HarryJerry.com » Mobile

Pay Per Second Billing Storms India

Harry — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:45:12 +0000

The phone rings. I answer it and the person on the other end sounds like his arse is on fire. But he’s just another Indian pay per second billing subscriber making the most of it. Pay per second is finally here. Although Indian users have been accustomed to dirt cheap phone calls for a long time now, pay per second has added fuel to the fire. The market is flooded with new tariff options every now and then. So how does pay per second make things green for consumers?

Let’s first take a look at how things started to roll. TRAI had earlier recommended that mobile operators in India could offer pay per second billing to reduce costs even further. Tata in collaboration with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO launched their GSM based services recently under the brand name of Tata Docomo. The company surprised everyone with it’s initial offering of pay per second billing. Tata Docomo generated enough buzz to generate so much heat in other mobile operators’ pants that they had to come up with pay per second billing schemes as well. Aircel soon followed along with Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. Now state owned BSNL has also launched per second billing options.

So how does pay per second affect you? Well for one, it makes all calls cheaper. Say you talk for 50 seconds, you end up paying just for those 50 seconds. Not the entire Rupee. Also long distance calls become cheaper in this tariff option. You have to buy a voucher/recharge for a certain amount to migrate to per second billing. It’s different for all mobile operators. This is only available for pre-paid consumers in most cases except for Tata Docomo.

Happy talking!

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RCom’s Simply Reliance plan to bring tariff down

Harry — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:16:22 +0000

Reliance is known to create a buzz in the market with dirt cheap tariff plans. They did it the last time around with their CDMA services and they’re doing it again with their freshly brewed GSM network. Reliance has introduced a universal tariff plan across all it’s telecom circles which features calls for as low as 50p to any mobile network across the country. This includes national and local SMS as well. Currently the average call charges are currently between 49p to Rs.1.50 for local and STD calls respectively.

Current prepaid customers would need to purchase a special tariff voucher worth Rs 48 and post-paid customers can avail this plan at a monthly rental of Rs 99. STD callers can make the most out of this plan. Reliance plans to convert all the existing 256 tariff plans into this universal tariff plan titled Simply Reliance. The call rates are applicable to both CDMA and GSM users.

Vodafone and Airtel are currently in silent mode. Both the operators had earlier introduced cheaper STD calls for a monthly package of Rs 49/75. Tata Docomo had launched with an innovative concept of per second billing, something that TRAI has been recommending for a long time, while also luring customers with it’s much hyped unlimited GPRS packages. Tata Indicom had recently introduced flat call charges irrespective of the time usage. It’s quite evident that following this announcement the tariff plans shall drop further. The customer wins in any case.

TRAI had earlier announced that MNP(Mobile Number Portability) shall be implemented in category A circles from December 2009 while the rest of the country shall see the light from March 20, 2010. However it does come with certain limitations like you can switch operators only after 90 days from the activation of your current connection and you cannot move from one telecom circle to another. However it’ll help people make the move to better operators without missing that million dollar call by not changing the current mobile number.

Until then I’d love to see Reliance, Airtel, Vodafone and other major players battle it out in the open!

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Aircel Mobile Services in Delhi

Harry — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:31:08 +0000

Aircel has recently launched it’s mobile services in the Delhi circle. Aircel is already present in 14 telecom circles and boasts of 170 lakh subscribers nationwide. Aircel is a joint venture between Malaysia’s Maxis Communications and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd. of India. Maxis Communications holds a majority stake of 74% in the joint venture. Aircel initially launched it’s services in Tamil Nadu in 1999. The company has recently obtained additional spectrum for 13 new circles including Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP (West) and UP (East).

Aircel has roped in MS Dhoni to endorse their brand. The company also sponsors the Chennai Super Kings IPL team. Their tariff plans in Delhi are somewhat similar to the ones being currently offered by other major mobile service providers in Delhi. I couldn’t find any information regarding their GPRS/EDGE based data plans. They do offer WAP services restricted to a portal which is similar to Airtel Live and Vodafone Live.

Aircel will face a lot of heat in the coming months from the stiff competition. Aircel’s competition includes private operators like Vodafone, Airtel, Idea, recently launched Reliance GSM and state owned MTNL. For anyone to move on to Aircel, there would have to be a really sugary reason to do so. How about dirt cheap STD calls to start with? Guys?

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Locate Indian Mobile Phone Numbers

Harry — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:25:05 +0000

Here is a nice little mobile phone based application to locate/track Indian mobile phone numbers. It can be very useful if you receive spam calls from unknown numbers. You can track the region where the number is registered as well as the service provider for any Indian mobile phone number. You simply need to enter the first 4-5 digits of a mobile phone number and it will provide you with the state, reference city and the mobile phone service provider. The application can also be used for finding out STD codes in India. The application is Java based so it will work with all mobile phones with Java installed. Please note that the application only supports locating Indian mobile phone numbers.

Click here to download the application.

To install, kindly unzip the file and install it on your phone using the .jar installation file included in the package. For help with the installation feel free to post queries on the comments section below.

PS: I am not the developer for this application.

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Recharge Vodafone Pre-Paid Online

Harry — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:05:17 +0000

Being a lazy geek I have always made the best of technology while making sure my lazy bum is as comfortable as possible. So lazy that going to the nearest retailer for a pre-paid top-up seems an uphill task. I used the Axis Bank online recharging facility which failed most of the times. Then they took the service off the shelves, never to return.

While Airtel launched online bill payments a long time back, they have still haven’t done much about online pre-paid recharging. They do have a mobile payment processing system up which is a tie-up with mChek but it’s butt ugly. Seriously!

Vodafone on the other hand has come up with this super sleek online pre-paid recharging service. It’s cool for several reasons. One, it lets you know what-you-get for what-you-pay. For instance if you enter an amount, it’ll let you know how much talk time that is worth and if there’s a bonus card for that amount. Two, it supports almost all sorts of payment options available in the country. From credit cards/debit cards to netbanking. It has them all! Third, it’s truly instant, bug-free and most importantly it works!

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How To Broadcast Live Video Using Mobile Phone?

Harry — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:55:22 +0000

You can easily broadcast live video using your mobile phone’s camera. Broadcasting a live video feed comes handy when you’re attending a conference, concert etc. which you’d love to share with your friends or everyone out there. You could have your own 24×7 live video channel over the Internet. You’ll need a compatible mobile phone along with a high speed internet access (3G or WiFi recommended) for seamless uploading.

I’ll discuss two great free applications for your mobile phone here which you can use for broadcasting live video from anywhere using your cell phone.

Qik

Using Qik to broadcast live video online is as easy as sending out a text message. You’ll need to register for an account on Qik. Then you have to download their mobile application on your phone. Qik’s mobile application is compatible with a wide array of mobile phones. The installation takes a very little time. Once you’re done installing the app, you’ll need to set it up to synchronize it with your Qik account. Once you’ve got that going, you’ll be able to start broadcasting by simply selecting the ‘stream’ option in the application. You can interact with the users viewing your live video from the application itself. You can choose to keep your video feed public or private.

Bambuser

Bambuseris a fairly cool application for broadcasting live video over the Internet using your mobile phone. It’s pretty much similar to Qik. You’ll need to sign up for an account on their website and then you’ll need to download their application. Like Qik, Bambuser also provides you with a large number of supported mobile phones. I have experienced very less lags while using Bambuser but I found Qik more stable for longer broadcasts.

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BSNL Launches 3G Services in India

Harry — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:31:13 +0000

After MTNL, BSNL has also launched it’s 3G mobile services in India recently. BSNL has become the second mobile phone service provider in the country to offer 3G services to it’s customers. While MTNL is mainly present in the metros, BSNL is present in each and every other state including the rural sector. By launching it’s services much earlier than private operators and taking an advantage of the current mess in which 3G auctions are lying, the state owned enterprises are aiming for the larger slice of the 3G market in the country.

MTNL had earlier launched it’s 3G services in select parts of Delhi. BSNL has launched it’s 3G services in 11 cities across the nation. It plans to cover a much larger number of cities in the next phase. As far as tariff plan is concerned BSNL is charging INR 300 for a SIM card. Existing 2G customers can also migrate to 3G services by paying for a migration voucher for INR 151. Migration is subject to technical feasibility. Interested customers can register on this page for a new 3G connection from BSNL.

For complete tariff plan and other details you can visit BSNL’s official 3G mobile services web page here.

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Microsoft announces Windows Mobile 6.5

Harry — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:44:41 +0000

Microsoft has finally announced the next version of it’s OS for smartphones, Windows Mobile 6.5, at Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona. This confirms the earlier rumors about the all new version of Windows Mobile and mobile phones powered by the new sleek edition of the smartphone OS.

Windows Mobile 6.5 features a finger-safe interface for touch driven smartphones. It also offers a rich browsing experience and a brand new user interface for users. In addition it’ll feature two new services: MyPhone, to sync text messages, videos, photos and contacts from the user’s phonebook to the Web along with a Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a new app store similar to the one Apple has for it’s iPhone users.

Windows Mobile 6.5 powered mobile phones will be available in the market at the beginning of the second half of 2009. HTC’s Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2 are believed to be based on Windows Mobile 6.5!

Can’t wait to get my hands on one!

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Send Free SMS to Any Mobile in India

Harry — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:29:11 +0000

We Indians are so addicted to sending SMSes to mobiles that we just can’t imagine living without sending a couple of text messages each day. Sending SMSes or text messages to mobile phones is dirt cheap in India. Major mobile phone service providers provide special packages called SMS packs. These SMS packs offer discounted or free SMSes to mobile phone customers at a price. However there are days when you’ve run out of those SMS packs or those days when the messages go paid. Here are some websites which you can use to send free SMS to any mobile phone in India.

MyCantos

MyCantos offers unlimited free SMSes to any mobile phone in India. The service is quite good and the messages are delivered instantly. It supports all mobile phone operators in India. You will need to register on their website using your mobile phone number. You can send a text message of maximum 118 characters.

160by2

160by2 divides your messages into two parts. You have 80 characters for your SMS and the rest 80 characters are advertisements. The service is quite popular and supports all mobile phone operators in India. I have often experienced downtime and delayed message deliveries using 160by2. It’s useful for sending group SMSes. You can send a SMS to a maximum of 10 users at once.

In addition you can also create your own SMS groups using Google SMS Channels to send unlimited free SMSes.

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5 Reasons to Avoid MTNL’s 3G Mobile Services!

Neetu — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:05:28 +0000

- It’s called Jadoo. MTNL employs some of the worst marketing freaks ever known to the mankind. Their mobile phone services are called Dolphin and Garuda and stuff like that. Now go out there in a high profile business conference and tell them you’re using Jadoo 3G services. I dare you!

- It’s Rs.5 for a mega byte of data transfer on their 3G/GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA based services. They promise you a speed of about 384 kbps if you’re on the move and about 2.5 Mbps if you don’t move your ass much and stay calm. No complaints about the speeds as such. But the 5 bucks per MB of data transfer is enough to push up my blood pressure. Mind you there are no unlimited data transfer packages on their tariff list.

- Video calls are supposed to be charged at Rs. 1.8 p.m (intra network) and Rs. 3 p.m (inter network). Sounds fine? Ask the customer care if the data transfer involved in video calls is charged separately, to which an answer should be no, and they’re clueless. They’ll get into robotic modes and repeat the whole God damn tariff for you. They don’t know what data transfer means, no sir. No way! So it’s scary to use video calls as I might be sent an inflated bill by the end of the month.

- The 3G network services are only available in New Delhi’s MC areas and the NCR region of Gurgaon. MTNL promised it would launch the 3G services in the entire Delhi region and that’s what they claim when you get your connection but the gravity of the situation is tells a different story. One you zoom away from the 3G enabled region you’re greeting by the what-the-heck-is-3G towers.

- MTNL’s top of the hill-top claims that it’s 3G network is highly reliable and top notch are simply a fantasy. If you’re lured by those full page ads and you end up really subscribing to MTNL’s 3G services a.k.a Jadoo 3G then God help you. I personally regret my decision to sign up for MTNL’s 3G services. I’m now waiting for Airtel’s 3G services to launch in Delhi. I’m eager to switch to Airtel blindly. At least they’ll be better than MTNL!

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