I am a IDEA user however my wife is a happy client of CellOne. She is happy because of many reasons but I am happy because ……. All of you know the reason…… no much stress on the purse.
Today (15 May 2003) BSNL announced a reduction of upto 66 per cent in their CellOne tariff. They have introduced a new package as Plan 525, where cellular to cellular calls are as low as 40 paise. SMS charge reduced to 60 paise against the existing one rupee. Just read in Rediff about this further reduction in their tariff. New tariff would become effective from 17th May 2003. This great offer prompted me to write this review.
This is great news to all CellOne users. My wife opted for plan 225. For Plan 225, new rate for cell-to-cell call will be costing Rs 2.20 and cell to fixed Rs 2.40. For cell-to-cell STD calls the company would charge Rs 2.40 for all distance slabs. In case of cell to fixed STD calls, BSNL would charge Rs 2.4 for distance up to 500 km and Rs 3.6 for distance above 500 km.
As per this announcement reduction in tariff for Plan 225 ranges between 8-66 per cent.
CellOne seems to be the cheapest Cellular service in the world. They not only cover maximum area in this country with reasonably good sound quality due huge existing landline network of BSNL but also provide free roaming facility through the country. Not yet received network busy message.
How much we paid for the connection? We have paid just Rs.500/- and no deposit because we already have a BSNL landline connection. Activation charge Rs. 200/- added to the first bill. Local Telephone exchange get the SIM Card from their Pune office but it took only three days in our case.
We are using this connection since December 2002 and maximum charge so far paid is about Rs.393/-. On the other hand, we pay more than Rs.1200/- every month to IDEA with minimum possible facility.
Many complaints about its SMS service however we have not faced anything like that. We receive and send SMS without any problem.
As usual like any government organization, we do not expect great online service from CellOne and we have never tried it. BSNL guys at the local telephone exchange provide good service. However, it all depends on the quality of staff in a local exchange. So, you may encounter some typical PSU staff in most of the exchanges.
Paying bill is not that easy because we have to pay by DD. Fortunately local exchange collects the DD so need not spend on courier. In case of IDEA, we have to send the draft by courier to Pune. They are honest in billing - so far no bitter experience.
According to one of the employees of local exchange, they have 20 lakh (2 million) consumer just after 5 months of its introduction. That’s great. This is because CellOne is the only alternative if you want to be a mobile owner and do not want to spend more than Rs.500/- per month.
Do not want to write about complete tariff because it changes very fast.
For more information -
https://bsnl.co.in/service/tariff_cellone_post.htm
https://bsnl.co.in/service/mobile_tariff.htm
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This is still the best if you want basic facilities and not interested to d/l rigntone etc.
Rates have changed - pl check the latest rates
19/01/2005