Date:06/06/2011 URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2011/06/06/stories/2011060662691800.htm
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Guiding you to the right 3G plan
Ajai Sreevatsan
3gsimplified is meant to ensure that user get the most cost-effective
plan
CHENNAI: Are you on the right mobile telephony plan? What is the best 3G data
plan, of a particular usage pattern that is available in your telecom circle?
Questions such as these are often complicated to answer. Even if a mobile phone
user subjectively decides to go in for a particular operator, the sheer
number of plans, rate-cutters and top-ups leaves them confused. The tariff
pricing is also complex - a simple phone call can be charged at six different
rates based on who you call and when you call.
Enter http://www.3gsimplified.com/ promising to be your shopping assistant in
the telecom supermarket. The objective of 3gsimplified, which will also be
available as a free Android application shortly, is to make sure a user can
make the right decision and get the most cost-effective plan. Its search engine
cuts through each plan and adds the right top-ups and rate cutters to arrive at
the cheapest possible plan for a particular usage pattern.
Jigar Doshi, founder of Cheeni Labs, which designed 3gsimplified, says: "Each
result that the website throws up is completely customised to the usage."
While intense competition has kept voice call rates in India among the lowest
in the world, the scenario of a divergent set of plans, each targeting a niche
segment, has ended up confusing customers.
The site also offers a detailed analysis of 3G data plans in a number of
metros. For example, BSNL seems the most cost-effective 3G service provider in
Chennai across data usage bands, while Airtel comes on top in Mumbai. While the
comparison is based on 3G data usage, cost-effectiveness is derived through
the overall monthly bill, by using TRAI's definition of an 'average Indian
subscriber' (611 minutes of voice calls and 97 SMS).
Here is Chennai's comparison graph: http://www.3gsimplified.com/
staticms/Chennai_analysis. html
So, how much can you really save? With mobile number portability and the
ability to easily shift among operators, Mr. Doshi says "at least Rs.100 every
month for a post paid user." He says an extreme example is his own dad, whose
monthly bill dropped from Rs.2, 000 to Rs.1, 000. "I would term him a
pathologically
bad case," he says with a laugh. "He has been in the same plan for the past two
years. I showed him that one can achieve 50 per cent savings in just five
minutes. Just change your plan."
He tempers that advice with a corollary: "Most of the operators are highly
competitive, which means it is better to get the right plan within the operator
than to switch operators." But an amazing mobile telephony experience is not
just about cost. There are other aspects such as customer service and signal
coverage, especially on the 3G network. In essence, customers do not want to
know just what is the cheapest, but what is the best. Mr. Doshi advocates
crowd-sourced services such as http://opensignalmaps.com, but maintains that
the space requires more attention from Open Source developers.
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