VoIP calls from Viber, Skype Etc.. on Airtel will be Charged

swatkats

swatkats

Skilled
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Airtel has just updated their 3G tariff plans, and as per the new rules, VoIP data charge would not be covered under standard data plan, and all VoIP data usage would be charged additionally.

As per the new updated communication, “All Internet/data packs or plans (through which customer can avail discounted rate) shall only be valid for internet browsing and will exclude VoIP (Both incoming/ Outgoing).

VoIP over data connectivity would be charged at standard data rates of 4p / 10 KB (3G service) and 10p / 10 KB (2G service).”

Source

Now the rest of the Cartel will follow > Idea and Vodafone.
Shame.
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Those who really care, Do send an Email or by Post to Telecom minister. [From Reddit]
Code: 
Mailto: ravis@sansad.nic.in,
CC: ap@trai.gov.in, secretary@trai.gov.in
To,

The Honorable Minister,
Department of Telecommunications.
Room No. 105, 1st Floor,
Sanchar Bhawan,
Ashok Road, New Delhi.
PIN- 110001

Subject: Gross Violation of Net Neutrality and Restrictive Business Malpractice by Airtel India.

Dear Sir,

It has come to our attention today that Airtel has decided to start charging for VOIP data traffic on all Subscribed Internet Plans. Now the rest of Telecom cartel members ( Vodafone & Idea) will follow & Rest of the Telecom companies. We have also a fear that if these companies are left like this without any action this type of rule could be forced on to Wired Broadband user.

Quoting it, from their terms and conditions page:

“All Internet/data packs or plans (through which customer can avail discounted rate) shall only be valid for Internet browsing and will exclude VoIP (Both incoming/ Outgoing). VoIP over data connectivity would be charged at standard data rates of 4p / 10 KB (3G service) and 10p / 10 KB (2G service). “

This is a gross violation of the principles of Net Neutrality. As the Internet is essentially seen as a utility, promoting such a misstep is only going to further impede the government’s vision of providing cheap and affordable Internet to all its citizens.

Being providers of utility services, an ISP should not be able to control or alter the terms of access to such services according to their whims and fantasies. This is going to set a dangerous precedent where ISP’s will have the ability to dictate the terms for all internet companies, unless they are paid first.

This is similar to how monopolies act, and the government should be more proactive in trying to discourage such business practices.

We would also like to bring to your notice that failing to prevent such malpractices will lead to further collusion and cartel-like behavior among the Indian ISPs.

We have already seen enough instances of such behavior, where some of these same ISP’s have colluded against the interests of the consumer and the exchequer. Therefore, we believe that it is time the government took notice of this issue.

India is a growing economy with a nascent Internet Industry. Failure to prevent the spread of such practices will further discourage Internet startups from working and/or coming to India, leading to fewer businesses and reduced employments in the future.

We ask for your help, in keeping the Internet open and available to all the citizens of India. We sincerely believe it is the most powerful medium of communication that humanity has ever created, and a failure to act today, might endanger this nascent tool from achieving its greatness.

A concerned Netizen.
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You can download Docx and take a printout to send it via Post : http://docdroid.net/nqlp

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Register your protest : http://netneutrality.in/ Retweet & Share on Fb. Make everyone aware. Turn this in to a Internet movement. In future Nobody should f*ck with Net Neutrality In India.


I have done it, Have you Whiner?
 
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Airtel is always forefront is bring such stupid plans. And worst part is that others follow suit.
What next Airtel ? If we have airtel broadband, then pay separately for skype calls ?
Can they actually detect that we are using Viber etc ?
 
^ If Idea Comes with such plan, Airtel and Vodafone will follow. These Cartels should be fined heavily and should be sued in Courts.
These cartels basically reciprocate.
 
An Airtel spokesperson replied to our query saying, “We have made some revisions in the composition of our data packs, and will offer VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) connectivity through an independent pack that will be launched shortly. Our customers can continue enjoying voice calls over data connectivity by opting for this VoIP pack, or simply use VoIP services on pay-as-you-go basis.”


How Ridiculous, So they want people to buy separate VOIP packs for Viber and Whatsapp in future?


Spacescreamer said:
Some international body should ridicule Failtel and its comrades for the level of stupidity they have attained.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news-...-using-skype-viber-more/article1-1300013.aspx



But who ll bell the cat?
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Well, Wait for 7-10 Days, I am sure some or other pissed off customer/Group will take them to TDSAT.
 
swatkats said:
Well, Wait for 7-10 Days, I am sure some or other pissed off customer/Group will take them to TDSAT.
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That wait is (somewhat) fine, but in the end, we ll keep discussing/ranting to our heart's content while claiming to be on top tech site of the country. Atleast we should know about the procedures and full details as to how to pull these idiots down.

Today it is VoIP, tomorrow when they start FTTH, they ll do something similar to youtube/torrents as well.
 
At this point of time, if you are using a Airtel 3G pack, You can file an complaint with TRAI as an formality. More the complaints, quicker the reaction.

Right, So i have dedicated to escalate this to TRAI when my operator Idea will do the same. Will update this thread when they get back to me.
 
Airtel is a curse on the Indian telecom and broadband customers, they should be boycotted and bankrupted for their blood-sucking behaviour. Hope Mukesh Ambani wrecks havoc on these rascals via Reliance Jio. We should let all our friends and family know about this too. Don't give Airtel any money, they will come back to their senses.
 
RS4 said:
Airtel is a curse on the Indian telecom and broadband customers, they should be boycotted and bankrupted for their blood-sucking behaviour.
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Airtel and Tata are Evil twins Scumbags . These Idiots are the root cause why cost of Internet access is unreasonably high in India, I will Repeat this once again.

  • Airtel, Idea and Vodafone are Telecom Cartel in India
  • Tata and Airtel are Submarine cables Cartel in India
 
swatkats said:
Airtel and Tata are Evil twins Scumbags . These Idiots are the root cause why cost of Internet access is unreasonably high in India, I will Repeat this once again.

  • Airtel, Idea and Vodafone are Telecom Cartel in India
  • Tata and Airtel are Submarine cables Cartel in India
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Airtel, Vodafone, Idea is a well known cartel, hope someday Competition commission of India will fine them thousands of crores for cartel operation.
According to some news reports even Reliance Jio was planning for a submarine cable project, do we have only two options at present? can we expect any future additions?
 
RS4 said:
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea is a well known cartel, hope someday Competition commission of India will fine them thousands of crores for cartel operation.
According to some news reports even Reliance Jio was planning for a submarine cable project, do we have only two options at present? can we expect any future additions?
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Reliance jio bought undersea cable from india to Singapore i guess it was in news long ago.
 
^ Reliance Jio submarine cable is live now and idea behind it is to get their own cables to get bandwidth for cheap and do not want to depend on anyone.

If say Jio is buying 300Gbps & per Mbps at an rate of 120 odd rupees/month from TATA, through their own cable they can get it for less than 30 rupees, Rs. 5-10 to be precise. ($1 = 62 INR)

We have Airtel, Tata are major bandwidth providers in India who provide quality bandwidth, There are other providers who have their Submarine cables such as Vodafone, Sify who are now growing, as far as Rcom is concerned they have their own cable but their bandwidth is not generally preferred because of their routing and quality.
 
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NEW DELHI: A consortium of global telecom majors, including Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone, today signed an agreement for constructing the Bay of Bengal Gateway submarine cable system that will link Malaysia and Singapore to the Middle East with connections in India and Sri Lanka.

The cable system is likely to carry commercial traffic by the end of 2014.

"...consortium members -- Telekom Malaysia Berhad (Malaysia), Vodafone Group (UK), Omantel (Oman),Etisalat (UAE), Reliance Jio Infocomm (India) and Dialog Axiata (Sri Lanka) -- signed the construction and maintenance agreement and the supply contract for BBG (Bay of Bengal Gateway) in Kuala Lumpur today,"Reliance Industries said in a statement.

Reliance Jio Infocomm is the tower arm of Reliance Industries.

The BBG submarine cable system, spanning around 8,000 km, will link Malaysia (through Penang) and Singapore to the Middle East (Oman and United Arab Emirates) with connections reaching out to India (Mumbai and Chennai) and Sri Lanka, it added.

"The construction of BBG is planned not only to provide connectivity between South East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East but also to Europe, Africa and to the far East Asia through interconnections with other existing and newly built cable systems landing in India, Middle East and far East Asia," it said.

The statement added that BBG will serve as an opportunity for business growth as it will help supporting current and future high capacity requirements from the surrounding areas of the region.

"The BBG cable system is designed to provide upgradable and transmission facilities by adopting the state-of-the-art 100 Gbps technology," it added.
 
We are going Off-topic, lets get back to this Airtel thievery, what will Airtel do once Whatsapp starts VOIP operations? they are going to add it soon in Q1 2015, sneaking through viber and skype is easy for Airtel but same tricks with Whatsapp will result in a massive backlash from customers.
 
Well if it stays then vpn is the way to go there are many vpn apps on play store. i use supervpn it is awesome. Whatsapp is encrypted now so there is no privacy risk.
 
Just made a quick calculation and realised 1hour of VOIP call over skype will now cost ~ 200 bucks on 3G, instead of 8-10 Bucks / Hour earlier. :mad:
 
Well, I have an Airtel corporate plan, and got an offer to get 1GB for 2 months @ 125 INR monthly. Went ahead, since I needed high speed net. After using it for a couple of days, can confirm is crap. I can say this confidently, that MTNL gives better speeds - Airtel seems to keep switching between 3G/H+ on the phone, but the speeds kept switching from GPRS to EDGE speeds.

Anyways, have asked the RM about this since I use Viber and Hangouts while on roaming to speak to friends. He told me that I will get an update tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
 
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