CallIndiaUnlimited.com – NOT the best way to make unlimited calls to India [Review]
| By Alok Saboo on March 5th, 2010 |
Unlimited international calling plans seem to be getting some attention from VoIP service providers. New providers are rushing in to get a share of this pie. Today, I stumbled across a new VoIP service provider (VSP) – CallIndiaUnlimited – that is contending to replace all phone cards and other India calling services such as Reliance India Call or AirTel India One that charge you per minute. Instead of charging per minute, CallIndiaUnlimited offers unlimited talk time for one monthly flat fee, a supposedly economical solution to call India. Let us look at the service a little closely to see if delivers on its promise.
Call India Unlimited Plans:
CallIndiaUnlimited basically has three options for you – Economy, Lite, and Unlimited. Under the Call India Economy Plan, you can buy minutes to make calls to India. You can buy anything from 250 min @ $5.99 to 7400 min @ $99.99. These minutes do not expire at the end of the month. Under the Call India Lite (Monthly) Plan, you get 1500 minutes for $19.99. In addition to the $19.99, you also need to pay a one time activation fee of $5.99 under the Lite plan. Also, if you do not consume the 1500 minutes, the unused minutes would roll over to the next month (this was confirmed by their customer service). Finally, under the Call India Unlimited (Monthly) Plan, you get unlimited calls to India and you also do not have to pay any activation charges.
The company offers a Local Access number in New York (646 452 0293). However, if you are not in New York and do not have long distance dialing, you can request an access number in other cities in the US or Canada. You can register your number, so that you can dial without entering any PIN numbers.
Why I am not excited about CallIndiaUnlimited?
Although I am generally supportive of new providers, I am not excited by the company’s offering (at least in the current form). The rates under the Economy plan range from 2.396 US cents to 1.35 US cents. Clearly there are other providers who offer cheaper calls to India without any commitment (not to mention the number of Betamax clones which easily beat this rate). The unlimited plans are not exciting in light of the Vonage World Plan which offers an unlimited calls to over 60 countries (including India) for $14.99. Further, CallIndiaUnlimited does not offer SIP service and you can only use the service to call India. Given that CallIndiaUnlimited is relatively new to this field, I would have liked to see a better offer to encourage new customers. The current plans, unfortunately, may not excite many consumers to move to CallIndiaUnlimited.
What do you think of the company’s plans? If you have any experience with CallIndiaUnlimited, please share your opinion.
Related posts:
- Unlimited International Calling Plans from YupeePhone [Review]
- CalltoPBX offers unlimited international calls to over 70 countries (incl. India) for $10 [Review]
- Unlimited International Calling Plans (incl India) from Versafon [Review]
- Unlimited Pakistan calling plans from TalkPakistan.net [Review]
- PCO4NRI – Rs. 1 India calling card service; Cheap calls to Bangladesh, Pakistan, & Sri Lanka [Review]
