raccoon

How much are they charging? And your location?

A million new connections ....that sounds like a lot ....but these kind of connections are likely to be very volatile ...since the handsets are very cheap, people may just discard them after sometime ....or after the free mins are over. And I'm sure many have taken these connections as a 2nd handset ...so the number of subscribers would definitely not have gone up to the same extent as the number of new connections...

Very bad! Why should companies be forced to be stuck with any particular technology? Consumers can change their handset and change technologies ....why not companies???

The alert could be there to warn you that you will be charged for more than 1 SMS ...but did the SMS go without splitting ...and recieved in ONE piece on the GSM phone? From what you say, it definitely seems that Tata too does not support LMS for incoming SMSes ...but is that positively true for outgoing too? Very sad ...i wont even consider a CDMA connection again unless they sort out this SMS mess...

I did that ...it looks good and all ...but its always another thing to get a review from someone who has actually used it! Hey, can you tell us how the Samsung and Tata handle texting? Can you send and recieve SMSes longer than 160 characters as ONE SMS ...like GSM phones?

Congrats! I know how cool it feels to be RIM free... Howz the Samsung handset?

I dont agree either. Even though the this may be a basic phone with the ability only to make calls and recieve SMSes ...there are dozens/hundreds of sub-functions within these basic functions which need to be in place ...else its v likely not to suit the needs of many customers ...and cause much frustration. Cant agree that this can be waived off just because the handsets are cheap! Besides this, I guess only time will tell how reliable these handsets are... Also, what yout have mentioned is more a comparision between Hutch and Reliance rather than the Classic and your Motto V3i.

Thats another benifit of staying with Reliance - wrong/non-existent status messages about your phone ...you can never really know whats the prob with any Reliance phone ...whether its switched off, or our of coverage area, or busy, or whatever else. I just used to hear a busy tone in all situations...! Confusion galore...

Looks good on paper, but how much of this is really going to be implemented? There are already a lot of things which are there on paper but are not being implemented! For eg. Telcos openly charging for plan migration, when it is prohibited, not considering Mah - Bom as one circle wrt (some) tariffs, etc, etc. One thing Telcos REALLY, REALLY must be forced to do - publish ALL the details of their plans/tariffs and recharge options on their web-site (at least)...including e-recharge options for top-ups, plan changing, etc. Its a huge mess right now ...and even the retailers promise something, and you get something quite different. Customer care says something still different ...and the system gives a totally different result! And all this is done in the most effective way with which to loot the consumer! Even taxi/rickshaw drivers have to carry a valid tariff card, but these Telcos get away with all kinds of looting on a much grander scale! Sick!! Frankly, I dont find anything wrong with this - in fact it saves time as I'v never had to wait in a queue ...you can even register somebody else's compalint ...and they do call you back later to ask about the problem.

No, no, no! Its not a grey market handset! I got it with bill and standard 1 yr warranty from a well known shop here! Have mentioned this elsewhere also. Besides, the Nokia ASC would not have repaired it once in warranty if it was from the grey market ....so its obvious that its not from the grey market. The Nokia ASC says they simply dont have the authority to replace anything ...for that only the Head Office can do ...which is very far away. Think they are lying?? Now the funny thing is the screen has started working again ...all on its own! Now if I take it to the ASC they might wonder what Im talkign about. I guess I should just wait for it to conk out again... damn!!! Nokia is going the Classic way....! Pathetic!!

I was told they do, but its VERY far ...and even if I do go, there is no guarantee that they will replace it, is there?

Well, my brand new GSM Nokia very recently (just about 2 weeks old) went the same way - blank display ...only the backlight comes on. Ringer wont work either. They repaired it in warranty, but in 4 hours its back to square A. They wont replace it either. It is also made in China ...but its a Nokia ...seems Nokia is going the Classic way! Beware!!

How do I escalate it to the head of customer service? I wrote to Nokia (India) using the form on their website. I cant find any other place/email id to write to. MidDay does that kind of thing??? For sure it is a manufacturing defect. Since it just died in barely a week, they should obviously replace it ...cus if I wanted to play the repairing game, I could always have bought it much cheaper 2nd hand! But they are adamant about not replacing their junk. Now I have no option but to waste more time and effort in taking it back to the service centre.

Anybody who is considering this handset - mine died in after just 10 days of v moderate use! And no it hasnt been dropped or subjected to any mishandling. Just got it repaired in warranty yesterday, and it died again in just 4 hours! And as a bonus they have left some particulate matter on the display, under the screen, which makes it extremely irritating and shabby to look at! This is the 1st Nokia phone I'v bought and FWIW the 1st "Made in China" phone I'v bought! Nokia is adamant about not replacing the handset. The service centre says they have no authority to replace anything! A rather caustic email to the company yielded a reply directing me to the service centre! It wasnt a bad phone while it lasted, but absolutely useless if its so unreliable! I dont think I'll touch another shabby Nokia product ever again...

I agree. And Nokia especially makes some sad looking phones which look and feel all plasticky! And most are too thick and heavy. I hope these look better than they seem in pics. In the pics, they sure wont win any laurels in the looks dept. at least....

Great ...with these tactics our esteemed CDMA providers will most likely kill CDMA sooner rather than later...

Yes, I already did that yesterday ...and found some more great stuff there. Thanks so much for letting me know they are blocking BSNL/MTNL (Im on BSNL) ...I thought maybe the site had closed down!

I don't know about the quality of the Classic handsets ...wrt to the features, the price seems good, but what about the tariff plans? Most if not all people in this catageory will go for pre-paid where RIM is still charging Rs. 1.79 per min (RIM - other mobile) and Re. 1 (RIM - RIM) on their base plan ...when other operators are charging much less than half of that ...and also offer better incentive/bonuses. Rental (processing free, etc) is also high ...Airtel for eg. charges only Rs. 100/- on Rs. 350 voucher. They have better SMS plans and way better texting capability and over better facilities with facilities like Call Waiting, Voice Mail, Balance after every call, etc, etc. Reliance is obviously looking to compensate (...rather overcompensate) for handset costs thru tariffs! It would be cheaper in the long run to buy a better and slightly more expensive GSM handset and go for a cheaper plan with a GSM operator.

Oh?? Is it? Gotta look into this one ...demonoid is too good to miss cus of BSNL/MTNL.. And btw, is it Demonoid who is blocking BSNL/MTNL or the other way around???

Well, its not comign anytime soon...

Well, Im sure you know other operators are offering 10 paise tariffs, etc (dont know about Bombay circle though). But then if your contacts are on RIM and you cant get them to change, then you are stuck...

You ain't likely to find that as these handsets have been very recently launched. Two people I know are currently using them and I have heard them complaining that the handsets heat up quite significantly and fast. Besides this, no other apparent problems till date ...but then then they are v non-techie ...and I wont be surprised if they haven't noticed any bugs even if present. I guess only time will tell. Howerver, if what Sadik Shaikh says is true, and they are made by different manufacturers, then Its going to be very difficult to comment broadly about their quality... Neverthless, the price with respect to features of these handsets seem good!

After using this handset for a couple of weeks Id just like to share here - This handset has amazing voice clairty! IMHO its quite comparable to a CDMA phone! If a GSM phone can have such good voice clarity, one of the v few advantages of using a CDMA will also pale! Have now used this handset on both Airtel and Idea ...on Idea (often) the clarity seems even better! I have however been told that most basic handsets have excellent voice clarity ...compared to fancy upper end models! This sounds wierd these days most people have fancy upper-range handsets for which they pay many times more than a basic handset ...and hardly use more than 10% of its functions! IMHO, a mobile is 1st for calling and texting ...other functions are of course more than welcome, but not at the expense of these 2 most basic functions! I havent used a lot of handsets, so if anybody has, and has made a comparasion, then it would be useful if you could share your experiences...

Sure the advent of Reliance has done good things for mobile consumers in India! But that is the nature of competition ...they arent doing this for charity!! And there are 2 ways to applaud - one by staying in the RIM camp and the other outside it. You can be a suker, stay with RIM and let it do good things to the mobile industry or you can do the smart thing of getting out/staying out and still applaud at how RIM's existance is doing good things to Indian mobile tariffs. No marks for guessing my camp... I suddenly sprouted wisdom and defected last month...

WAaaaaattttttt?????? Demonoid closed down??? Why??? When??? Where??? What??? I loved that site ...and had gotten amazing stuff from there. Havent been torrent-ing lately tho ....so outta touch. Have they closed for good??? Damn ...I gotta mourn the death of my fav torrent site...