Sunday, July 24, 2011

Tata Docomo Rocks (er ... not really)

Within 2 days of getting a Docomo SIM card, I am a total convert to Tata Docomo now. Never knew grass was so green on the other side.

First the plans are plain and simple and competitively priced. Then there are no differences in network coverage I could spot between using a Docomo prepaid service and Idea's postpaid service. The 2G GPRS plan that Docomo has come up with recently, is a killer. Rs.65/- for 2.5GB per month is wayyyyyyyy better than the Rs.200/- for 500MBs per month that I was paying to Idea since ages.

Most importantly things happen lightening quick and fast with Docomo. My new Blackberry (a humble 8830 world edition) was up and running in mere 3hrs after sending a subscription SMS. I didn't have to go anywhere, nor pester anyone even though it was late in the night. And out of those 3hrs, 2hrs were wasted due to some n/w issue that I was updated about in advance. Otherwise things would have got setup in merely an hour! That's lighetening quick in my book. And that too without any hassels. The executives who instructed me in setting up my Blackberry for registration, who setup service book remotely to my handset, all sounded highly professional and top notch, unlike Idea.

I have been using a Docomo 3G e-stick for months now, and already had a real good experience so far with it. And now after these awesome prepay plans and quality Blackberry setup experience, I am entirely sold on porting my main postpaid Idea number to Docomo prepay for good. There with Idea I have been paying a rupee for minute since last 5yrs and they never came up with any migration plan for me even after years of second-billing explosion in India. On the contrary, they still charge me Rs.49/- for caller line identification!!

Over last 5yrs, all they came up with, for me, were some ponzy schemes which appeared good on the face of it, but later made me regret for subscribing after I realised the catch. Besides, pathetic website, patchy customer service, terribly late introduction of 3G, absolute lack of imagination and creativity with billing plans and those B-grade Bachchan TV commercials which always embarrass me for having an Idea connection; all of these factors are making me think of dropping this Idea connection of 5yrs and port my mobile number to Docomo on the next tick of a second.

It's gonna happen soon for sure.


EDIT: (5Aug2011)
On a hindsight, it was a bit premature to come out gaga over Docomo. I came to know it after using it for a week or so on the blackberry. First, the blackberry was not powerful enough; and second, the Docomo network was not consistent either. So the blackberry kept losing its data connection time and again, and when-in-doubt-pull-it-out policy vis-a-vis blackberry battery didn't work effectively to restore that data connection either. So finally, I ended up disconnecting the BIS altogether. Tried Docomo GPRS instead. But it was neither consistent nor quick. Idea card in the blackberry on the other hand, gave much better GPRS data. And it was consistent too. Not sure if this better QoS was because my Idea connection is postpaid.

So all in all, Docomo has much better plans, very affordable addons and good customer service. It's great when all you want from your phone is calls and SMS. If you want GPRS (2G), at least Docomo prepaid was not upto the mark. Wonder if Docomo post-paid has better QoS that this.

Anyway, time-being, since data is a lot dearer to me than calls and texts, I am going to hang on to Idea. Can't risk bad GPRS connectivity for lesser expenses.