Indianomics!

As such the summer is so undesireable in Mumbai, and to have temperatures break the roof is like hit on the face and at the back at the same time. On Wednesday, the maximum daytime temperature recorded was a maximum of 40.6°C.

It is too bad thing for me. I am sweaty person and it falls like Rivers and Waterfalls from my body. When I try to sleep in the night, it is all over my body. Since the whole day is spent in the comfort of Central A/c in office, when you come home you cannot possible bear the heat.

“But this is not unusual for summer. March too saw days when the daytime temperature rose up to 40C in the city, if April is so hot, how terrible will May be?” (continue reading…)

I wish all of you a very Happy Valentines Day! Well, it may not have been good for some of the couples who were beaten up (shown on the News) but to rest of them, hope that it was as good as it can be.

Mumbai had a peaceful Valentines day unlike last few years, which was a welcome change. The Police Commissioner of Mumbai told a news channel that they won’t allow people to do the Moral Policing which may involve violence. The Mumbai Police had made proper arrangements to avoid any untoward incident.

Wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day

It was good to see this change and an initiative from the Police.

However there were series of actions in other parts of the country. In UP, Bajrang Dal Activist beat up a Brother – Sister thinking they were couple came under severe critisim from across the country. In Ujjain, a police sub inspector beat up a girl, pulled her hairs and kept draging her for a long time while people stood around and were being a mute spectator.

This kind of policing is not acceptable and Mumbai Police has shown the way to all other Police branches of the country that their Job is to protect people of this lovely country, and not beat up out of anger.

Good Job, Mr. Hasan Gafoor.

Tata Tele is also planning of launching its own GSM services in late January or Mid February.

Reliance has already mopped up a huge crowd for its own GSM service, with a pathetic network [Read Reliance GSM Network Quality (Review) ]

Lets see what Tata’s  come up with.  It would interesting to see how all these would add up for Customer. The Customer would be confused with so many players to choose from. The total tally for Mumbai would be 7. These are Reliance, BPL, Vodafone, MTNL, Airtel, Idea, Tata. As for CDMA, TATA (including Virgin) and Reliance are the only service providers. No new service provider are in for CDMA.

The most important parameter I would rate any service provider is a combination of Service Quality with decent staff and Price at which they provide the service.

So, here is the survey to find out the Best of Mumbai’s (Maharashtra) Telecom Companies’ Services.

Vodafone

Vodafone scores high on the Customer service front, though its on the decline from earlier when they were Orange and Hutch. However, in cost, it would score low and their network is only best of the rest. Network congestion has been a problem area for Vodafone for some time now, and call drops increasing by the day.

Airtel

Airtel offers a great combination of packages with cheap offers. Its probably best used for GPRS which they offer @ Rs. 15 per day. But the customer service is the worst I have faced. To top it all, a week network makes it the most offensive. The recent survey tells that Airtel does not meet the service quality benchmark set by TRAI this year, citing huge number of call drops.

MTNL

MTNL on the contrary offers a good mixture of both, but does not supersede any private player on either fronts. Network remains a good point, but coverage in most areas not too good.

Idea

Idea has good customer service, and average plans for customers. Network remains a sore point for Idea. Abhishek has failed to entice users to Idea in Mumbai. They need to grow their network coverage.

BPL

The fate of this company, once with the best network in Mumbai, remains to be in doldrums. BPL today is very shabby, ultra cheap and a bad customer care. It still has the good network they had always but it is now time to increase coverage area. Call drops have been few. They have enticed the young with a young image and probably are living up to their expectations to an extent. But the traditional users of BPL have been the oldies who had a strong brand recall for BPL as they had for Sony.

Tata & Virgin

This is a company which is backed by a trusted brand. Tata has been on the move, and slowly and surely, they have moved up the ladder. They are not in for a dog fight. Their fares are low, and offer a superior customer services in Virgin guise, over and above what Vodafone offers. Network is good and call drops are few. Definitely, my choice of  service provider. Only let down, the handsets offered are cheap and basic. Need to have a vast collection of handsets, like Reliance does.

Reliance CDMA and GSM

Reliance CDMA offers the best network in CDMA, betters Vodafone by a good margin. The availability of multiple handset choice with below average (if not worse) customer service is what its all about. Reliance plans and packages are good. The free calling between Reliance to Reliance is an awesome scheme. Every other operator has failed to put up such an alternative, of course which comes at a cost or 799 INR recharge. Good network coverage across India, and good packages for Data cards.

Tata Indicom CDMA

Perhaps, the best bet of all, this is a real tough call to make. Reliance has already triumphed on most parameters, but when it comes to Trust and Quality, Tata Indicom leaves Reliance behind by a whisker. Sure, network of Reliance is better than Tata’s, call drops on Tata network more or less as same as that of Reliance. If you are a traveler across India frequently, you should think twice going for a Tata. The corporate choice for Data cards, Tata offers the best data card packages around.

Summing it up

So, in the end it all boils down to who we should trust our money with! A provider can be chosen on basis your needs. If you a need a no nonsense, affordable service provider, TATA in Virgin guise has to be your choice. It gives you your basic communication needs a full satisfaction. It also tops on the charts of the Service Quality benchmark set by TRAI

For more than basic use of a mobile, trust Reliance in CDMA, And in GSM, Vodafone. Here goes the order.

Tata’s have truly lived up their hype, trust people put into.

1. Virgin Mobile (Tata CDMA)
2. Tata Indicom CDMA
3. Reliance CDMA

In GSM

1. Vodafone
2. MTNL
3. BPL
4. Reliance & Airtel
5. Idea

Overall, Tatas emerge winner. Virgin is the brand you need to look for. If you need some thing more than virgin, go for Tata Indicom or Reliance. This stands true for both the GSM & CDMA. It seems CDMA is winning the race for quality and cost.

Good luck for your choice. Share your exprience with me. Post a comment here.

If you are using WI-FI in Mumbai, then be prepared for a police visit to your place. Mumbai Police, in its ambitious drive to secure the WI – FI users from any hacking organiaztionas/hackers getting into their network and use it.

This is a step taken after US Citizen Keith Heywood was targetted by terroists to send emails claiming their responsibility. The police will be armed with a laptop and security breach testing softwares. The Police will then suggest the changes to be done on the network so that the users can make the whole stuff secure. If they found that even after the warning, they dont do the changes which are suggested, the Police with fine them.

Pretty good way to secure our WIFI networks. Good Job Mumbai Police.

After lunch, I was talking to my friends outside our office. A topic we discussed was Lover’s place in Mumbai. Suddenly pictures of Bandra Bandstand, Borivali National Park (Kanheri Caves), Juhu Beach and Airol Garden were flashing in minds of each one of us.

And then came the question? Where is a proper place for lovers in Mumbai where they can sit together for a quite private moment. Well, I am not talking about extremes. I am only talking about having a place where a couple can sit together, exchange a few kisses and a hug.

I also agree that lovers sometimes get a bit over at some places, but its something which can be controlled. If we set up a park for lovers manned with one or two security guards its achievable.

This will help avoid embarrasment to the moral police when they walk across places and give lovers their freedom they deserve.