Reviewed - Reliance 3G Internet Connection: Does not meet the advertised sound bites

Reliance 3G, or the third generation, wireless broadband Internet service's on the air advertisement, starring Anushka Sharma, has been, of late, getting me irritated with the air of its northie arrogance and omnipotence - the "bharpur" bakwaas types. So, when I plugged in the USB dongle for the first time, I was quite apprehensive. But, luckily, the overall satisfaction level till now has been OK. I mean, nothing great, but definitely decent quality of service.

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Reliance 3G dialler.

So, how do I rate this on all parameters? Read on!

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Any Wireless Broadband Internet Service Provider has to be judged on the following parameters - 

• Reliability of service or average up-time
• Actual connectivity or the bandwidth provided
• Geographical coverage
• Price, and
• Customer Care

Let's see how Reliance performs on these parameters.

reliance 3G vs Tata photon+

In terms of Reliability of Service, Reliance does not give much scope for a complaint, when you are in a metro or a fairly populated urban area. However, in pockets, such as on James Long Sarani, near Ajanta Cinema Hall, Behala, Kolkata, the 3G HSPA services are unreliable to say the least. Similarly, in areas, where there are no 3G coverage, the EDGE service really crawls. One can hardly do anything worthwhile using the EDGE services. In fact, recently, when I had traveled by train from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi, my Tata Photon+ provided a better and more reliable connectivity than the Reliance 3G.
reliance 3G service review
Actual bandwidth provided remains another tricky issue. While my dongle shows that it is connected at 7.2 Mbps, the bandwidth delivered has seldom crossed 2 Mbps. Mostly, it revolves around 200-500 Kbps range.
reliance 3G score
Geographical coverage, as I have already pointed out, erratic to say the least. There are vast patches, where no signal is available. There are also major areas, where you cannot log in to the 3G network, while on roaming. Even in metro cities like Kolkata & Delhi, there are many important areas, around which the signal strength is really weak. So, however hard Anushka Sharma may try and make us believe that Reliance actually offers a "bharpur" coverage, I would not rate it at more than 5 out of 10 for coverage.
reliance 3G coverage pretty bad
Pricing seems to me as one of the strong points of Reliance, and frankly speaking, I can't complain much on this. There's perhaps an offering at each price point, for all types of users.
reliance 3G pricing good
Customer Care of Reliance is definitely better than Tata Teleservices'. Although, when it comes to technical support, in most instances, you will probably run around in a circle. In fact, I truly believe that the technical help provided by each of the service providers in India needs to be improved. Here also, nothing is much different.
reliance 3G customer care average
My ultimate verdict would be to support subscribing to Reliance 3G services, if you live in a metro city, or at a place that is listed in their website as having 3G services. In case, you travel to hinterlands frequently, go for one of the CDMA services, or even BSNL 3G, as they have more or less got the country - other than major urban areas - mapped!
reliance 3G 6.5 out 10 rating
On a scale of 10, I would not score Reliance 3G at more than 6.5.
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