To all those who think that Airtel 3G doesn't rock

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rite

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Airtel Flexishield 3g
1.25 GB Rs.675
2GB Rs.675 + Rs.75 = Rs.750
Rs.100 per GB after you reach 1.25 GB @ Rs.675 @ 3G speeds.
Till you reach Rs.2000, you get 3G speeds, till that time you would have used 14GB @ 3G for Rs.2000. Either enjoy free very slow surfing for the days remaining of the 30 days or get a new plan/connection again :D

3GB @ 3G

Airtel Rs.850
Verizon $35 Rs.1500 approx
Reliance Rs.899
Vodafone Rs.850
Aircel Rs.900
AT&T 2GB @ $40 Approx Rs.1700
10GB @ 3G

Airtel Rs.1550
Verizon $80 approx Rs.3400
Reliance Rs.1499
Vodafone Rs.2500
Aircel Rs.3000
AT&T Don't even think about it :D

Barring MTNL/BSNL nobody can compete Airtel in its cost factor, with the Flexishield plan asking for a basic Rs.675 for 1.25 GB and then 1p/100KB @ 3G speeds until you reach Rs.2000 per month which is the max they can bill you, after which you can either enjoy FUP surfing or take a new plan/connection.

1. All major Indian companies provide cheaper 3G than US companies.

2. Airtel is the cheapest of them all, overall, barring BSNL/MTNL which too are worth it only if you want to replace 3G as your home broadband.

3. IMO Nobody needs more than 5-10 GB approx of 3G bandwidth to just use on a mobile device unless you plan to replace your home connection/download hub with the same, for which 3G isn't fully prepared right now.

4. MTNL may be a better deal at Rs.1700 or so for Unltd 30 days, but what if somebody wants to use just about 5 GB, then why should he spend that much, that too for MTNL's service. In that case, he will need to waste out a bomb, which makes no sense.

BOTTOMLINE
If you want unlimited 3G(ie. >10GB / 30 days), go for MTNL/BSNL. Otherwise, Airtel is the cheapest you can get at the moment as a generalization. Of course, if you strictly limit yourself to less than 500 mb usage then you may find solace with Aircel at Rs.150 for 500 MB. However, for mid range users or for a huge crowd out there, nothing beats Airtel's cost at the moment, not even US service providers, which are very very far off in even competing other Indian brands.
USA Wired internet = VERY ADVANCED compared to India
However, their 3G isn't as cheap as that in India. They may or may be some what faster, but our service providers aren't lagging behind either.

Also, from what I have noticed 2 Mbps is faster on Windows than on a mobile device, may be due to software/hardware/browser limitations. And beyond 1 Mbps or so, it doesn't make that much of a difference on a mobile phone unless you are watching streaming content or downloading.

So please stop shouting at Airtel when they are already doing the maximum that India has at the moment, give or take a few things :P
 
Are you aware that the purchasing power of the average american smartphone-user is atleast 5-6 times greater than the same for an indian?

[mod]Please don't unnecessarily quote posts[/mod]
 
1. People never say that it is expensive for Indians to buy broadband in India compared to their purchasing power. They complain that US broadband is cheaper in absolute terms. They always complain that we pay more per GB per Mbps in absolute terms. This is false for 3G. We pay less in absolute terms.

2. In absolute terms, 3G is much cheaper in India compared to USA, at least across major players. PERIOD!

3. As far as the upper middle class and affluent classes are concerned, US is just 2-3x times as expensive as India. And you can clearly see that the rates are just about that much in USA, in fact a little cheaper in India.

4. If you talk about poor people in India, yes, they can't afford broadband. But top 5-10%ile Delhi/Mumbai people can afford broadband and for a developing country this is not a small thing.

5. India isn't as advanced as USA and you shouldn't expect the 50th percentile of both to be the same. However, if you can compare Delhi/Mumbai's top 10 percentile with the same living standards as USA's 50th percentile, then that isn't a bad thing to start, at least as a starter!

:D
 
rite said:
1. People never say that it is expensive for Indians to buy broadband in India compared to their purchasing power. They complain that US broadband is cheaper in absolute terms. They always complain that we pay more per GB per Mbps in absolute terms. This is false for 3G. We pay less in absolute terms.

2. In absolute terms, 3G is much cheaper in India compared to USA, at least across major players. PERIOD!

3. As far as the upper middle class and affluent classes are concerned, US is just 2-3x times as expensive as India. And you can clearly see that the rates are just about that much in USA, in fact a little cheaper in India.

4. If you talk about poor people in India, yes, they can't afford broadband. But top 5-10%ile Delhi/Mumbai people can afford broadband and for a developing country this is not a small thing.



5. India isn't as advanced as USA and you shouldn't expect the 50th percentile of both to be the same. However, if you can compare Delhi/Mumbai's top 10 percentile with the same living standards as USA's 50th percentile, then that isn't a bad thing to start, at least as a starter!

:D
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Dunno where you got these stats from but you may want to reconsider editing your post since the bolded text is a rather sensitive topic.

Let me help you picture a scenario. Any typical indian bachelor in his mid-20's who's living alone would want to spend a part of their salary to purchase a reliable form of transportation(such as a bike atleast), consumer electronics(such as Big screen TV's, Smartphones, a decent PC atleast) while allocating the remaining for other comittments such as food, rental, electricity bills, broadband bills, medical expenses apart from savings. Fact is that the purchasing power for the above mentioned items/necessities is stacked in favour of the american counterpart. And why is this so? Because a majority of the consumer electronic goods sold and purchased in our country are imported and we pay hefty premium's thus. Fair enough.

Now our ISP's make a grand entrance with their supposedly "spectacular" 3G plans and charge rates that at first glance seem to be a lot better than what is being offered in other countries. The big picture on the other hand is a lot different, i.e, when you take into consideration what i mentioned in the previous paragraph. Furthermore this is an indigenous/localized service run and maintained by key players with the majority of them being National companies. Now wouldn't i be justified in questioning these companies as to why they can't further reduce the price(by more than half) since they are the only ones profiting unlike in the case of quality and popular consumer electronics, a majority of which that are manufactured abroad by Multinational Corporations?

I'd also like to point out something in response to your claim that we Indians benefit from current 3G plans. At the moment, with 3G in its infancy, we benefit because the rates are closer to half/two-third of what americans pay. But what about the longer run?

1) Face it; if you owned and ran a business then your main objective would be personal/company profit over customer satisfation. What guarantee can you give us that companies like Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, etc. won't unfairly increase rates in the future until the purchasable-power ratio of an indian and an american becomes equal. Actually no company in their right minds would want to maintain current rates until the aforementioned ratio level out on both sides.

2) Even if the company decides to increase rates(which they will) in the future, can you guarantee that the increase will be justified based on the average salary of the customer type that falls under the largest bracket of their 3G consumers?

There are a lot factors that need to be taken into account when someone tries to point out if an "Indian" has it good in today's world and i can guarantee you that out of 10 such scenarios are scrutinized right down to the last letter only 7~8 will be in our favour. Debates like these can swing either way.
 
Barring MTNL/BSNL nobody can compete Airtel in its cost factor
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Well, there you go. MTNL gives 200GB at 750 pm, but thats a data only plan.

but again, i've heard u can activate voice on it by paying some surcharge..

that makes any other plan like... wee...
 
I thought rite/Techboi got auto banned. Now he is back again in full force :(
What a useless thread...no point even arguing with him ! He is the CEO of a company at may be 20-21 with few crores being paid by him to govt just in taxes :D
 
rite said:
1. People never say that it is expensive for Indians to buy broadband in India compared to their purchasing power. They complain that US broadband is cheaper in absolute terms. They always complain that we pay more per GB per Mbps in absolute terms. This is false for 3G. We pay less in absolute terms.

2. In absolute terms, 3G is much cheaper in India compared to USA, at least across major players. PERIOD!

3. As far as the upper middle class and affluent classes are concerned, US is just 2-3x times as expensive as India. And you can clearly see that the rates are just about that much in USA, in fact a little cheaper in India.

4. If you talk about poor people in India, yes, they can't afford broadband. But top 5-10%ile Delhi/Mumbai people can afford broadband and for a developing country this is not a small thing.

5. India isn't as advanced as USA and you shouldn't expect the 50th percentile of both to be the same. However, if you can compare Delhi/Mumbai's top 10 percentile with the same living standards as USA's 50th percentile, then that isn't a bad thing to start, at least as a starter!

:D
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FYI
the average broadband speed in the US is 20mbps and in india it is not even 2mbps.
also there are FUP with the weirdest limits.

at the current rates of broadband in us (cost per GB) they are not required to go for 3g in US. because their wired broadband is sufficient enough for their data downloads.

for people in india there are not even options for a 10mbps connections leaving aside certains pockets of the metros.
so your comparison with pricing of 3g to US than that of india is flawed.:no:

any more topics you want to enlighten us with please go ahead.
 
Well, the US companies also give you the iPhone for like $200. None of the Indian companies give such an offer. Not only this, recently many companies were also offering free phone upgrades to DesireZ and other high end models in the Christmas holiday season. So even if one pays more for the data plan, it doesn't hurt much as you get a latest mobile phone for free.
 
ggt said:
FYI

the average broadband speed in the US is 20mbps and in india it is not even 2mbps.

also there are FUP with the weirdest limits.

at the current rates of broadband in us (cost per GB) they are not required to go for 3g in US. because their wired broadband is sufficient enough for their data downloads.

for people in india there are not even options for a 10mbps connections leaving aside certains pockets of the metros.

so your comparison with pricing of 3g to US than that of india is flawed.:no:

any more topics you want to enlighten us with please go ahead.
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fully agree with you, we need a revolution similar to one when reliance launched its mobile services ushering a market correction in call rates. Currently the EV-DO and 3G operators are simply looting us indians.

I firmly believe that EV-DO prices must be lowered as they didn't pay any license charges for spectrum like 3G.
 
You don't get it.

Wired broadband is cheaper in USA. Period!!!

3G is cheaper in India. PERIOD!

And 3G in India will always be cheaper so that the masses can slowly get it. Just like all mobile services including calling, free incoming etc are cheapest in India and that will remain the case at least for the next decade or so.

However, regular hardware, software, services etc are cheaper in USA and hence broadband wired is cheaper there.

You guys don't get it.

1. 3G in India is cheaper. Why, how, for what, is besides the point. But it is cheaper. No point arguing on that because you would just be wasting words on that.

2. MTNL Unltd is better but: only if you take 6 months together which not everybody will. Also, what if you don't want to take unltd, there other plans aren't even comparable to Airtel. You are just talking of a small part of MTNL and not whole of MTNL.

3. Overall, MTNL rules because of its Unltd and Airtel rules because of its Flexishield. But the point is that Airtel is the cheapest out there if you forget MTNL and BSNL.

4. Nobody in his right mind would call Airtel an expensive player in India, when Airtel provides better plans than even Aircel and Reliance atm, leave alone Vodafone.

5. As far as PPP is concerned, you may be looking at the avg joe making 40-50k pm, but there is no dearth of people making a few lacs a month in their mid thirties and there are thousands and lakhs of such people who can alone be the target base of any company. Counting people in their forties and some rich twenties, this count goes into tens or lacs or even crosses a crore!
 
Counting people in their forties and some rich twenties, this count goes into tens or lacs or even crosses a crore!
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I guess you have data for every damn thing in India ! Do you like ppl to get irritated :@

Btw why do u get banned again and again and come back again still ! Also can you PM me your home address and your company address as well. Need to run a verification on you :rofl:
 
^^ you are talking about 3g plans.
those who subscribed for the 3g unlimited plans. how many used them in their mobile (Ans. a very few percentage)
i bet maximum of those bought 3g modems and used it in their home Pcs,
installed different various kind of signal boosters on those modems so that they get better speeds.
so your comparison still does not hold strong water.
if you could even check the review posted for the UMG 1831 posted for t-mobile modem
the reviewer did not keep the modem to be used for a long time to check whether the modem keeps heating or not . you know why?
they wont be using 3g for large file downloads.
they will be doing it for occasional downloads on the go or browsing at some place. because they get almost the same speeds with their wired broadband.

so even if 3g is cheaper than US i bet it is not a substitute for faster broadband in india.
 
Actually the flexishield plan would be really good if was priced at Rs. 500 instead of 675 for 5 GB of data instead of 1.25 GB.
 
rdst_1 said:
Well, the US companies also give you the iPhone for like $200. None of the Indian companies give such an offer. Not only this, recently many companies were also offering free phone upgrades to DesireZ and other high end models in the Christmas holiday season. So even if one pays more for the data plan, it doesn't hurt much as you get a latest mobile phone for free.
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You have no idea what you are talking about do you??

They give you the phone for 200$ and then lock you into a contract. The plan charges much more than other regular plans. In the end, the telecom company makes a tidy profit in the 2year contract after it has recovered the full cost of the phone, while the unassuming US customer is happy that he has got an iPhone for 200$ only whereas people in other countries are having tp pay 700-900$ for the same phone but carrier unlocked version.

The loser is the US customer, not the overseas ones who pay much less for their phones even after adding all charges in 2years.
 
well not all people want to spend Rs.500+ for net on the go.

it would have been better if they had provided Rs.50 per 500MB or so!
 
Just as an FYI, I'm in the US and have Verizon as my mobile service provider and Comcast as my wired internet service.

I pay $30 a month for unlimited 3G (EVDO actually) & $40 a month for a 15mbps plan with a 250GB FUP.
 
If they plans 3G plans were really cheap, so many people wouldn't have argued with you! What you are trying to do here is force convince us that they are cheap!

Stop comparing India to US...its totally silly!

3G tariffs are expensive. Period (I dont care what the rates are in America or Nigeria)
 
TB, next time you may want to back up your income figure quotes with some hard stats.

PM me when you have those, and I'll reopen this thread,
 
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