Reliance Broadband – Poor Products and Pathetic Service

After living in Japan for over 18 years, when I decided to come back to India, one thing that always disappointed me is the service and attitude of Indian companies. The poor service and attitude towards customers of Indian companies stand in stark contrast with the exceptionally flawless service and serving attitude of Japanese companies. And surprisingly, the so called big names in India like the ‘Reliance’ are epitome of poor customer service and high degree of unreliability.

My experiences with Reliance broadband services had been pathetic, and here I am giving a vent to my frustration with them as it has crossed all boundaries.

Reliance Netconnect Sucks

Reliance has an impressive ad on the TV about their product – Reliance Netconnect Hi-Speed Wireless USB Internet Modem – which can allow you to enjoy music downloads, gaming, video chat, live TV and much more at an ‘outstanding speed’ of upto 3 MB per second. I paid Rs. 3,000 (US$67) for this modem and went for a 10 GB/month plan at around Rs. 1,000 (US$22) per month. However, when I received the USB modem and tried to connect to the Internet, the maximum speed I could get was around 10K per second! It was like moving the clock back by 12 years, when we had those slow modems. I reported the problem to the salesman and asked him to replace the modem.

The Reliance salesman assured me that he would replace the modem. He took away the modem and came back with the same modem after three days. He said the modem could not be replaced, but he has got the firmware in the modem changed and now it should work properly. When I tried the modem again, there was no difference at all. My modem speed hovered at around 10k per second. It was a big disappointment. After trying the service for few days, I went to a nearby reliance service center and canceled my monthly plan for this service. I was told to pay extra money for one month if I wanted to terminate, plus I was told I would not get any refund for the modem. Reluctantly, I paid the money as I wanted to get rid of this lousy service. However, to my surprise I kept on receiving bills and reminder calls for paying bills for three months after I canceled the service. Finally I had to blast at their billing department and the bills stopped. My advise – Never go for Reliance Netconnect. It sucks big time!

Reliance Broadband Internet Sucks

I also tried Reliance Broadband service when one of their salesmen offered a free landline phone with this service. This service had a good connection speed in the day time, but I was never able to connect to the Internet after 8 pm. I had pointed out this problem to the Reliance technical support, but they always replied with blanket replies

We cannot commit on a timeline but we are trying to resolve your problem within the next 24 hours, please take down your customer complaint number

And, about three weeks ago, both the landline phone and Internet connection stopped working. When I reported this problem to the Reliance technical support, I received a reply that the problem was solved and the case was closed. However, the Internet and phone line was still not working for me. I checked with other reliance broadband users in my neighborhood, and they had the same story. So the Reliance technical support team went to the extent of telling blatant lies in their replies.

So I reported this problem again to the Reliance Technical support. I finally came to know that one of their routers which was installed in the neighborhood was stolen. But the company did not want to spend even a small sum of Rs. 15,000 to replace the router. A company owned by a multi-billionaire can not afford to replace a small router to keep its services uninterrupted!! This was the message I received from one of the chiefs of their technical service department and also from the office of the Reliance chairman!

What a pathetic attitude! Let the customer go to hell, we don’t care about you – we just care about our profits! Reliance broadband are behaving like an ostrich burying their head in the sand – but consumers in India are not that stupid now. And Reliance should also realize that such stories originating from India can reach other countries at the speed of light and tarnish their reputation.

In short, I’d say Reliance Broadband and its management really suck. Better stay away from such companies. I just want to make Indian consumers aware of how unreliable Reliance is. Their name is a misnomer – in fact their products and services show that they are just the opposite of being reliant.

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Rumors have erupted recently about the web giant Google locking horns with Facebook in direct competition. The new social media platform Google is working on is tentatively dubbed Google Me by bloggers.

The tweet by Kevin Rose, founder of Digg stating that Google was launching “Google Me” to compete with Facebook started the rumor mills churning on June 28 and even though the message was deleted soon thereafter, others have taken up to add more grist to the mill.

The news is confirmed by ex-CTO of Facebook – Adam D’Angelo. He stated confidently that the ‘Google Me’ project was real and not a rumor and that through reliable sources he had learned that a large number of personnel are working to make it happen.

Google felt that their current product ‘Google Buzz’ apparently was not strong enough to compete with Facebook. It was too slow compared to the growth rate of Facebook, and so they have decided to build a top class social networking site, modeled on the lines of Facebook. Insiders have stated that this is a top priority project at Google.

“Google Me’ is estimated to be having a huge potential and expected to give Facebook a keen competition. Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch feels it is not that simple to create a new Facebook and it will be a daunting task for Google to face off with Facebook on the battle of social networking.

Many people in the search engine industry are in consensus about one thing – that the competition between Google and Facebook will usher in a new era and bring about balance due to one player trying to gain ground and become dominant in their fight to popularity and success. And there are those that are leery of the new service to be launched. They feel that Facebook has made inroads into people’s daily lives to such a great extent that no competitor would be able to gain ground and make any headway the way Facebook did.

Google has not been able to confirm the rumors of challenging Facebook, but off the record, people in the know about both Facebook and Google have been confirming that there is indeed something of the sort in the offing.

Though it seems like a tedious and uphill climb to even come up to the level of Facebook, it is also anticipated that Google cannot afford to fail. If they do fail, Facebook will retain its top-notch position as the best social networking site to date.

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Google-Success.com will be organizing 5th SEO/SEM meetup in Mumbai – to be held on Saturday, March 27, 2010. This event is sponsored by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and GutsGo. This is a great opportunity to network with other SEO/SEM professionals, webmasters, social media marketing professionals, copywriters and other people interested in SEO in and around Mumbai.

One of the purposes of these SEO meetups is discuss current trends in Search engine optimization and Internet marketing to make your online business successful. This time, Mr. Ratan KK, from GutsGo would be giving a presentation on the topic of Social Media Marketing.

Venue:
Internet & Mobile Association of India
406, Ready Money Terrace,
167, Dr Annie Besant Road,
Mumbai – 400 018
LandMark: Close to Worli Naka Junction.

The Agenda for the meetup is as follows:

10 AM – Reach Venue
10:15 AM – Meet & Greet
10:25 AM – 11:00 AM – Introductions and Purpose of being there.
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – “Is Social Media really worth it?” – A Featured Presentation.
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM – Q & A,
12:30 PM – Discussion on other SEO related topics
1:00 – PM – Thanks & Close.

Topics like Synergies of Social media marketing with Conventional Media and other online media, trends in social media marketing, nature of content for social media, and time frame for getting sustainable results from a social media marketing campaign.

There is no entry fee or qualifications needed to attend this SEO/SEM event, but we expect that you have a genuine interest in Search Engine Optimization and Marketing. It will be a good opportunity for you to meet similar minded people, exchange ideas, find potential business partners or employees. For more details, please check the Mumbai SEO/SEM Meetup Website

PS: Check this job ad for SEO Jobs in Navi Mumbai

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Google Inc. is making full use of its gigantic network of web surfers and Gmail users to produce a Buzz! It hopes to Google wants to make sure that everything is shared within its space like an ecosystem of all sorts.

Yesterday, Google, the worlds most popular search engine went ahead to launch Google Buzz. Google Buzz would allow its users to share messages, photos, and web links within Gmail itself – thus challenging leading online social networking sites like Facebook Twitter and MySpace. Google Buzz will be rolled out to its Gmail users in a few days time.

Google wants to drive home the point that Buzz is dead simple for users. You don’t need to go searching for followers like in Twitter; friends are based on your contacts in Gmail. You can preview embedded link within the Gmail feed, which is unlike Twitter.

Google has integrated Buzz in Gmail itself as it wants to jump start its giant social network. Gmail is considered the worlds 3rd most popular email with close to 176.5 million unique users last December. Putting Buzz inside Gmail is definitely a smart move by Google!

Status updates (flagged viewable to everyone) on Buzz will automatically be available on Google’s search engine through real time search results. Of course there would be privacy issues. But Buzz users can also customize groups and choose to keep messages private. Also photo sharing and video sharing will be possible with Picassa and You Tube.

Although users will be able to view tweets and twitter messages within buzz they will not be able to publish messages to Twitters service. Although right now Buzz is not able to show Facebook messages. Facebook is currently the no 1 social networking site with 400 million users.

Google had tried social networking in 2204 with Orkut but it only worked in overseas markets such as India and Brazil. This was much unlike Facebook and MySpace in the USA.

Buzz technology emphasizes mobile and location based capabilities. Google has also announced a mobile application for the users of Buzz which is based on Google’s Android software, Symbian OS and Windows Mobile. Buzz with the function of “where you a” and Google maps makes it a localization powerhouse. Friends can view where you are and can buzz you about activity happening in your area that too on a map.

Buzz will come out in a few weeks time and will have many people who will try it. But all said and done, Facebook still has the first mover advantage. It had thousands of students trying it even before it was heard of by the average consumer.

Technorati Tags: Google Buzz, social networking, Google, Twitter

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When I was checking some of my new websites today, I was pleasantly surprised to see a green bar for them. I then confirmed that Google is pushing out a New Years PageRank Update. Google had its last toolbar PR update in October 2009.

Looks like Google is generous this time with this New Year gift. I did not see any drop in the PageRank or penalties for any of my websites. Most of my established websites stayed the same, but new sites gained PR from 0 to 2 or 3. In fact, I was also happy to see one of my sites coming out of the penalty. Anyway, the toolbar PageRank is not so important unless you want to flip your website or wish to generate more revenue through blog reviews or ads.

What about you? Did you notice any changes in PR for your sites? Congrats to those who see theiir toolbar PageRank go up, and wish you have even better PR in 2010!

Technorati Tags: Google, PageRank Update, PR update, PageRank

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Christmas is around the corner! Have you started buying gifts for your loved ones? or, are you too busy promoting your e-commerce websites for Christmas?

Last week I received my first gift for this holiday season from my customer in Japan. When I opened the box which came from Amazon.com, I was surprised to see an International version of the Kindle 2. It took some time for me to get familiar with the device, and I was very grateful to my customer for sending me this awesome gift which I can use in over 100 countries.

So, What is kindle?

Well, Kindle is a electronic book reader from Amazon that can revolutionize the way you read your favorite books, newspapers, articles, or online blogs.

It looks awesome! It is just about 0.3 inches thick – just as thin as most magazines, and weighs about 290 gms – lighter than a paperback. It has a paper-like display, so you can read just like you read real paper without any glare, even under a bright sun.
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Technorati Tags: gifts, Christmas, Kindle

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One of the most important parts of a successful SEO strategy is link building. If you want your website to rank higher on search engine results pages, it’s important that you increase the amount of links to your domain from relevant quality sites. Building links is basically an off-page optimization technique that plays an important role in improoving site’s status and reputation with the search engines. It helps to raise your ranking in major search engine result pages for your target keywords.

The idea behind link building is, the more links coming back to your website, more is the probability that your site will be on the top in search results. Link building, however, has to be done carefully. Here are some important tips for link building
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Technorati Tags: SEO strategy, off-page optimization, search engine, link building

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When I was checking some of my new sites in the morning, I noticed that their PR went up from 1 to 3. There is no change in the PageRank for this blog, but many internal pages have gained PR. So, it is sure that It Google is rolling out a long awaited PageRank update in this last week of October. The last PageRank update was on June 23 this year. The Google dance has just begun and by tomorrow we can get a better idea about the effects of this October 2009 PR update.

This PR update was a surprising move from Google. As Google removed PageRank data from the Webmaster Tools, I was wondering whether Google would ever update the toolbar PageRank. But I am happy to see that Google has updated the toolbar PageRank today. Although PageRank does not affect your position in SERPs, it surely shows your site social status and power. It also acts as a confirmation to the SEO that his link-building efforts are recognized by Google. This is particularly very important if you want to show the Search Engine Optimization results to your clients or if you want to flip a domain or website to get a higher price.
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Technorati Tags: PageRank, PageRank update, Google, SERPs

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If you have recently logged into Google Webmaster Tools, you must have noticed that Google has silently got rid of PageRank from Webmaster Tools. This change in the webmaster tools section has made the whole search industry wonder about Google’s extreme action. You can also see a thread on Google about removal of Pagerank from WMT. Google Webmaster Trends Analyst – Susan Moskwa explains there

“We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.”

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Technorati Tags: Google Webmaster Tools, Google, PageRank

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As an online business owner, you need to understand how to drive huge targeted traffic to your website. Without traffic, you can’t get business, and certainly can’t make any sales. There are many different traffic generation methods, and search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the proven methods to get targeted traffic to your website.. If you are new to the Web and just starting out, you would either need to learn SEO or hire an SEO expert in order to promote your website.

SEO technology changes at a rapid pace and you’d need to spend lot of time to keep yourself updated to the latest techniques in SEO. SEO can be a time consuming process. As a businessman, you need to spend your time in developing and growing your business. That’s why it makes sense to hire an SEO consultant to do the work for you. Outsourcing SEO work to a SEO company in countries like India is also a cost effective option to get your SEO job done. However, there are so many self-proclaimed SEO experts that offer tall claims but end up doing your site more harm than good, so you need to take care in selecting the right SEO firm.

Here are few tips for hiring an SEO expert

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Technorati Tags: search engine optimization, SEO, SEO expert, Outsourcing SEO

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