I read some of the recent reviews here, before writing this one. I see that only 26% of Hutch users recommend the product. I’m not surprised, because network coverage is the most important thing we expect from a cellular provider, and Hutch has to do some work on this aspect.
Here are some reasons why I still stick to Hutch:
Network coverage within City: For those who stick to their cities, and don’t travel too much, Hutch is quite a good option. Within city limits, network coverage is never a problem with Hutch.
Customer Care: I can say Hutch is pretty decent. I have dealt with BSNL and Airtel before. Compared to those, Hutch is far more professional.
Online Account Management: ’My Hutch’ is what they call this service. This is the best thing about Hutch. They have this amazing website, where you can view your usage, view your bills, pay your bills, change your talk plan anytime you want, change your contact details.....
My Hutch is a demonstration of how well technology can be used...
You never have to visit a Hutch shop again, unless you want to surrender your SIM Card.
Talk Plans: Hutch offers this amazing Talk Plan. The rental is Rs.299. All calls to numbers in India cost Re.1. You can call Local or STD to any phone, landline or cellular, GSM or CDMA. It costs only a Rupee a minute. ISD calls to the US and UK cost Rs.7.20 a minute, which I think is great. The best part is that if you are Roaming inside India on a Hutch network, all incoming and outgoing calls cost only Re.1. a minute. SMS becomes a bit expensive, but wants to SMS anyway? Calls are so cheap these days...
Here are some of the things I DON’T like about Hutch:
- Feedback Page on My Hutch: Allows you just 49 characters to write feedback. I cannot complete even one sentence. Complained several times. Nothing happened.
For those who haven’t tried this: After you write a long feedback and click anywhere outside the box, it will tell you that your feedback should be less than 49 characters long, and.... the worst part... it will truncate your text to 49 characters. So whatever you wrote till now will go waste. 49 characters is all that remains.
- Telemarketing: They keep calling. They tell you that you are among the select few who are being offered this new plan, and you can save money by choosing this plan. Its better not to take their ’special’ plans. Obviously, they are not calling you to lose money.
Also, I suspect they sell customer details to marketing agencies. Very unethical.
Annoying SMSs: Caller tunes, Ringtones etc. etc. I hate them. I wish Hutch stops sending these messages.
Network Coverage: Though I have personally not faced this problem (except once when I was roaming in Andhra Pradesh), this is an area where Hutch would lose to Airtel or BSNL.
In spite of these problems, I still like Hutch, and I hope that they will improve.
Hutch has come a long way, from being a new player in a market which almost solely belonged to Airtel, to being its major competitor.