Freedom251 30,000 Clime

Freedom 251 bookings resume, Ringing Bells claims 30,000 orders placed yesterday

After taking a pause for nearly 24 hours, Ringing Bells’ Freedom 251 website is up and running.

Finally, we managed to place an order for the device, and weren’t redirected to the same page like yesterday. On placing the order, it directs to a page that states only one unit can be booked per email address (just like we’ve seen in case of popular flash sales) and the link for payment will be sent within 48 hours. To book the device, head to the official Freedom 251 page. Though the phone is priced at Rs 251, an additional Rs 40 are included as shipping charges. This means, you are paying Rs 291 overall for the phone.

An Economic Times report states that the company claims 30,000 device bookings inspite of the website crash yesterday. The report also adds that the ministry is keeping a close watch but won’t step into the matter until some wrongdoing is proven. It should be noted that 30,000 is just a fraction of the 6 lakh hits per second that the company claims.

(Also read, Freedom 251 makers explain the low price point, but there are just too many loopholes to ignore)

Another report states that mobile industry body ICA has written to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to get into depth of the issue asking the rate could not be below Rs 3,500 even after a subsidised sale.

Yesterday, the Freedom 251 site had stopped taking orders due to overwhelming response that led to the servers to crash. “We receive approx 6 lacs hits per second as a result of which due to your kind overwhelming response servers are over loaded,” the site claimed.

Those who woke up early yesterday morning (read me) to book the Freedom 251 were treated to a site that refused to load. Soon, people took to Twitter to vent out their frustration as the site crashed even before the bookings started. Ringing Bells is an unknown Indian company founded in 2015. It has become popular overnight due to the ridiculous pricing of Rs 251 for its new smartphone. In terms of specs, the device comes with a 4-inch qHD IPS display, 3.2MP AF rear camera, 0.3MP front camera and 1.3GHz quad-core processor