Vodafone (mumbai) Introduces Unlimited Sms Pack And Night Call Plan

[Mukeshlst 5]

It seems that Vodafone Essar the number one GSM mobile service operator of Mumbai has finally accepted competition and come up with 2 new innovative offers. Vodafone launches ‘Unlimited SMS Pack’ and ‘Night Calling at 5p/minute’ for its GSM subscribers in Mumbai telecom circle.Now one can make Unlimited Local and National SMS with Bonus Recharge of 89 to any time any network across India. With this pack customer gets credits of 499 FREE SMS every day till 30 days from the date of recahrge hence first SMS of the day will be charged at Re1.This recharge is intended for consumer use and NOT commercial use hence there is a fair usage policy of 500 SMS per day.

To avail this offer, one has to recharge with Rs.89 recharge voucher which is valid for 30 days. This offer can be clubbed with other prepaid tariff plans.

Vodafone also introduces new Night Talk plan wherein its prepaid subscriber can Talk all night @ 5p/min by recharging with the Rs 22 Bonus Card. In this plan Vodafone users will get 450 minutes to local Vodafone mobile phone from 11pm to 8am.The minutes valid for 30 days and after 450 minutes subscriber will charge as per their current local tariff

[Harshal 11]

119 Rs. for UL SMS is too steep. Why is it called innovative?

[ramtech 47]

It seems that Vodafone Essar the number one GSM mobile service operator of Mumbai has finally accepted competition and come up with 2 new innovative offers. Vodafone launches ‘Unlimited SMS Pack’ and ‘Night Calling at 5p/minute’ for its GSM subscribers in Mumbai telecom circle.Now one can make Unlimited Local and National SMS with Bonus Recharge of 89 to any time any network across India. With this pack customer gets credits of 499 FREE SMS every day till 30 days from the date of recahrge hence first SMS of the day will be charged at Re1.This recharge is intended for consumer use and NOT commercial use hence there is a fair usage policy of 500 SMS per day.

To avail this offer, one has to recharge with Rs.89 recharge voucher which is valid for 30 days. This offer can be clubbed with other prepaid tariff plans.

Vodafone also introduces new Night Talk plan wherein its prepaid subscriber can Talk all night @ 5p/min by recharging with the Rs 22 Bonus Card. In this plan Vodafone users will get 450 minutes to local Vodafone mobile phone from 11pm to 8am.The minutes valid for 30 days and after 450 minutes subscriber will charge as per their current local tariff

Hey dont confuse they are not unlimited but truely limited plans

[KumaarShah 143]

For Voda Chennai, they are offering unltd local and national SMS at Rs 61 per month (22500 per month or 750 per day) But unusable while roaming... This is the competition for RCOM we were anticipating in another thread on this forum....

[vishalmcp 8]

119 Rs. for UL SMS is too steep. Why is it called innovative?

119 per month for 500 sms per day, too costly.......... VODAFONE come up with some more competitive scheme to match RCOM.... u r far behind........ hahaha...

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

119 Rs. for UL SMS is too steep. Why is it called innovative?

It is really innovative for sure, since no body have guts to give 15k SMS per month without roaming advantage for such HUGE price and EVEN call that as Unlimited :rofl_200:

Edited December 21, 2009 by kanagadeepan

[Himanshu Singh 19]

Atleast Vodafone users would not shift to Rcomm for cheap sms. They got an alternative even if its costly.

Vodafone would surely make money out of this scheme and boost its ARPUs, not sure about the same for Rcomm.

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Atleast Vodafone users would not shift to Rcomm for cheap sms. They got an alternative even if its costly.

Vodafone would surely make money out of this scheme and boost its ARPUs, not sure about the same for Rcomm.

Sachin I know you are angry with reliance for a small reason called "Service not great due to crowd created by Cheapest offers".. That can be rectified within a few months and you are not ready to wait.. There is NOTHING wrong on your side and ALSO Reliance side..

But that doesn't means that a company almost loots from its customers is CORRECT..

1) They are charging Rs89/30 days --- Costlier than Rs25/month of Reliance, BUT STILL OK...

2) THEY CHARGE AGAIN Re1/DAY

3) They don't offer these SMS while roaming...

4) Black out days also applicable.. Eg: If you recharge now, the tariff will not be applicable for Dec25, Dec31, Jan1 ---> 3 out of 30 days.. You are getting 10% LESS THAN WHAT YOU PAY FOR.. For such huge amount, they shouls atleast remove black out day restriction imho..

If they are premium service providers with PREMIUM quality network , why dont they charge SIMPLY or STRAIGHT FORWARD as Rs119/month???? Because it will seems too much for SMS to any common man, who can immediately guess it as almost 5 TIMES costlier than what competition is offering.. CHARGING Re1/DAY IS NOTHING BUT A HIDDEN CHARGE imho...

Anyway EVEN IF YOU THINK this offer is OK, you have to thank RELIANCE only.. If reliance didnt bring down that SMS offer, these rogues will never bring these SMS offers even for Rs300/month.. You know onething, these guys were charging Rs3.50 for a single SMS sent while roaming, TILL 2 months back...

===============================================================================

COOL DOWN Sachin... Cool Down.. You have just got "Denial Of SMS sending" problem from Reliance... But I have been cheated by Reliance (during Mukesh period) in my DAPO scheme for eg: charged for using net, even though I didn't used any, Charging Rs506.50 for rent instead of Rs500, Charging late fees for not paying that EXTRA Rs6.50 charged...

But what we honest people have to do is "ACCEPT A FACT AS FACT"..

Fact 1) Reliance is NOW offering without IFs and HIDDEN CHARGES and it is SIMPLE & Straight Forward

Fact 2) Airtel & Vodafone did LOWER their tariff ONLY DUE TO RELIANCE & DOCOMO

Fact 3) Even now Airtel & Voda are giving CONFUSING & HIDDEN Tariff plans

Fact 4) If users get increased and NO MORE SPECTRUM allocated, the TRAFFIC will be very high, that is TRUE for Voda/Airtel too

Fact 5) Airtel & Voda is still milking its customers in neck-tight competition also

Fact 6) So Airtel/Voda are likely behind delaying of MNP

Fact 7) We need to give some time for Reliance network to come on par with Airtel/Voda

Fact 8] If not so many HEAVY users are in a network, then the NETWORK will be SUPERIOR & Airtel/voda has LITTLE roaming users, mostly Prepaid users, heavy CUG users (apart from corp customers, for whom they charge LESS)

Fact 9) Serious roamers (like me usually 15 days/month out of HOME circle) avoid Airtel/Voda for roaming and use BSNL, Reliance, Tata only..

Fact 10 Network is for USAGE only & if usage increases n/w quality decreases especially when new spectrum allocation is stopped

===============================================================================

But ONE THING, those guys who are delaying MNP (read Voda/Airtel) fearing for Docomo or Reliance is good for DOCOMO & RELIANCE TOO... Till the launch of MNP, they 2 can improve their presence & n/w quality and then THEIR (voda/Airtel) :'( CRY OF SUPERIOR NETWORK WILL BRING NO FRUITS, for SURE...

Edited December 22, 2009 by kanagadeepan

[Himanshu Singh 19]

1.Well I am not angry with Reliance dude, I am angry at myself for putting too much brain into their problem. I should have switched over to my other numbers the day this problem started.

2.At least you agree I am not at fault for being cross with Reliance. But you are wrong to say that Reliance is not at fault? If only they could anticipate such problems they would not have been in a tearing hurry to launch sms packs.I was happy with my Rs.25 sms coupon for 1000 local sms.

3.You sounded unbelievable when you said these 'small problems' can be rectified in a 'few months'.Who would wait for a few months?If you had to face such problems for 15 days I am sure you would start using your alternate number which I am sure you have.

4.I will take you down the memory lane. Which was the first operator which reduced its base STD tariff to Rs.1.5 from Rs.2.4? Airtel. Reliance did so after a few weeks. So breaking new grounds is not a monopoly of Reliance as you may like to believe.

5.You are right when you say that roaming sms were charged@Rs.3.5/sms till May 2009. But the charges were reduced after TRAI's recommendations. It was not done because of any competition.TRAI had asked for cut in roaming sms rates in NOV/DEC.2008.

6.I dont know how did you reach the conclusion that 'Airtel and Vodafone have lower roaming customers than Reliance'.

7.I get your logic that when customers increase it would lead to network congestion and service quality would drop. But why should the customer suffer because the Service provider has got lot of subscribers? And have you ever heard a company facing this kind of 'small problem' for 15 days at a stretch?

8.I agree the biggies are behind delay in MNP. But are you or even people at Rcom sure that once MNP kicks in lot of Airtel/Vodafone users will switch over to Rcom? Would I be wrong to think that all the tariff moves(Simple plans for calls and sms) by Rcom was in anticipation of MNP so that it could retain its customers? No other telco is in so hurry to reduce its charges so steeply? Would that not mean people at Rcomm are aware of the fact that a lot of customers may leave them as would users of other operators?

9.If you are hoping that the delay in implementation of MNP would give Rcomm time to sort out its network, would other telcos also not improve their services and networks? What makes you hope only Rcomm will improve its network?

10.Is it because you think it has the biggest challenge to improve its network?

11.Rcomm(CDMA+GSM) has the highest amount of spectrum in India in my opinion.But RGSM is pathetic in Delhi-NCR. I cant comment on other circles. Rcdma had been plagued by sms problems for a 'small period' of 15 days.

[swapnil05in 2]

I too 2nd the above view?

good answer.

[KumaarShah 143]

@sachin,

I remember that you were a die-hard fan of RCOM till end Nov.'09. And now with this SMS problem, you have become RCOMs critic. It happens with all - only when the brick falls on your head, you know the pain...

Hope your problem gets sorted out fast...

[Himanshu Singh 19]

@Kumaar, yes you are right.

I remember having exchange of opinions with you some 2 years ago or so. But I hardly faced any issue except for handsets till then.

But I really am not emotional with my providers.I dont let them master/use me. hehe.

[ramtech 47]

In my house Idea, Docomo and Reliance netoworks available.

No airtel signals. .But airtel boasts it has No.1 Network ,all false claims

Surprisingly nearest tower to my house is Airtel

[Himanshu Singh 19]

1.Well I am not angry with Reliance dude, I am angry at myself for putting too much brain into their problem. I should have switched over to my other numbers the day this problem started.

2.At least you agree I am not at fault for being cross with Reliance. But you are wrong to say that Reliance is not at fault? If only they could anticipate such problems they would not have been in a tearing hurry to launch sms packs.I was happy with my Rs.25 sms coupon for 1000 local sms.

3.You sounded unbelievable when you said these 'small problems' can be rectified in a 'few months'.Who would wait for a few months?If you had to face such problems for 15 days I am sure you would start using your alternate number which I am sure you have.

4.I will take you down the memory lane. Which was the first operator which reduced its base STD tariff to Rs.1.5 from Rs.2.4? Airtel. Reliance did so after a few weeks. So breaking new grounds is not a monopoly of Reliance as you may like to believe.

5.You are right when you say that roaming sms were charged@Rs.3.5/sms till May 2009. But the charges were reduced after TRAI's recommendations. It was not done because of any competition.TRAI had asked for cut in roaming sms rates in NOV/DEC.2008.

6.I dont know how did you reach the conclusion that 'Airtel and Vodafone have lower roaming customers than Reliance'.

7.I get your logic that when customers increase it would lead to network congestion and service quality would drop. But why should the customer suffer because the Service provider has got lot of subscribers? And have you ever heard a company facing this kind of 'small problem' for 15 days at a stretch?

8.I agree the biggies are behind delay in MNP. But are you or even people at Rcom sure that once MNP kicks in lot of Airtel/Vodafone users will switch over to Rcom? Would I be wrong to think that all the tariff moves(Simple plans for calls and sms) by Rcom was in anticipation of MNP so that it could retain its customers? No other telco is in so hurry to reduce its charges so steeply? Would that not mean people at Rcomm are aware of the fact that a lot of customers may leave them as would users of other operators?

9.If you are hoping that the delay in implementation of MNP would give Rcomm time to sort out its network, would other telcos also not improve their services and networks? What makes you hope only Rcomm will improve its network?

10.Is it because you think it has the biggest challenge to improve its network?

11.Rcomm(CDMA+GSM) has the highest amount of spectrum in India in my opinion.But RGSM is pathetic in Delhi-NCR. I cant comment on other circles. Rcdma had been plagued by sms problems for a 'small period' of 15 days.

Friends, I was right. Rcomm GSM+CDMA holds 200.5MHz of spectrum while Airtel holds only 167MHz. ET has reported this today and I have posted that article "Rcomm, Tatas have lowest spectrum efficiency" in INDIAN TELECOM DISCUSSION.

[csmart 472]

vodafone is good at marketing. they offers were always mesleading and never offered plans that can be compared with competition. they are enjoying such a huge customer base as people feel its good to be on vodafone and also due to one of the first one to start service. if MNP is available, i think voda and airtel will be the highest loosers.. you will never ever get cheap rates from voda...

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Friends, I was right. Rcomm GSM+CDMA holds 200.5MHz of spectrum while Airtel holds only 167MHz. ET has reported this today and I have posted that article "Rcomm, Tatas have lowest spectrum efficiency" in INDIAN TELECOM DISCUSSION.

Airtel holds 167.5MHz for Pan India GSM only and Reliance holds 200.5MHz for Pan India CDMA+GSM services...

Difference 33.5MHz only for covering India with GSM AND CDMA services...

[srk006 21]

^^^ well that's what I was also thinking RCOM CDMA +GSM should be compared as two different companies.. right?

In that sense; spectrum for two networks + 33.5MHz= Airtel's spectrum

[Himanshu Singh 19]

Reliance started operations in 2004. Do you know when Airtel started?

And I am sure one cant complain if Airtel/Vodafone/Idea/BSNL/MTNL have more GSM spectrum as the prevailing policy was subscriber-linked spectrum allocation. Now that is being debated.

And RGSM surely has start up spectrum of 4.4MHz(I would stand corrected if this figure is wrong) in each circle.AND I am more than sure that the start up spectrum which RGSM has is more than enough to cater to the customers it has.The point being made here is that RGSM has failed to utilise its spectrum porperly atleast in Delhi-NCR.Calls dont get connected after 5 pm in one try. All routes remain busy.

Docomo does not even have this luxury of having pan india spetrum. It has no spectrum in Delhi for instance.

And if Rcomm had enough subscribers it would have been entitled to additional spectrum. It suddenly can't complain about Telecom policies. Even other companies must not complain. The conditions were set before the companies launched themselves.

What point I tried to make was this- Rcomm has been able to corner the largest chunk of national resource by way of floating two separate companies followed by Tata comm.The court had judged in their favour by saying that the policy is technology neutral.This judgment paved the way for dual licenses for these two companies.

Why did Rcomm and Tata want to switch over to GSM? And why did no GSM telco ever even think about foraying into CDMA?Therein lies the answer.

Edited December 23, 2009 by sachinrocks

[Himanshu Singh 19]

^^^ well that's what I was also thinking RCOM CDMA +GSM should be compared as two different companies.. right?

In that sense; spectrum for two networks + 33.5MHz= Airtel's spectrum

Should that not be Spectrum for 2 companies= Airtel spectrum+33.5MHz?

[Mukeshlst 5]

leave alone unlimited sms packs, vodafone is still charging re.1 & rs.1.50 for local, national and roaming SMS… even when it has been exposed that sms costs are less than 1/2 or .5 paisa!!!

the problem with vodafone is its new firangi ceo & marketing head. they don’t understand india and indians and are trying to loot people. they think that zoozoo’s will make people pay 5-10 times more than competition! thats their attitude.

i love zoozoo but i hate vodafone. vodafone will be humbled only when people stop buying their products and services! mnp would have been a great opportunity to show them their place, but alas that too has been delayed.

it may be late but in next few months vodafone will be shown its true place by people and customers of india, when they get the power of choice through number portability!

[srk006 21]

Should that not be Spectrum for 2 companies= Airtel spectrum+33.5MHz?

Right!!

leave alone unlimited sms packs, vodafone is still charging re.1 & rs.1.50 for local, national and roaming SMS… even when it has been exposed that sms costs are less than 1/2 or .5 paisa!!!

the problem with vodafone is its new firangi ceo & marketing head. they don't understand india and indians and are trying to loot people. they think that zoozoo's will make people pay 5-10 times more than competition! thats their attitude.

i love zoozoo but i hate vodafone. vodafone will be humbled only when people stop buying their products and services! mnp would have been a great opportunity to show them their place, but alas that too has been delayed.

it may be late but in next few months vodafone will be shown its true place by people and customers of india, when they get the power of choice through number portability!

well its the other way around ... people still think voda and airtel's offers are the best and they have the best network. People get carried away by their ads/jingle/brand ambassadors etc...

[vvinayakpai 26]

Its the kind of impression these companies make in the minds of the people.

I dont like Airtel personally, but I cannot deny the fact that their advertisements are always bang on target and very meaningful. I still remember those beautiful ads, like the one without boundaries one, and especially the one with a young kid calling up his dad complaining about his mother, and also the recent one, where the kid gives his dad's mobile number to all his freinds.

It is not always necessary that you have the lowest tariff to promote yourself. Sometimes you must have the knack to market your products in a more efficient manner which does the trick in the long run.

Thats exactly why Airtel outnumbers any other operator!!!!!!!!!!

[Himanshu Singh 19]

@Vinayak, you have hit the nail on the head. I have always found Airtel's ad very interesting, inspiring,emotional at various times. Even Idea for that matter has done well with its ads.

I have never used an Airtel connection in life.

Edited December 24, 2009 by sachinrocks