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.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
BSNL WiMax
I had booked for a USB Dongle for Rs.2800 + tax & etc = Rs. 2,912, BSNL has found that the Dongle feasibility for coverage is constraint to 15 mts. Since my house is off limits of that given 15 mts I had to opt for the Indoor WiMax CPE (Customer Premises Equipment). You can access this anywhere and anytime. The cost is Rs. 4,000/- . Monthly payment for both (Dongle & IW CPE) for unlimited usage is Rs. 1,000/- This is 512 kbps instruments.
As this is my 4th day of usage of this instrument on my online jobs. To check out the speed & coverage capabilities I had used it to do some download & upload of files above 2.12 GB to 19 GB files on Torrent sites & on my job networks.
The Result is as follows:-
I think there should be a 6 Green lighted (Normal) or Blue lighted bars (3G) should be there indicating the coverage strength but from the time installed I have only noticed 5 Bars just like mobile signal strength.
With 5 Bars & 2/3 Bars of signal strength (9:00am to 6:00pm):
The Speed as in transfer rate with my 512 kbps bandwidth (but shows the speed of 1682 kbps Download & 300 to 600 kbps upload, occasionally on certain servers while working on their site) can vary according to the sites & software’s we download to install for our jobs;
The speed may come to even the lowest of transfer rate 9 kbps to 30 kbps (I was pulling my hair at that time to see myself in a trial & error mode for BSNL)
With 5 Bars (Occasionally) & 2/3 Bars (Regularly) of signal strength (6:00pm to 4:45am):
As evening and night approached I saw the difference in Download & upload speed to be around 61 kbps to almost 464 kbps mostly with 2 or 3 bars of signal strength. Awesome from Our own BSNL. At least I get the work done in 4 or 6 hrs now than the 2 days or odd before with 20 to 40 kbps transfer rate/ packet rate / data transfer.
There is a consistency of 110 to 259 kbps transfer rate.
I have heard from a Business person who has taken a 1Mbps bandwidth is enjoying the speed & facilities. He & his wife are going for the high range ones as soon as they are launched the 8Mbps products but ordinaries like us may not be able to afford that too expensive instruments & monthly pay is also too high.
(Business UL 15000 Plus 2Mbps, 8Mbps Business 15000 with a cap of 125 GB: Home UL 1350 Plus 512 Kbps-affordable)
This I say only because I had it tested these days only on the difficult sites & from networked servers of Islands & inner lands where the inconsistency in coverage & signal strength is very drastic.
I thought I should appreciate the government firm with all our drawbacks & the drawbacks we create around us BSNL is trying to mend their flaws & come up with good & cheap services which could be affordable along with some benefits like unlimited usage without any hidden fair usage limits.
As for Technical Support they have been on call assistance every time I have called them & given right kind of advices & taken time to come to my place & show me why do they say; why some facilities are good or bad. The technical guys whom I have called spoke in understandable English & they can understand you too. They also can understand Hindi & return the favor in broken Hindi & English support.
Let me help you all by giving certain People to contact for BSNL WiMax truly an unlimited offer with awesome speed.
These are some of the BSNL members who make our Government firm BSNL a true service provider. They go out of their way to make the customer comfortable with what our country (India) has to offer in the best of the interest of the citizens & foreigners alike; most welcome to our facilities with all our simple ways (since we are after all an upcoming country in many ways with all resources to exploit for our own better existence.)
Contact for details regarding the instruments, feasibility & price:
Mr. Jhon Benedict (Sr.Engg: BSNL) : 09447419447
Tech Support:
I don’t have any officer’s name but anyone could call in for a tech details, User ID & Password related query in case you don’t get to Tech Support Mahin:
Tel@: +91-484-2363388
Tech Support Mr. Mahin: 09446594468
*There are few more Senior Engg Women & Junior Engg to name & provide numbers of who had helped in the same manner but they are designated to an area in this locality so there is no use in mentioning their name & ph #’s here, since they have a much lesser activity field than the mentioned & provided Numbers & Name.
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*If you have a data one Ustar modem which has a inbuilt WiFi router you can connect both Wimax & this modem to configure to get WiFi service at your home or Business area.