@abhishek.balaji I wanted a slight clarification, will Ather give us free 3G enabled services through BSNL? Or we will have to pay for that as well.
Upgrading just 4g module. Will not impress/attract commuters adding wifi and Bluetooth along with 4g module will be very helpful.
Adding some feature. Calling. Using WiFi for navigation etc.
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I just recieved my ather 1 month back. And now the change for the network is advised, and this of chargeable also by the company which we have to bear. Ridiculous. Ather should work out of those who bought recently so that this is not charged for those where it was bought 1 year ago. The responsibility should lie with Ather. This shouldn’t be passed on to the customers. This might back fire to the company.
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Ather has been always been a SLOW company, they made a good product but their strategic heads have always been behind times. Being a startup requires proactive thinking, this should have been done ages ago and modules should have been deployed in weeks not months. After this fiasco, creative minds could now couple wifi and bluetooth connectivity or esim options for iot device so that such dumb stuff like taking apart scooty for sim swap does not happen again as the entire modem module is getting swapped.
Still, hiding behind excuses such as esims came in 2018, 4g was not mainstream till 2020, Earlier models at 1.32 lakhs were supremely cut cost models that gave us no money should not be the kind of thing a modern startup says(through emissaries) and ignores hate. Companies that have lived for a century have accepted failure and worked in a new strategic direction to be two steps ahead of time and industry
Well, people knew vodafone 3g was going to stop since last year, i even upgraded to a 5g phone now in 2020. Guess you will prepare for that in 2024 when 4g sunsets and existing buyers have to pay for another modem upgrade. No brains for guessing that
Just forum FYI, i won’t be defending this post so you may go ahead and reply that this is just the rant of a disgruntled customer who has bought 2 vehicles and preordered another 450x
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If they still say we need to pay for upgrade which is due to their mistake of depending other company (vodaphone) and selling the bikes then let’s form a team and start a case in consumer court as they can’t keep milking us for thier misjudgement. I hope ather does not push us to that limit and loose the customer respect and they also knows their major business runs on word of mouth. We are their marketing guys and we explain to the public about the scooter and their features at every signals and parking lots. Feeling bad to write this as I love my Ather too.
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I feel Ather need to target 5G, 4G will become obsolete in another 3-5 years.
This is the only way of making Ather realise the pinch. Delay payment of subscription by a month or two… or if you’re like me, don’t pay subscription at all
I see now a days any changes brings by ather it’s a hole in customers pocket. Nothing free concept or customer friendly. Clearly I see ather is not customer friendly and will not take this forum seriously. Not everyone rich who take this bike there are people who are middle class and ather should think about them. I was a big fan of ather and told lot of good stories and feeling proud to have one. Now I clearly suggest ppl not to go for this bike unless you have Enough money to pay them as they ask. Hoping one fine day ather will hear customers and help them
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We’ll announce details about this shortly.
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Ather should focus on connectivity with mobile phone. May be via Bluetooth or wifi …this will solve everything…
How Abt option of android dashboard on ather 450 for all 450 owners at a minimum cost.Brand building exercise by ather …what say? On a serious note atleast a Option…already after shelling out 1.25 lakhs we find our vechicle outdated within 5 months of purchase.
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How Abt option of android dashboard on ather 450 for all 450 owners at a minimum cost.Brand building exercise by ather …what say? On a serious note atleast a Option…already after shelling out 1.25 lakhs we find our vechicle outdated within 5 months of purchase.
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Well things change You said this earlier as well
But things change I understand I remember attending the open house in Feb and Tharun saying that an upgrade for our dashboard to the 450X dashboard is in the works but that changed.
We don’t exactly need the 450X dashboard with the Snapdragon and all that. All I’m trying to say is, especially after reading a lot of the messages on this group, a lot of people don’t see it as a payable upgrade to just move from 3G to 4G, but if we were offered with an extra bluetooth connection bundled with the upgrade, it will be easier to push people to upgrade their dashboard. Just a suggestion.
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I understand that we will have to pay for this upgrade, since it involves a lot of work and cost for Ather. I’m completely ok with paying for that, depending on the cost 
. I hope Ather doesn’t charge a premium for what is an essential upgrade to the users. And I do feel sorry for the users who bought their vehicles recently.
What I don’t understand is how Ather got blindsided on an issue that , we, the initial users, have been pointing out for a year or more. We had shared news articles around a year back where Vodafone had mentioned that they would be discontinuing their 3G services soon. But Ather chose to bury their heads in the sand, and kept pushing the can further down the road. Now, they appear surprised that Vodafone is stopping their services within a few days, when we have been shouting from the rooftops and asking for a backup option for the past 1 year. I thought startups were supposed to be agile and not be doddering dinosaurs like the big legacy companies.
Already, the maps load extremely slow on a 3G network. Imagine watching the maps load on 2G network. It would probably remind me of my dialup days 
. And this is going to be the situation for the rest of the year.
I was one of the relatively early adapters of Ather and I used to recommend it to everyone. But I have been left extremely disappointed with the recent moves from Ather, right from the design decisions in the 450x, to the increase in costs of the subscriptions plans., and now this situation, that could have been easily avoided if they had listened to us initially.
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Customers should not be charged for the upgrade, this is not our fault.
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When I first tried a test drive in 2018 I spoke about it with Ather rep in store. If Ather was listening to test drive customers by this time they would have in better stage. Neglected feedback will always give disasters.
This was just to ride on customers they were blocked on their stubborn decision on connectivity.
Every Ather customer have smartphones no doubt in it. If the alternate connectivity like even USB / Bluetooth connection they should have kept as backup option thinking as futuristic plan.
Seriously we need to approach CONSUMER COURT : 1800114000
http://www.consumerhelpline.gov.in/ for clarification
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They didn’t care about 3g shutdown for such long time even when it was asked in open house discussion where they said they were working on solution which obviously they didn’t till last moment. Now on top of this due to their choice of connectivity we are forced to to pay for upgrade which shouldn’t be in such early life of product.
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Lot of changes…lot of effort to keep your bike upgraded…lot of money to be spend on subscriptions and upgrades…I brought my Ather to keep it for the life of it…was confused whether to take subscription or keep my vehicle off the grid…you have made my choice easy… signing off from all this hussle…I am not upgrading…not subscribing…my Ather will be a free bird… The hardware has been working well so far for 1.5years…built quality is good…that’s all I need in a scooter for now, not worth spending a penny more to this ever-changing technology upgrades…especially on a vehicle.
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There will be challenges we have to face it but 5g is in reality . Tomorrow u guys keep changing the hardwares is it. my suggestions is tat you guys have to work on 5g transition module too.
Airwave technology is bound to change and there are chances that 4GLTE could become obsolete as well in a few years from now. What would be Ather Energy’s approach then? Another upgrade???
Just do away with embedded SIM in the dashboard. Provide connectivity between the rider’s phone and the dashboard (hardwired or wireless) using a dedicated app on the phone. All updates and ride statistics can be through the phone as and when connected to the scooter and whenever user wants to. Its pocket friendly for the user as well. He or she will adapt to newer connectivity (5G, 6G etc etc) as and when required. I expect the mechanical hardware to last longer that that in the ICE vehicles. Let us enjoy the lifespan of the vehicle rather that being bound to the technology within the vehicle. Take conenctivity via phone. This would be somethinig like Android Auto or Apple Carplay connectivity. Of course there is no ride statistics in Android Auto or Carplay. But note that Maruti Suzuki gives an option of an OBD unit through which one’s phone is connecteed through an app and all ride statistics can be obtained. May be that Ather can think on similar lines. Let not a user feel that the precious Ather 450 is losing its value because of airwaves within a short time (just 5.5 months of ownership in my case) Thanks.
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