Posted by: Aamir Attaa on September 5, 2008 at 10:02 AM
Warid today announced a new package for its prepaid customers named as “Zem Voice Craze”, which is a
- Weekly subscription based package
- Offers 125 on-net (Warid-Warid) minutes, 25 off-net (landline/ other mobile operators) and 50 voice talky minutes
- Against a weekly fixed price of Rs. 110 + Tax
Apparently, this package is not going to be a big hit. Rs. 100 + Tax: Rs. 133. So in around Rs. 133 you get 125 On-net Minutes and just 25 off-net Minutes. While on other hand you are bound to pay 133 x 4 = Rs. 532 per month. Such a high monthly rental and you get this little when compared to other cellular companies which are offering Rs. 5 per hour even at day hours. About Voice Talky messages, I don’t see subscribers very enthusiastic about the service.
How to subscribe
Dial 100 and follow instructions to subscribe to Voice Craze.
Salient Features
- Weekly Fee would be Rs. 133.1 (Including Taxes)
- Once subscribed, Rs. 133.1 would be deducted from your account automatically, every week.
- As this is a weekly subscription based package, all minutes would have to be consumed within seven days. The remaining minutes would not carry forward to next week
- If you are subscribed to a 30 second package (Zem Lowest Call Rates Package) your free airtime would be deducted accordingly, means you will be able to get same number of free on-net and off-net minutes
- If all of the minutes are consumed in less then a week then normal tariffs of ZEM lowest call rates will apply for the remainder of the week.
- Subscribers would receive an “End of Call Notification” after each call stating the remaining balance of minutes for each category along with the normal Rupee balance. Moreover, subscribers would also be able to check their normal Rupee balance as well as balance of free minutes by dialing *100#
What is this Voice Talky?
As mentioned above, you can use free airtime of Rs. 50 for Voice Talky minutes as well. You must be wondering, what this voice talky is… lets discover it
Warid’s Talky Message is a service through which you can record a message and send it as SMS. So instead of composing a text message you can send voice SMS with Voice Talky.
How to Use Voice Talky?
- Dial * followed by recipient’s phone number (e.g. *032XXXXXXXX)
- Follow the voice prompts and record your message
- Press end button to send the Talky Message.
How do I listen to a Talky message?
To retrieve a Talky message:
- Dial *0* for all new messages (Follow voice prompts & retrieve your Talky messages)
- Dial *1* for old messages (Follow voice prompts & retrieve your Talky messages)
Pricing for Voice Talky Messages
Subscriber would be able to send voice talky messages on both on-net (Warid–Warid) and off-net (other mobile operators) numbers. Under This package (Zem Voice Craze) Minutes would be charged both for sending and retrieving talky messages. Upto 50 minutes of voice talky can be utilized under Zem Voice Package.
No Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on September 4, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Yes, you will have to believe this, as reported by Daily Times. Infact i read this news yesterday, but was unable to counter check it from PTA’s website… (By the way PTA’s website is still down due to some scripting issues).
We hope this is not a typo or mis-communication, as this has happened before with Zong. By the way, i am unable to digest this news; as Zong was Launched in April 2008, and how come they made 1 million customers per month??? Can some one please confirm this news?
Anyway, let me paste the excerpt from Daily Times for you to know more about Zong’s 5 Million Story
KARACHI: China Mobile’s first international brand, ZONG has touched 5 million subscribers after receiving unprecedented response to its innovative products and services. According to data released by the telecom industry regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), ZONG has achieved a phenomenal 35 percent market share during the period April to July 2008. Salman Wassay, director marketing ZONG said, “It is because ZONG is the only cellular operator that is offering what the public needs, rather than promoting products and packages that serve the company more than they serve the users”. staff report
7 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on September 3, 2008 at 1:01 PM
It is only a history when cellular calls were expensive and we all used to avoid mobile calls due to their higher pricings. Now a days, we have plenty of very low priced cellular packages to choose from, which suit us in one form or other.
Today, i know many of my friends who talk atleast 3 to 4 hours a day on mobile phones. Just wanted to know how much my other readers use this device a day…
So please cast your vote for this poll at http://www.ProPakistani.com.
[poll id="4"]
It is very interesting to know that almost 50 percent of us use mobile phone for more than 90 minutes a day… Amazing!
No Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on September 1, 2008 at 7:30 AM
Mobilink has apparently adopted a policy to preserve their existing customers, instead of fetching new ones. In an effort to retain their existing customers, Mobilink today announced an offer of free minutes on first five credit reload for all Mobilink Prepaid Numbers.
For first five credit recharge through scratch card or Jazz Load (but should be more than Rs. 50) you get free minutes depending on the amount of recharge. This offer is valid until September 25, 2008.
How to Claim your Free Minutes
You can subscribe by just sending a blank SMS to 150. It is a one time subscription and will be charged at Rs. 0.25/SMS + tax
Note: You will not be able to get free minutes until you have sent the subscription SMS. So you must send it before recharging.
Terms and Conditions
- Free minutes are for Mobilink to Mobilink calls only.
- One time subscription charges are 25 paisas + tax.
- Unused free minutes will be confiscated upon expiry of validity which is mentioned above.
- Free minutes would be transferred to your account within 3 days of recharge.
- To confirm transfer of free minutes and check the free minutes balance dial 123 and press 8.
- Free minutes would be given on 1st 5 recharges of Rs. 50 or above.
- This offer is applicable on all Jazz Packages (PCO and Jazz Load Retailer Packages are not included).
- This is a limited time offer.
3 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on August 22, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Alright, Zong has broken the silence, and they have something new to offer to its customer…! This time they are targeting those customers who tend to make international calls quite frequently - Yes, now with zong you can call at 50 paisa per 30 second to any one International number. Hold on a second, Zong says that you will be charged 40 Paisas extra on first minute…!
This package is available to all Zong’s 8 Anay customers… Also you can select your one international number from selected countries for special pricing. This is very much similar to Zong 8 Anay’s current setting, that is you can select one selected number at 50 Paisa Per 30 Seconds.
Available Countries
- Canada (Land line + Mobile)
- China (Land line + Mobile)
- USA (Land line + Mobile)
- UK (Land line only)
- Germany (Land line only)
- Spain (Land line only)
- Ireland (Land line only)
Salient Features
- 50 paisas/30 seconds to one international number
- 40 paisa set-up charges for first minute
- Number modification/addition charges of Rs.15/- applicable
- Government taxes apply.
How to avail the service
- Dial 907 to avail the offer
26 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on August 22, 2008 at 7:32 AM
ProPakistani.com conducted a survey asking its visitors to give feedback on what they think is the best cellular company of Pakistan.
Survey form was displayed to all visitors of ProPakistani.com and remained active for 30 days. Poll widget which bounds anyone to re-cast his vote from same IP received total of 1611 votes in the specified time.
Ufone has been surprisingly voted as the best cellular company of Pakistan with total of 608 votes, which are 38 percent of total votes. That’s remarkable, in my opinion that’s due to the simple pricing; little number of packages and their SMS bundles did the trick in getting popularity amongst the consumers.
Telenor managed to set at second slot with total of 286 (18 percent) votes. Again I think their SMS bundles worked for Telenor, their Rs. 1 package is also popular amongst the masses.
Warid remained at third position with very little margin, and got 274 votes that’s just 12 votes behind Telenor.
I am again surprised by Mobilink’s popularity and users’ experience with largest cellular company of the country. They got 239 votes, which are merely 15 percent of total votes. I won’t say anything about Mobilink, but the poll reflects that they are loosing the grip over customers.
Considering a new entrant, Zong did well by getting 193 votes. Their Book Your Number Service is relatively popular than many other value added services they provide.
Last stood the Instaphone with 11 votes!
8 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on August 5, 2008 at 4:02 AM
Mobile phone subscribers were once again deceived by Chinese Let Zong, when they saw an AD in today’s newspapers which read “Rs. 1 Only”.
Now let’s calculate what actually Zong is offering, and let me justify how Zong deceived (lied to) its customers
As per Zong’s official website:
Handset Price = PKR 499
ZONG SIM Pack = PKR 150
12 months on-net airtime = PKR 2,032.8 (PKR 140 x 12 = 1680 + 352.8 as tax)
Advance Tax = PKR 168
Total Deal Price = PKR 2849
So this Rs. 1 handset is going to cost you Rs. 2849 : -)
Check Points:
- You cannot buy handset or the SIM alone, means you will have buy the whole package
- Free Air Time will compass over 12 months, and you can not consume that in a single month, which means you can consume free air time of Rs. 140 in first month and same in second and so on.
- The built-in on-net airtime worth PKR 1,680 is only for ZONG to ZONG calls,
- The un-used airtime will not carry forward to next month. For example if a customer uses PKR 110 worth of airtime till month end then remaining PKR 30 worth of airtime will be lost (confiscated).
- Handset purchased under this deal would be functional with ZONG SIMs only. Other mobile network SIM will not work on this handset.
- ZONG Handsets comes with six month warranty.
- Warranty can only be claimed from the customer service center it was purchased from.
- After 12 months customers will stop getting PKR 140 worth of monthly built-in on-net airtime. The customer can use the handset and the SIM after 12 months by recharging account as per regular procedure.
Conclusion
Ufone’s bundle offer of Rs. 999 for Handset and SIM was lot better than of this long term contract and handset that’s actually locked (means you can not use this handset with any other network)
Another element that left a bad impression about this handset offer Zong was its advertisement, which says that get a phone for Rs. 1 only…! and not only this, ad sayz “Mobile Phone Sirf 1 Rs main, 12 Maheenay kay balance kay sath” Now please Zong people us me from where this Handset is of Rs. 1???
3 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on August 1, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Pakistan Package by PTCL is going to see an end by August 31st, 2008. PTCL administration is obviously not in favor of this withdrawal; however PTA has directed the company to abolish the said package by the end of current month in order to maintain a pricing balance amongst market players. Directions came after an appeal by PTCL to the regulator that it wants to continue Pakistan Package was turned down by authority. PTA has directed the company to inform their customers by August 10th, 2008 about the removal of this Package.
Directives by PTA, dated July 30 2008 says that PTCL’s justifications to carry on Pakistan package are unreal for instance PTCL in its appeal said that Pakistan Package is selected by customers on voluntary basis however it was not the case; PTCL’s package was imposed forcefully for all customers of PTCL and majority of them showed strong resentment against this imposition. PTA said that it is still receiving complaints from general public regarding refund/adjustment and deactivation of Pakistan Package.
According to PTA only 25 percent of PTCL subscribers are availing Pakistan Package, majority of which are corporate clients with heavy traffic load. PTA has advised PTCL that this is actually in their own benefit to quit the package to maximize its revenues from those corporate clients.
In another justification PTCL said that Pakistan Package was facilitating its customers, in response to which PTA has responded that this fact is not true. Authority said that PTCL has lowered local call pulse rate from 5 to 3 minutes, along with the company is charging highest tariffs for fixed-to-mobile calls, which is defiantly not act of facilitation for customers.
PTA directive said that PTCL must publicize that it is quitting Pakistan Package before August 10th 2008 before taking it down from August 31st, 2008
2 Comments
