raccoon

Thanks mate, thats cool. However, I am not confident of Spice. I know someone who is using a 3.5 year old spice phone which looks and performs really good. He says even the battery lasts him 3 or more days, in spite of daily moderate to heavy use! No wear marks on keypad in spite of frequent SMSing. Even the cam is better than equivalent ones from the biggies! Overall great phone, and considering this, few of his friends bought Spice phones which are problematic and are now warning everybody against buying current Spice models...

10p/10kb translates to Rs. 10/MB compared to the earlier 50p/MB. Seems RCom is getting really bright "Ideas".

Idea has gone nuts. The network is really good and customer service is also good (thru email... call center is as bad as any other) but it now totally falls flat when it comes to tariffs... even for voice. I totally stopped using Idea GPRS sometime back and whatever li'l I use, I use thru my RGSM only... though even RCom's tariffs are not as attractive as Docomo or Aircel. And 40 kbps is like a joke. Its below usable speed. They might as well stop the connection altogether, when the cap is reached.

Nice... scamsters are becoming creative. But anybody giving it a second thought and with a tech inclination would immediately know its scam... What I'm wondering is how did they manage to get your folks to hear your voice crying for help?? Couple of times in the past I received calls allegedly from customer care. IIRC it was Airtel. He asked me for my name and address for verification. I flatly refused saying I cannot verify if you are really from Airtel. In any case, if you are, my details would be on your records. Even otherwise, what is the point of such verbal confirmation? He said I have a point and hung up... lol!

Just checked, thanks. Seems the same tariffs apply for rcomnet now. I have to use rcomnet as otherwise Opera Mini doesn't work on my mobile. And yes, I'v been wondering myself about this Rs. 2 charge. No idea for how many KB or mins its good for. Currently I could use frequent access but less data throughput... so this Rs. 2 everytime I simply start my browser is too much.

They don't care what we think about it, as long as they make money! The best/only effective way to protest against it is to just move out it without waiting. Are these new plans valid for rcomnet APN? Hoped for better than this from RCom... not good enough compared to the competition.

Awesome! Thats how Airtel does it.... in fact they probably started it. In fact they deduct the base charge for the first call, and NOT just for the 1st minute (thats how Idea does it). And they define first call as the entire duration of the call, ie. from call set up to termination. You can imagine how much one would spend extra this way, as you just cannot always disconnect a call before the 1st 60 secs. No marks for guessing where they are getting these ideas from...

Seems to be quite good... at least in places where you can get a decent signal. But the tarrifs are not at all good. I am able to connect Opera Mini 4.2 on my phone only using rcomnet APN. At Rs. 2 or more everytime I start the browser, it is not at all attractive. And since the tariffs are not at all attractive, I'v never bothered to connect it to a comp... so wouldn't be able to put a figure on the speeds.

^^^You guys are talking about very different locations. I know Airtel is good in some parts... like Delhi, etc. It is not so here. Congestion can also be severe. Few months ago, the network was much worse than even RGSM. Not too sure about the latest scenario as I'v stopped using my Airtel SIM. Airtel was flawed in all possible ways, right from pathetic network to swindling in different ways.

Still way more expensive than Docomo/Aircel/Uninor/etc. Not at all attractive.

Which Maharashtra offer?

But we are not at all confident, Mr. Raja!

Bet to differ with that. If everybody does what you say, its the perfect way to kill competition. If people do not shift to the best services, nobody has any incentive to improve anything and even bad, incompetent & customer unfriendly players will rake in the same moolah. The time to get the best service is always *NOW*.

You said it!! And it is labelled as revenue for the government and its %$@!& babus. Let us never forget that all that revenue is ultimately looted from subscriber's pockets.

Thanks, will probably buy this. Only things I will miss are the extra keys for the comp on/off, volume, mute, etc. Hopefully, it will be available in shops. I'v quite disappointed with my Microsoft Keyboard. I expected better quality from MS... even the letters are fading now.

Seems good. Could you tell me if the keys have depressions (concave surface) or are they completely flat? Thing is I touch type with all 10 fingers... and flat keys are no good for that.

^^^Ok, I will. but was hoping if someone who has already tried could post his experience.

Will using the MDN as username and password make any difference for RGSM (rcomnet APN)? I'v left it blank and it works and Rs. 2 gets deducted. Would using the MDN make any difference??

So Idea will have 3G in Maharashtra. Their 2G data plans are untouchable... I wonder how they are going to price 3G services.

Hehe... you sound exactly like my pop... He still goes out looking for paper vouchers only of any random denomination... (no matter how hard I try), it does not register how/why some denominations carry full talk time and some don't, etc., etc. Furthermore, he considers online recharges and even e-recharges to be voodoo...

Yes, online (net)banking/Credit Cards/Debit Cards/bank ATMs... or erecharge in shops. Why waste time hunting for paper vouchers?

12 SIM cards?!?!! I'll go nuts with the paperwork and all... and then shuffling SIMs and all that. I really don't think its a practical solution. But my main question is how do these wireless connections (EDGE and 3G) fair for P2P (torrents, etc) usage? And what kinda upload speeds can one expect on them? Also, though it will vary depending on area, does anybody any ideas about Aircel EDGE speeds in Poona?

Not a single reply?

Are you sure the 1203 and similar handsets are Made in India now?? I have a 1112 which is Chinese made.

Thanks for the clarification. I am no Nokia fan, but I have to say that the software in their basic phones like 1112, 1110, 1203 is quite efficient for texting. Even the way they implement the delivery reports which auto delete, icons which indicate if messages have been delivered successfully, etc., are well thought out. Added to this is functionality like scheduled SMSes, big list of special characters including newline character, distribution lists, etc. Perhaps the most glaring omission is the exclusion of outgoing call duration in the logs. Else the software rocks. Too bad that Nokia has got other things all wrong. The speaker outlet on the wrong side of the phone perhaps the best example of Nokia's incredibly lame design. Their quality is also in decline, as rightly mentioned. Too bad... else even the 1203 (and others) would have made for a fairly good basic phone.