From an article in Techtree
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indeed RELIANCE itself is a model of reliability ..and no doubt it has the best corporate muscle in india.so what’s this extremely attractive offer of RELIANCE INDIA MOBILE ...see guys there are two sides of a coin , different ! just like two perceptions , always different..so here is mine.. The Media has been going ga-ga about Reliance Infocomm’s new Pioneer Offer.Everybody has nothing but good things to say about it.It isn’t all as rosy as it seems.FIRST-of all, NO, the mobile phone isn’t free; it’s a hidden cost and a big one as we will soon see.SECOND, you pay a hefty Rs. 3, 000 as Club Membership fees, which entitle you to receive privileged services like game downloads, ring tones, and a more of such freebies. A marketing booklet with discount coupons worth Rs.1 Lac also comes along (come on Reliance, a Mid-Day newspaper does a better job at giving us free coupons).THIRD, all the billing money for three years has to be pledged to Reliance in the form of post dated cheques, or full upfront payment, and no, there isn’t a trial period for the service. If you choose to exit the plan in the first year, no matter what the reason might be, you stand to lose the mobile phone, club membership charges, and Rs. 100 from each of your post dated cheques.Fourth, all seemingly free services like Voice Mail, Call Divert, Call Conferencing and Data Connectivity (Internet Services) are billed to you at regular talktime rates according to Reliance’s Website. As for those who consider that airtime rates are quite cheap, let’s analyze it a little further.CALCULATIONS AT A GLANCEReliance bills at Rs. 1, 800 per quarter, and the club membership of Rs. 3, 000 is compulsory and non refundable. That makes a total of Rs.24, 600 for three years. [3000 security + (1800 x 4 quarters x 3 years)]. In return you get 400 minutes of talktime free each month. i.e. 14, 400 minutes for 3 years. Divide the two and you will realise that each minute within plan limits ends up costing you around Rs.1.71 or Rs. 5.13 for a three minute standard call . And once the plan’s call time is up, you pay standard BSNL/MTNL landline fees.This implies that every call you make is getting you closer to bearing the cost of owning the mobile phone.Let’s deduct the price of the handset from the amount you pay to Reliance and see the difference. Reliance claims the phone costs around Rs. 10, 500, but we don’t believe that is a fair estimate! Considering they buy it in bulk and the options are fairly limited, let’s place the price of the handset at Rs. 7, 600. The total fee for the new plan without mobile phone will then amount to Rs. 17, 000 (Rs. 24, 600 - Rs. 7, 600). The total cost-per- minute at Rs. 1.18 in this case is still more than that of the basic telephony providers they vie to replace.Though cheaper than other mobile phone services, it is still costlier than a landline. This, despite the fact that setting up a CDMA2000 1x network costs less than landline based solutions.The quality and features, Reliance has been harping on will be seen in time.The low-cost STD calls too are for Reliance-to-Reliance phones only. If you wish to call up a standard land line, you pay standard MTNL/BSNL charges.All this, and a lot more needs to be explained in clearer terms for the consumer to gauge how well this plan meets his data/telecom needs. Services that Reliance claims it will offer need to be explained in a lot more detail to make it clear to the customer about what exactly he’s going to get. As for whether the service would really deliver what it claims; ONLY TIME WILL TELLWe would rather sit back and watch the playing field level up, and then pick the tried and tested option that has proven its performance.Cheers mates..:-)