It was around 20th December 2004, when Airtel Had launched its Services in Orissa. I am using Airtel from the day when it had launched its services in Orissa. I am still using my Excel Prepaid Card (Prepaid Cellular Service from Cellone) which is excellent and cannot be compared with other prepaid cards in India.
I had opted for Airtel Prepaid Regular Plan which comes for Rs. 150/- (For Orissa it was 150- Launch Offer, but in other circles its around 200/-). Now let me give you the details of Airtel (Prepaid regular card & circle is ORISSA):
SIGNAL RECEPTION : Excellent
SIGNAL RECEPTION AREAS : Worked in Apartments & Basements where Cellone network was not present\was low.
TARIFF : Mobile2Mobile tariffs are good. But in case of Mobile2Landline its bit expensive. STD rates are fare. Pulse duration is 60 sec
RECHARGE DENOMINATIONS : Here I would say, Fair… coz, till recharge of Rs. 500 you get 30 days validity which is too less.
EASY CHARGE : Excellent way to recharge your card. Give away all your extra coins which are hanging in your pocket and get them as talktime.
HELLO TUNES : Good. Around 20% of the total users use this service
AIRTEL LIVE! : Excellent. But you need a nice phone for that with GPRS support & Color Display, then it’s a breeze.
CONNECTIVITY : Connects to numbers within 3-5 seconds.
SPECIAL OFFERS : Launches many special offers from time to time. Get FREE talktime when you recharge according to the dates given from the customer support via sms.
SIM SPACE : 32K sim available with every prepaid card
So, overall its not quite bad to opt for an Airtel Connection… And yes, if you get Excel Prepaid…use that instead.
Bye
Rajiv