We came across two good postpaid plans from Tata Indicom for Delhi/NCR and Mumbai circles. These plans are called Honest 275 and Honest 150. The crunch of both these plans is that they provide flat calling rates across all phones for local and STD calls/SMS.

Firstly, let’s start with the features of Honest 275 plan. This plan is designed for users having high local and STD usage. The details are:

• Monthly rental: Rs 275
• CLIP: Free
• Free calls: None
• Local and STD calls across all phones: 50 paise/min
• Local and STD SMS across all phones: 50 paise/SMS

Honest 150 on the other hand is designed for users having both local and STD usage but want lower commitment towards monthly rental. The details of this plan are:

• Monthly rental: Rs 150
• Free calls: Local/STD calls worth Rs 50 i.e. approximately 55 minutes
• Local and STD calls across all phones: 90 paise/min
• Local and STD SMS across all phones: 90 paise/SMS

Both the above plans are distinctly positioned and have their own share of positives and negatives, though we couldn’t find any negatives. These plans are ideal for users who seek distance free calling.

Here’s another full value plan but this time it’s from Tata Indicom for its Gujarat circle customers. There have a few Full Value 199’s and 299’s from different operators but this is the first time we came across a Full Value 399 plan.

Plan Details:

• Monthly Rental: Rs 399
• CLIP: Rs 25 (optional)
• Monthly commitment: Rs 424 (399 + 25)
• Free calls: 425 local calls to any number
• All Local calls and SMS’s to Tata numbers: 50 paise
• All Local calls to others: Rs 1.75
• All Local SMS to others: Re 1
• STD calls to Tata Numbers: Rs 2
• STD calls to others: Rs 2.65

We say: Although the plan seems to be targeted towards Full Value seekers, there are no signs of free SMSes which other full value plans offer. Also once you are done with the freebies offered along with it, the plan becomes pricey for calls and SMSes to other networks.

Remember the Blackberry controversy? It all started after Tata filed an application to provide Blackberry services. The issue is temporarily resolved now and Tata (the victim?) has finally got a nod to sell Blackberry devices and services.

We will see BlackBerry services on Tata Indicom within a couple of months. There are no other details on the first device to be launched or the price.

To commemorate the 61st anniversary of Indian Independence, Tata Indicom has announced a new recharge for prepaid customers. The recharge is available in denomination of Rs. 1947 and will be available throughout this month. On recharging, the user will get talktime worth Rs. 1947 with a validity of a year. The new tariff for local Tata calls will be charged at 19 paise a minute whereas other local calls at 47 paise. A perfect way to use 1947 for commercial use!

Platinum Plan 350 is a new full value postpaid plan from Tata Indicom. For a monthly rental of Rs 350, it provides Rs. 350 worth of free talktime for making calls to any local or STD numbers.

Once, the user has reached the threshold limit of free calling, every additional local call will be charged at 50p/min and STD calls at Re 1/min. One thing that the plan lacks is that it does not provide any free SMS’s, but considering Tata Indicom’s cheap SMS rates, that wouldn’t be an issue here.

Tata Indicom Power 555 Plan is a postpaid plan that has been made to suit the users who make local calls to all networks. This one turns out to be different from the free calling plans, which normally allow calling to their own networks. Instead it allows free calls to all networks. This is how:

• Monthly Rental: Rs.555
• Free minutes to Tata numbers: 555
• Free minutes to other networks (mobile): 555
• Free minutes to other landlines: 555
• Free SMS to Tata mobile: 555
• Calls to all Tata numbers: 55paise
• Calls to local mobiles: 55paise
• Calls to other landlines: Rs.1.50
• STD: Rs.1.50
• All local SMS: 50paise
• National SMS: Re.1

We say: The plan looks great when its comes to offering a wide range of free calling areas. The price is decent enough and is good value for money. The calling rates are also good enough and thus we give it a thumbs up from our side.

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) announced the launch of its “Let’s Rock” pack, a low-cost student friendly prepaid plan. To begin with the details, the pack is priced for Rs. 299 and it comes along with three-year validity.

The usage details are:

• During the day i.e. from 0900-2100 hrs, all local calls from Tata to Tata will be charged at 20 paise per minute
• Tata to others will be charged at 60 paise per minute
• Local SMS will be charged at 20 paise
• STD calls will be charged at Rs. 2 per minute

• During the night i.e. from 2100-0900 hrs, all local calls from Tata to Tata will cost 10 paise per minute
• Tata to others will cost 30 paise per minute
• Local SMS will cost 20 paise
• STD calls will cost Rs 2 per minute

We say

The pack definitely has the potential to attract students with limited pocket money and people looking to stay connected - cheap tariff prepaid plan will save our money to indulge in something else. We recommend it.

Here comes an attempt from Tata Indicom to lure customers with their postpaid plan named: Do More 0123 Plan. The details are:

• Monthly rental: Rs.123
• Bill Plan Charges: Rs.75
• CLIP (optional): Rs.25
• Unlimted calls and SMS to local Tata Indicom mobiles
• Tata to Tata Landline: Re.1
• Tata to other mobiles: Re.1
• Tata to other Landlines: Rs.2
• STD calls: Rs.3
• Local SMS: Re.1
• National SMS: Rs.2

We Say: As one can see it isn’t a balanced plan and favors those who want to make more of T2T calls. The plan is charged quite well if we consider that aspect, but will make a hole in the pocket when it comes to making calls on other operators. We wouldn’t even think of going for the STD calls.  

Tata Indicom prepaid subscribers can now enjoy free calling to any Tata Indicom number within their circle using a new recharge voucher introduced last week. Under this scheme the prepaid subscriber must recharge using a denomination of Rs 195 to avail free calling to all other Tata Indicom numbers within circle.

The recharge voucher also provides with 30 days validity along with reduced calling rates of 50 paise a minute for all local calls and Rs 1.50 per minute for all STD calls. The negative factor about this voucher is that it does not provide any talktime so the user will have to recharge with another voucher for talktime. But that should not be a problem considering the free calling facility provided by this voucher.

All existing and new Tata Indicom prepaid subscribers can avail the benefits of this scheme except those on daily rental plans like Go Power, Go Special and Go Speak. For such subscribers under the daily rental plans, they need to recharge with Rs 165 voucher to enjoy the same benefits.

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The CDMA category, which is led by the two biggies Tata Indicom and Reliance Communications, has less players but high potential. A high importance is given to the cellphones being offered by the CDMA players. So here is a post dedicated to the comparison between the cellphones that are being offered:

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