my question is whether Ather is officially doing this? and how can I get in on this?
What I’m trying to say is ather can’t just take your 450 and give you the 450X at a price. Ather will “officially” pair you up with a buyer who will inspect your ather 450 and give you a quote. You can then purchase the 450X and the value of your present 450 will be deducted from the payable amount for the 450X.
PS- note that you will probbaly need to register the new 450X in another person’s name to avail the FAME subsidy again, since the FAMEII subsidy is only once per aadhar card.
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Understood. Thank you for the FAME subsidy suggestion 
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One problem that would make the network related problems in 450 go away is by enabling wifi which can be connected to our smartphone’s internet hotspot, end of story… no worrying about any upgrade etc…
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I’m sorry to say, but Ather proposed a smart, savvy and connected commuting solution to the customers without the customer worrying whether it’s 3G/4G/5G/…/nG at the backend.
Let me give you an example of ACT Fibrenet which upgraded our cables and the routing infrastructure solution to our home recently because they had upgraded their broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps and our old infra could not support the new speeds. Now the choice is in our hands whether to use the old or new speed on the upgraded infra.
Similarly if Ather wants us to continue paying for their subscription, they need to do whatever they can for that. They can not arm twist customers to pay for it by saying Ather 450 can be driven even without connected services. That’s not what we initially signed up for when they claimed to offer a “connected” scooter.
When Ather decided to put in BSNL SIMs instead of Vodafone in the 450, that itself meant they had anticipated this, but just didn’t care for those previous customers. Only realizing there is nowhere to go when Vodafone shut shop, they are now offering an upgrade to BSNL. What happens when BSNL shuts shop?
If Ather is asking us to pay to upgrade for 4G, they will ask us again for 5G and that will apply even for 450x. Buying a scooter is not as easy as buying a smartphone. Yes, I will continue using the scooter without the connected services, but I will not be a “free” ambassador of Ather anymore but in fact the opposite.
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Because they were offering a new plan that was at 1GBPS. If you need to use those speeds then you need a Gigabit router. If you don’t already have one, you’ll need to upgrade. If you want higher WiFi speeds since it’s a 1GBPS line, you’ll also need to upgrade. ACT is not going to do that for free (all their free bundles have cost built in to the plan btw)
This may not be a suitable analogy to compare with Ather.
Ather decided to do that since Vodafone already had 3G decommissioning in the pipeline and it made sense to not use Vodafone sims since swapping sims was a tedious process.
Vodafone informed Ather with just a months notice that they will shutdown 3G on 27th August. AFAIK, 3G still works!. So who is to blame for this? Ather or the service provider who isn’t able to communicate clearly?
Why should they not? Does OnePlus or Apple give you a free upgrade on the display/ battery/ processor when they launch a new model every 6months or so?. Does any car manufacturer replace parts just because they came out with a facelift 6 months after you bought their product?
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At first, I was kind of pissed that I’d have to pay again to make it connected. But then I took a while and thought about it. You’re absolutely right, there will be new technology always around the corner and there will be room for upgrades. For example. When you buy an ICE like activa. Maybe even after a week or 2 of taking delivery, honda would have added a new feature into its new scooters. Happens normally in almpst all car manufacturer, doesn’t have to be a facelift. There’s a continuous upgrade happening with time. But you can’t really ask them to upgrade each of those parts in yours can you? This is the first time a scooter has come with connected features I’m sure it’ll get better.
This is what it is,. And buying a scooter can never be the same as buying a smartphone, and it should never be. 5G is not very far now, and yet smartphone manufacturers continue to sell 4G phones, hell there are still 3G feature phones out there. But when you buy it you know what youve bought. These 4G smartphone cannot function on 5G, and you can argue saying I bought it as a SMARTphone and the company should upgrade you to 5G, but the truth is you knew it was a 4G enabled phone only. As In case of the Ather, you knew you were buying a 3G enabled scooter.
Well you can opt for th free BSNL switch and continue to use it as you were 
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Anyways, 2G survived two generations. So expect 3G to be phased out after 5G hits in. So that leaves 4G maybe half a decade more (unless we shift to something like quantum communication).
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@mbs.786, You cannot compare ACT and Ather in this scenario! If ACT had to change something from a 3rd Party, do you think they wouldn’t have charged you?
Ather, is charging you since its a 3rd Party and even if not, they are being so open and transparent about it! So what is the Big Deal? They are anyway swapping the Sim at no extra cost, so who ever does not want to upgrade, will just change the Sim and not bear the extra cost!
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Hi Abhishek,
How long will this discount be applicable? Lets say if I don’t upgrade to BSNL 3G/4G ever and stay on Vodafone 2G, will this be applicable as long as I own the Ather 450?
The sim swap to BSNL 3G is free while the 4G upgrade is estimated to cost ₹2500. Since the BSNL swap is free, why would you want to remain on 2G?
Coz even BSNL is likely to shutdown 3G in coming days and BSNL has very less coverage compared to vodafone in my experience. Moreover I rarely use maps so I may need very less data, like ride stats. So just curious. I was thinking of 4g upgrade, but should see if I really do have that as a necessity.
Well vodafone closed 3G because it has its own 4G network, can’t say the same about BSNL, so I’m sure the 3G BSNL network will last long enough to make the free swap to BSNL worth it. But I’d like to know too, can I just use my scooter with 2G services at a discounted price? Rather than using BSNL3G? @abhishek.balaji
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Okay, Vodafone didn’t end up shutting down 3G on 27 August, it’s said to be some time in September, we’re waiting for an update on the final date.
Our interaction with BSNL officials suggests that 3G should be available for about a year at least. However, that could change depending on strategic decisions they take, just like Vodafone. Considering this, the 4G module is what we recommend as a future proof solution.
On the discount, the intention is to offer the discount for the compromised experience you’d have, ie; on 2G. Hence once the 3G SIM swap or 4G upgrade is made available to you, the discount will not be applicable from then.
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Looks like there is a new discount model opportunity here… If customers get discounts on monthly payments when they choose to stay on 2G, I can see why a lot of people might not mind foregoing 3G/4G 
I don’t think this is an entirely new model. People have been asking for a dumber version of the 450 since the beginning for lesser price. This is similar to that. But Ather have hinted clearly that they don’t want to go in that direction…
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True. Just curious how Ather plans to work around this scenario where they will have people refusing to move from 2G. They will stop the discount at some point then.
Please update whether SIM swap to BSNL SIM has commenced. Originally planned for mid-September.
Also update on the status of development of 4G dongle for 450.
Thanks.
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Update awaited.
@abhishek.balaji Any update on SIM swapping to BSNL or 4G.Ather had promised to start sending invitations to bring owner’s vehicles to the service centre in batches and get the 3G sorted.Theres no update yet on this.Looking forward to hear something about this.