Sep 02, 2009 05:26 PM
2315 Views
I purchased a Photon+ connection 2 months ago and paid Rs.4000. This included 2 months free of their "Freedom" Plan with 10 GB of free data transfer per month. But knowing that is was actually a "Limited" data transfer connection even though they called it an "Unlimited" connection, I installed a Bandwidth Monitoring software "DU Meter" for measuing the internet connection usage.
Moreover the Photon+ connection software that comes with the product also shows a log of the daily and monthly usage for bandwidth calculation. But they specifically mention that the counts shown in the log may be wrong. Therefore I only relied on my software to get an idea of my usage.
Everyhing was fine for the first month when I rarely used the connection. The problem started in the second month when I started making full use of the connection for my business use. My billing cycle till the 19th of each month, and I received a warning message by email on the 14th, stating that 75% of my alloted bandwidth has been used!
I checked my software and it just showed usage of 6.5 GB, and the Photon+ log showed just 3.5 GB of usage. Both showed me lower than 75% usage, but I still stopped using the connection for any heavy bandwidth work as I did not want to risk crossing the limit. But the very next morning, my connection had been disabled and on calling the Customer Support, they said that I had run up a bill of over Rs.21000!
I WAS SHOCKED! He said that each extra MB is charged Rs.2 and I had used 10.5 GB. I knew this was impossible and therefore asked to speak with his superior. He first said that he was not here, and thn said he ws busy on another call etc, and after making me hold for 15 minutes, the supervisor came on the phone.
He had a look at my account and said that I had crossed my 10 GB limit by 500 MB, as the first 10 GB was free, I had to pay Rs.1000 right now to get the connection activated. I tried to reason with him that my bandwidth monitor software shows much lesser usage, and their own software shows just 3.5 GB, but he said that the calculation is taken as per their "switch" readings, and there is nothing they can do about it.
As I used this connection for my business, I had no choice but to pay the money for I could not stay without a net connection. Moreover there was no way for me to prove it to them as they had mentioned in their software itself, giving more strength to my thought that this is a planned was to chet people.
Now I am looking for a different connection as I can ill afford being cheated every month. I will post another review next month with the dtails of how things go this month.
