Thread: Tata Indicom Plug 2 Surf Whiz (user review)

Hi Guys ,


Its been a few months since i have been using TATA Indicom plug2surf Whiz(postpaid) Wireless "Broadband".Well first thing you need to know about this is that it uses the mobile network to access the internet so the actual connection speed are really slow contrary to their claim.

*i would like to highlight a few things
According to TRAI(Telecom Regulatory authority of India)Broadband is an always ON internet connection with a minimum speed of 256kbps.Neither of these are satisfied by TATA Indicom P2S .So technically it cannot be called broadband.

*The actual speed of this connection depends on the area of usage.From my experience unless you are in a metro city,speeds will be excruciatingly slow.In Chennai the average download speeds were around 5kbps(peak hours) to 15kbps(non-peak hours) .In Coimbatore the same connection showed maximum avg speeds of 6kbps and a minimum avg speeds of 800 bps ! !
Conclusion:Its no better than a dialup,sometimes worse.

*Costs of the tariff plans are unbelievably high(Its 100rs[Tax] more than what they show on their site).I am currently paying Rs750/month inclusive of tax ,with a 1GB download limit (no unlimited time) with an alleged speed of 230.4kbps.

*The connection is best suited for 1)Surfing 2)Updating softwares/antivirus with update file size not excceding 10mb.
Updates/Downloads above 10 mb are unreliable as they tend to cut of midway around the 13mb mark.

*Without the speed+ optimisation software provided (and recomended)by them even surfing is headache.

Pros
Rarely disconnects(as it uses mobile network).
Can be taken around with you.
Fairly simple installation and use

Cons
Slow as hell
Costs you an arm and a leg .
No downloads.
No extra unlimited /free time.You are accountable for every kb u use.
very slow surfing speeds wastes lots of your time waiting for every page to load.

If like me you own one of these connection your going to spend half your life surfing/checking mails and the other half wishing you had never bought it. :cursing:

I hope my review helped ! ..... c ya .

Your basic assumption is INACCURATE !!
Tata Indicom has NEVER claimed or advertised its USB Model Plug2Surf wiz or Vdata card as "BROADBAND" device.
It is and remains a Wireless internet access device only under 2.5G CDMA 1x 2000 Wireless technology.

AS & when they launch the premium 3g services on EvDO technology ( which is braodband wireless cDMA), you will get the actual Broadband.
Hope it clears your fundamental understanding.
Cheers,

Yeah i got your point ..I was aware of the fact that its a 2.5G CDMA service ...But i was under the impression that they were selling it of as broadband as that's what the local stores guy told me.....but i still think that PLUG 2 SURF WHIZ is a bit of a misnomer considering the slow speed at which it connects .


So is my USB device Evado compatible ??(I think not).
If you know pls reply.

I cannot review the product as I have not been able to get it to work, but this is a review of the customer service provided. I purchased the plug 2 surf feature from Tata Indicom, primarily because of the Tata name, assuming it would be reliable with reliable customer support. I was very disappointed with the feature, as I was unable to get it to work. On repeated calls to the person who provided me the service as well as calls and emails through their website I got no response or help either. Each time (without fail) I would get the response, that we will get back to you, but to no avail. One thing that did come without fail was the monthly bill. Fed up I decided to stop the payment to elicit a response. Sure enough I got the call, but when I asked them to send someone to make it work, the response was ..... you got it .... "we will get back to you". Finally I called them to cancel the service, even that is not easy, apparently I have to be back in person, in Delhi to go to their office to cancel it. I just got a call from a lawyer about a lawsuit to recover the bill amount....Ridiculous for a service that did not work even once I would not recommend Tata Indicom to anyone. The service may work for most, but anytime there is an issue do not expect any help from their Customer (un)Support.

Hi,
Let me share with you what I have faced with the Tata Indicom Plug to Surf Whiz 1z USB Modem and Tata Services. I purchased the USB device for around 2500 in May 2008, and went for the Rs.150 postpaid plan in Bangalore. I wanted the device as it would help me connect my laptop around India.
To my horror I found that the promised speed of 153 kbps was a BIG LIE. Initially, it was even difficult to get the Google home page connected after 30-35 seconds, though I get the signal fully.
I came to know the SIM connects thru the mobile tower of Tata, and peak hour speeds are woefully bad--around 4 to 5 kbps!!!
I had to cancel the connection, after the technical team came home, and failed to get speeds more than 20kbps.
I lost a lot of money fighting over the Tata services and device.
I then took the pre-paid service, which I use whenever I travel outside Karnataka, esp. for Railway bookings. It just around connects ok after 9 pm or early morning. I need to pay around Rs. 240 per month, which is ok, considering we do not have to look out for a local, insecure Internet cafe in some corner of India.
I have Airtel 256kbps connection, which gives around 240 kbps average. I am very satisfied with the connection. I also tried Tata's Wi-Fi, which is pathetic. In short, I would never ever want to use Tata connection to get connected to Internet. But, I do use Tata's softphone on Airtel connection to make calls to USA/Canada at Re.1/- per min. That's real cool and cheap.

hey .. i just wanted to know whether whiz speed will increase in near future ... i mean as sm1 told above that its gonna b a 3g shortly ...will the same wiz modem b used ??? please reply ...

I've used Airtel, MTNL, Reliance in addition to Tata Indicom. Of all the services I've used, I find the customer care of Tata Indicom worst. The premise for feeling this way are:
- The IVR (recorded messages when you call up the customer care) is pathetic. It just makes you go in circle and throws at you some options which most of us would never really bother to find out from customer care. The IVR gives you an option either to pres the number or "Say", like for eg: Press 2 for English or Say "English". Now this feature is so stupid that it picks up noise from your phones receiver and randomly selects some option which you never even selected! After all of these monkey tricks if you're lucky/smart enough and have the patience, you might just end up talking to customer care.
- If you've chosen to speak in English you'll be put to speak with a Hindi speaking associate. I ended up explaining my problem in Hindi and English to several associates.
- I had this simple problem where I wanted to know the recharge options available to me. When I provided the SIM number to them, they enlightened me that this is not an internet plan number but some life time free plan number. Oh gosh! how do they expect their customers to know all the internal lingo. They had no respite for my naiveness and kept feeding me with information which was not at all making any sense to me at all!
- When I persisted that info was not sufficient and I needed more info, I was promptly put on hold and the line conveniently got disconnected! This didn't happen once, but on all 5 occasions I called them up. Wish they had the same consistency while answering queries correctly.
- Look at their website and see if you can make any sense out of the products/services they offer. They make absolutely no sense at all - everything has been arranged in a pretty haphazard manner or atleast in a way that only an expert at Tata Indicom products can figure out!! Try locating a dealer through dealer locator and if its your lucky day, you'll find your city (mine is Mumbai, was not listed!) there.

All in all, I feel that if you go by technology or the brand name of Tata and you go ahead and buy this stuff, you'll repent. The 1st line of business if the customer care, unless they're trained to respect the customer and their woes, they'll never get a good customer base or review. This is the 1st time I've bought a Tata product and have been 100% disappointed with it. I've vowed never to buy any products from Tata Indicom and will never recommend them to anyone.