ravi_patent

I am curious about the reason for sale and share agreement..Is this an arrangement by which a single entity does not own 10mhz thus avoiding rule violations.Because on one hand rcom sells spectrum to rjio and on the other acquires spectrum from MTS and the merged entity (rcom+mts) wants to share spectrum. Can any one enlighten me

according to the above agreement The subscribers of RCom will be able to access RJio's LTE network under the reciprocal sharing and ICR agreements.

this is the scenario According RCOM investor presentation if you are on 800 MHz band today and you are moving to 850 MHz band, depending on the arrangement that we have with Jio in terms of spectrum sharing and trading, you may have two scenarios in the circles; where you have more than 5 megahertz versus just 5 megahertz. So, there could be a migration -- complete migration of CDMA into LTE coming on the back of the falling prices of LTE ecosystem in case of 5 MHz circles, or CDMA could concurrently run for a while in parallel in case of more than 5 MHz spectrum. So, this will depend upon a circle to circle strategy . http://www.rcom.co.in/Rcom/aboutus/ir/pdf/RCOM-2QFY16-Earnings-Call-Transcript.pdf

Hello Can any body inform as to what are the mobile internet net packs in prepaid . I plan to use mobile internet net pack for basic web usage in chennai .

hi all the purpose of this post is to share information on ecommerce websites and their best and worst practices.( irrestible deals are increasing day by day and we some times become apprehensive of the seller, while the price keeps tempting) . by sharing problems and methods approached in solving , i hope everybody is empowered/ benefited/motivated. i share my experince with naaptol to begin with boought a rel netconnect modem worth rs990 using sosata coupon ,for rs 590 didnt receive the modem even after 10 days.writing to CEO only resulted in single liner response asking some subordinate to look into . the sunordinate took inordinate time and another 10 days passed.nothing happened so wrote to sosasta ceo asking him why they are promoting naaptol who doesnt know to even respond let alone honouring the deal.i have reminded about ethics of groupon .(sosasta is now part of groupon.com ). got refund with out giving no reason after sosasta ceo intervened with naaptol. mailed to ministry of consumer affairs also ,some how i have not got any response. my experience with firstcry/hushbaby/adexmart/tradus /ebay has been very good till date . my experience with naaptol is bad but i consider it as a learning experience

Natalie Wolchover, Life's Little Mysteries Staff Writer Date: 23 June 2011 Time: 04:04 PM ET Last month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, declared cellphone radiation "possibly carcinogenic to humans." The scientific evidence linking cellphone use to brain cancer isn't conclusive, the agency said, but there is some evidence that brain cancer rates are higher among people with the highest levels of cellphone exposure, and cellphone users should take precautions until more is known. Now, some scientists are claiming that certain types of cellphones could be more "possibly carcinogenic" than others. "I've been telling friends and family members to seriously consider switching to CDMA [cellphones] if they're using GSM cellphones," said Joel Moskowitz, the director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley. CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access, is the type of cellular network used by the phone companies Verizon and Sprint. GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications, is the type used by AT&T and T-Mobile. Higher power There is accumulating evidence that cellphones that operate on GSM networks emit significantly more radiation than do cellphones operating on CDMA networks. This is not apparent when you look at a phone's specs, Moskowitz said, because phone companies are required to list only the "specific absorption rate" (SAR) — the measure of the rate at which energy from a radio frequency electromagnetic field is absorbed by the body — of a phone at its maximum radiation output. "The SAR can be misleading as it measures the maximum radiation a cellphone emits and does not reflect the average amount of radiation it emits," Moskowitz told Life's Little Mysteries. Several recent studies have shown that CDMA phones normally emit a small fraction of their maximum radiation output, while GSM phones emit, on average, half the maximum, he explained. This comes down to the different radio frequency (RF) bands that the two networks operate on, and the different methods by which the two networks carry phone transmissions. "When a GSM phone transmits, it immediately goes to the peak power, and then the power control circuitry ratchets down the power to an acceptable level," explained Mark McNeeley, an electrical engineer at Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting services and co-author of a recent study comparing GSM and CDMA networks. "CDMA networks share the same frequency among many different phone calls, so all phones transmit at the lowest possible power level necessary to maintain the fidelity of the call." It's like people talking quietly at a party, he said. The radiation spikes at the beginning of GSM phone calls means that they emit, overall, up to 28 times more radiation than CDMA phones, according to a study co-authored by McNeeley and published last year in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. There are exceptions. If you have a CDMA phone in a rural area and the nearest CDMA cellphone tower is far away, then you have to broadcast at a radiation level that is equal to or greater than GSM to reach the tower, McNeeley said. If there is a GSM tower much nearer to you, you might be better off going with a GSM network, he said; but in most parts of the country, where both CDMA and GSM towers are ubiquitous, CDMA phones will emit less radiation than GSM phones. What does radiation do to the brain? Although dozens of international studies have been conducted over the past decade, some of which point to higher incidences of certain types of brain cancers in people who use cellphones heavily, the negative side effects of cellphone usage remain undetermined. A possible consequence of the higher radiation output of GSM phones was seen in a study published in the International Journal of Science Technology & Management in April. Researchers compared brain scans of people talking on GSM phones and CDMA phones and found that the former stimulated much more brain activity than the latter. Although it's still unclear what that extra brain activity is, how it's caused or whether it's bad, other studies have also shown varying health consequences of using GSM versus CDMA phones. Of 37 studies that have examined GSM phones, 43 percent have found harmful biological effects from the phones — such as a decrease in the expression of genes that help suppress tumors — Moskowitz said, while only 15 percent of the 33 studies that looked at CDMA phones have identified harmful effects. When reached for comment on the possible hazards of GSM phones, AT&T referred to previous statements by the Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug Administration that said the available scientific evidence shows no proven health risk of radiofrequency (RF) energy. The FDA states: "Although evidence shows little or no risk of brain tumors for most long-term users of cellphones ... people who want to reduce their RF exposure can: reduce the amount of time spent on the cellphone, and use speaker mode or a headset to place more distance between the head and the cellphone." T-Mobile did not return telephone calls or emails. What to do? GSM and CDMA networks work so differently that a phone built for one cannot operate on the other. Furthermore, AT&T and T-Mobile cellular networks, which are GSM, cannot simply switch and become CDMA networks. Given these facts, if you own a GSM phone, should you switch to a carrier that supports CDMA? Experts have mixed opinions. It is difficult to say whether higher radiation output is bad, simply because the jury is still out on whether cellphone radiation is bad in the first place, says Ken Foster, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania who has been studying the effects of radiofrequencies for 40 years. The radiation level of cellphones — all cellphones — is so low it is considered "non-ionizing." It isn't powerful enough to knock electrons off atoms in cells and potentially change the structure of DNA molecules, which is the way that ionizing radiation (like gamma-rays and X-rays) causes harmful mutations. No one knows by what mechanism non-ionizing radiation, such as RF from cellphones, could possibly damage DNA, Foster says. Though Foster grants that consumers could probably reduce their exposure by choosing CDMA rather than GSM phones, he doesn't think it's likely a higher radiation output actually makes GSM phones more hazardous than CDMA phones. The radiation levels of both phone types are so low, he said, that there is no known way they could harm DNA. "If you take a shower at 160 degrees Fahrenheit, that could burn you. But I personally don't fear a shower at 65 degrees Fahrenheit more than one at 63 degrees — neither temperature is dangerous," he said. In his view, cellphone radiation on either type of network is as harmless as two cold showers of slightly different temperatures. If cellphones are a biohazard, Foster said, that can't be related to the amount of the radiation they emit. "Presumably, some parameter other than [radiation output] would be involved." No one has identified what aspect of cellphone radiation is dangerous, Foster said, so there is no way of knowing whether GSM phones are worse for you than CDMA phones, or vice versa. [Read: What Everyday Things Around Us Are Radioactive?] Hazardous frequencies However, according to other scientists, there is some evidence that the potentially hazardous aspect of cellphone radiation may be the way in which transmissions are modulated — the way individual pulses of radiation are constructed out of a range of frequencies. The modulation pattern is different for CDMA and GSM phones, and some scientists think GSM pulse modulations may have adverse biological effects. A review article in the April issue of the journal BioElectroMagnetics by Jukka Juutilainen and colleagues at the University of Eastern Finland suggested that specific types of RF modulation may well have biological consequences. "While the majority of recent studies have reported no modulation-specific effects, there are a few interesting exceptions indicating that there may be specific effects from amplitude-modulated RF fields on the human central nervous system. These findings warrant follow-up studies," the researchers wrote. According to Moskowitz, the study found that GSM phones contain radiation at a frequency of 8 hertz, or 8 cycles per second, which "is in the range of 'possibly carcinogenic' because our cells have processes on that frequency level, with which the phone radiation may be interfering," he said. Foster, on the other hand, thinks there is no robust evidence that one type of modulation is more dangerous than the other. "To my knowledge, nothing shows a clear effect of pulse modulation," he said. Wanted: more evidence Do some mobile phone networks pose more of a health risk than others? Though some researchers suspect so, it is too soon to say for sure. "Clearly more comparative studies are needed," Moskowitz said. At this point, all cellphone users should be cautious. "My first recommendation is to keep a safe distance from your phone. Text instead of calling. Use the speakerphone. Use a headset," Moskowitz said. Radiation levels fall off rapidly with distance — so rapidly that you can decrease your brain's exposure to a negligible level simply by keeping your phone antenna just a few inches away. Moskowitz also thinks people should avoid keeping their cellphones on in their pockets. "There's accumulating evidence of a risk to sperm and male fertility," Moskowitz said. "People are forgetting where they're keeping their cellphones all day long." Foster doesn't believe cellphone radiation poses a significant danger, but he still suggests that people take precautions if they're worried, just for peace of mind. "My best advice to consumers: If they are concerned about possible radiation risks from cellphones, use a hands-free kit, which actually does reduce exposure and costs very little." http://www.livescience.com/14755-radiation-risk-cellphones-dangerous.html

Dear friends i need your valuable advice regarding a laptop toshiba satelite c650 m5010 (https://www.toshiba-india.com/laptop/satellite-c650D.html#prod).my budget is below 25k and am i not a gamer. basic web access and ocaasional movie playing are my needs . the model i have choosen is a non os one and costs 21750. what os i can install(ubuntu or boss or win 7?) ..will the availability of drivers an issue.. i belive that this lappy will be chrome os compatible too . have you heard about any issues reg this model .. Thanks in advance

i am writing here after longtime...i beleive MTS can continue as told by chitshar see todays BL as well as ET. Hon SC is going to pass seperate order in respect of MTS/Sistema shaym

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/cnbc-tv18-comments/bharti-vodafone-idea-may-form-strategic-alliance-for-3g_496911.html If you are a Vodafone customer and live in an area where Vodafone has not received 3G spectrum, don’t fret. You may still be able to receive 3G services if Bharti Airtel or Idea have won spectrum in the area, without changing your service provider, reports CNBC-TV18’s Kritika Saxena quoting sources. It is learnt that the three players are in talks for a strategic alliance for rolling out 3G services pan India. Sources add that the 3G deal between all the three telecom companies is likely to come through by mid-November, while the tripartite agreement will be based on revenue sharing model. If the alliance is finalised then it will cater to 33 circles, sources say. Bharti Airtel won 13 circles, Idea obtained 11 circles and Vodafone got 9 circles in the bidding. Though Bharti CFO confirmed that they are in talks to form alliance, he refused to comments on the names of telecom companies yet. Meanwhile, Vodafone also said that they are in talks with quality players for a tie up and will make announcement in due course of time. Idea too added that they are talking with leading telcos for 3G tie-up.

Rcom has given a road map for CDMA during the the con call . extracts are below CDMA is RCOM’s core business having a very healthy customer base which is delivering a very healthy data revenue growth through HSD platform across 1,000 towns. We have taken a couple of initiatives which are helping us to sustain the voice part and exponentially grow the data part of CDMA. Currently there is a choice of about 70 handsets available in the market, and to which we have added 7 more handsets in the price ranging from Rs. 2,000-2,500 up to Rs. 13,000. We are also looking for a high end smartphone coming into this category. Also, we will be the first operator to launch branded CDMA tablet in the market very shortly. So the entire ecosystem of devices is being actively pursued. Thus, we are doing 2 to 3 specific initiatives at a time, growing the network and also at the same time enhancing our distribution reach and launching the attractive devices for exponentially growing the data part of CDMA. The device lead strategy, which Shamik just talked about, is coming from both proprietary devices as well as open market devices. Proprietary devices, both in terms of entry-level handset as well as high end handsets. And there is a the value strategy that we are offering. The core of our CDMA business has been built on unlimited callings. We have fairly large on-net community and the propositions will be strengthened through plans like Mera Plan. full version : http://www.rcom.co.i...RCOM_3QFY12.pdf

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-info-tech/article2151497.ece China-headquartered Huawei Technologies is planning to offer its 4G solutions to support broadband operators in India by December 2011. The company is in talks with Indian operators such asMukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for rolling out Long-Term Evolution (4G) solutions. A 4G system provides IP-based mobile broadband solutions to laptops, computers, wireless modems, smartphones and other mobile devices. Huawei is working on LTE solutions since 2005. Mr Ying Weimen, President of GSM, UMT and LTE network at Huawei, said: “We are bullish on our entry in India which will be by December 2011. We expect full fledged roll out of LTE network by 2012.” Huawei's foray into LTE broadband solutions and 4G technologies indicate its shift toward new verticals in the fast growing telecom sector in the country. 4G dongles Meanwhile, the company is planning to introduce chipsets for 4G dongles by this year-end in India and will later move on to offer chipsets for terminals, smartphones and tablets. It plans to manufacture one lakh such 4G-enabled devices – primarily dongles – by the end of this year. Mr Weimen added that Huawei is looking forward to an increase in penetration of mobile broadband and wireless access including the demand for tablets (which require larger bandwidths) for gaining a foothold in the LTE segment. “The 3G spectrum available in India is very small and does not allow much scope for the operators to provide high speed downloads. As a result, there is bound to be an early shift to 4G networks,” he said. New Geographies Along with India, the company is also planning to enter the North America and South African markets with its LTE offerings. The company plans to compete with US-based Qualcom, in the field of wireless networking solutions. Huawei had clocked revenues of $28 billion (Rs 1,26,000 crore) in 2010. The company follows the calendar year for accounting purposes. Huawei's first commercial deployment of LTE technology outside China took place in 2009 when it was selected as a vendor by the Norwegian telecom operator TeliaSoneria and later to Vodafone Germany. http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_when-huawei-serenaded-mukesh-ambani-in-china_1559434 When Huawei serenaded Mukesh Ambani in China Early this month, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s sprawling campus in Shenzhen was host to an unusual visitor from India: Mukesh Ambani. The chairman of Reliance Industries held secret confabulations with Huawei’s top brass including the reclusive founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, as he prepares for a grand entry into the broadband space in India. That he was serenaded is a given because of the many-multimillion dollar orders for LTE (acronym for Long Term Evolution, the latest mobile communication technology) equipment that he is expected to sign on. For large telecom vendors, India has been a subdued market in the last two years. If security issues played the speed breaker initially, economic and political vagaries, brutal competition and chary bankers throttled growth last fiscal. As a consequence, Ericsson, the market leader in telecom equipment, saw its revenues in India plunge 29.4% from Rs8,749 crore in 2009-10 to Rs6,173 crore in 2010-11, while Huawei saw a decline of 23.5% from Rs7,433 crore to Rs5,688 crore, according do Voice & Data, a journal tracking the telecom sector. All that’s slated to change. By December this year, analysts expect the telecom market look up as spends on 3G rollouts commence. “The long-term story is robust. Telecom vendors such as Huawei will look at gaining market share for a price,” says Prashant Singhal, who heads the telecom practice for Ernst & Young, the auditor and consultant. In Europe, the telecom markets swung down immediately after 3G auctions, only to rebound strongly after 3 years. Some vendors are more optimistic. Dabing He, president of marketing, enterprise business group, Huawei, estimates the Indian equipment market will touch $10 billion in five years, with his company growing in tandem. Huawei will position itself as an end-to-end solutions provider and even offer terminals such as dongles and handsets compatible to 4G or LTE networks. The Chinese telecom gear maker has told marketing staff in India they will be measured for performance this year on sheer market growth and not on profitability or margins. “Indian margins are lower than elsewhere in the world,” Dabing He said. “We’ll concentrate on penetration and growth, and we’ll leave a small room in terms of pricing,” he said. That would be welcome news for Indian operators. Huawei has succeeded in snaring a few circles where Bharti Airtel operates— territories that, for over a decade, was the backyard of European vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia. While RIL is a new player in the telecom market, Huawei hopes its previous experience of working with Chinese companies will help. Ambani also has a past track record of doing business with the Chinese: RIL had contracted work to Chinese companies for setting up pipelines and also when its refineries were being built. At present, Ambani is in the midst of setting up another telecom venture ground-up through Reliance Infotel, a subsidiary of RIL. It will offer fourth-generation broadband, in tango with similar launches in the US and South Africa. For Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia, winning the equipment order from Reliance will be a major coup because RIL is known for big-bang launches. Huawei’s senior officials were guarded about the Ambani trip, but are bullish and effervescent when quizzed about the Indian market as a whole. The company has done business in India with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Aircel and a few others for equipment and devices. Yang Weimin, president of LTE product line at Huawei, said India will be next only to China in the coming years for the company. “This is just the beginning for us in India,” he said. Next year is crucial for Huawei as well as for the telecom world, Weimin said, because of India, US and South Africa going live with LTE. In China, though, the story will be different. That’s because the bandwidth owned by telecom operators for third-generation is bigger, so Huawei expects China to adopt LTE slower than India. “India will be very aggressive in LTE deployment. We can see a deployment by RIL in India by 2012,” another Huawei official, who did not wish to be named, said. Huawei has invested heavily in the development of the LTE industry since 2004. “Huawei’s advanced LTE technology and SingleRAN LTE solution enables telecom companies to gradually shift to newer technologies whenever they are introduced. It will replace outdated legacy base stations, while simultaneously initiating their LTE network deployment,” said the official. Vodafone Germany and TeliaSonera in Norway have already selected Huawei as a vendor

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/iphone-maker-apple-comes-under-cci-scanner/articleshow/8927346.cms NEW DELHI: iPhone and iPad maker Apple Inc has come under the scanner of the Competition Commission of India for allegedly limiting the availability of its products to a few service providers using its dominant market position. A customer has filed a complaint before the Commission under section 4 of the Competition Act 2002 that Apple is curbing the customer's choice by limiting the availability of iPhones and iPads in India to a limited number of service providers, besides its signature stores. At present, iPhone's latest version is available in India through Aircel and Bharti airtel , while the iPads are sold through Apple store only. An Apple official when contacted declined to comment. "The complainant has also alleged that a user can only download software from the i-store and the others are not recognised by the device," a senior CCI official told PTI. Besides, Apple phones could only be serviced in Apple centres, which in turn charge high rates for servicing. The Commission is due to take up the matter for consideration by the end of this week, sources said. iPhone, the touch screen handset that acquired a cult status in the US and other western countries, was launched for the first time in India in 2008. Following the launch, the new upgrades have also been introduced in the Indian market. Smartphones are cathcing up fast in the Indian market, especially at a time more companies roll out 3G services across the country. 3G services, which offer high-speed Internet access, have already been rolled out by various operators like Airtel, Vodafone and Aircel. According to a CyberMedia Research study, about 12 million smartphones are expected to be sold in India during 2011. The Commission, which became fully functional in 2009, with the appointment of a chairman and six members, has the power to check anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position, drawn from Sections 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, 2002. Beginning June 2011, the Commission also received powers to check high-voltage mergers and acquisitions, with the notification of section 5 and 6 of the Act.

MTS seems to have gone one step ahead and is making one of its android handsets is being made availble at flipkart.Since MTS is having plans to bring more smart phones in to its fold, we can await more offers from the e-tailers who are preparing for amazons' launch very soon in India. pl see here http://www.flipkart....89-f281891a517f i have no idea about the quality of the phone

really nice !this proves that innovations can be based on the situations in india without aping USA's cdma market! OMH was another india specific solution

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article2148159.ece?homepage=true In what could be early signals of an increase in mobile phone tariffs, some new telecom operators have quietly tinkered with the charges for voice calls and text messages. Tata TeleServices, which had ushered in a tariff war with its per-second billing-based GSM offering two years back, has revised the rates for all new subscribers of Tata DoCoMo in every circle it operates. According to a Credit Suisse report, Tata DoCoMo has raised local SMS tariffs by 67 per cent to Re 1 an SMS (from 60 paise earlier) for local SMS and by 25 per cent for national SMS to Rs 1.50 (from Rs 1.20). STD call tariffs will be doubled to two paise a second from the second year of subscription. Analysts feel it is just a matter of time before the other telecom operators follow suit. “Well-entrenched vendors will seize this opportunity to raise tariffs, especially when it comes to national calls. This move by Tata Tele will enable them to take tariffs to a level at which they are comfortable operating,” said Mr Rishi Maheshwari, Vice-President, Research, Enam Asset Management. While operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, did not offer comments on their pricing strategy, these companies have in the past said the tariffs are not sustainable. At one paise a second (for voice calls), base tariffs in India are the lowest in the world. A spokesperson for Tata TeleServices said the rationalisation in SMS tariffs is ‘in line with the market and applicable to all new subscribers'. “For us, ‘Pay Per Use' goes beyond any single sliver of usage and continues to be the central tent-pole of our consumer commitment… Our tariff offering, hence, will continue to be without conditions on our pay per use platform — the specific rates could change appropriately and in response to market conditions,” the spokesperson said in a written response to a Business Line questionnaire. However, officials at some of the new telecom operators feel that call rates could go down further if there are regulatory changes. “There is still room for national long-distance, international long-distance and roaming charges to go down if interconnect usage charges are rationalised… It is now up to the Government to take a call,” a senior official said.

i really wonder if the reports of these broking firms are worth looking at . just sample this The technology(CDMA) did not allow a subscriber to change the handset or the service provider

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-info-tech/article2142949.ece http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/article2142947.ece Contract ‘obligations' make cell operator switching difficult BlackBerry services, a caller ring-back tune, lifetime validity cards, promotional STD or SMS packs could be why your Mobile Number Portability (MNP) request is getting rejected. In some cases, operators are asking subscribers to deactivate national roaming for the MNP request to go through. And, subscribers are realising these unwritten ‘obligations' the hard way. According to TRAI data, at the end of April, 8.54 million users had ported operators through the MNP route. MNP was implemented nation-wide on January 20, and within a month the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) noticed the high rate of rejection and sought explanations from telecom cellular associations. In a communication to operators on May 24, TRAI specified that rejections should be on the basis of ‘subsisting contractual obligations', post-paid connections with bundled handsets, and corporate connections. It also said that rejections should not be made on the basis of outstanding billed amounts less than Rs 10. However, online forums are replete with complaints about MNP requests getting rejected because of ‘contractual obligations', across service providers, beyond those stipulated by TRAI. Business Line verified with customer care of multiple operators to find that several value-added services needed to be de-activated for the porting request to go through. Often, subscribers end up having to apply for a second porting code since each porting code, which costs Rs 19 to generate, is valid for 15 days. “We are seized of the matter and are repeatedly telling the operators to honour all valid requests for MNP. Operators cannot reject MNP requests for reasons other than those notified by TRAI. We will take further action if required,” a top TRAI official said. RCom's President Corporate & Wireless, Customer Service, Mr Anurag Prashar, said, “While RCom had been diligently following the TRAI guidelines, we have complained to the regulator against the operators who indulge in unfair practices to prevent their subscribers from porting out.” An Idea Cellular spokesperson said, “Contractual obligations have been defined by TRAI. Any instance of rejection of a porting request is always within the parameters laid down by TRAI.” Vodafone and Bharti Airtel did not comment. MNP implementation has been far from smooth in the country since its launch. Mr R.K. Verma, President of Chandigarh Telecom District Telephone Subscribers Association (CTSA), said, “We have got 400-500 written complaints with regards to MNP. TRAI officials have told us that rejection rate with regard to MNP is around 25 per cent.” Mumbai, June 28: ‘Porting' leaves subscriber neither here nor there “I was thinking to port my number, but after seeing these complaints from so many people from different places I think it's better to stay with the current network and better to go for new connection by buying new SIM,” says a June 26 posting on www.consumercourt.in. After unsuccessful attempts to exit a network using mobile number portability (MNP), several subscribers seem to have abandoned the idea of porting, with some even willing to sacrifice their old numbers and go in for an entirely new connection, as evident from subscriber posts on online forums. The grounds on which subscriber requests are being rejected by operators range from TRAI-specified criteria — such as unpaid billed amount of Rs 10 or above, post-paid connection with handset-bundled offers, corporate connections — to other “contractual obligations” such as lifetime validity cards, BlackBerry services, and roaming. Some service providers say that they are rejecting requests only in adherence to TRAI's guidelines, even as their customer care teams reveal otherwise, as Business Line found out. What is also prompting subscribers to abstain from porting out is the fear of being inconvenienced by the incumbent service provider. According to a subscriber's online complaint, after porting out of his network, callers on his previous network were unable to reach him on his old number, and were instead greeted with a message that the number was switched off. Here is another complaint from a subscriber, who had to go through multiple interactions with his service provider over a month before giving up: “I was really fed up with the process of MNP. …all the operators are playing the same game. None of them are releasing their consumers to take the benefits of MNP. …some serious action must be taken or this MNP service needs to be revoked by the government.” The above mentioned subscriber also claims to have rid himself of the old number and moved to a network of choice. Consumer Forums Abuzz Mr R.K. Verma, President of Chandigarh Telecom District Telephone Subscribers Association, said, “We have got around 400 to 500 written complaints with regard to MNP. TRAI officials have told us that rejection rate with regard to MNP is around 25 per cent.” A Chennai-based consumer group, Consumer Association of India (CAI), has received multiple complaints on MNP implementation from subscribers, and even helped a few consumers successfully resolve their issues. Mr G. Rajan, Secretary General, CAI, said, “Mainly the problem is that the subscriber, after porting out, is not clear on the status whereby he is left neither with the previous service provider nor the new one. The current service provider is supposed to make sure that the user is given full details on the modalities, including the time required for the change to happen.” CAI Trustee, Ms Nirmala Desikan, is a member of a TRAI consulting committee. Mr Rajan noted that suggestions would be made to TRAI on the basis of feedback from consumers. Mr J.S. Sarma, Chairman, TRAI, could not be reached for comment. Mr Rajan acknowledged that there was need for “better communication by the service provider to the subscriber to avoid such confusion”. According to a senior professional from the telecom industry, the cost of acquisition of subscribers is too high for incumbent operators to let go of, especially the high-value post-paid ones, “without a fight”. But this doesn't seem to be a fair fight, shrouded as it is in the grey confines of ‘contractual obligations'. The stated purpose of MNP — customer empowerment — stands defeated.

mts is offering bundled device on 3m advance rental across all states where postpaid is avlbl. plan details and t&c below MBlazer ARP 3GB 2097 Rs. 2097 Rs 0.4/ MB 3 GB Usage per month for 3 months MBlazer ARP 6GB Unlimited 2397 Rs. 2397 NA 6 GB Unlimited Usage* per month for 3 months Extra Usage shall be charged @ Rs 0.40/MB. *Post 6 GB (at speeds up to 3.1 Mbps), Unlimited Usage will be available at 144 Kbps In case of disconnection within the subscription period, no refund will be provided. Migration to any other plan will not be allowed within the subscription period. The free unutilized data usage cannot be carried forward to the next month. No add on Pack shall be allowed with ARP plans during the Advance Rental period. Post which the customer may add the existing retail add on packs to the monthly rental packs. Post 3 months customer will be automatically migrated to the plans mentioned against each plan but however has the choice to opt for plan migration to any existing retail tariff plan. http://www.mtsindia.in/Tamilnadu/postpaid.html

@vinayak me using toshiba laptop with AMD processor..may be u can save few more if u dont have preference for Intel .. see post 1 of

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-info-tech/article2162559.ece Consumers can seldom voice their frustration on telecom issues and hope to get a sympathetic hearing. Tuesday was such an exception. And so, when the Minister for Communications and IT, Mr Kapil Sibal, called consumer user groups to discuss issues related to telecom services, complaints poured in. They ranged from lack of transparency in tariff plans and loading of unnecessary charges without consumers consent to pesky calls and delayed refunds on security deposits. “Operators sit on huge sums of money, which they collect as security deposit. If and when it is returned, why is it not being paid back with interest?” said Mr Ajoy Eric Lal, advisor to Consumer VOICE. Mr Lal also demanded that India should move away from the current definition of broadband (speed of 256 kbps). “The current definition gives consumers zero experience…We need to define the broadband quality with clear figures, specific parameters, and upload speeds,” he said. Telecom Users Group of India (TUGI) said there should be a single tariff plan for all pre-paid mobile consumers. “SMS should not be charged more than voice calls, that is, one paise per second. Also, all value-added services should be brought under the ambit of regulation. These should not be left up to operators, under forbearance,” said Mr Anil Prakash, President of TUGI. Other issues flagged by consumer forums included strengthening of the sectoral regulator through amendment of the TRAI Act, need for institutionalised mechanism for consultation every six months, and streamlining the complaint redressal system to make it more consumer-friendly. “How can rural consumers be expected to go online, to complain? There has to be a voice mechanism, and they should be allowed to interact in their local language,” said a representative of a consumer group. And then there were some basic problems: persistent call drops, especially in rural areas, lack of transparency in terms and conditions for pre-paid services, and unambiguous information on newly launched services among others.

hi friends i am contemplating to buy a reliance datacard .please let me know which model offers good signal ? did any one use huawei ec150.is it good at signal reception

i believe kumaarshah/kanagadeepan are the most knowledgeable persons in this regard.although i didnt use yet,i feel reliance evdo will be good undoubtedly in chennai

^ this happened to me many times.i was satisfied cos they are atleast informing abt the delay..however perceptions vary.

^ checkout tradus for tupperware

i completely agree with you rajan..and that is the reason why Home Ministry didnot know the answer