Jun 29, 2006 04:08 PM
12667 Views
note:this is about R-connect card and not abt webworld. for lack of cateogry posting here. read bcos as always 1 smile assured.
A new need: for long we have been hearing that ‘roti kapda aur makaan’ are the basic needs. If you didn’t know recently they added one more thing to the list and the demand from the public read – ‘roti kapda, makaan aur BANDWIDTH’. Yes, industry govt etc did respond to this public cry. We saw dial ups giving way to broadband, leased line and what not…all resulting in speedier flow of information. Not only at the individual level, overall the country also benefited from these advancements. But I came across a product that lets down everyone in so bad a way that – what they have achieved with this product is this: They have insulted the internet, customer, need for speed, and considering India’s technological prowess, they have insulted India itself. This is a product hurriedly conceptualized with the sole evil intention of robbing money. If someone needs to quote the Sanskrit verse ‘Vyaparam Droha chintanam’, they can use this product as an example.
The Product: This product is from Reliance group. When someone commented ‘mera baap ka sapna, paraaya dhan apna’ I too laughed, but after using this product I know its true. The product is a wireless internet card, which u can plug into your laptop’s slot. Accompanying CD creates in your laptop an user interface for you to connect to the net. Once this is set up you can browse the net, thru this wireless connection, all over India, at a speed of 144KBPS!! … don’t say wow ..bcos that’s what they are claiming. Let me tell u the reality.
Here is what the reliance site says abt the product: Discover the freedom of surfing without wires anywhere in the country. Simply snap an R-Connect Data & Voice Card onto your laptop and you're ready to go. This revolutionary product works both as a modem and a mobile phone. So you can surf at high speeds as well as make and receive calls and SMS from your laptop. Reliance's cutting edge CDMA2000 1X technology, and its pan India coverage offers you wireless Internet access even from the remotest part of the country. It is priced at 6500 ruppes, I don’t know why.
It all sounds good, but I want to ask “abey ambani ki bachche, why is there so much gap between promise and delivery”?
How it Works: installation is simple, plug in the card, install the driver and user interface from the CD. The user interface has different menu buttons like internet, voice, sms, call history etc just as in a mobile phone. The card has a connection for the headset using which you can use it as phone. On screen dialer is used to dial the number.
If you are browsing and an incoming call comes, ur net is disconnected. The same even if an sms comes. So I haven’t ventured to use this as a mobile phone. Conversely you have to disconnect net, to be able to make a call or send sms. As of now I am using this only for net access. I personally wouldn’t buy such a thing, but since our manager had one such from tata indicom, he insisted I get one as it gives net access to laptop from anywhere, even while traveling.
Who stole my speed: I read here on MS a write saying that speed suffered on broadband lines when there are copper losses and when too many people from the same area use net. But I am wondering this device is wireless, why cant I have my share of promised speed always? Here also network congestion?
They say ‘haathi ke daant dikhane ke ek, chabane ke ek’. Once you connect u will see one icon on taskbar which says ‘230.4kbps’. if u want to see the actual speed go to the user interface where sent, receveid is show along with speed. By the way their brochure claims speed of only 144kbps, taskbar says 230.4 .. is this a case of delivering more than promise? ;-)
If you go to the interface and see ‘send/receive’ statistics you will feel guilty. The speed is never consistent for two consecutive seconds. In fact now after seeing this product I am not complaining abt inconsistency by our team and players. We cant ensure consistency in machines, system and services , how can be expect flesh and blood human like kaif to be consistent? ;-)
Insult to internet: once I made it a point watch the receive data rate for few seconds, its sequence was like this, all in KBPS – 3.44, 1.23, .75, 1.11, 5.68, .24, 1.34, 0.023, 2.53 … I mean what speed wud be 0.023KBPS ..does internet need a greater insult than this. by mistake it has often shown downloads at 18-20kbps also.
This is not all, sometimes the page you are opening suddenly turns ‘page cannot be displayed’. You go to the interface, and what do u see, the guy is disconnected and trying to reconnect. This happens once in 5 minutes most of the time. The interface has a settings option which has a ‘auto reconnect’ check box, if u didn’t check it, u wud remain disconnected, without automatic reconnect. With this connection I am beginning to fall in love with ‘the page cannot be displayed’ ;-). There are times when the page wont load, nor a reconnect nor a ‘page cant be displyed’ – u go to check the interface you will see, data receive at 0.000KBPS, which in a way is disconnect when for minutes together it doesn’t flinch.
Plans: we have taken a plan of 650pm with 1gb download limit. With the speed and consisteny I never dared to download anything over this. The ones that tried took so liberal time, now I use it only for browsing and mails. Also you never know whats the status on your download limit, until u get the bill. Within a session you can know the total download by the send/receive stats, but then repeated disconnection/reconnection ensures that’s reset to zero, so u cant keep tab!
Punishment Transfer: hey did u think punishment transfer was only in govt jobs? You take this product and try for customer service, you will be transferred like anything..as a punishment for buying this product.
here is a typical customer support call event. I call support – reliance music for ages, in between a lady says all ppl are busy, please wait – a girl picks up, usual how can I help u, asks few details – nom I open my mouth to narrate the problem – she says ‘sir b on hold, I will transfer ur call to respective dept – reliance music for ages again – this cycle repeats 3 times – finally the ‘respective guy’ wants to point out that I am doing something wrong!!
So these days the moment I call, the girl picks up I ask ‘are u the one or should I wait for someone else’ ? ;-) . once she said she is the one, I narrate the problem, then she says ‘I will transfer you’ lol
But using this product over long time, is definitely bound to make you patient, you no longer get irritated by ‘page cannot be displayed’. I want the Ambani ke bachche to use this product. ;-) I mean look at their audacity, make a crap product, follow it with a poor service and make money. In our case even though its company’s money, I know the service isn’t worth the money we pay.
Conclusion: it is better to be without internet than having it, and still not having it. I am using it only bcos the company wants me to keep it. But if as a individual were to consider the service, support I woudnt even take this at 650pm. Lets hope something better comes in this line of products.
