AIRTEL - The new face of CONSUMER ENEMY #1

[asingh]

Man that sucks. What part of Delhi are you from?

Malviya Nagar, South Delhi. Apparently it is a 'decent' colony. Not uber posh though. Some time back I had applied for Airtel and the bummers never even got back to me. When I went to a 'relationship node', and gave my ticket number for a connection, the boy tells me "Airtel not available in your vicinity". I asked him, it has been almost a week, whey I was not told of connection installation rejection, the MF replied "islieye to naheen batayaa, kyoon kee lag naheen saktha". [We did not tell cause it cannot be installed]. I took his name down (asked him verbally) and complained to Airtel. Instead of correcting the executive they did another survey for my locality to attach a line. Again NO. Apparently 20 meters from my house is an Airtel node, but as per their norms, they cannot stretch it across.

That day I realized I will never have good connectivity at home, unless I change houses. I walked over to a shop and picked up a USB connection as back-up. Which is just as shi$$y, but at least I can browse and forum away, when my 24Online craps out.

You are not ready to change and still keep complaining about Airtel, get Reliance (no FUP) or even Tata (they are pricey but no problems in connectivity, FUP is higher at around 80GB for a 1Mbps connection). Ofcourse if you can, then MTNL is the best. I cannot go and stand in line for a whole day during my off, so havent applied ever.

Same reason I have not been able to get MTNL. In Delhi, you got to stand in line, and BE AVAILABLE at home when the line man comes. He knows jack about computers by the way. MTNL treats it as if they are providing electricity or water similar to Jal Board or DESU.

Sad state in India.

 

[Superbad]

Yes. .
I used to get automated calls about some outstanding amount which had gone upto 10k.
After a month we disconnected the phone. So there was no follow up.
No lineman came to our house etc. And i saved money to a tune of upto 10k.
Actually my friend inspired me for this tactic because he too was troubled by mtnl during their earlier broadband days when he got a monthly bill of 12k just for surfing and chatting on yahoo messenger.
He complained to them but nobody listened to him so he refused to pay their bills. He got his incoming and outgoing blocked by the first month but broadband still continued to work for some 6 extra months.
That 6 months he kept his pc on for 24x7 for downloading.
One fine day linesmen came and just took away his modem /router and did not say a word to him.
That gave me confidence that nothing would happen.

 

[comp@ddict]

Why do you keep on ranting. Go out and try a mass exodus from Airtel in your area.

Try switching to reliance broadband or mtnl if they are in your area.

Just putting these numbers wont get you far but proper communication in terms of disconnection applications will make them realise their mistake.

This is not about rant, this is about making people realise the ugly truth... if you have nothing to complain or valuable to add, please dont post..

But I changed my plan reluctantly to Surf999 where FUP is 75GB & speed reduction is 512kbps

The problem is, I tried with them, I was called etc etc, but to no avail. On top of that, the FUP for NCR region still remains thr same, someone from south i think has got confirmation for 50GB FUP..

They say Surf999 doesn't exist shit and i cant request to activate it..

EDIT:

@ asingh - Lol we are practically next door. I live in Saket... 5 minutes away..

 

[thebanik]

That day I realized I will never have good connectivity at home, unless I change houses. I walked over to a shop and picked up a USB connection as back-up. Which is just as shi$$y, but at least I can browse and forum away, when my 24Online craps out.
Same reason I have not been able to get MTNL. In Delhi, you got to stand in line, and BE AVAILABLE at home when the line man comes. He knows jack about computers by the way. MTNL treats it as if they are providing electricity or water similar to Jal Board or DESU.

Sad state in India.

Try using Reliance/Tata's Wireless broadband, I have been using Tata's wireless for about a couple of years now, apart from some problem when playing online multiplayer games, I have never faced any issues at all though its a bit pricey at Rs. 1750 for a 1Mbps connection.

@comp, if saket/malviya nagar is practically next door, then we are same apartment, I live in Pushpavihar.(depends on blocks(saket)/sector(PV) though),

 

[comp@ddict]

@OP when i was in another town not too long ago i was on airtel 1 Mbps UL (old plan with no FUP)....i was crossing 100GB regularly....then one day i exp. the same the modem will disconnect and say my speed has been reduced....only after that i learned that they changed my plan to the FUP based plan without my consent.I fought with them but they were saying i was "upgraded" automatically and if i wished i can disconnect they dont care.

So i stopped my last payment to these ****ers...since then they have been calling me and threatening me to pay up or else they are saying i am going to be ****ed .Though i have no intention of cheating airtel but i am not gonna give them my dad's money that easily :rofl:.

I did that to them when I got a Rs. 7,770 (yes the extra 0) bill for 1 month. They had fooled my dad with a 2Mbps connection, but they themselves dont know WHEN the nEW month starts. As usual I did some downloads on the first few days of the month, found out the last month billing period got included in it(they suck)....

We didnt pay for 2 months, finally they agreed and charged 2000 bucks only.. between that period we had filed for connection cancellation, but after the issue got resolved, it was forgotten

it came back to haunt me 6 months later(yes 6 months), when I was disconnected off, and when I called them after 2-3 days, they say u had requested ur connection to be cancelled in january.. i told them it's FRIGGIN JULY, why the hell NOW>>>>

EDIT

shit, banik, you've gotta invite me to ur overclocking sessions, got to!!!!!!!

EDIT2- those who say i keep complaining, yeah i'm just trying to tarnish airtel's image. i love complaining.. complaining ftw!

 

[6pack]

so all you guys living practically next to each other are facing so many problems in connectivity. And we are talking of a city here not some village. I wonder how the state in the villages is. Maybe people go "Eh, what?" if you ask them about broadband there.

Govt or PSU, both are devils. Hope they get their just dues in the coming years.

 

[thebanik]

so all you guys living practically next to each other are facing so many problems in connectivity. And we are talking of a city here not some village. I wonder how the state in the villages is. Maybe people go "Eh, what?" if you ask them about broadband there.

Govt or PSU, both are devils. Hope they get their just dues in the coming years.

we are infact talking about the capital of the country but what can we do??? Apart from ranting on an online forum nothing can be done, so personally I switch to half decent providers according to feedback from other members of the locality/city.

Our country needs a Renaissance, without which nothing is gonna change in the coming years.

@comp, Anytime man if you are interested in overclocking that is. Also when we said you keep complaining, we meant, no point in complaining, switch over to other ISPs. Thats is the only solution.

 

[Decan]

I faced the exact same situation as you, got a download limit crossed notification page and the modem went blank and the speed got FUP'ed even though I was no where near crossing the limit as the billing cycle had started just 2 days back. I made a complaint and the everything was sorted within a couple of hours with the speed restored. I think there is some bug in their system which is causing this to happen. Luckily for me the service was good enough and my agony was shortlived. BTW, I am on the Impatience 1799 plan.

 

[delguy19]

Airtel is useless with so low fup no one can enjoy anything as even after paying 1400 a month what u get is max 25gb

 

[asingh]

Try using Reliance/Tata's Wireless broadband, I have been using Tata's wireless for about a couple of years now, apart from some problem when playing online multiplayer games, I have never faced any issues at all though its a bit pricey at Rs. 1750 for a 1Mbps connection.

@comp, if saket/malviya nagar is practically next door, then we are same apartment, I live in Pushpavihar.(depends on blocks(saket)/sector(PV) though),

Thanks for the advice. What exact connection are you talking about "Tata's Wireless". Is this not similar to the Tata Photon+ connection...? Or is it faster and constant 1 Mbps. Will any physical line be thrown to my place (I do not want this) cause it frequently breaks due to rains and bad weather. Is there any FUP on this plan. Paying 1750 is no worries for a dedicated 1 Mbps connection which has good uptime. Any link for this connection type. Am just pissed off with my 24Online+Tata Photo+ combination. Having finite net is like survival.

so all you guys living practically next to each other are facing so many problems in connectivity. And we are talking of a city here not some village. I wonder how the state in the villages is. Maybe people go "Eh, what?" if you ask them about broadband there.

Govt or PSU, both are devils. Hope they get their just dues in the coming years.

Yups, Saket / Malviya Nagar / Pushpvihar are all adjacent to each other. And these are big colonies in entities themselves. Basically there is major lack in physical infrastructure and customer service from the ISPs.

 

[thebanik]

Thanks for the advice. What exact connection are you talking about "Tata's Wireless". Is this not similar to the Tata Photon+ connection...? Or is it faster and constant 1 Mbps. Will any physical line be thrown to my place (I do not want this) cause it frequently breaks due to rains and bad weather. Is there any FUP on this plan. Paying 1750 is no worries for a dedicated 1 Mbps connection which has good uptime. Any link for this connection type. Am just pissed off with my 24Online+Tata Photo+ combination. Having finite net is like survival.

Yups, Saket / Malviya Nagar / Pushpvihar are all adjacent to each other. And these are big colonies in entities themselves. Basically there is major lack in physical infrastructure and customer service from the ISPs.

No its not similar to Tata Photon, its more like they will come and install a small antennae(satellite or whatever you want to call it) at the top of your building which gets connection from a nearby Tower. From the top antennae there will be a normal Lan cable which will run to your house which you can then connect to wireless router/switch/hub/PC. Rains/winds etc. doesnt hinder connection at all. Its constant 1 Mbps, no problems even with torrents but pings might not be that good for Online gaming. Uptime is almost equal to 100%(in the past 2 Years) I would say from my experience of mine + 4-5 friends who have the same connection.

Oh and the connection is called Tata Wimax

 

[asingh]

^^

Okay. Searched it out. Not able to find any such plan for WiMax. When ever you get time, could you post some links.

Thanks..!

 

[Superbad]

@compaddict
if you do not find my posts helpful please ignore them because apparently you cannot "choose" to ignore them.

 

[thebanik]

^^

Okay. Searched it out. Not able to find any such plan for WiMax. When ever you get time, could you post some links.

Thanks..!

:::::New day on the web :::::

hmmm, even I cannot find the plan on their site, but here's a screenshot if that helps with cc.

 

[delguy19]

:::::New day on the web :::::

hmmm, even I cannot find the plan on their site, but here's a screenshot if that helps with cc.

on the website only option left is for business plans and there is no link for home plans thats why unable to locate the plan u said or may be this plan is no more available for new users

 

[vpraveenis]

From what I understand, at present almost all the airtel End node elements are running at max capacity, at least in Chennai. Threatening to disconnect is not going to work since they would gladly come forward and disconnect old users to free up node and sell a new expensive FUPed plan to a casual browser and mint more money. With the current market scenario, losing customers is not going to hurt airtel since I know many people waiting to get a line in my area. I would bet that around 90% of customers dont even know what a FUP is and would not know their speed would be downgraded. Even if they come to know, they wont care. And that is the market Airtel is relying on for it's profit.

One of my friend was on a 512Mbps day and 1Mbps night plan and when the speed doubled, it got updated to 1Mbps day and 2Mbps night with 80GB FUP for 1200 bucks. Now when he had to shift his house, they said there are no free node in his new area. When we tried to shift the plan to my address, they still came back and said no free nodes in my area too ( I am sure they did not even care to check for feasibility) and advised to apply for disconnection. They have no second thoughts about losing customers... as long as the demand is there, they will continue to do like this.

So if you dont like the service, move on... try a couple of providers and see what best you can find. When the major countries in the world are revelling at upto 21Mbps speed, when everyone is talking of cloud computing and google and it cloud OS, we are languishing on 1/2Mbps and get FUPed to 256Kbps... Wah Wah..

 

[delguy19]

From what I understand, at present almost all the airtel End node elements are running at max capacity, at least in Chennai. Threatening to disconnect is not going to work since they would gladly come forward and disconnect old users to free up node and sell a new expensive FUPed plan to a casual browser and mint more money. With the current market scenario, losing customers is not going to hurt airtel since I know many people waiting to get a line in my area. I would bet that around 90% of customers dont even know what a FUP is and would not know their speed would be downgraded. Even if they come to know, they wont care. And that is the market Airtel is relying on for it's profit.

One of my friend was on a 512Mbps day and 1Mbps night plan and when the speed doubled, it got updated to 1Mbps day and 2Mbps night with 80GB FUP for 1200 bucks. Now when he had to shift his house, they said there are no free node in his new area. When we tried to shift the plan to my address, they still came back and said no free nodes in my area too ( I am sure they did not even care to check for feasibility) and advised to apply for disconnection. They have no second thoughts about losing customers... as long as the demand is there, they will continue to do like this.

So if you dont like the service, move on... try a couple of providers and see what best you can find. When the major countries in the world are revelling at upto 21Mbps speed, when everyone is talking of cloud computing and google and it cloud OS, we are languishing on 1/2Mbps and get FUPed to 256Kbps... Wah Wah..

yes what ur saying is true but at time of installing line they installed to less so now all are packed and hardly matter for them if someone disconnect but for them users are not incresing till they increase and install new nodes best way to deal this is to go for lowest or best plan save money and wait

 

[matoind]

I'm happy with MTNL in Delhi. But it will trouble in the summer holiday months May and June due to the peak load of all the idle students.

But it works quite well if you can live with occasional disconnects and modem restarts. Works properly if you ensure no noise in phone line. A call to 198 does the job in a day. But this problem will reoccur every 3 months due to the jointed cable they use from House to Pole. (Or maybe pay the lineman...but I have not done that)

But it is a lot better than cunning Airtel.

Airtel is good for Mission critical along with low volume of data. MTNL is good for large volume and general surfing.

 

[comp@ddict]

we are infact talking about the capital of the country but what can we do??? Apart from ranting on an online forum nothing can be done, so personally I switch to half decent providers according to feedback from other members of the locality/city.
Our country needs a Renaissance, without which nothing is gonna change in the coming years.

@comp, Anytime man if you are interested in overclocking that is. Also when we said you keep complaining, we meant, no point in complaining, switch over to other ISPs. Thats is the only solution.

yeah, but right now I'm in uncertainity, as to I dunno where the hell i'll be in the next few months(college). so right now it's only whining from me. If I stay here, then kick airtel. If I have to move to someplaceelse (sigh) then...well..

 

[panzer008]

Just get MTNL Triband........ hav been using it since last 4yrs Mumbai........ excellent service........ am on 849NU(discontinued)....... can download 6.5GB every night10pm-8am....... 210KBps........ UL plans r good too....

It might disconnect "once" in 5-6 hrs......... but thts negligible considering the copper lines providing 2Mbps....... will reconnect in 15-20sec......

Just make sure ur line is clear of any noise or cal them they respond immediately and clear it(with Rs.20 tip once a yr)......... thts my experience

Online gaming is best on MTNL....... I play COD4 & SC2........ ping to UK,Fr, Gre servers is 130-150ms........ excellent....... US is 200-220ms still good...... Battle.net connection is stable too.......

Downtime is very rare....... like 1-2 days per year..... no problems with cust care....... they might not understand tech terms but they'll transfer ur cal to some onsite engineer who'll get u.......

Plus no FUP on any plans....... attractive plans...... stable speeds.....