If you are a Mumbaikar, you will remember this. BPL (now Loop) Mumbai had launched an aggressive campaign which reduced customers bill by almost 30%. That was called One Second Billing.
Tata DoCoMo is the GSM based telecommunications service of Tata Indicom in partnership with Japan’s leading mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo. They have a Pan – India licence and are already live with 5 circles, covering Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. With interesting banners shouting “Why pay for unused?” and “One paisa across India”, you would be keen to know what are the charges and how do you save huge cost in your monthly bill.
Well, check this link out < Tata DoCoMo Savings Checker > This link will tell you how much would you save on your calls in different scenarios. Isn’t interesting. So, if Tata DoCoMo is in your town, go for it.
All cards are Lifetime, Local Calls to any mobile and Landline are set at 1 Paise for 1 Second. For example, if you make 10 calls for 30 seconds each and your call rate is Re. 1 per minute, then you are charged by Rs. 10. However, if the same amount of calls for 30 seconds are billed by seconds and each second costs 1 paise, then you are charged only Rs. 3 instead of Rs. 10.
Thats 70% savings right on. This is incredibily helpful when you are facing call drops in an area where network is not so strong. And also when you are giving miss call and it gets picked, you are only charged for one second rather than the whole minute. Company says that Seconds based Billing saves a minimum of 20% to 30% vis-a-vis your regular bill under different scenarios. Not all your call will end exactly minute to minute and hence this savings is clearly viable.
STD too saves you cost on a similar line. STD calls are 2 Paise/second and are sensible given that you get savings on cost anyways because of the seconds.
Even ISD Calls have One second pulse. Calls to US are charged at 11 Paise per second, totaling it to Rs. 6.60 for 60 seconds.
GPRS
This is my favorite category I am always keen on with every other service provider. Tata Docomo has an account based portal which is accessible Freely on Home network. And WAP access is charged at 1 Paise per KB. Which is again good because every other service provider charges a fixed rate, for example 10 Paise / 10 KB or 30 Paise / 30 KB.
On the GPRS (non WAP) front, it is again 1 Paise / 1 KB. While on roaming Tata or other networks, these rates change to the fixed rates as mentioned above.
Postpaid
The first thing I want to write about an India’s First Make my Own Plan. You might have heard of Make my Own dish in a lot of Restaurents, but this is for the first time a Telephone company offers this facility.
An Extract from the Postpaid Plan page > Your ingredients are 150 mins of local talktime, 50 mins of STD talktime, and 500 local person to person sms. With Start 299, you can take any three (3) free topping combinations Under Premium 499, customer can take any six (6) free topping combinations Under Platinum 799, you can take any ten (10) free topping combinations For Example: For Start 299 plan, you can have one combination of the three toppings as 150 Local Free Minutes, 50 STD Minutes & 500 Local SMSs. Or the combination can be two toppings of the 150 Local Free Minutes i.e. 300 local minutes and one topping of 50 STD Minutes (because the total number of combinations is three)
Another example can be as 1 topping of local 150 minutes and 2 toppings of 50 STD minutes Or the communication can be all 3 toppings of 150 minutes, totaling to 450 local minutes
All the plans are based on Seconds and are divided into Four. That again is as interesting. Most of the mobile service providers offer more than 10 plans and often confuse consumers on which one should they go with, not to mention the different and customized corporate plans. Keeping only Four plans makes things pretty easier.
Start, Pemium, Platinum and Elite. Interesting names for plans, is’nt it? Check all the plans here
At the moment, I don’t have exact details of the network and how pleasing the customer care is, but once I get my hands on it I will put that in working! Tata Docomo does have the capability to change the market and once it gets aross India, surely we will see more action in the market.
Now after getting youthful with Virgin and One Second billing in Tata Docomo, what’s next Tata?
India
Tata Docomo sucks!
I got transfered to Bangalore recently so I had to get a new connection. I thought I will go for Tata Docomo as the tariff rates are really interesting (was using Airtel before), also because of the TATA brand name. I have been using Docomo for the past 3 months or so, and I can say without a doubt that the support services sucks, the network coverage is a PITY (imagine in a place like Bangalore).
The best part is I get up in the morning and I find the network is gone, so everyday I have to manually select the Docomo ‘effect’. Yesterday I tried calling my mother and it says "the docomo no. you are trying is not valid" … ha ha… my mothers is using a Vodafone no. Lots of call drps. Forget about wanting to speak to someone in your car, you cant move across the room while you talk…. I guess Docomo are against WALK and TALK. Roaming sucks even more!!
Lessons learnt: If you are working then dont try to save money on GIMMICKS. And finally DOCOMO is for students or people who are not earning…. PERIOD.
I will be changing to my old AIRTEL soon… its the best in India.
DOCOMO EFFECT my FOOT!!!!
Hell ya. Its a real feast. I must say what I have already repeated. TATA Docomo has got ideas glore.
ohh dats nice..docomo wit thr new diwali twist..i gt more surprised wen i saw the videos already been posted on the diwali theme..n all the videos are vry impressive n a feast for docomo to publicize thr product during diwali!
This Diwali we want to ‘do the new’ with the animators! Not only are we holding the Animation Contest, we are now giving it a cracking Diwali twist! So all you animator’s out there here’s your chance to earn a nice Diwali Bonus! We are offering a special reward of Rs. 1 Lakh for the best animation celebrating the theme of Diwali, using D, O, C, O, M and O and of course our brand signature tune!
The last date of submission for the unique Diwali Contest is October 7th, 2009. The name of all the entries must start with ‘DIWALI_(title of your clip)’.
The Diwali Twist Competition is over and above the on-going contest and the same terms of DO apply.
This Diwali we want to DO the New, so its time for you to show your DO!
The Diwali twist contest details can be found at ‘create.tatadocomo.com/ what-to-do.aspx’
Warm Regards,
TATA DOCOMO
🙂 right..waiting for docomo to let us knw abt thr network n customer care issues..well i think they cn pick up more n get into the market if theses issues are solved..n for nw the network issue is getin better..lets hope the best from them..n also from the participants..jus saw a amzing video..its the story of the rabbit n the tortoise..best luck to all the participants n also to docomo to improve thr service..
Thanks for coming back Makrand. Its certainly an interesting conversation we are having. Am just wondering when the Tata Docomo Social Marketing team coming back here and giving some inputs.
Thats interesting. Though I am not into 3d, it still sounds interesting since we all can get to see brilliant content. You see, this is a cost cutting initiative. They get brilliant creatives for nothing except for just bearing the cost for the winner prize and email marketing.
absolutely..guess wat they jus changed thr animation plan a bit..at first the rule was the participants cn only use 2D flash animation video n nw they hav extended thr rules like the videos cn also b done in 3D, stop motion or by any othr form of animation..i dnt think any animator wil jus pass this chance like that..its sumthin amazing..
Tata Docomo has been the best marketer this year. May be its time for my first Marketing Case study. The point that Tata Docomo has kept pulling customers into its fold is amazing. The Animation contest is just the proof that they know how to gamble their two cents.
in my case thr is no problem wit the network or the clarity..bt problem with the customer care..lets hope they improve thr service..sumthin new in docomo..they are coming up wit sum animation contest ..n the participants hav already strted posting thr entries..jus saw 2 ads in face book..
Intersting! Tata Docomo has gone Aircel way! Team, any news about Network upgradtion. I am not at all happy with my Tata Docomo as yet. I guess if at all Tata Docomo has to go big, it has to couple a brilliant network with your already brilliant marketing campaign.
We have finally launched our unlimited GPRS plan and we will be introducing it in 2 packages. The first package will be the ‘Rs. 15 GPRS Pack’. This is a pre paid pack wherein a customer can recharge with Rs.15, and thereafter the customer will be allowed to access unlimited data for next 3 days by selecting Docomo internet APN on their handsets. The second package will be the ‘Rs. 95 GPRS Pack’. In this pack, the customer can recharge with Rs. 95, and thereafter the customer will be allowed to access unlimited data for the next 30 days. These packages will be applicable to TATADOCOMO home and roaming network only.
For further information please visit the Unlimited GPRS URL: http://www.tatadocomo.com/gprs-edge-faqs.aspx
pls giv me the details of the new unlimited gprs plan of tata docomo..
Hey, thank you for dropping by Akshat… as of now, I dont have those details… Once I get, will let you know certainly…
how do you guys do such a brilliant marketing idea?bharati grp better watch out…
We would love to hear your thoughts on it!
Wow wow! Thats Tata Docomo social marketing team answering a complaint. Hope I just start my connection soon and come back with power packed review.
Dear Bikram,
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. We received overwhelming response from our customers due to which we initially faced congestion problems. However, corrective actions have been taken to resolve the call center connectivity problem.
Thank you
The make your own plan is a marketing gimmick. You can any ways do that with any service providers. Its called add ons. The network is also not up to the mark. Customer service is ok.
Thnx 4 da review. Can u tell me how mch can i save?
This review is forcing me to think in favor of switching to Docomo. If i can save atleast 30% on my bill every month then why not? Thank you very much for the information.
@Selvan Thank you for visiting on the website. I agree that its a marketing gimmick. But I would stand by what I said. Face it, i call it marketing creativity.
@Vishwamitra the savings depends on your usage. For example, I am paying Vodafone Mumbai .30 paise for one minute under my corporate plan. My monthly usage is of around 1000 minutes of local call. The advantage Tata Docomo is that the billing is in seconds and on an estimate of 600 minutes should have been ideally billed. But since i am only paying .30 paise, my current plan works cheaper for me. Tata Docomo will charge me @ 60 paise for 60 seconds and the total i would pay is more. But if i was paying 50 paise per call for 1000 minutes, then in a similar scenario at Tata Docomo i would save Rs. 200.
Thank you Gomez for giving a visit.
Thank you Bikram for visiting my Blog.
I have to tell you that I am very happy with Virgin services in Mumbai. If you check my review for the Best Mobile Phone network in Mumbai Virgin tops the charts.
The plans are surely awesome. But the service provided is 3rd class. I had a very bitter experience, with calls, SMSs and even customer care.