I am writing this post because a previous post on the same topic, on my other blog got a lot of traffic through search engines. So this’s a more elaborate and honest review of Reliance Wi-max(RWM for the rest of the post).
I had just shifted to a new place and was pondering over which internet connection to go for. I made some inquiries with Airtel and BSNL, they both didn’t have coverage of the area where I was staying. That royally pissed me off.
Anyways, I came to know of RMW through Google. Wi-max was a new technology, not many people were using it, and I wanted to try it out. Also, RMW was wireless, no landline required(like Airtel or BSNL). If you have an address proof + 500 bucks, you are all set to go.
- Getting the connection.
I called reliance, one guy from Reliance came the next day, collected the documents and “650″ bucks. The actual charge for installation was Rs 500(I didn’t know then). He said I’ll be getting the connection within 10-15 days. 2 days later I got a confirmation call from Reliance customer care, about my plans, and how much I had paid the agent. I told her 650 rupees. She told me that some engineers will come and set up the connection “soon”. What I didn’t know was that she had put a comment ,”False Transaction” against my application(I came to know about this later). So they questioned the agent, recovered the extra 150 bucks and this whole process took around a month. So the promised 10 days took more than a month. All thanks to that agent.
* A friend of mine got a new reliance connection few days back. He got the installation and everything done in 3 days. So I guess(in my case) it wasn’t reliance’s fault but that of the agent.
- Speed.
I had subscribed to Rs 999, 300kbps unlimited plan. Kbps, as in kilo-bits-per-second, not kilo-bytes-per-second. And what you see on your computer while downloading/uploading is in kilo-byte or mega-byte, not kilo-bits. Now 1 byte = 8 bit. So 300 k-bits-ps will give you a maximum of 37.5 k-byte-ps. With RWM, I used to get anything between 25-32 kbps.Good or bad?
*now RWM has upgraded the same plan to 400kbps for the same amount, the friend I mentioned earlier is getting around 48kbps. Neat!! In my case the network strength is to be blamed, I think.
- Problems/Disruptions/disconnections.
I used RWM around 7 months. It used to get disconnected pretty often. Calls to customer care were of no use. It would take at least 1 whole day for the service to resume, and thats when you are lucky. Otherwise the customer care executive will register a complaint, give you the complaint no. Sometimes, if you are lucky, a technical expert will call you back, this seldom happens though. The point being – frequent disruptions and non-existent technical support.
- Connection Sharing/Connecting Multiple Computers
As I mentioned in the earlier post as well, connecting multiple computers is a real pain. I didn’t get any help whatsoever from the Technical Support(yup.. the really do suck), we somehow figured it ourself. But the best thing about Reliance Wimax lies here. And that is – the speed doesn’t get distributed when multiple computers share the connection. So even if 3/4/5/6 computers share the connection the speed remained constant. We were sharing the connection among 3 laptops, sometimes 4/5 laptops when friends come over for multi-player games, but each one of us got 25-30 kbps speed. This was amazing, just imagine how much we downloaded from a single connection.
- Disconnection
The worst experience I had with RWM was during disconnection. I gave a call to the customer care and told them I want to terminate the connection as I was shifting to a new place. She, very politely, told me that an engineer will come to my place within a few days, terminate the connection and take back the hardware. Well, that “few days” never came. A month passed, I had shifted to a new place and they still haven’t come. I paid the bills due for the last month, called them again with the same request. And all these was months ago. You won’t believe this, they still email me the bills every month, the due amount, interest accrued. WTF??????
There you go, thats my experience with Rel Wimax(Reliance Broadnet). If you guys are wondering whether to go for Rel Wimax or not. Do read other reviews for the same. I have read few reviews where they actually “PRAISE” the service. But, those are very few. Guess it comes down to luck as well.
Neways would love to here your experience about Reliance Wimax or any other ISP.
