Indianomics!

If you are a Mumbaikar, you will remember this. BPL (now Loop) Mumbai had launched an aggressive campaign which reduced customers bill by almost 30%. That was called One Second Billing.

Tata Docomo's Logo is pretty interesting and its keeping in line with Tata Indicom logo's circles.

Tata DoCoMo is the GSM based telecommunications service of Tata Indicom in partnership with Japan’s leading mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo. They have a Pan – India licence and are already live with 5 circles, covering Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. With interesting banners shouting “Why pay for unused?” and “One paisa across India”, you would be keen to know what are the charges and how do you save huge cost in your monthly bill. (continue reading…)

Hey folks, I have got myself a new toolbar. If you want to see it, just download one here…

It is just an Alpha release I will update it as and when I find time to work on it. In the mean while, please do let me know if you like to suggest some changes or additions. I would like if you use it.

You can set your location to get the weather updates in your area, you can search from the search bar, user links to get back to my blog etc. and RSS feeds from Hemal Shah’s Indianomics.

More to come!

File Size:

Firefox: 614 KB
IE: 1.5 MB

Aircel now in Mumbai

With the launch of Aircel in Mumbai, the telecom competition has certainly getting heated up. For my dear readers to get a fair view of the services of Aircel in Mumbai, I decided to get hands on one. The following are the few details I have been able to get. The connection will be active from tomorrow so you may just have to wait to know more about its overall performance.

The First Glance

Aircel was launched with a big bang in Mumbai at the Gateway of India and now the advertising banner shout very loudly about the arrival of a new competition. The branding of Aircel had always been different and with Dhoni now jumping as the brand ambassdor things look a lot better for Aircel.

Costing and Ease

The Aircel sim and connection costs Rs. 99 as opposed to Airtel’s Rs. 20. Connection comes with a default talktime of Rs. 10. The biggest difference is that Aircel has launched the card in Mumbai as a full lifetime card only. That means, no validity recharges.

Other attractions include more talktime than the value of the voucher it self. For a recharge of Rs. 199, you get the value of Rs. 250. That is, a full Rs. 51 extra. Top that with Rs. 1500 Aircel to Aircel local call free every month for first three months and 300 local and National SMSes free.

Call cost per minuite has gone in a decreasing mode as call time increases. For example, if you call someone, the first local minute will cost you Re. 1, second minute will cost you Ps. 50, and the third minute ownwards will cost you Ps. 30.

For STD, the call rate for First minute will be 1.50 ps, second minute the cost comes down to Re. 1, and the from 3rd minute ownwards, Aircel will charge you with .75ps.

I have not been able to get more details on how the VAS charges are, but believe that would also be market shattering.

Wait for the full review as I start to explore serviecs of AircelMumbai.Network remains very important to me than any other parameter.

Welcome to Mumbai, Aircel.

Update 1:

Aircel Customer Care in Mumbai is not equipped with much information. I called up Aircel customer care to find out what are the charges for GPRS on Laptop and she was fumbling for an answer. I then had to switch my language to Hindi to make her understand what exactly I wanted. Not an issue as such since I know both the languages very well, but for those who speak English more often might just find the going though.

Anyways, the girl said that browsing internet on an Aircel phone using it as a modem will cost you 10ps. per 10kb. Oouch! That is too much.

Update 2:

SIM activation has taken 3 days which is very bad for a new company to start off with. The customer care continues to be pathetic and not well versed with products and services. On IVR, you cannot go back to menu by pressing 8 as the lady’s sweet voice tells you!

Network remains the biggest issue. Though voice clarity is on par, but the connection is not constand while on the move.

Update 3:

Network in closed areas goes to Zero. Network in Mumbai local keeps fluctuating, hence not consistant and more chances for call drops.

Hemal Shah’s List of Current Best Mobile Service Provider (GSM) in Mumbai:

Vodafone reigns on the top even after Reliance and Aircel came with onslaught with cheapest charges and more talktime. A distant second is Airtel in Mumbai which still has a negative network in Mumbai, though it runs on 1800/1900 Mhz.

Third position is shared by is Loop and Reliance, followed by MTNL and Idea at fourth. Aircel cannot be counted in the ranks because it has not got a fair amount of time to show what it can do.

Updated on 3rd April 09, original article dates back to 15th January 09.

Reliance GSM Network Quality is poorer than I would have thought.

Initially when I had inserted the SIM card and started the phone, It was working fine. Reliance to Reliance, GSM and CDMA both does not have a major connectivity problem with each other. Its for others who you have to bargain for. Connectvity to Airtel suffers big time, Vodafone was just ok.

Features

Other than its Network Quality, on a positive note for customers is that 900 Rs. worth of talktime you would get for a period of 90 days i.e. Rs. 10 every day (not in all circles). I have not been able to get in touch with customer care so that I can calrify a few doubts.

1. Every day you would get 10 INR as talktime/
2. For the first two days, you get Rs. 20 as validity. For the first day, you get Rs. 20 with validity of  two days. Then, Rs. 10/- each day till 90th day since your activation.
3. Reliance to Reliance free, after 11.oo Pm
4. No information about GPRS etc.
5. 6 Months Validity
6. Rs. 25 for Sim card and Rs 50 first recharge.

With these information still at bay, you cannot have a good review. Wait and watch for a full review.

Update day two:

Call quality was very good against as expected. I don’t get network inside my office premises. Making a call is still a pain, you have to dial the same number some ten – fifteen times to get connected.

Update: Month One

Call quality is still superb, but Connectivity issues remain. Mobile GPRS enabled, Browsing as quick as others, though not better. Making a call still remains the pain, but otherwise the connection is active. Reliance GMS Call Quality is as same as the CDMA which really is appreciated. Call drops are more frequent, hence issues still remains on the network front.

Update: Month Two

After two months of using Reliance GSM Network, the Quality of Network has gone up, disconnections between calls have come down (call drops), Customer service pathetic. Customer Service is not good enough to beat the leaders in the Industry. Call quality has come down a bit, though making a call still is a pain.

Update: Month Three

The free talktime is now finished, hence I have stopped calling these days.

Network remains bad. Call quality remains superb. Calling still is a pain and Call Drops are high.

Believe it or not, I have started using Safari leaving Firefox behind. Yes, the new Safari 4.0 (beta) has caught my attention and I am glued to it. A claimed whopping 150 features are waiting for you to explore them.

The most striking feature is the Top Sites which is ala Speed Dail of Opera and Most Visited on dashboard of Chrome.

Then you have a full History search and Cover Flow which are imported from Mac. You get a similar interface. Works effortlessly. The feature of auto completion of the web address is intelligent. Tabs are put on the top, and added animation like a slide bar has been thrown in when you want to bring two far ended tabs closer.

I love the way they have put it as against Opera and Chrome. Of-course it consumes more ram, but then if I have some extra ram to spare, then why not.

Now, a bit from the Web Designer and Developer View.