Reliance Broadband woes


After using the pathetic services of Reliance Broadband for about 15 days, I shifted to BSNL broadband last month. Since I am kind of an internet addict (who isn’t?), I requested for disconnection of the service only after the BSNL guy came and activated BSNL broadband at my home. Here is a list of issues I faced with Reliance in the period of 15 days when I used their services. Some of the issues are thankfully closed. Others, are still bugging me.

  1. They took more than a week to install the connection. Reason ? The previous tenant defaulted his bills so my address was blacklisted. WTF?
  2. They got my name wrong. Instead of Setu Garg, they stored it as Jatin Garg. I can’t think of any scenario in which a person can mistype Setu as Jatin (unless he/she was drunk). To make matters worse, they did not change it even after repeated complaints.
  3. I received too many welcome calls. Now I understand that welcome calls are cool. But I got more than 20 of them. Little did I know there was a WTF reason behind this as well. Every time a different person called and wanted to speak with Jatin Garg. I believe I spoke with people from all parts of India. Every time I told them that my name is wrong, and every time they would say that they will fix it.
  4. I asked the guy who came to install the modem if I can use my existing Netgear wifi router with the connection. He said Reliance does not support wifi routers (and he was kinda right – read on to find out more).
  5. The login system is browser based as opposed to industry standard PPPoE. Security – came the reply when I asked the reason for the same. WTF? This is a wired connection you morons. No one can misuse it unless they break into my house and hook up the cable to their laptops.
  6. It was a big pain in the ass to get my Netgear router working with this thing. I had to spoof the MAC address of the router with that of my PC as they block traffic from a router. Owing to the browser based login system, I had to login using my PC every time I wanted to access the internet from any other device like Xbox etc.
  7. Streaming video sucked. Even with a 1 Mbps connection, you cannot watch videos from youtube without waiting for them to buffer completely. Good luck watching online porn. Extremely low download speed with torrents.
  8. They do not seem to update the DNS tables regularly. Many new and some old sites did not open. Switching to open DNS did not solve the issue either. They probably also block the traffic to other domain name servers.
  9. I requested to disconnect the connection on 1st Jan 2009. It took them the whole 14 days to deactivate and disconnect the connection. 2 guys came and collected my telephone instrument and modem.
  10. Little did I know that the telephone line and broadband connection are 2 completely different entities. I came to know this when I received my latest bill in which I was charged with telephone line rental till 14th Jan and broadband rental for the whole month. When I called up the customer care, they told me that I was supposed to request for deactivation of broadband separately. WTF? How in the world am I supposed to know that? And moreover, how can they charge me anything after they have collected my modem?
  11. They have too many departments in their customer care. Billing, Telephone, Broadband, Telephone Termination, Broadband Termination, Telephone Retention, Broadband Retention (I will not be surprised if they have departments for pee and loo as well).  If you have to file a complaint, you have to go to the Telephone or broadband department. If you have to request for disconnection, you have to go to termination department and then to retention department perhaps. None of the departments are in sync.
  12. There were some weird calculations in my bill which I could not understand despite my expertise in reading telephone companies bills. They had debited some amount and later credited it back. The terms were cryptic. Somewhere I read “Rejected payment”. Since when are these greedy telcos rejecting payments?
  13. They had registered another telephone line in my name. I came to know this when I called up the customer care guy to get the bill details. I never signed up for more than 1 telephone line for my home.

All in all, it was a painful experience in signing up, using and terminating the Reliance Broadband connection. Some of the issues above are still open and I have to follow up to get them closed. I can now probably guess why the previous tenant had some defaulted bills under his name.

I hope this article will help people planning to get a new broadband connection to take an informed decision. It is recommended to read woikr’s Broadband connection guide for Indian customers.


16 responses to “Reliance Broadband woes”

  1. Setu, I second you on Reliance's pathetic service quality. There is an 'adage', the only people who are happy with reliance are its shareholders, so reliance stocks are the only product you should buy!

    Whenever somebody tries selling me a reliance product,i run like hell.

  2. Your chronicled woes about Reliance Wimax (it has to be Wimax, they stopped Broadnet a while back, atleast in Bangalore)is in tune with other peoples'.

    I don't know about your pre-sales/installation support guy, but mine informed me very clearly to get a static IP (for an additional fee, ofcourse). Generation of a static IP for a customer takes atleast a week (even though they tell you it is only 3 days) for Reliance folks AFTER installation of the Wimax antenna (or whatever it is that it is called) which, incidentally, happens a week after your signed application form with the proper documents has been handed over to the sales folks.

    In my case, the tech folks at Reliance, Bangalore called me and gave me my static IP, default gateway and DNS addresses and instructions on how to configure them and setup the connection. I configured my Macbook and got connected immediately.

    If you can wait 2 weeks (atleast), then using Reliance Wimax is a smooth affair. You don't even have to login- it's always on.

    Using a Macbook (Intel), I did not face a connection drop for 23 hours of continous use. Download speeds too are at par with the advertised speed of 300Kbps- I get a download speed of 35-40KBps even in the morning.

    I don't have a wireless router for my connection, so I do not know if I would still have to play around with the MAC if I had a static IP. Probably not, considering that the connection does not require a login if you are provided a static IP.

    And with Reliance, telephone (fixed & wireless prepaid & postpaid) and Wimax/Broadnet are two different entities. The application process and billing are separate and even the customer login for viewing and paying bills are different as can be seen on http://www.rcom.co.in So if you were informed that you HAD to take a phone connection to get a broadband connection, then you need to take this up with them even now.

    I'd also almost decided to opt for BSNL because Airtel informed me that the place I wanted a connection was not "feasible" for them. I had read too many bad reviews for my liking about Reliance Broadband, but applying for a BSNL connection takes time, although, it is the most consistent ISP in India as of now. So I opted for Reliance, and the sales personnel advised me about 2 things:

    1) Go for a static IP connection

    2) Go for an unlimited download plan, as the limited ones, while offering higher speeds had too many billing related issues.

    It's been 4 months now and there hasn't been any problems.

    Most importantly, IAM NOT A RELIANCE EMPLOYEE, FRANCHISEE OR RESELLER & I DO NOT GET ANY DISCOUNTS ON MY BILL. Posting a similar opinion about Reliance Wimax on a different site elicited such responses from some readers and my post was viewed as an advertisement for Reliance's services. It's entirely up to people whether they take up this service or not.

    If Airtel/BSNL (not necessarily in that order, though) is feasible for your place, go for it. Else you can try TATA Indicom/Reliance (again, not necessarily in that order).

    FYI, I have seen and visited folks running a TATA Indicom connection (1Mbps) and even their service seems to be pretty good, considering that static IP is a part of their higher priced plans.

    • gosh i just cant tell u how much pissed i am at reliance setu is right ..i dint ve probs for 9 months and then after that it was a complete nightmare ..cc is a complete crap and they have morons sitting there to play shuttle cork with u ..cc will listen to ur complain without knowith wtf to do then he will pass it on to the bill gates of india thats the reliance technical department …that fukin moron will ask ur mac and then he will say sorry for the inconvenience with in 24 hours some will come n check and then u r back to square one these guys r pathetic to the hilt man …i ve no option i m stuck with these retards i ve taken a static ip n the download n upload is pathetic every 2nd day it will stop to work …reliance or any other services they r all crap …there must be a law to prevent us from this kinda behaviour …

  3. I am also from Noida, Sector 62 and had similar problems with Reliance Broadnet (landline and ADSL broadband). First I was told that it would be installed in 4 days flat but that eventually took 8 days. Reason???….here are all the stories I was told over the last 4 days a) They could not find a port for me in their IDC, maybe they are talking about the DSLAM b) When they eventually found a port it was given to someone else.c) They gave my number to someone else d) The installation guy lost my mobile number and hence lost the way to my place etc. etc…..

    Note that while signing up the sales chap told me that the Rs 500 installation fee cheque would not be sent for clearance till the line was activated. Voila! It was cleared in 2 days flat….that was the only superfast thing!

    Well after 8 days I got a phone and a really cheap looking Chinese looking modem which I hear burns out (even catches fire) in a month.

    Only good thing is the speed is awesome. I have configured my wireless router and it was really easy. There are some disconnections, but nothing that I can't live without.

    Note that I had first Airtel but they failed to even to locate my wiring inside the apartment!

    • Hey Shekar,

      I just hpnd to opt for the Reliance broadnet (LL+ADSL). The speeds are awesome. I would like to take some help from you as to how to configure the Wireless router and make it work since this is a browser based authentication system. I used Airtel previously and found that they are expensive. If only you can help.

      Thnx..

      • I didn't do any configuration as such. I just choose "dynamic IP" type connection under WAN settings. In wireless I choose WPA pre-shared key for security and placed a password.

        That was it.

        Recently I saw Reliance did something by which my wireless router stopped working. After some trouble I got around that by cloning the MAC address of my laptop to my router. I think they realize if you use a wireless router by getting the MAC address and then stop the connection.

        Let me know if this worked for you. First thing to make sure is that your router is getting an IP assigned by reliance.

        • Thanks for the prompt reply. I will try configuring my wifi router as u said. I have used it with airtel before but then I had to configure the modem given by Airtel in bridge mode first and then configure the wifi router. I am unable to access the configuration page of the reliance modem. I will do as u said but I am quite a noob when it comes to cloning the MAC addresses. Please be in touch coz i need ur help. I will get back to you with the results..Thnx

        • Thanks for the prompt reply. I will try configuring my wifi router as u said. I have used it with airtel before but then I had to configure the modem given by Airtel in bridge mode first and then configure the wifi router. I am unable to access the configuration page of the reliance modem. I will do as u said but I am quite a noob when it comes to cloning the MAC addresses. Please be in touch coz i need ur help. I will get back to you with the results..Thnx…

  4. Guys i totally agree with you about Reliance Broadband. I am totally stuck in this Reliance black hole. their service sucks and upon calling customer care i just get complaint number nothing else.

  5. Apart from being morons, these guys are also THIEVES.

    I paid my monthly bill by credit card over IVR. Apparently this was a new mode of payment they started.

    Although money was debited from my credit card, Reliance Claims they did not receive the money, and wanted proof.

    I gave them the Transaction Id, that was generated by Reliance's own IVR system – but they refused to accept, saying they want my credit card statement sent to them. WTF!!!

    When i explained that credit card statements come only end of month, they said they cannot do anything.

    The issue is still hanging.

    I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY DO NOT TRUST THEIR OWN TRANSACTION ID!!!

    • They should ideally not ask for your card statement as it contains a lot of confidential information.

      Their transaction id should be more than enough for them to track the details.

      If they do not help, you should write to their nodal officer. The contact details should be on their website.

      My advice – Shift to a different ISP. Use our guide to choose one: http://woikr.com/telecom/broadband-connection-gui

      • Hi guys,

        which bb (wired) connection is best overall now a days.

        i had a problem with airtel in sec 44, noida.

        the connection speed and technical trouble shooting is o.k but there are billing problems. i think airtel seems to be planning their revenue enhancement by doing all creepy things – i requested for plan change so that few more systems can also use in the same house but that did not materialise so i purchased another new connection and today after 3 months they are still running my earlier connection on the higher plan wherein the speed is that of lower plan. more than 10 emails in 3 months and till date hell no. of cc calls but no rectification in their systems, finally when i issued a termination notice now they are begging to continue.

        if anybody else has any dubious experience with airtel kindly join me, i am planning a legal action big time.

        anyway which new connection i should install now – tata or any other.

        reply soon.

        • Try contacting their nodal officer for your circle. They usually resolve such disputes faster. You can find your circle nodal officer's details on their website or on your bill.

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