After having used MTNL ADSL connection for 7 years, I decided to give Reliance’s Fixed Line Broadband Connection a try, mainly enticed by their pricing (Rs. 699 a month for 2mbps unlimited connection with no FUP limit.)
While the registration process was fairly simple and fast due to their sales rep being quite enthused about selling me the connection, installation of the line took 3 days and a day later, their technician came to my home with a smallish ZTE ADSL Modem (no option for Wi-Fi router or other brands).
Anyways, technician connected the phone line to the modem (no phone instrument was provided) and then proceeded to plug it to the Ethernet cable connected to MTNL’s Router, in a bid to save time and effort.
Once everything was setup, Reliance’s technician proceeded to give me a tour of their login portal, which one has to use, each time they wish to connect to the internet! This seemed awkward to say the least, considering even 7 years ago, MTNL was using automatic logins through the router, rather than forcing users to open a webpage and manually type username and password to begin surfing! Even worse, even if you do not get disconnected, Reliance Communications’ login system will automatically log you out after 24hours! However, when the technician was giving me a tour of their login portal, same thing kept happening every couple of minutes.
When I finally got the chance to use the internet, I found speed to be quite slow and sure enough, Reliance’s 2mbps connection was working at a far lower speed than my 1mbps MTNL connection!
Here is a screenshot of the best speed result Reliance Broadband Connection could manage on their own hosted speedtest!
When I apprised the technician of this, he told me that this happens with newly created accounts and since it is a Saturday, he cannot get it fixed. However, by Monday morning, I should start getting full 2mbps speed!
While I didn’t believe what he had said there was little I could do at that point, already feeling regret over having bought Reliance Broadband Connection.
Even more pathetic was the fact that technician pocketed the LAN cable which came with Reliance’s Modem, when I wasn’t looking. This was something I found out later, when I decided to close the box of the modem, to put it away.
Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, I tried logging in ever so often, in hopes of finding the connection working at 2mbps, but each time I was disappointed.
Finally on Monday (6th April 2013), I called Reliance Broadband’s Customer Care, who told me this was a North-India wide issue with their network, which would hopefully get resolved by 21st of April (as of 9th May, from what I hear, it still isn’t resolved!)
Feeling cheated and lied to, I asked them to cancel my account and refund the entire amount and they in turn told me to send cancellation request to their email id. [email protected]. Which I did on same day, requesting them to cancel my account and provide a full refund, since they weren’t able to provide the promised service from day one!
After several emails and calling them out on Social Media Sites, their “Relationship Manager” finally called me on the 15th of April! After much persistence, their “Relationship Manager” finally processed the cancellation request and gave me cancellation request no. and told me that their field executive would call in a few days to collect the instrument, 7 days after the instrument is picked up, my connection would be cancelled. Afterwards I can call their billing team to request for a refund, which if due, would then be processed within 60 days (essentially saying, thank you for choosing Reliance, you are never going to get your money back!)
When I asked her to send an email, stating all of the above, she refused to do so and even refused to escalate the call, claiming she was the senior supervisor and said that in order to get an email about what she had said, I need to call their customer care with the cancellation request no. and that I am free to complain to their appellate authority if I wanted to.
I did request the same from Reliance Broadband Customer care, Reliance Communication Delhi Appellate Authority and their official reps on Twitter and Facebook, but nothing happened.
What I did get on the 27th of April 2013 was a collection call from Reliance Broadband, asking me, why I hadn’t paid my broadband bill!
When I asked for the details of the bill and told them it was a prepaid connection which was installed 21 days ago and I had requested cancellation of it 19 days ago, the person on the other end just wanted to get off the phone and so did his supervisor, without providing me any information whatsoever.
Once again, email complaints regarding this went unheard and so did complaints on Twitter and Facebook!
I did however get the paper bill a few days later, which as you can see below, was generated on the 27th of April 2013 for Rs. -181.93 i.e. Reliance Communication had made a collection call to me at 11:44AM about a bill they had generated on the same day and which was showing, that they owed me money! No wonder their collection agents wanted to get off the phone ASAP, when I asked them about the bill.
Finally after repeatedly asking for answers on Twitter, I got a call back from Reliance Communication’s Social Media Team. The lady promised to refund Rs. 699 (against Rs. 1300 I had paid to them) and told me that my account had already been terminated by Reliance Communication!
She also added that the charges for the bill they had generated on the 27th of April 2013 (account which was terminated on 23rd of April 2013), would be refunded when the new bill is generated next month for my terminated account and once that happens, they will issue me a refund within 45-60 days!
When I told her it is unacceptable that they are offering to refund only part of the amount and it is absolutely scandalous that they are planning to generate more bills for a terminated account, she had no convincing reply. Neither was Reliance Communication Social Media Team ready to provide me with a letter or email stating that my account had been cancelled, nor were they ready to provide me in writing, that I do not owe them anything and would not be billed.
Further attempts to get Reliance to respond in an appropriate manner has failed and it seems it is their intention to keep billing me for this supposedly terminated account and continue stealing my hard earned money, due to the fact that they are a large company and I am just another idiot, who fell for their too good to be true offer!
Hence I am compelled to write this Review of Reliance Broadband Connection, in an attempt to ensure that you can make an informed choice based on what you read here and elsewhere about Reliance Broadband Connection, before you hand Reliance your billing details!
Ps. Reliance Communication Delhi Appellate Authority didn’t even bothered responding to even one of my numerous emails to them!
Update: 32 days after the cancellation request and 17 days after the supposed cancellation, Reliance Technician came to pick up the modem and wire, unannounced and gave me this piece of paper as proof for collection of the equipment (which is laughable to say the least!)
Update: Several months later, after I got my complaint routed through DOT, they finally gave me confirmation for cancellation and refunded 300 odd rupees i.e. they kept first month’s payment as well as installation charge, even though I didn’t even use it for a single day! I decided 1000 bucks wasn’t worth wasting more time with these guys and leaved the matter at that.
44 Comments
Sir
I learnt the same lesson years ago and have stuck to MTNL since then. It is true that MTNL customer care is as good as non existent and they have all grey haired staff who always look haggled yet what you need is to have the official email ids and mobile numbers of the senior officials and you will never face a problem in connectivity.
As for the speed issue and billing, I have never been troubled with the MTNL connection.
Regards
Sushil
Sushil, I was facing connectivity issue for quite a few days (I believe it was a network issue) and complaining repeatedly and even to the higher ups didn’t help, which was one of the reasons why I started evaluating other companies. While MTNL bounced back, Reliance, well, less said the better!
Hi Yogesh,
Why don’t you post this complaint here – http://www.pgportal.gov.in/
Hope it helps.
Anand.S
Anand, isn’t it for complaints pertaining to government departments?
DOT has its own Public Grievances Cell http://www.dot.gov.in/public-grievances/public-grievances, whom I am planning to approach soon.
Hi Yogesh,
Please find below in the link from Team-BHP where a similar case like yours was solved after complaining in the portal.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/111325-heard-pgportal-gov-about-time-you-do-5.html#post3114923
Thanks Anand, will try it out.
Reliance executives took all documents & check for my new connection they not providing me any acknowledgment & now they not responding to my calls i was almost 10 days past
They didn’t even give your acknowledgement slip while collecting the documents and payment?
I guess if they haven’t yet encashed the cheque and aren’t returning your calls, it is time to cancel the cheque.
I fell in their trap too. applied for their connection on 19th of july and they were only able to put up my connection on 31st as it was their closing and they had to put up as much connections as they could. While in the due time i complained in the Rcom helpline no. there was no way i could have got to the customer care and get a complaint no. as they said it would be resolved with in 48 hours which it wasn’t. Even after verifying that there was a link available in my area, they made an excuse that it was far behind and either they can refund my money in 45 days or else i can pay the installer an extra Rs.200/- for the extra WIRE!? i agreed to pay as i thought they wouldn’t be refunding my money anyways.
after the day they installed the connection, the very next day(1-aug-2013) it wasn’t working. I called the the person who collected my documents, and talked to him rudely and he said he would get to it asap. that was the only quick response i got in all the process. the problem was resolved within 1 hour. The day after that (3-july-2013) i again had an issue that i couldn’t access the web. I called the customer care, and they responded that it was a problem on their back end, and that my line didn’t have the right IP and the problem will be resolved within 24 hours though he would try to make it happen in 1 hour. well it didn’t. it is Sunday today and i am completely feeling cheated by them.
On the contrary, i also have a connection from HPCL connect broadband which also happen to have an issue on the same day(co-incidentally). there servers were down in the area and as soon as i called the customer care,it said it was temporary, and would be fine by morning. I didn’t mind as it was already late. in the morning, while i still didnt have access to the same i called the customer care, they said servers were up and running so it might be a fault on your side. he logged the complaint, gave me a complain no. and told me it would be fixed within 4 working hours. it being Sunday, it couldn’t be helped that i would have to wait for the day. BUT, BUT, BUT, contrary to my expectation, a minute after i have disconnected the call, the bell rang and the person on the other end said, he was on field and asked my permission if he could visit and fix the problem now. He was on my door within 10 minutes and fixed the problem in another 5. so a total on 35 minutes including my time of complaining , they resolved my problem. and that i 1 heck of a service!!. totally pleased me and ii am quite furious at Reliance as they cant even handle resetting an IP address from their end, which would have taken them not more than a minute! Relaince is a total LOOSER. I only had trouble with my connection twice in 3 years on my connect, along with a complimentary wifi modem.
totally crapped out by service and promise of reliance and its associates/workers. they all lie!.. BEWARE
Thanks for sharing this article. I almost went ahead with Reliance Broadband looking at their pricing but it was as someone said, “too good to be true!”.
I think the best bet is to go with MTNL (I’ve used that in Defence Colony area for the past 2 years with absolutely no issues but was skeptic as I recently shifted to Lajpat Nagar).
Only issue with MTNL is that one has to pay 180-200 as landline’s monthly rental and 999 + taxes over and above it to get the broadband connection, overall costing 1200+ for 1mbps, not very competitive pricing in my opinion.
Vicky, MTNL has a 1mbps combo plan, wherein you pay Rs. 999 + taxes for 1mbps connection + 200 free phone calls, final bill comes out at Rs. 1217 a month with WiFi router rental.
Thanks Yogesh!
I booked the MTNL connection again, the same 999 combo plan without router as I had a router already.
By the way, how good is the MTNL router? I mean signal strength at variable range etc. Netgear has served me very well in my previous 250 sq yard house even when it was installed in the corner room.
I initially thought that I will have to first get the landline connection with 180-200 rental and on top of it go for the broadband connection which would be 180-200 + 999 + taxes. However, just got over the phone from the MTNL lady who said that in the combo plan there is no rental on landline connection and I’d only pay for broadband.
Their ‘turn around time’ is 1 week so I’ll post again once I get the connection, hopefully within one week only.
Congrats Vicky.
I am not sure about the maximum range, since I have a small flat and it is more than sufficient for it. Also they have several WiFi routers, the one I am using at the moment is 3 or 4 years old.
Hi Yogesh,
I have a tata wired line, 1Meg tata photon plus USB modem/dongle and 3G Idea Netsetter USB modem/dongle. I bought the 3G Idea netsetter recently 3-4 months ago, it was like Rs. 3200 for 3 months with dongle for free and then each month its around 900.
All 3 perform well and service providers are good. I try to stay away from Reliance 🙂
The Idea netsetter gives around 4Meg speed in cities. I just love it. My plan is of unlimited one with 6Gb bandwidth and after that speed gets reduced and its around 900 per month
Recently, I bought a D-Link 3G myPocket Router (DWR-131) and I use it with Idea Netsetter modem. There is another dlink pocket router thats much better then the one I bought.
The best part about this Dlink pocket wifi router is that they have internal rechargeable battery in it and its ultra light. I was surprised to see its ability to auto detect the usb modem you would connect to it. I can uce this all over India wherever Idea has coverage.
I think this kind of device along with the USB modem is good for all fellow travellers.
Another alternative would be to feed the sim card from the Idea Netsetter in a mobile and wifi broadcasted from it 🙂
Hope this helps you/someone within travel community.
Samir, sadly Idea does not have 3g services in Delhi. I have a idea prepaid and MTNL postpaid connection, apart from MTNL DSL at home. While traveling MTNL/BSNL network gives pretty good coverage and network and when it isn’t around, I use Idea for data.
Forgot to mention that my dual sim mobile acts as a wifi hotspot when needed, so no need to carry anything extra. Though I do carry a backup battery pack for it, so that it can easily last more than a day with charge + backup, while GPS logging throughout the day and using 3G or 2G network.
Hi Yogesh,
Which area in Delhi are you based at? I am trying to evaluate Reliance BB for a month or two. Switching from MTNL primarily because of FUP. I’m still dicey about reliance seeing your review.
Mayapuri. MTNL has plans without any FUP, which is what I use and normally do 100-130GB data transfer each month on a 1mbps connection.
I have a story similar to yours. In my case, the net stopped working after 20 days of use, and despite numerous promises of repairing it in 24 hours max, it did not ever work.
I am fighting this up hill battle with reliance as well, with their representatives ready to say anything to get off tough questions, and later on their written replies reneging on the same. Currently, they have agreed to cancel the bill for the period after my connection was terminated, however, they are refusing to acknowledge that they charged a security (they’re calling it installation charges now). However, they have taken my modem (i have a receipt as well as an email confirmation for the same).
I have been complaining on the site grahakseva as well, though reliance really gives a damn.
http://www.grahakseva.com/complaints/174541/reliance-broadband-is-either-run-by-fools-or-by-thieves
I would be grateful if you let me know what course of action you’re taking against them. I am personally thinking of consumer court, as I have all conversations as email records.
Mukul, I got my complaint routed through DOT, http://www.dot.gov.in/public-grievances/public-grievances. Only then they acted and gave me confirmation for cancellation and refunded 300 odd rupees i.e. they kept first month’s payment as well as installation charge, even though I didn’t even use it for a day!
I decided 1000 bucks wasn’t worth wasting more time with these guys and leaved the matter at that.
I am facing same trouble with Reliance Broadband.
I asked for connection termination 3 months back.
When I filed first complaint (through customer support) for
termination, 20 days later customer relations person called
and asked me to continue with the connection
(and with assurance that bill so far will be waived off).
But at same time I checked connection was not working.
I waited for 1 more day and again asked for termination.
Now 2 more months (total almost 3 months) have passed,
and they are threatening me for legal action as they have sent
me bill of 3 months saying that as termination is still not complete
you will have to pay all the pending bills.
I have called numerous times (at least 10 times) to their support asking
for further action on my connection termination request.
But their support is really pathetic (to say the least). I found their support
people (who also told me that my bill waived off), customer
relationship persons, bill department, and various teams don’t
at all communicate with each other.
I am going to file a complain to dot.gov.in for this. What are the steps
(documents for proofs, etc) needed to take this further? Do you have
any experience on taking these cases to consumer court?
Rajesh, unless you filed your cancellation request through email or communicated regarding the same through email or sent letters, it is highly unlikely that you have any proof. It is essentially your words against them and all that PGPortal does is, it forwards the complaint to the company and then they try and resolve it. However the grievances department which does get in touch with you after that is a lot nicer than customer care.
So my advice would be to write the complaint on PGPorta and then try and settle the matter amicably.
As far as consumer courts are concerned, I haven’t yet gone to one.
Hi!
Wow first of all a big thanks as I was about to shift from mtnl to reliance cause of their insane tarrif plans!
I wonder how many of you’ll have tried hathway. It is offering really good tariff plans with 15 to 50 gb speeds at the same 2 mbps mtnl rates!
http://www.hathway.com/hathway-broadband/home-broadband.php
I stay in Mumbai but hathway is there in Delhi as well.
I have used hathway before. The only and the most annoying problem with it is that the login page keeps popping up every now and then and one has to reset the router alot :/
MTNL works without any trouble 24*7*365 just that their tariff when compared with hathway is on the losing side.
Off late MTNL has started their 10 mbps Fibre Thrill plan with 990 pm rental fup 25gb and then 512kbps. Looks like a good plan. More plans are here at
http://mtnlmumbai.in/index.php/fiber-to-the-home-ftth#fibre-unlimited-plans
Note: these are plans in Mumbai!
Avoid Reliance, Happy Surfing 😀
Shantanu Mantri
[email protected]
Hathway is the same as MTNL, if you look at their plans without any FUP, which is what I use.
Thank you very much Yogesh and other buddies for posting their experience with these horrid ISP’s. I have lost faith in all these players. These guys are least bothered about what the customer undergoes after selling the connection to them. As far as I know, there is not a single ISP in the market with whom you can confidently sign up for services. This is very pathetic. 🙁
Hey Yogesh & Other over this Blog.
Actually I was wondering bout a broadband connection and then I see the Reliance Page claiming their Price to b least as compared to other broadband companies. I feel like in love with them for some moment when I see the plan Worth Rs.699 @ 2Mbps without any bandwidth break trigger.
It was unbelievable..
Bt now when i see many personal experiences of people, I just drop my idea of buying the connection.
Bt some other forum have some +ve and -ve reviews bout the connection. I mean mix reviews.
If anyone living in Punjab and haved used or currently using reliance broadband, pls tell me the review bout it..
I’m still confused bout dere service over Here..
I have also faced similar billing and account termination request processing problem with Reliance. Though Reliance provides many lucrative offers to the customers, basically underneath the mask, the main intention is to steal money from common people in various illegal and unethical way.
Don’t trust Reliance broadband Trivandrum Kazhakoottom Team
I am a poor victim of Reliance broadband service.( me and my friends working in Techno park, sometimes doing work from home too , for our living)
Because of my bad luck, I planned to take Reliance broadband wired connection by stopping current connection.
My bad luck starts there
On seeing Advertisement in olx I called Mr.: Shinu (Executive) for getting a new connection.
He came to my house to talk about it.
He asked me, one ID proof and a photo and to fill up a form and 800 rs for setting up connection.
I have given all these including the amount on 15th march 2014, on the agreement that they will give me connection on 1st April.(bill CAF no : 17800032269742) He asked me only these documents
Days gone. 31st March I called Shinu, to remind my connection. Then he told me, he is leave on 1st April, so connection can be given only on 2nd April. It can happen, I can understand.
On 2nd April I again called this Guy, and then he told their executives will call you.
Then one lady from reliance office called me and asked about the details.
After some time, some other executive (don’t know his name) called me and asked to give, ID proof, rent receipt. Also he told me, there is a problem in cable. So they need to change the cable and connection can be given only 7th April 2014.
In between Mr. Shinu had spoiled my ID proof and Application form that is what the new executive told me.
Again, 7th April, they came to my home, to collect my rend agreement, they told, agreement is written in some other person’s name so they want his photo and ID proof.
The second executive also agreed me to give connection on 7th April 2014 evening. Now we have given everything (not sure, if they will come tomorrow with some other documents missing, like ration card, Adhar card etc)
Now they called not me, but my friend and told connection can be given on tomorrow (8th April 2014)
Following are the numbers I contacted
Mr Shinu: +91 8893391180, 9633935104, 9387761912. Email: [email protected]
Second Executive: 8893775161
I supposed to get connection on 1st April, today is 7th April, I have not got the connection yet even after paying the money and the documents.
Now tell me how can we trust them?
I am writing this because, in future, please be careful while calling these guys for any service.
You should not be trapped. So don’t terminate existing connection if you are doing some business.
If any reliance officers seeing this post please make sure, your customer is happy. Please beware of these kinds of executives. How can you justify these kinds of activities? Because of these guys, we are unable to work for 1 week. Please remember, if we are able to work, then only we can pay the bill amount.
Nandakumar
9447432620
Ahh add one more spoiled egg to the list.
Had been a customer of Reliance since 2019 and after 2012 what I get is nothing but trouble.
First it used to go down by 12-1AM and come back by 6AM every single day,upon numerous complaints nothing was done and as the problem suddenly rose it was gone without doing anything.
Sharing my 1 month experience:[Location Pune]
Now in last month my connection was down for 19 DAYS out of 30 days.
These rascals were just closing my every single complaint without providing any solution stating its resolved. Their supervisers are pathetic and all lie to the face of customers.
It took 4 complaints and 5 days + 1 termination only after which an engineer visits n finds the problem ,guess what nothing happens even after 3 days after his visit,whereas I was assured that it would be fixed by next day of his visit.
1 more termination request and then a person comes n fixes the lines which worked for exactly 2 days and went down again.
Upon calling their pathetic CC reply is old complaint is not closed yet and being worked upon.
Connection comes back after 2 days and goes down again for 3 days then comes back after 2 days and goes down again for 4-5 days.
In this whole process so called termination department/rapid response team assured that I would get a waiver for every single day the connection is down.
Surprise when I called the customer care and they say they will not provide me any waiver which is not continuous i.e minimum 72hrs is required as per their policy and TRAI rules as per the useless CC executive.
Another termination complaint and this time I aint paying them sh*t and wont have the connection even if they offer it for free.
An advice to anyone looking for broadband connection to stay away from Reliance.
Yes their plans are very attractive and cost less compared to others because their service is offered for like 280 days out of 365 days and CC dont give a damn about us as a customer thats why one has to wait and hold the call for atleast 15-30mins every time they call.
So if you are ready to call them n wait for 30 mins every single time [for 3 times atleast for solving 1 problem] without any hope of any waiver go ahead otherwise STAY AWAY.
Its Honey when its working but once it starts giving trouble,ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE WITH THEM.
If anyone needs any clarification reply here.
Dear sir. I wany to buy a connection but I have a few questions
can I connect a wifi router to share my net connection with my mobile or lappy??
Waiting for your reply at my email address
Yes you can, but you will have to buy your own Wi-Fi router.
BIGGEST FRAUDSTER IN INDIA
I have taken connection for broadband and landline.They have charged very heavy amount and internet speed for 1 Mbps plan will give u only 220-250 kbps. Pathetic.!
Moreover. when u ll complain on customer care then they will receive call after wait of 30-40 minutes n no problem resolves until u call them 4-5 times.
there engineer comes but do not solve any problem.
Even for termination request they will call you after many days.
#Shameless company.will never use it in my lyf.!
I want new broadband connection for Delhi under 1k. Can u suggest me a good wifi provider.
Get MTNL connection.
Yes,
They did same with us. Commited 2mbps and the connection speed is below 1 mbps.
Reliance is CHEAT company stay away from this company.
Regards,
Trilok
Seabit Technologies Private Limited
You just saved one more netizen, Thanks.. BTW do you have any idea about Airtel?
They are better, I have been using their connection for over a year now.
One of the worst customer service seen till date. Every month its stops working due to some reason and it takes more than a week to resolve issue, that also when you follow up 10-15 times. Whenever i complaint, they create a ticket and close it without followup, when i call them and ask why they closed the ticket without resolving the issue, they have same answer, it was closed from server side after fixing the issue. Please create new ticket.
And you will now become football between there Technical group and non-technical grp. You land to technical ppl when you select to create new complaint and they will do just one thing create new ticket, they don’t care about why prev ticket was closed. And if you chose to get status update on existing ticket, you land up with non-technical grp. Who are suppose to update you about your existing tkt, but in reality, do nothing. They will tell you to again contact technical grp and create new ticket. There is no provision of reopening the ticket.
Last time it took me 4 tickets to resolve the issue, this time already created 3, and its already 6 days, and still struggling.
In case you guys think I am not aware about appellate authority, then please do not confuse. I have already tried it, they did same both time. Unfortunately “GANGADHAR HI SHAKTIMAAN HAI”.
A non- reliance speed, non-reliable customer service.
– Poor Reliance Broandband customer, Gurgaon
So now, You are still sticking to Reliance or moved onto some other ISP?
*looking for ISP in Gurgaon* *help*
I am using Airtel these days.
Reliance Broadband service is very bad. They send bill to you even after termination of connection. I have faced disconnection/downtime problem many times and there i no proper compensation system. There promises are fake. They promise to solve your problem in 24 hrs but never do.
I am using Airtel these days.
They are saying you have a mere 20 as balance and we can’t do anything for your return.
What should I do now?
Any option left for me?
Cut your losses and move on. You can complain to DoT or take them consumer court, if you really wish to make them pay. However, it is better to just keep your peace of mind and stay as far as possible away from them!