* Number Portability From Oct 31 *

[YoGi-Sama]

It seems at this point nobody is happy with their current networks... so this is going to be even more difficult to make a switch based on user feedbacks alone. I'm waiting to dump my "loop mobile" connection. Recently I had kick-ass connection to "IDEA" while on roaming, voice and data both. I was getting good data speeds when I was driving on Mumbai-Pune expressway and past all the way to Mahabaleshwar. I didn't have to restart my phone even once to get proper GPRS/EDGE connection. But then again, some IDEA user's are saying that they can't wait to dump it and switch over once MNP is available.

So now I'm confused again.... Vodaphone is expensive for data, Airtel is known for their cheating tactics in billing and overall incompetency, Loop is... well, I'm already using it and while it's not been extremely bad at this point, I'm expecting little better. It seems Reliance have good coverage and speeds, I have had horrible experiences with Reliance's billing department, when I was using Reliance CDMA and in general that seems to be the case with most of their other services (horrible billing department).

Sigh... the dilemma continues....

 

[Pat]

^^I would switch to Idea if I was in your place. I am currently on Idea and plan to keep it that way unless and until some really good 3G plans are going to be launched on other networks! At the moment, I am waiting for Idea to announce their 3G plans!

 

[arvnd]

^^
Tell me about it. My mom's using Reliance GSM and she has lost about ~250 rupees due to this. They added caller tunes and some stupid retarded thing called 'Style', these remained active for several months. The keyword they mentioned in the SMS to deactivate it never worked and everytime I called CC, I was put on hold for more than 30 minutes, and hence couldn't deactivate these for a long time.

Finally got through to CC and deactivated them, blasted them for doing such things and now all is fine for the last few months. Elder people generally don't keep track of balance every now and then and they got away with such a practice.

But all in all, they seem to have best calling plans (unlimited plans etc., I've quite a few friends on reliance), SMS plans and they have 3G which I believe will be the most affordable in Mumbai. Docomo is just not cutting it for me anymore. No auto renewal of activated packs (what a shame!), the EDGE speed has come down to less than 5-10 kbps in the daytime. I don't want a broadband replacement, I just want applications to 'just work' when I'm using the phone.

Yeah..inspite of their billing issues and all kinds of cheating, reliance still works out cheaper than most other options. Blasting their CC hardly helps. These call center guys hear this every day; they are used to it. I wonder how they can do such kind of a job peacefully with any sense of self respect. I really feel sorry for them.