raccoon

Same story with me, last week! Its easy to find out - just access data for a few seconds and see if your balance is getting deducted. If you had specifically told the retailer to do a special recharge and not a top up, then confront him and make him reverse the transaction (within 24 hours). Check my earlier posts in this thread for more details.

Wouldn't be too sure of that. May not be true for all such phones at least. We have a RAY phone here which seems to almost at par with the bigger names in that respect. It warms up only very slightly on longer calls. But then even some "branded" phones warm up that much. Can't speak about the radiation levels though... the manual is totally silent on that. It is a matter of concern...

Well at my residence the fluctuations are no longer going below 2 bars, in any situation. But signal intensity is useless unless voice clarity improves drastically. I just hope it will at least reduce the huge battery drain on handsets, due to their pathetic network. At least are definitely upto something. IMO, caller tune cannot fluctuate because of signal fluctuation as the tune would be played at RCom's end.

Does any one used Rs71Pack along with 94/- Sabse Bol pack. 1p/2sec for all On-Net Local & STD calls 5p/6sec for all Off-Net Local & STD calls Yes, it works. Without getting into details, a shopkeeper misinformed me and charged with Rs. 71. Then I recharged with 49. And then with 94. All packs are working together, with Docomo. So I'm now getting off-net STD at 5p/6sec and all local at 1p/2s and 1 GB data/month + I should get much cheaper on-net talk time... but not checked this as none of my contacts are on Docomo.

Wonder of wonders! Since yesterday, RGSM signal at my residence has become stronger! Previously at the locations where I was getting 0 - 1 bar I am getting 2 - 5 bars (5 is max). But it often fluctuates in this range. They have definitely done something... But voice clarity is another issue. I'v only made one call since (as I'm now using Docomo) and the voice clarity was NOT good. Can't say for sure if problem was on the other side though. Will know in the next few days. But I'm not optimistic because till now even where signal intensity is max, the voice clarity has been pretty bad along with call drops when in a vehicle.

Very interesting indeed!

Any means is right!! But I don't know about the viability part - do multiple instances of outright looting of subscriber's balance amount to "viable" methods of increasing profit?

Superior Customer Care?? Not here at least. After using them them for 2 - 3 years in the past, I can confidently say they had the worst CC amongst all the operators I'v tried. Their network is pretty sad, they openly cheat in various ways, but still quite a few, esp. students seem to facy Airtel here. This is most likely due to their Friendz plan. But now other operators, esp. the newer ones have better plans. Lets see how they survive... As for Docomo, dunno what is going on here - the network was totally down today morning. Though this time I didn't even bother to check for how long. Strangely even RGSM was totally down. Idea, as expected, was up and normal, and saved the day for me.

^^^Guess it might be a local issue then. The network was down for at least 2 - 3 hours. These kind of total outages I have experienced only with Airtel. Anyway, they called me up today (regarding my complaint) and said that due to optimizing/upgrading operations, the network was down. I told them even when network is up, data services are not at all reliable - sometimes I can connect and sometimes not. They said they are working on it and asked me to bear with them for a week. Are you facing any issues with data connectivity? Dunno if that was a typical call center reply or real. Will have to wait and see.

Forgot to mention, in case it is of use to anybody - 1p/2s calling can co-exist with the Sab Se Bol pack, despite what others have posted above. Getting benefit of both packs now.

Expect to find pots and pans i mobile accessory shops soon...

Thanks. Got it sorted out - I'd lodged a complaint with Docomo. Today, they called me up about a dozen times and even called up/made the shopkeeper do it (they asked me for his phone number, which I had). Earlier the shopkeeper claimed that nothing can be done, and there is no way to reverse the transaction. But after Docomo guys called him, he did it without demur! Thumbs up to Docomo service, this time! Really fed up of these shopkeepers. I hope they make it possible to activate packs online. Its worth noting that e-recharges can be reversed. If I had known earlier, I could have saved money on couple recharges in the past. Docomo guys told me its possible for the retailer to effect a reversal if done within 24 hours.

Interesting. I wonder if it can improve voice calls. If yes, I think most unfortunate RGSM providers can consider talking with their fones inside woks and bowls...

yes it can be reversed.u have to told the shopkeeper to talk with the cc. with in 4 hour the amount will be deducted from your account. and credited to shopkeepers account(please do not use the amount). then tell the shop[keeper do the special recharge not top up. he has done the toup up. i had already gone through the same situation? it is possible. but today is last day of 94 recharge. if it will not happen then recharge another 94 special EVD recharge. Thanks dude. I am aware that today is the last day, so I have to sort it out asap. What is "EVD"?

I recharged with Rs. 94 yesterday, and Rs. 83.22 got credited into my account instead of activating the Sab Se Bol pack! Does anybody know if e-recharges can be reversed? The recharge was done by a shopkeeper. If yes, I could confront the shopkeeper again and ask him to reverse it. Also, is the process for activating packs/STVs different to that of top-ups? Couple of shopkeepers told me there is no difference and the amount decides what gets activated or whether it gets credited as a top up.

Thanks for the info. Just saw your post. Giftmate is proving to be a pain. I recharged my Giftmate account to top-up my Idea mobile, but after paying Giftmate, in the last stage, after entering the mobile number, it says "Operator Not Available"!! I wrote to them and they said something like facility to recharge Idea mobiles is currently not available. It was available in the past, and I had topped up Idea mobiles few times. Thats the 3rd time money has been blocked and I have to look elsewhere for recharging.

How about a review of the same?

The other day I was driving from Chandani Chowk to University of Poona. from Pashan Road while on a call on my RGSM. From Chandani Chowk, the signal strength declined rapidly and thru the entire stretch of the long Pashan Road, there was zero to 1 bar coverage (no possibility of voice calling). Even while approaching towards the University, the signal was very weak. Goes without saying that Idea had full to close to full coverage on the entire road; but what was quite surprisingly this was also true of my Docomo! If the network on open road was so bad, then inside buildings in that entire area, it most definitely must be nil.

What happened finally? Have the billing issues been resolved?

This is too much. Under the pretext of security, all kinds of intrusions on privacy are being made. A very dangerous trend...

MTNL slashes ISD rates to Rs 1 per minute Press Trust of India, June 30, 2010 (New Delhi) State-run MTNL on Thursday slashed ISD calling rates to six countries, including US, Canada and China, for its GSM and 3G subscribers to Re 1 a minute. This is part of a scheme to effect reduction in call rates to 26 countries. Brought about to mark MTNL's 25 years in service, the call rates will be applicable for a period of three months. "We are expecting Rs 10-15 crore revenue addition through our ISD rate reductions, which -- in all -- include 26 countries through volume growth. About 1-2 lakh more subscribers are expected to add our existing 50 lakh user base base on account of this," MTNL CMD Kuldip Goyal said in New Delhi. Call rates to Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore would also cost Re 1 a minute. While an ISD call to China currently costs Rs 9.20 a minute, the same for Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada stands at Rs 6.30. The PSU has cut call rates to 26 countries in the range of Rs 6.30-Rs 18 a minute to Rs 1-Rs 5 a minute. He said that MTNL, on the occasion of completing 25 years in service, had announced a 90 days' promotion scheme – through which ISD calling rates to Argentina, Bahrain, Cyprus, Jordan, South Korea, Malaysia and Sweden would be reduced to Rs 3 per minute. The PSU has also cut the call rates for Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Columbia, Indonesia, Iraq, Russia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam to Rs 5 per minute. Earlier, ISD calls to Vietnam, Peru, Mexico, Jordan, Argentina, Columbia and Taiwan used to cost Rs 18 for a minute. The tariff will come into effect from tomorrow. The PSU has been able to do the rate cuts following low carriage charges offered to MTNL by its partners in these countries, Singh said. Intense competition has compelled telecom operators to offer local and STD calls rates at rock bottom prices, to as low as 1 paisa per second. Now, with this, ISD calls have come down to the Re-1 level. Read more at: http://beta.profit.n...minute-79756?cp

I was wondering about the same! Why is everyone calling re-branded Chinese stuff as "India Brands"?

BSNL is sleeping and rotting. I just hope other operators reduce tariffs soon.

^^^As I'v mentioned before - I really can't agree about the voice clarity thingy. I have used RCDMA for 3+ years and all I can say is that its voice clarity is comparable to that of Idea... and now I don't find Docomo laggin either (at least not at my place... yet to try it in different parts). In fact I have found Idea to be slightly better (mebbe about 10%) than RCDMA, at most times. I know others here do not agree, but I have to speak from my own experiences. Anyway, this has already been discussed before, along with the reasons, so I won't elaborate further. I have never mentioned that there are only negatives with RCom. Of course there are positives too, and I have always stated things and my experiences as is.

I know what you mean, but I'm not inclined to utilize those loopholes for want of time AND also for other reasons. Also, if you have to utilize loop holes in order to enjoy a service, I wouldn't be inclined towards such a company and its policies. Not when there are other, possibly better options so easily available. If there weren't other options, I may of course do different. But my comments in this thread was directed towards numbers. Do you expect the average subscriber who makes up for those numbers are CDMA gurus and would be attracted to RCDMA due to its loopholes? I think not. Also, I have observed most people I know are not inclined towards CDMA due to the obvious drawbacks. I know you have found ways around many of those drawbacks, but your type forms a very small minority. As for RGSM, the network seems to be quite bad in most cities, and obviously no loophole is going to help on that front. Hence my surprise at the subscriber addition figures. As for my sarcasm, it seems you haven't experienced their GSM network in Poona. If you did, you would hopefully not think it to be "overly sarcastic".