Hi,
I am giving my views based on the services in Bangalore and not in other cities.
INITIAL DEPOSITS AND ACTIVATION (none of this refundable)
Reliance: Rs 3000
Other mobiles: approximately Rs. 1000 to 1500 waived occasionally)
Landline from BSNL:Rs 3000 (15, 000 under OYT category)
Landline from Touchtel:Rs 3000
nobody is going to return this money whenever you disconnect
ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL SECURITY DEPOSITS (refundable)
For STD calls
Reliance:Rs 2000
Other mobiles:
AIRTEL:Rs 3000
BSNL mobile:Rs 1000 (waived if you are working in Govt. organizations)
Hutch:Rs 2000
ISD calls: Rs 300 for Reliance and Rs 600 for AIRTEL. Others I don’t know.
Landline you need not worry about this.
INSTRUMENT
Reliance:Free initially and then 100 Rs per month for 3 years. i.e., Rs 3600/-
GSM Mobile services: No mobile phone. You have to buy. A phone of size and weight equivalent to LG or Samsung’s CDMA will cost minimum of Rs 6000 to 7000.
BSNL:Instrument free. just the basic instrument.
Touchtel landline: Basic instrument free. If you want caller id phone you have to pay Rs 500 extra
RENTAL
RELIANCE:500 (includes rental, club privilege chargs and 160 min usage charges)
Other mobiles :if you want lowest rental then it would be like this.
Rental 350 per month but outgoing would be approximately Rs 2.00 per min.
Rental 545 per month then outoging will be 50 ps per minute
that means you need to pay minimum of Rs 545 compared to Reliance (500) for approximately the same outgoing price (anyway costlier in other mobiles)
so for comparision we will keep the rental at 545 per min (so that you can get outgoing at almost same prices in all mobiles or landlines)
Rental for BSNL landline: 250 (it’s 500 bimonthly)
Rental Touchtel landline: 240 (its useless connection. You can’t call BSNL or Reliance mobiles)
INCOMING CALLS CHARGES
Incoming calls is free everywhere from April 1st (according to TRAI) but except for AIRTEL everybody implemented it. AIRTEL’s mobile to mobile incoming is free
CALLER ID CHARGES
Reliance: Free
Other mobiles: Pre Paid: free PostPaid Connection: Rs 25/- in the cheaper schemes.
Landlines: BSNL: Rs 20 per momth Touchtel: Rs 30 per month
FREE OUTGOING CALLS (for Rs 500 rental)
Reliance: 400 min free
for all local, data calls, STD calls to Reliance IndiaMobile Phone anywhere in India and STD calls to any other phone number(including) within the circle that is in cities where Reliance service exists. Someitmes it includes even the lines outside state.
Other mobiles: No free outgiong minutes.
You get free talk time in case of pre paid connection. But then once that is over, you have to recharge again. So you have to pay administration charges.
For recharged prepaid card of Rs500 you get talktime worth Rs 350/- which is approximately equivalent to 175 minutes.
For the lowest prepaid card you get Rs 150 talk time i.e., 75 minutes
BSNL Landline 75 pulses free. (even if you talk for one minute, it will counted as one pulse), SO you will get anywhere from 75 minutes to 225 minutes. For a projected rental of 500(charged by Reliance, you get 150 to 450 minutes)
CHARGES FOR OUTGOING first 400 MINUTES (INCLUDING RENTAL)
RELIANCE: Free
Other mobiles (provided you take the costly 500Rs rental scheme): 50 paise per mintue i.e., Rs 549 + Rs 200 = 600
In case if you take Rs 345 scheme, then the cost would be Rs 345 + Rs 2 x 400 min = Rs 345 + 800 = Rs 1145 (BSNL is cheaper)
So, both the schemes you need to pay more than what reliance is charging.
For prepaid connection, suppose you take a connection for Rs 500, you get free talk time of Rs 350 which is equivalent to 175. Then again you need to pay Rs 500 to get another 175 minutes. So for 350 minutes talk time, you have to pay Rs 1000/-
If you like to talk more, then you can get the 1000 Rs connection from AIRTEL (others I don’t know), where you get Rs 850 or 425 minutes talk time free. Whatever way, you have to pay double amount as rental (compared to Reliance) for the same talk time.
LANDLINE: ONE
OUTGOING CHARGES beyond 400 MINUTES (WITHIN THE STATE WHERE THE MOBILE SERVICE EXISTS otherwise STD charges to be added)
RELIANCE: 40 PS PER MINUTE
Mobiles (with 545 rs rental schemes): 50 ps per minutes (for low rental schemes, it is Rs 2 per minute)
Prepaid schemes: Again it depends on the scheme: minimum is 50 ps per minute (except in the night 12:00 AM to 5:00 AM when it is free. very few who don’t have work the next day would be using that without sleeping)
landline: Pulse system. 1:20 ps per call for 3 minutes.
PULSE
Reliance: minimum 15 seconds. For a call lasting 1 minute 10 seconds you pay only 50 paise
Other mobiles: minimum one minute. For a call lasting 1 minute 10 seconds you pay a minimum of 1 rupee (rs 4 in low rental schemes)
BSNL: minimum 15 seconds in 325 scheme.
Landline: minimum 180 seconds. For a call lasting 1 minute 10 seconds you pay 1:20 paise.
MOBILE TO SAME MOBILE SERVICE ANYWHERE IN INDIA (outside the state)
RELIANCE: 40 ps per minute. Within first 400 minutes free, then 40 paise per minute
MOBILE TO MOBILE (Same service provider): Rs 3.00 + Airtime. i.e., a minimum of Rs 3.50 per minute
Note: Only Airtel is present in most of the states. Spice and Hutch limited
landline to Landline: STD charges: highest is Rs 4:80 per minute irrespective of time of the day (from today)
CARRY FORWARDING THE REMAINING TALK TIME
Reliance: Yes, within 3 months you can use your 1200 minutes any month. You need not do anything. Automatically it’s done.
Other mobiles. Only prepaid cards, you can carry forward provided you recharge within the validity period without forgetting. Otherwise, its gone.
Landline and postpaid connection: No carry forwarding system.
OK, we will continue in the next message. This one is too long
CHINNI