In Search Of The Perfect Network Provider

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In search of the perfect network provider

Cellular phones are no longer luxuries, but necessities. No wonder the network providers’ customer base keeps increasing exponentially.

Now, which one should you go for? First, there are two major kinds of network providers in India, those with GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) Ugh. Acronyms you don't really need to know, other than that only a SIM card with a GSM phone can be easily removed and put into another phone. The popular GSM providers in India include Vodafone, BPL, Idea and Airtel, whereas Tata Indicom, Reliance and Garuda (MTNL) provide the best CDMA service.

A unique facility given by network providers in India is free incoming callsperhaps one of the biggest reasons for the enormous growth of mobile phone users in such a short span of time. No wonder we now live in the “missed-call ” era!

Just as cell phones come with a range of prices, so do phone plans. Each company offers to its customers plans from which they choose one which best suits their own needs. —While some subsidize the cost of text messages others may bring down the cost of outof-town or STD calls.

Either way, service is the buzzword. College student Jyotika Jhangiani, a Vodafone subscriber, recently had a pleasant experience with her network provider. Keen on switching from a post-paid to a pre-paid plan, she approached the company. They put her on to a “relationship manager” who analysed her previous bills and came up with a customized plan that would best suit her needs. After that, she didn’t bother switching!

The different schemes offered by each provider would be impossible to analyse in one article. However, there are a few unique facilities offered by each company. Rakesh Yadav of BPL recommends the Value 199 scheme offered to post-paid customers, “perfect for college students and people who make many STD calls, as with the Rs 199 rental, the user gets 199 minutes of talk time and 199 local SMSs free.”

On the pre-paid front, an interesting facility offered by BPL is its Mini Validity. So if, on a Sunday or a bank holiday, when one urgently needs to refill one's balance, one simply has to SMS “mini” to 51515 and get up to Rs 3 a day refilled . Vodafone offers Night Speak which cuts prices by 50% between 11PM and 8AM and Wait till Night where an SMS between 10 PM and 10 AM costs 10 paise. The Campus Pack is especially useful for college students as well.

Reliance offers an International Calling card which enables the user to call abroad at a cost-effective rate. MTNL’s Garuda is also a popular choice because of the low rates it offers; its One India Plan sets the tariff for all outgoing calls, anywhere in country, at Rs 1 (per minute) with a nominal monthly charge of Rs 180.

Airtel, whose new advertising strategy has caught people’s attention, offers various features, including being able to pay one's cell phone bill via a text message or being able to refill talk time through SMS. However, users report that the recent fire at Airtel's Lower Parel server has impaired its service and reliability.

Reliance Communications and Tata Indicom offer attractive handsets as well as rates. But remember that opting for a CDMA service restricts the flexibility of buying a new cell phone as and when one desires, as the phone has to be compatible with the CDMA service. For those who don’t want to constantly changing their handset, this service is the way to go as it offers the best rates.

Recently, most of the network providers have also begun providing facilities for Blackberry phones at a reasonable rate, somewhere between Rs 999 and Rs 1,500 a month. (Blackberry phones are used as cell phones as well as to check email) Corporate plans also exist where a company can take a number of lines under the same provider and can get highly subsidized rates between those numbers. This usually requires the registration of five lines or more.

Airtel and Vodafone have begun pre-registration for Apple’s popular i-Phone which will be launched in India later this month.

Phew! So, if that hasn’t confused you already , go figure!

Courtesy : Indiatimes