Broadband Forum

Dated 26 Dec 2009; Thane West

I purchased a NetConnect Datacard device (MDN # 9324574153) for Rs.3400/= online on 25 Nov 2009 and was informed that it will get activated within 24 hours. After many attempts (by Reliance) to activate the device failed, I was told that the genuine Windows Vista (on my newly purchased HCL laptop) was the problem. They made me go to the HCL service centre and port Windows XP on it, which I did after the hard disk was formatted.

Thereafter, following many calls to the Reliance call centre from my MTNL phone (toll free number for corporate accounts - 1 800 30005555), technical support finally managed to get it activated late evening on 30 Nov 2009. I was mostly getting an error message: "678: The remote computer did not respond".

Then started my second and longer phase of woes which still exist.

Until about 2 days back, with Reliance technicians trying various tricks, I got only an error message "678: The remote computer did not respond" and some other wierd messages. After nearly a month's phone calls/chats, Reliance technicians finally advised I get a replacement for my datacard. I went to the Huawei service shop 'Maxcom' in Sarovar Darshan, D19 shop number, Almeida Road, Chandanwadi, Thane West. I do not know what they did with my datacard there (they took it inside the shop) but it started working there.

I am staying on the first floor of my 7 storey building in Thane West and the signal strength is very weak within my home and on opening a third window of IE, I get a "the page is not displayed" message. I tried my card again after coming home from the Huawei service centre and the issue was the same. I tried it out on my building terrace where I was able to open several IE windows successfully. So, clearly, weak signal strength is the current problem I am facing.

I have posted all this information in detail so that public is forewarned before investing in a NetConnect datacard. Please check the signal strength in your area before you invest money.

I have put my first bill under dispute (as I have not used the datacard successfully even for a day) and have spoken to their concerned department and have been granted a waiver. Tomorrow, I plan to visit their Webworld centre in Ramniwas Bldg, Naupada, Thane West to downgrade my scheme of Rs.1249 a month (after a Rs.200 discount, it is Rs.1049) to a pre-paid scheme (there seems to be a pre-paid scheme of Rs.250 under the condition that for every 1 MB used, I pay Re.1 and that in 6 months, I use up at least Rs.250 worth of broadband). Probably, I will be able to use their NetConnect card only in some park with my laptop running on battery or maybe on my terrace :-( I did not certainly bargain for this when I took up the NetConnect. I have lost a lot of prospective clients in the last 4 weeks.

Reliance will do much better if they improved their processes, service levels and monitored their call centres and had an online reporting system with little chance of anybody tampering with reports. I had at aleast a couple of calls from Reliance asking me to confirm that the problem I was facing was resolved, when in fact it is still open to this day. They need to have strong SLAs and have a tamper-proof way of monitoring them.

A very tired and disappointed customer of NetConnect Broadband+
Uma.
Do not find fault with people; improve processes such that human error is minimized or totally obliterated. Organizations must aim and attain at least a PCMM Level 3 to start with.