Hello friends it?s me again the greatone after a short break of about 10 days writing my 10th rvu at mouthshut. Well I m very happy to reach this (small) milestone of writing rvu?s which will now be two digit numbers. This time I’m writing a rvu on HUTCHISON MAX TELECOM known to us as HUTCH and formerly known as CELFORCE in Gujarat.
The main reason for writing my rvu on HUTCH: I was just reading rvu?s on cellular service providers and came across the rvu?s of Hutch. While most of the rvu?s have been from Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai (Orange) and Delhi, I didn?t find a rvu on Hutch?s service in Gujarat .Well I have been a user of Hutch Prepaid since the last one and a half year and let me tell u it has the best coverage atleast in Gujarat (Don?t know bout the other cities). I have used Idea and BSNL and they offer nothing good except low call costs and poor services! This rvu is about of HUTCH PREPAID and NOT POST PAID.
New Hutch prepaid SIM comes with Rs.99/- with Rs.19/- worth talktime which is valid for 7 days. And now with the rates dropped in the processing fees of the recharge I’m getting a talktime of Rs.275/- for Rs.324/- recharge valid for one month (may be a promotional offer be4 I was getting Rs.225/- for Rs.324/-). Now as TRAI has increased prices HUTCH also has done that so for a Rs324 recharge u get a talk time of Rs.185/-
Benefits I m getting for using HUTCH:
=> Hutch has the largest network in Gujarat. I have been to far off places in Gujarat like some of the villages and to my surprise I found network of Hutch even there.
=> U can recharge from almost anywhere. Hutch recharge coupons are available everywhere here. Even the stationary shops have the Hutch recharge coupons. In my area I have atleast 6 shops who have Hutch recharge facility. We can recharge online from their website as well.
=> Free SMS. With other cellular operators offering sms for as low as 60ps like BSNL, HUTCH is also now offering 2000 free sms for Rs.25/-. I have been using this service for 2 months now. But these free SMS are only to local GSM mobiles.
=> Plethora of Value Added Services. Hutch has bag of Value Added Services. Some of the services are Jet Airways schedule, Train Schedules, Jokes, Hutchworld (GPRS service), Passport Inquiry, BBC news, Astrology, Chaugadhiya(Mahurats), Cricket scores, university results etc. I extensively use Railway Inquiry because it gives information about ur current status if u r having waiting or RAC. I cannot use Hutchworld because I don?t have a GPRS phone. Initially Hutch was offering free hutchworld activation for 20 days when it was launched here. But now it has become paid with Rs.99/- per month.
=>Hutch has tie ups with all the major sites like Indiatimes, msn, rediff which provide sms services like Ringtones, Logos, Picture msgs. IDEA doesn?t have any service of downloading ringtones and BSNL doesn?t have it too.
=>Messenger services like Yahoo and MSN messenger also have tie-ups with Hutch. This is one reason why I like Hutch very much. Only Yahoo and MSN messenger have compatibility with Hutch. I can now remain on SMS on yahoo messenger from my cell for free. Although for replying or sending messages I get charged. But this is quite useful when u have ur frnds or relatives who live in different states or countries. If they want to call u to chat they can just send a msg to ur cell and u can then go online and chat with them. And with MSN messenger u can now receive emails directly to ur cell (Rs.1/- per msg).
=>One great service Hutch offers is VOICE MESSAGING. This facility allows me to send voice messages to my relatives in USA. The charges are Rs.4/- per minute. But we don?t need to have any STD/ISD facility to access this service. This works on our normal cell. And whenever our relatives wanna answer these msgs they can answer them as well and we will receive these messages as SMS so we can listen to them. Unique facility!
=> Recently Hutch has also set up charger units for cell phones in many multiplexes. If battery of ur cell runs low u can charge it free of cost.
=>Miss Call Alerts.Hutch offers this unique and useful facility of alerting u of miss calls. Whenever our cell if switched off or when the battery drains of then u don?t know who?s called to u. But Hutch offers this unique service that whenever ur phone is down then as soon as u get connected again they will sms u with a list of numbers that have tried to call on ur cell with their no. of attempts and also the time of last attempt!!
As every coin has two sides there are some demerits of using Hutch services as well.
Problems I faced using Hutch:
=>First and foremost is the COST. As far as I know Hutch is the costliest service provider. The SMS?s u send to cells of other states are Rs.2/- per msg. and using the above mentioned Value Added Services cost u Rs.1.5/- per msg. Roaming also is heavy on pocket. While all the calls which are made or received have an addon of Rs.7 per min which is quite costly. That means even if we have incoming calls free then while roaming we have to pay 7 bucks per minute to talk!! The outgoing call cost to GSM mobiles is Rs.2.40/- per min and outgoing to other phones is Rs.2.80/-(quite costly). Outgoing STD charges to GSM mobiles is Rs.3.00/- per minute.
=>Sometimes SMS?s are delayed and not sent. My msgs to my frnds have delayed for almost 2 days (Although Hutch makes it sure that msgs reach their destination even after 2 days lol). I?ll give u an example: I and my friends had planned for a movie one day. I was given the responsibility of inquiring about the tickets and was supposed to send sms?s to my frnds (Reason being I had free sms). I inquired about the tickets and sent msgs about the time and day of the movie. Most of them received my sms but my two friends didn?t. And they received this msg a day after we had already seen the movie!!!. It was good that they had already called me and inquired bt the movie else I would have been a gonner!!!!
=>No network entering Maharastra. I have been facing this problem since the last two times I visited Mumbai last year. Whenever u leave the last station of Gujarat i.e. Vapi and enter Maharastra territory u don?t get the network for about first 50-60 kms in Maharastra then the full network comes. I don?t know if they have rectified this problem because it was last year when I visited Mumbai.
=>Customer Service Centre. Although I haven?t faced any problem with the customer service with Hutch as yet but u have wait long to get through the call when u call the toll free customer care number. Because its toll free we don?t mind waiting but then its time wasting as well.
Well this concludes my experience with Hutch so far. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. And last but not the least
HUTCH ROCKS IN GUJARAT TOO!!!