SMART not unsmart at all. Review on Reliance Mobile Operator

For the last 5 years I have been using the prepaid connection. From the

first day I have the connection from Hutch(Kolkata), BSNL(Kolkata),

Airtel(Coimbatore), BPL(Coimbatore), Aircel(Coimbatore), Reliance

CDMA(Kolkata), BSNL(Kolkata), SMART(Kolkata).Currently I am using

BSNL and SMART connection. I have used BSNL for a long time and

according to me it was the best in terms of cost and coverage; and it

is the best still now in terms of coverage. And Reliance CDMA is the

worst in terms of all. It is a different experience al together.

Why did I choose Smart?

After

I bought a dual SIM phone I was looking for a personal SIM card. Also I

wanted to have a postpaid connection because, it was very much

problematic to buy the recharge coupon, check validity period etc. So I

checked the different tariffs from the different players. My obivious

choice was BSNL. But unlike to the other players in the market their

postpaid plan was costlier than the prepaid. I did not find suitable

plan from the Vodafone or Airtel where the plan charges are low(very

low). Initially I did not opt for the Reliance(I don't have a good

experience with the Reliance CDMA) also I need a GSM connection. One of

my friend suggested me that Smart is good though it is from Relience

stable. So I checked their site and found that there is a plan called

Plan99. It has a good tariff plan. All mobile local calls 50p. Above

all Rs 99 is the rental and I will get a Rs 99 talk time in any

network. I decided that I would go for this.

Getting this service*

I

called their customer care. They sent a Sell's executive to my office.

I completed all the formalities and got the SIM card within 15 days. Rs

250 was the service charge and Rs 250 was the security Deposit for

Local calls.

Billing

Billing is transparent. One of

their Kolkata office is just near our office at Salt Lake. I visited

with my first bill to them. They are very helpful and answered all  my

questions. Basically this is not a customer care or anything like that,

it is one of their back end office but still they are nice to dealt

with. For the first month they provide me all call details. For the

next months onwards it is chargeable and I didn't opt for it. When I

visit to their office they basically provide me a print out of my call

details. Till now no Billing dispute.

Only problem with them that

they don't have any online bill payment system. What do they provide is

that a free bill pick up service to every customer. Still I think

online payment system is  much more flexible. Anyway I go to their

office that is very nearby to my office and pay the bill.

Before I

need to do a Rs 300 recharge for my BSNL for every month. With this

Smart connection I need to pay rs 100 as the bill. So Rs 200/month

savings.

Coverage and Service

In West Bengal their

coverage is good. Most of the cases I get the line in one chance and no

call drop, noise etc are there. They have tie up with most of the

leading player in the market for the roaming facility. I have postpaid

plan and don't have any auto roaming facility. Once I tried to activate

it and called to their customer center and found that it is not a easy

process and need to submit number of documents, security deposit etc,

need to visit the home branch personally. So I left it there(I have

BSNL connection so everywhere I will get signal at least for the BSNL).

Unlike their own prepaid GPRS service, it is very costly in the

postpaid plan. GPRS rental is Rs 199(no free data usage) where in the

prepaid no rental is there. Also in the prepaid they have weekend

unlimited GPRS plan only for Rs 39. So it is costly indeed.

Now

overall I have wanted a simple cheap(but good) post paid plan for the

basic calls. For this simple requirement, it is really good and worth.

It would be excellent if they have a online bill payment facility and

low GPRS charges( Now my requirement gradually increases:-)