I have been a customer of Reliance CDMA, right from the day of its inception. CDMA was a new technology and I decided to be an early adaptor. Initially, everything seemed hunky-dory, but then the quality started deteriorating. Network problems, disconnect, messages not sending/receiving, all became common problems. On top of that CDMA as a technology had limited handsets. The same handsets available on GSM were more than 30% costly in CDMA. I desperately wanted out, but had to retain Reliance as this was my business number and I couldn’t dispose it.
Finally, Multiple Number Portability was announced and it was a golden opportunity for me to move to GSM and I jumped onto the bandwagon. Here’s the procedure that was supposed to be followed:
a) Send a message to 1900 from your mobile and you will get a porting request ID
b) Go to the operator of your choice and fill in the porting form and new application, submit id and address proof and photo and pay the porting fee and new operator’s fee
c) Within 7 days, you will get a porting approval and the date and time of porting
d) On the scheduled time, the old number gets deactivated and the new number is activated and presto - porting over!!
Now a) and b) went smoothly for me, I got my porting request and chose Vodafone as my new operator, got my new SIM. They even waived the portability charge of Rs.19/-. Then yesterday (5 days after submitting request), I got the porting approval and was told that I would get a message intimating me of the date and time of porting.
Today morning, I tried the new SIM and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was active and I started using it. But then, by evening I realised something was wrong - the old handset was still active!!! Now the situation at present is like this:
1) Incoming calls are going to my Vodafone number
2) Outgoing calls can be made from both Reliance and Vodafone number
3) BOTH NUMBERS CAN BE USED SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!! I tested this out by making outgoing calls fro both numbers at the same time and it worked!!!!
4) Messages can be sent from Reliance handset, but I get the confirmation/answer in Vodafone!!
5) When I check the balance on Reliance, I get the balance SMS of Reliance on Vodafone!! Wow, what a synergy between the two rivals operators!!
6) Best part is balance on both handsets are active. If I use Reliance handset, the balance there gets deducted and if I use Vodafone, the balance there is utilised, but only thing is that status for both is only in Vodafone!
Now, I have a prepaid connection for both, but supposing I had Reliance postpaid - then even after porting, I would still be getting to use Reliance talktime for free!!!!
The whole thing is a mess. Well, as a consumer it is fine for me, I am getting a double benefit. But what about the old operator? Isn’t it a loss for him?, not that I care :)
And just imagine the potential problems if there are two handsets with the same number!!!
Isn’t this a royal mess? Govt. should have brought out clear procedures to handle the whole thing. And there is no central organisation/number you can call to sort out the mess.
Well, anyway I have got my new Vodafone number (which I really wanted). But at the same time, the two numbers is a bit confusing, I hope in the process, I don’t miss out on calls/messages.
Waiting to see what happens in the coming days, maybe the old connection will be deactivated after the mandatory 7 days! I will update this review based on what happens!
But coming to the subject matter : my advice is - if you don’t like your old operator, ruthlessly use portability to switch over to a new operator. As a consumer, this is the best opportunity for you to exercise your freedom of choice, so use it wisely.