Sometime in the distant past, Reliance Mobile (in Poona, Maharashtra) was a fairly reliable service (at least for voice calls). This is my 2nd and possibly last review of Reliance Mobile …after remaining a subscriber for 3.5 years. Due to the below mentioned problems, I gave up on Reliance Mobile last week …and am now Reliance-free! …..YAY!!! ?
If you are considering a Reliance Mobile connection now, please consider the disadvantages below -
1) Pre paid users get no value added services like Call Waiting, Voice Mail, Call Forwarding, etc. If your phone is busy, the caller won’t even hear a recorded message to that effect!
2) SMSing is a HORRIBLE experience with Reliance. Some handsets support only 140 character SMSes. Some support upto 160 characters. Currently Reliance is fragmenting incoming SMSes above 157 characters (occurs even right in-between words!) into multiples of 157 characters… hence you will spend lot more time and many more button clicks dealing with multiple SMSes …whereas you would only be dealing with ONE SMS on a GSM phone. Many/most handsets don’t even support Reliance’s implementation of LMS. Note: even low end GSM phones support 500 to 900 character SMSes.
3) SMSes often get lost on the Reliance network, so you may get only some parts of the SMS! Your outgoing SMS may or may never reach the recipient. Sometimes the recipient may get your SMS upto 12 hours late!
4) Sending an SMS takes longer on the Reliance network …and often you get a “Send failed” network failure message …and you have to try again!
5) Support for international SMSing is even worse!
6) You will not be able to send MMS to non Reliance users.
7) Reliance network currently plays wrong recorded messages when your phone is out of coverage area/switched off/busy, etc. For eg. if your phone is switched off, you may hear “There is no response”! Plenty of scope for confusion/misunderstanding!
8) Pre paid vouchers/special tariff vouchers/SMS vouchers can be very difficult to get …even at Reliance Web-Worlds.
9) Very limited options of sad handsets compared to GSM. The situation is worse for mid and high end handsets. However, range of low end handsets isn’t too bad, for the price.
10) Very limited flexibility regarding changing of handsets due to lack of SIM/RUIM card support. (however, Reliance is now supplying some RUIM enabled handsets… but it is not the norm). If your phone/battery dies and you urgently need your number to be active, you cannot just swap phones with your friend/colleague …unless both of you have RUIM card enabled Reliance handsets.
11) CDMA handsets have poor resale value. If you want to exit Reliance, you may be left holding a useless handset.
12) CDMA handsets generally have poorer battery life. However some handsets with decent battery are now available… so it depends on the individual model.
13) Reliance network, which was once one of the best (for voice) has deteriorated significantly. There are times of total network outages …and even congestion.
14) Even checking the services of checking the balance of your pre-paid a/d does not work thru most of the day. And Reliance has no system of on-screen balance display the way it is done on GSM phones.
15) Customer service is almost non-existent. The toll free number *333 is permanently engaged thought the day. One may get thru very late in the nights if one is lucky. And when you do get thru, Reliance only hires qualified retards as customer service executives …so expect no redresal for any problem. Even the service standard of the Chairman’s office/Customer Assurance Cell has gone to the dogs.
16) Highway coverage and coverage in hill-stations is very poor/non-existent. However in-city coverage is pretty good. Reliance is good for use only in cities.
17) Existing Reliance customers have very little significance for Reliance. No attractive schemes/bonuses are given. The only rewards given are in the form of some extra Reliance Mobile to Reliance Mobile (not even to Reliance FWPs!) talk time …which is completely useless, if like me you have nobody with a Reliance Mobile to call!
18) Expect arbitrary and unexplained deductions from your pre-paid account. At least on 5 ocasions Reliance deducted amounts from my pre-paid a/c and after repeated emails to the Chairman’s office, the amount was credited back! You will have to keep a very close check no you’re a/c with Reliance…. expect regular pilfering. Customer care (if by some miracle you can reach them) won’t even entertain your complaints. The standard reply is something like “Reliance has word class, error free billing systems …hence, please get lost”.
As of now, there are very few, if any, advantages of using a Reliance phone. The only benefit you may observe is a slightly better voice clarity in adverse conditions like inside dense buildings, when you are moving fast in a car/train, in humid weather, etc. Other than this, on every single other aspect you will be at a disadvantage.
In my opinion, the only incentive to use a CDMA service like Reliance or Tata can be had if the operator subsidizes the many disadvantages by offering a lower tariff. Tata is doing this to some extent with attractive schemes, but Reliance which started out as a poor man’s option, now expects subscribers to pay premium tariffs for a service that is sub standard by every aspect. For eg. for pre paid, Reliance, in its Freedom Tariff plan (base plan) still charges Re. 1.79 /min to local mobiles when all other operators have brought down charges to as low as 50 paise and Re. 1 per minute. Currently for post paid connections, no SMS packages are available. Hence you will be poorer by Rs. 2 per national SMS whereas other operators are offering National SMSes for as low as 0.01 to 25 paise (Tata Indicom offers 5, 000 national SMSes for Rs. 50 only).
Note - The comments in the "Comments" section include comments on my 1st Review which has been overwritten by Mouthshut. Please rate the review if you find it uself. :)