MTNL VOIP service to charge for SIP Calls

Isnt the title Too lame? However yes its True. We all got excited when the one of the largest Telecom provider in India, MTNL launched their very own VOIP Service few weeks back. We received some feedback from visitors that enough information is still not available.

We got some detail information now and it seems their offer is too lame to consider at this stage. Lets look at what MTNL is offering in their VOIP packages:

-non-refundable registration and installation charges of Rs. 500

Now lets look at their plans:

1) Plan VoIP 200 : with a monthly rental of Rs. 200 with having 400 minutes of SIP-SIP calls free and 20 paise per minute thereafter.
2) Plan VOIP 400: monthly rental of Rs. 400 with 800 minutes of SIP-SIP calls free and 10 paise per minute. This service will be provided through an Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA), which is connected to Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) modem. The refundable security deposits for this will be Rs. 1, 000 with a fixed quarterly rental of Rs. 243 (inclusive of service tax).

A lifetime plan for ATA is also available for Rs. 1,460, and the registration and provisioning will start from 27 August. Users can book VoIP connection by dialing 1500/26990000.

Customers can make 2 types of calls - SIP to SIP for local, national, and international calls and SIP to PSTN / mobile for international calls only.

Now lets look at these plans from a customer perspective. It looks lot crowded in my opinion. Old fashioned way of bundling services and cost to a primary service is a known habit of MTNL/BSNL. Rs.500 for VOIP service registration, then you need to buy ATA. Now its not very clear if we already have a ATA can we work with it?

Why on earth we should buy a ATA provided by MTNL? Too lame! Secondly, SIP to SIP calls are free however limited to certain minutes based on plans? lol.

I know whats the plan here. 80% of the existing customers don't know Whats VOIP? 20% of those who know VOIP possibly 90% of them don't know Whats SIP :-)

If they ever come to know and decide to switch, What will happen to MTNL PSTN network? They don't want to replace their PSTN but instead give you additional hardware to play with.

Honestly, this service is only useful (i can still debate on this) to people who want to make cheap international calls or you can crack their SIP service and make SIP to SIP calls totally free :-)

Stay away from MTNL-SIP VOIP service unless you have any specific needs to make cheap international calls. Its just not worth it!