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Reliance NetConnect and DisConnect in Himachal Pradesh

Added by Himachal Live News on November 1, 2008. | November 1, 2008 |

I had bought a Reliance Net Connect ZTE USB modem keeping in mind my travel schedule and and was promised four times faster speed than the usual dial up connection. It is a wireless (mobile) internet service and can be used anywhere Reliance CDMA service is available. The speed was fine in Shimla for a few days, where I have a BSNL broadband at home. A couple of weeks later I tried this service at my village in Kotgarh and was extremely disappointed with the speed. The connectivity was either dead slow or almost dead!

reliance net connect

My woes started with a bleak signal. Just 2 bars on the signal tab. I knew there were couple of Reliance towers, just across the hills. Called up a Reliance guy in Rampur and next day the signal strength reached to 4 and occasionaly touching 5 bars. This accomplished tried my hand on surfing but it was again dead slow. I could somehow surf till 10 pm and at dot 10, the net simply stopped as if someone had switched off the button. Called the same guy again, and explained my problem. Bingo.. next day there was trace of internet after 10 pm. This aroused my suspicion that there was something fishy with overall service of Reliance in rural areas!!

I was given a number of one Mr. Prashant (9318855055) who happens to be Reliance tech guru based in Shimla. He listened to me patiently the first time, took down my address and promised to send one of his techies to look into my problem. Nothing happened for the next 10 days. Next time I called him up, he was curt and told me to connect with some other user in the area and check if he too had the same problem!

Now excuse me, but is this my fucking job to find another sucker in the area? I happen to be the only sucker facing the Reliance (dis)service in the entire area! Wise people stay away from Reliance!! I sent an email to the customer service mentioned on their website. One fine day got a call from a Reliance number putting me on hold for 5 minutes and kept on playing the Reliance signature tune and then disconnected. Got a mail next day from customer care saying they tried contacting me but were unable to do so and the matter ended up there! The service is pathetic no doubt and after sales and customer services even worse with Reliance.

I tried doing tracers for the websites. Most of the time I get Request Timed Out error after 4 hops. I tried pinging sites, I got the same error. Reliance tried to put blame on weak signals but at times the signal was at 4 or 5 bars, still the sites wouldn’t open. I have been cheated by the company and am left with a useless gizmo worth 3000 rupees. I am skeptical about using it while traveling as I doubt it will work anywhere outside Shimla. All my money has been swindled by Reliance Communications.

Words of wisdom from 9,500 ft in the Himalayas - Stay away from Reliance in Himachal. Don’t get fooled by the tall claims being dished out by the company. This is a useless company with even more useless services. Also stay away from any form of wireless internet gizmos be it GSM or CDMA. Best use the good old BSNL landlines. Reliance NetConnect has No Reliance and is actually a DisConnect.

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  • Neetika

    I read this somewhere, Reliance 3GCDMA = 3 Gujju Chor Dhirubhai, Mukesh,Anil!

  • Neetika

    I read this somewhere, Reliance 3GCDMA = 3 Gujju Chor Dhirubhai, Mukesh,Anil!

  • http://himvani.com/ Surender

    Nityin,
    You are right. Reliance is actually non-reliance. You cannot rely. The only thing good about Reliance is their PR service and the loads of money they spend on PR activities and keeping themselves alive in the Press.

    I wish had they spent even half of the money they spend on PR activities, their service surely would have been good.

    I am a journalist as many of the PR guys handling Reliance may know me. I need to be connected always. I did a lot of survey before I bought one USB connection for myself. Reliance, the dealers said was ‘sasta’ but could not be relied. Tata Indicom was still better. But I still preferred Idea’s Netsetter, which is good as of now. May be due to fewer connections right now and tie-up with other GSM players.

    Even the guys at Reliance in private and “off the record” accept that their service and customer care sucks.

    The best idea is to call them up, and not to disconnect at all and ask them to rectify the problem and ask for their seniors. What I know about customer care is that they are not supposed to disconnect the call, unless you do it. Once they are on line, try and engage them in to a talk for hours together and tell them, you’ve wasted my time, I wanted to have some fun online on the internet but as your service sucks, so now let me have fun at your cost. Tall to me, about the weather, your girlfriend and if the economic recession is the reason for the poor service and how many of them have got pink-slips. And does Anil Ambani meet them personally. How does he look? And so forth…

    Tell them to take the gadget back. Ask for the complaint number etc.

    Tell me if your problem still exists, with your Complaint number and the names of the guys who handled your calls at what time and for how long your conversation went. May be I can take your case further with newspapers here or with some senior guys in Reliance here.

  • http://himvani.com Surender

    Nityin,
    You are right. Reliance is actually non-reliance. You cannot rely. The only thing good about Reliance is their PR service and the loads of money they spend on PR activities and keeping themselves alive in the Press.

    I wish had they spent even half of the money they spend on PR activities, their service surely would have been good.

    I am a journalist as many of the PR guys handling Reliance may know me. I need to be connected always. I did a lot of survey before I bought one USB connection for myself. Reliance, the dealers said was ‘sasta’ but could not be relied. Tata Indicom was still better. But I still preferred Idea’s Netsetter, which is good as of now. May be due to fewer connections right now and tie-up with other GSM players.

    Even the guys at Reliance in private and “off the record” accept that their service and customer care sucks.

    The best idea is to call them up, and not to disconnect at all and ask them to rectify the problem and ask for their seniors. What I know about customer care is that they are not supposed to disconnect the call, unless you do it. Once they are on line, try and engage them in to a talk for hours together and tell them, you’ve wasted my time, I wanted to have some fun online on the internet but as your service sucks, so now let me have fun at your cost. Tall to me, about the weather, your girlfriend and if the economic recession is the reason for the poor service and how many of them have got pink-slips. And does Anil Ambani meet them personally. How does he look? And so forth…

    Tell them to take the gadget back. Ask for the complaint number etc.

    Tell me if your problem still exists, with your Complaint number and the names of the guys who handled your calls at what time and for how long your conversation went. May be I can take your case further with newspapers here or with some senior guys in Reliance here.

  • http://nityin.tripod.com/ NITYIN

    @Surinder

    This worked perfectly in Chandigarh last week without any interruptions. I will be testing this further in other Himachal cities. I guess it is the same old problem, things work fine in urban areas and do not in rural areas. At least they must have told me flatly about this at the time of purchase.

    @Neetika

    You have put words to my thoughts… :) Don’t know about the first two but completely agree with you on the third name!

  • http://nityin.tripod.com/ NITYIN

    @Surinder

    This worked perfectly in Chandigarh last week without any interruptions. I will be testing this further in other Himachal cities. I guess it is the same old problem, things work fine in urban areas and do not in rural areas. At least they must have told me flatly about this at the time of purchase.

    @Neetika

    You have put words to my thoughts… :) Don’t know about the first two but completely agree with you on the third name!

  • http://nityin.tripod.com NITYIN

    @Surinder

    This worked perfectly in Chandigarh last week without any interruptions. I will be testing this further in other Himachal cities. I guess it is the same old problem, things work fine in urban areas and do not in rural areas. At least they must have told me flatly about this at the time of purchase.

    @Neetika

    You have put words to my thoughts… :) Don’t know about the first two but completely agree with you on the third name!

  • http://www.stherbb.com/ dr mony

    so i should stay away from reliance….right but i want to use it in chandigarh………….

  • http://www.stherbb.com/ dr mony

    so i should stay away from reliance….right but i want to use it in chandigarh………….

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

      I used it in Chandigarh and it worked fine. I guess you can get broadband in Chandigarh which I believe is the best. USB modems are best for checking mails only. Not recommended for serious surfing

  • http://www.stherbb.com dr mony

    so i should stay away from reliance….right but i want to use it in chandigarh………….

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      I used it in Chandigarh and it worked fine. I guess you can get broadband in Chandigarh which I believe is the best. USB modems are best for checking mails only. Not recommended for serious surfing

  • http://herbaltrekking.com/ dr.ashish

    is there any dealer who deals in wireless conection in himachal pradesh near palampur.

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

      Please check with retailers of mobile companies in your area. Airtel, Tata, Reliance and BSNL all offer USB modems. Palampur is covered by Kangra and Dharamshala zonal offices. You can get in touch with retailers in these areas

  • http://herbaltrekking.com dr.ashish

    is there any dealer who deals in wireless conection in himachal pradesh near palampur.

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      Please check with retailers of mobile companies in your area. Airtel, Tata, Reliance and BSNL all offer USB modems. Palampur is covered by Kangra and Dharamshala zonal offices. You can get in touch with retailers in these areas

  • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

    Here is an update on Tata Photon Pro. I used this in Shimla and it gives a real broadband experience. Download speed was 143 kbps. I then tested this at Kotgarh which is in fact not on the broadband designated tower. Here the speed again was much better with a download speed of 37 kbps. This looks much better than the Reliance.

  • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

    Here is an update on Tata Photon Pro. I used this in Shimla and it gives a real broadband experience. Download speed was 143 kbps. I then tested this at Kotgarh which is in fact not on the broadband designated tower. Here the speed again was much better with a download speed of 37 kbps. This looks much better than the Reliance.

  • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

    Finally, I did what I always wanted to do for so long. I threw away my Reliance Net Connect modem today. This was not even working properly in Shimla lately. I went to the Reliance World on the Mall, cancelled my subscription, paid my dues came home and threw this one away.. Good riddance..!!

  • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

    Finally, I did what I always wanted to do for so long. I threw away my Reliance Net Connect modem today. This was not even working properly in Shimla lately. I went to the Reliance World on the Mall, cancelled my subscription, paid my dues came home and threw this one away.. Good riddance..!!

  • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

    Finally, I did what I always wanted to do for so long. I threw away my Reliance Net Connect modem today. This was not even working properly in Shimla lately. I went to the Reliance World on the Mall, cancelled my subscription, paid my dues came home and threw this one away.. Good riddance..!!

  • Tanuj Sharma

    Guys seriously, Rconnect is a total failure in himachal. I am using the age old gprs connection which i feel is good enuf for browsing.

  • Tanuj Sharma

    Guys seriously, Rconnect is a total failure in himachal. I am using the age old gprs connection which i feel is good enuf for browsing.

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

      The new Tata Photon is awesome and Airtel also have launched a new USB modem which I am told has pretty good speed

      • Tanuj Sharma

        ^ I dont think there is photon/photon+ network coverage here in himachal.. AFAIK theres only CDMA 1X network here for TATA & Reliance.

      • Tanuj Sharma

        ^ I dont think there is photon/photon+ network coverage here in himachal.. AFAIK theres only CDMA 1X network here for TATA & Reliance.

        • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

          Shimla, Solan and Baddi have been covered in first phase. Starting shortly in Kullu, Mandi, Manali and Dharamshala. I am using Photon+ in Shimla. Even on normal CDMA 1X in my village it works great.

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

      The new Tata Photon is awesome and Airtel also have launched a new USB modem which I am told has pretty good speed

  • Tanuj Sharma

    Guys seriously, Rconnect is a total failure in himachal. I am using the age old gprs connection which i feel is good enuf for browsing.

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      The new Tata Photon is awesome and Airtel also have launched a new USB modem which I am told has pretty good speed

      • Tanuj Sharma

        ^ I dont think there is photon/photon+ network coverage here in himachal.. AFAIK theres only CDMA 1X network here for TATA & Reliance.

        • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

          Shimla, Solan and Baddi have been covered in first phase. Starting shortly in Kullu, Mandi, Manali and Dharamshala. I am using Photon+ in Shimla. Even on normal CDMA 1X in my village it works great.

  • tanuj sharma

    So, do you get speeds in Mbps in shimla with photon+?

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

      The speed here is better than the BSNL landline broadband

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com/ NITYIN

      The speed here is better than the BSNL landline broadband

  • tanuj sharma

    So, do you get speeds in Mbps in shimla with photon+?

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      The speed here is better than the BSNL landline broadband

  • Rajat

    Hey Nityin,

    Does photon + work okay for browsing in Solan? I need to know this as I am from Noida and will be coming to Solan for a training of 45 days. I need to have a wireless internet connection. What about BSNL 3G? Please help me.

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      Hi Rajat, Thanks for your comments!

      Solan should be fine with Photon. I use this at 9500 ft in the Himalayas, way far off from Shimla and it works great. Not sure about BSNL though. Best would be to buy your USB here in Solan and then decide. Photon guys did gave me a demo in Shimla.

  • Rajat

    Hey Nityin,

    Does photon + work okay for browsing in Solan? I need to know this as I am from Noida and will be coming to Solan for a training of 45 days. I need to have a wireless internet connection. What about BSNL 3G? Please help me.

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      Hi Rajat, Thanks for your comments!

      Solan should be fine with Photon. I use this at 9500 ft in the Himalayas, way far off from Shimla and it works great. Not sure about BSNL though. Best would be to buy your USB here in Solan and then decide. Photon guys did gave me a demo in Shimla.

  • vishal kumar

    Is the speed of rel. netconnect is good in mandi

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      Never tried this in Mandi, but you can always ask for a demo. BSNL and Tata has been offerinng speed demos before purchase in Shimla.

  • vishal kumar

    Is the speed of rel. netconnect is good in mandi

    • http://nityin.wordpress.com NITYIN

      Never tried this in Mandi, but you can always ask for a demo. BSNL and Tata has been offerinng speed demos before purchase in Shimla.

  • Rahul

    i dun know how you expected to replace landline broadband performance with wireless networks which are bound to be shitty in mountains..

    • http://www.himachallive.com/ NITYIN

      I never expected to replace reliance with broadband performance. The article was written in November 2008 when BSNL broadband was not available in Shimla hills. Now, BSNL broadband is available everywhere (almost) in the state and works great. Reliance still has issues. I use Tata Photon + as a backup in the hills which works great on 144 kbps speed as High Speed Internet is not available in hills.

      Of late have used BSNL 3G USB in major towns of Himachal and am very excited with the speed. Just waiting when it will be available across all state. Landline broadband pales in front of the 3G speed.

      • Harsh

        Nityin, I just moved to Nagrota Bagwan near Kangra.Do you have any recommendations for 3G USB sticks as far as Nagrota is concerned?

        • http://www.himachallive.com/ NITYIN

          If I am not wrong it is only BSNL which is offering 3G services in Himachal presently. Dharamshala is covered by the 3G network. Check if Nagrota is also covered not.

          I have been using 3G service in Shimla and am not happy with the overall speed being offered by BSNL.