreciate any help!

[sam_b77]

All BB's in India are directly from RIM through their distributor in India. They are carrier independant and can be used with any GSM service provider.
My cousin is travelling in the US and he just popped in a US SIM card in his 9900. He had no problems. You can buy the 9900 anywhere, no need to worry.
The current price is Rs.31500.00. The retail price marked on the phone is Rs.34,000.00. So beware, and haggle if you need to. Buy from small retailers instead of the big chains or Blackberry Exclusive.
Also as you are a foreigner you might not get the best deal, best to have someone local with you. Also the price I gave you was New Delhi price. Diff cities might have diff prices depending on their taxes.

[data77]

All BB's in India are directly from RIM through their distributor in India. They are carrier independant and can be used with any GSM service provider.
My cousin is travelling in the US and he just popped in a US SIM card in his 9900. He had no problems. You can buy the 9900 anywhere, no need to worry.
The current price is Rs.31500.00. The retail price marked on the phone is Rs.34,000.00. So beware, and haggle if you need to. Buy from small retailers instead of the big chains or Blackberry Exclusive.
Also as you are a foreigner you might not get the best deal, best to have someone local with you. Also the price I gave you was New Delhi price. Diff cities might have diff prices depending on their taxes.

I know here in the US. There are 2 different GSM carriers with different supported bands. Tmobile has a different band than AT&T. Do you what your cousin has as a provider? I just want to make sure if I pick up an unlocked one, it should work with AT&T. Thanks!

[ritesh]

data77...as Sam mentioned, here in India, the handsets sold are not locked in the first place. They are lockfree to use with any GSM service provider in the world.
The problem you think, could be with the 3g bands of ATT and Tmo that are different, but I think,since the phones are totally lockfree, the 3G bands are also completely open to use on any netwrok in the world.
Just for your info, an ATT unlocked phone gets 3G signals in India and so does a T-mobile unlocked phone.

[ritesh]

In Mumbai, the price is Rs 32,500/- though stocks are frugal and most of the places are out of stock. Over the next week, more units are expected.

[sam_b77]

In Mumbai, the price is Rs 32,500/- though stocks are frugal and most of the places are out of stock. Over the next week, more units are expected.

Stocks are frugal because Redington is playing very smart. When a retailer asks for the 9900, Redington dumps four more phones on him.
The 9900 is available to the retailers only as a package. So for each 9900 the retailers have to buy 1 Torch 9800, 2 Bold 9780, and two curves.
The old phones are not heavy margin phones, so the profit the retailer makes on the 9900 subsides the loss on the other 4. As a result the retailers are selling the 9900 at high margins, and some are even selling above MRP and themselves creating a shortage in the market by not picking many 9900's, as otherwise they have to sell 4 more BB's which are now hard to sell.
Good strategy by Redington to offload existing stocks. The retailers themselves are discounting their stock.
Maybe RIM should get the services of a good distributor in USA as well instead of depending upon swindling service providers.

[sam_b77]

OP,
I can let you the answer to your question in 12 hrs.
My cousin is travelling go Denver, once he gets there he will pop in his friends SIM card and find out.