raccoon

They have made complaint registration calls free, but what if you need clarification of plans, trariffs, services, etc? Its grossly unfair to charge for that, since most telcos still do not disclose latest and complete info on their websites.

Does anybody know of any site where one can make free PC to mobile calls (local)? Its ok even if the duration allowed is for a minute or two. Basically I need to call without revealing my mobile number.

You mean on G Talk?? Edit: Ok, I checked. It a seperate service. But it says its invite only and not even started yet!

It was/is available. There was such a site... and I had used it personally. First 2 -3 mins was free (thats more than enuf for my purpose). But now I can't recall the name. Even if I did, the site may not exist anymore. So I need other options.

How do I make it private and what are the implications? I dunno anybody personally in my service provider. And the issue isn't worth approaching the SSP for. I mean they will ask for reasons and all, right?

Nahi!! I don't do things like that. Actually, its the other way around!!! But thanks a heap for the offer, but isn't it going to cost you money to do that?? I did try searching for a short time, but nothing useful was found... the few sites that I checked did not have free calling to India. Nobody knows any such sites?

Again, the issue with CDMA that the info will come as a normal SMS; so one would manually have to delete all the SMSs received. Many may find this to be a hassle.

Loop does not operate in Mah & Goa, so I guess it doesn't apply. I know few people who haven't taken Idea only because Idea still consider Bombay circle as separate from Mah.

Idea to Idea in Bombay only?! Idea still makes this distinction when other operators like RCom consider Bom - Mah & Goa as one circle for billing. Even my Airtel Friendz bills at 10 p/min in happy hours for calling Bombay numbers from Mah & Goa.

Right, I guess the inverse square law will apply. So distance is the critical parameter. People staying near a BTS would be at max. risk, I'd say. Did some searching after you asked, and found this - If even the SAR ratings are not mentioned, then what is the basis of saying BT headsets radiate less?

Seven CDMA phones will certainly require a truck battery! And they will prolly get so hot, they will have to include a cooling system with a radiator and all, to keep the fone cool.

Don't any of the lesser brand Chinese handsets come with SAR ratings?

Strange... all those complaining seem to be on Nokia handsets only??

I'd say delaying the launch is a much lesser evil than bringing a half-baked service into the market. Thats what RCom has done with RGSM... even after a year, network is not upto the mark.

Yup, I got the logic in the 2nd go. Just that the 1st time I didn't realise that I have to change the number in the last screen. But still the whole process is tedious, if you are in a hurry... and I had to use HDFC's Netsafe to buy the Gift Mate vouchers, as they don't let you pay thru Netbanking. So the whole process is a tad time consuming - log in at both places, find passwords, PINs, IVRS, etc., etc.

it helps reducing it ! Nopes. Its not that simple. The wire ends up acting like an antenna... they say it may not make a significant difference if you use it either way.

I got the additional Rs. 25. But I messed up while charging my 2nd phone... and Giftmate ended up creating another account with different PIN, for my 2nd number where the amount got credited! Now I'll have to ask them to combine the accounts. Hope they do it. To make things clearer for others - you need to enter the number that is to be recharged on http://secure.paymat...tion/TopUp.aspx, ie. the Mobile Top-Up page. On the next screen that appears, delete the number that is auto filled and enter the phone number which is registered with the Pay Mate account. The IVRS will be received on this number. I really wish they make the whole process simpler... I ended up spending more time than it take to go to a shop to do it.

Wired hands-free is said to not help in preventing radiation, so beware! I believe landlines are the safest bet. But now mobile tariffs are significantly cheaper so my I use our landline only for broadband. I switched to GSM after using RCDMA for about 3-4 years. Never noticed anything adverse after doing so. I'd suspect its most likely a handset issue and not a CDMA/GSM issue. Anyways, though it will of course not tell the whole story, have you checked the SAR rating of your Nokia 1203? Is it any higher than other phones? Also, IIRC, I haven't seen any siggnificant difference between SAR ratings of GSM and CDMA phones. Has anybody here noted a significant difference between the SAR ratings of handsets of these 2 technologies?

Is the network really that bad in that area? You mean coverage, right? I'v not seen weak coverage on any of the main roads I'v taken it to (Camp, Deccan, Kothrud, Pashan, Pirangut...) hence surprised.

If you think what I said doesn't hold water, its your opinion, and you are entitled to it. And I'm not going to try to change it. As for the other things you mentioned, I guess I have implicitly addressed in previous posts. How you interpret them is entirely upto you...

Why don't you experiment yourself and try to verify? Let us not forget that food is just one factor in the game of things. If you think "right" food alone can make you "superman", you might obviously come to wrong conclusions. I did mention myself that this particular point does not seem to hold much water. But still, for sake of argument, you could surivive (or actually remain quite healthy) by eating uncooked veg food, but surviving on uncooked meat will be very difficult. Though I guess there are people who have done that too.

Never had the chance to take my RGSM to Vishrantwadi side, but here in Kothrud, at my residence at least, I get almost full coverage (with slight fluctuation, which seems to happen with all operators). Coverage wise, inside buildings, its definitely better than Airtel at least. But of course not as good as RCDMA or Idea. Problem of "message sending failure" is almost gone. Still, there are other niggling problems occasionally. Overall it is now fairly ok for texting but not as good as Idea and most other GSM operators that seem to be always trouble free, wrt. texting. Amongst my contacts, I have found it almost impossible to get thru to Vodaphone STD numbers in the evening thru about midnigt. The only message you will get is "Network Busy". I can get thru to the same numbers using my Idea phone, usually in the 1st attempt. Voice clarity is often pretty bad (not always). It can be very irritating to speak on my RGSM. Most of my friends have now learnt to call me only on my Idea number, due to this problem. So if you are considering to make RGSM your only/main phone, then, given the current state of the network, I would definitely dissuade you from doing it. IMO the only reason to go for RCom is its tariffs. In all other ways, there are better options.

I did say some of the things he is talking about... not all things! Have never encountered the term "global warming" or anything equivalent, in any scripture. Its obviously a recent phenomenon... and thats a no-brainer. However, since non-veg food produce is much less "efficient" than plant produce, it has been shown scientifically that it is a contributing factor to global warming. Wont elaborate on that though... I'm sure you'll find lots of literature on it online. As for the cooked meat thingy, I guess he means that because cooking is not a "natural" thing for animals (humans are also animals!) to do, and since you can't normally eat raw meat, humans aren't ment to eat meat. Well, this point in itself sounds a bit weak even to me. But know that there are several other very convincing points brought forward that support this fact. Not getting into that here... Anyway, one can eat anything. Like mentioned earlier, people even eat glass, paper, live snakes, roaches and what not. Fact is that you can eat all this and survive. But fact is that you also become what you eat. The food you eat will have a direct bearing on what you are and will be. So choice is yours. Soon, they may even unleash genetically modified lizards on us... to devour all the mosquitoes and moths and files and all that proliferate our environment, due to our own stupidity. Gawd knows what the outcome of that will be... mebbe a Godzilla-like mutant lizard?

The theories he has mentioned are not "new". Not even close. Most are already there in scriptures. Yes specially 16 Vegi = 1 kg where does this come from,,,,, You can not change world - there is not enough food for every one if every one turned vegi. Isn't it obvious that to "produce" a certain amount in weight of meat you need for more in terms of weight of plant produce? Beg your pardon, but your 2nd point is totally skewed. There would be more to eat if everyone was veg. Just look it up somewhere, if you didn't get it. Also the reasoning is something like we have too many mouths to feed, so we gotta have genetically modified food... no matter the consequences. Else there wont be enough food around. So to ignore the root problem, we create multiple other problems...

But Idea is far more reliable than Reliance! Thats why I still have to use Idea as my main phone and not RGSM. Of course RCDMA is as good for voice... but then it has many other drawbacks... But if this significant tariff disparity continues, then an operator change will be on the cards.