Discussion Which was your first telecom provider?

[Mayur]

1) Vi bought 2012 Primary connections 11 Years old
2) Jio Bought 2018 Secondey Used mainly For Data.

 

[anikamathur02]

First Sim Was Hutch In 2004 My Mom Brought It
Second Was jio in 2016 for data

 

[RohitKrOfficial]

Airtel (2012)

 

[Esmail]

1) Rcom CDMA
2) 2005 (not a sim though, CDMA was simless back then, though they had launched a CDMA sim a few years later)
3) Superior indoor coverage on B5 850 MHz and better voice quality on CDMA compared to GSM. Also the unlimited Reliance to Reliance calling and bulk SMS.
4) They had their glory days and served their purpose. They couldn't survive the Jio onslaught due to outdated tech backbone and lack of financial muscle. It would be great to have more competition in the market today but that would have to come from multi billion companies like Tata and Adani entering with the intention of investing billions in building a robust network. Operators with weak financials can no longer try their luck in the Indian market, unless they explore the MVNO route and target niche segments like students or farmers with their targeted plans by buying in bulk from the full service operators and working on an asset light model.

 

[narender reddy]

Airtel (2006)

 

[srihariths]

Vodafone in 2012.
I still remember every year I used to send PORT messages and Vodafone people used to call me and activate rate cutters for 1 year. Gradually it got reduced to 6 months and 3 months but it was a steal considering the discount that I used to get compared to my peers. Good old days

 

[iDJ]

1) My uncle had gifted me a phone on my 6th birthday. It was a Nokia 1600. I was using dad's Reliance sim. He had BSNL postpaid from 2003. He barely used it as we had landline back than. Than switch to Aircel first for couple of months as my dad has recharged some ₹500 talktime. Than I gave the sim to my sister after as I got Vodafone. It had cheaper ₹20, ₹25 etc. plans. Aircel had minimum ₹50 recharge back than. Also Aircel had mobile internet specific plans. I still used my Reliance sim it until 2015 from 2006 as our home's landline i.e. ancient Nokia 3310 after discontinuing BSNL landline.

2) 2006.

3) Vodafone tempt me with affordable plans. I could easily recharge with ₹20 over Reliance who had ₹35 as minimum plan. Later they even offered ₹10 talktime plan which lasted me over a month. Jane kaha gaye woh din?

4) I hate monopolies. Not just it brings competition down. It is boring as hell. There is no creativity or innovation. Back when multiple operators existed we got attractive bundles, segmented offers. Nowadays it's just meh. I miss the time we got awesome jingles, free perks like caps and watches and innovative ads. Telecom has just become plain boring.

Just look at today. Jio has good for 4G and Airtel is excellent here. Meanwhile Jio has wider 5G coverage. Airtel is yet to catch-up. Than again Vi caters to lower income people with segmented offer, night unlimited and weekend roll over for those who can't afford broadband. Meanwhile BSNL is available at certain areas where no Jio, Airtel or Vi can deliver. Point is even if you are willing to pay premium. You don't have a perfect condition. You need to still have a combo of Jio, Airtel + BSNL combo if you are travelling.

 

[vikhyath]

What a day! I was thinking about creating a thread about Mikey McCleary awesome Vodafone jingles on DreamDTH today. Than I saw Hutch trend on twitter along with that were post of some old sim cards of almost all old operators. I got bit nostalgic. So I decided to create this thread.

Please answer the following.

1) Which was your first telecom provider?

2) In which year did you got your that sim?

3) What tempt you choosing that operator over other operators? Knowing that we had way more than Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL back than.

4) What's your opinion about defunct operator like Aircel, Docomo, Reliance etc? How would market be today if they still existed?

1. Airtel

2. 2004

3. Only available networks were Airtel & BSNL in my locality in the era of missed calls. BSNL used to be pathetic, with huge subscriber base & zero indoor connectivity. So, Only option left was the Extra Premium n/w, Airtel with excellent connectivity. Only con those days used to be, we were charged ₹1.50 for Incoming & ₹2.50 for Outgoing calls. (Hutch & Reliance CDMA were the OG DoCoMo/Jio in this era with their 50p/Min other n/w call offerings. But, worst in terms of Rural connectivity & Idea used to be a premium network with no proper Rural Infrastrucutre back then)

4. DoCoMo with it's 1p/sec plan & Uninor with it's free same n/w calls, clearly changed the dynamics of telecom in India. Both n/w's concentrated & succeeded in bringing the Rural connectivity in to the picture from Day 1 of their launch. Huge thx to them for bringing the costs down too. Aircel, Reliance GSM & Cheers Mobile at one point of time were good with their offerings, but were never able succeed in majority circles due to their pathetic connectivity.

But at this moment, it looks like market is going to be a Duopoly in near future. To avoid this, third n/w should be alive. May be BSNL & Vi merger with TATA or Adani joining hands with Birla & GoI in the merged entity resulting in an only Indian Telecom n/w without any foreign investment would be great. (Wish to see Vodafone kicked out of the country!)

 

[Prithi Deb]

My first provider was Aircel. I used to recharge with ₹14 which used to give unlimited Facebook and WhatsApp browsing and 10MB data with which I used to play Clash Of Clans. Then I moved to Airtel after Aircel closed down. Then moved to Vodafone. I also got a secondary sim when Jio launched which has been deactivated now.

 

[iDJ]

On Vodafone ₹14 recharge offered 200 mb which use to last for months as it rolled over option. I use to download from 12-6 am using downloaders with ₹8 unlimited night plan. Even on 2G you could easily download around 500 mb everytime. That's how I discovered webseries before Jio. Only at certain nights Internet use to go down for maintenance.