Airtel Broadband: Fair Usage(FU) fraud! And more....

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Guite

Hi Tanveer, can you tell me few things? First, I don't get SMS alerts for amount of data traffic consumed. How do you activate this feature? Maybe I never exceeded data limit?

Second, I can't see data usage status on my account page, its all about bills. Can you please list sequence of links to get there?

I noticed that my connection speed is very slow these days. So maybe its same problem of quota not being reset. By the way 10gb/month is just too low in these days of streaming videos, watched by young and old.

In your account summary, just go to your DSL line, and look up "usage"
No idea on how to activate sms

Originally Posted by sgiitk

See samurai's thread on fraudulent billing by them. Saw the new pseudonym - Scaretel. On Rimweb it is known as Airhel. Should sum it up. At least you managed to reach a human being, I am told even that is tough. The fellow must have been a call centre employee (most probably outsourced) whose authority is very limited, if not non-existent.

Quite correct.
Couple of months ago I literally had to mail to higher ups to get the problem of frequent disconnection and poor line quality sorted.
I guess, I will see how is myway in my area, and switch to bsnl with myway iptv.
Only drawback, there are no combo plans with myway. So its BB+IPTV which will come slightly more than airhell. But it will be worth trouble free stuff.

Local apartment residents who have BSNL say that once or twice a year, the line goes dead, and then it takes 2 days to fix it, and thats about it.

[narayanang76]

TSK, why not just walk into a nearby Airtel store and carry necessary proofs / evidence (preferably carry a laptop with your usage info on it) with you and show them the thing in person?

I feel that it might work out.

Regards,
narayanang76

[MaserQ]

Tanveer, shoot a strongly worded email to the area manager if possible (or better still, ask to speak with her/him), saying that you are unhappy and would like to cancel the service. Please also mention that you would only stay on with Airtel if and only if they revert back to your original fair usage plan as that was the premise on which you took the connection. Only then will the cancellation department go out of the way to ensure that you are properly serviced.

I had a similar experience a while back with Airtel. The customer service was poor and we were experiencing far too many technical issues and service disruptions with Airtel. Got in touch with the higher-ups and things began to move like clockwork. I was even offered a faster connection at a lower price when I threatened to move to a competitor!

[phamilyman]

Forward it to airtelpresence@airtel.in or look them up on twitter.

They take action promptly. Tell them how many views this is having - we'll publicise it on twitter as well

[Guite]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

In your account summary, just go to your DSL line, and look up "usage"
No idea on how to activate sms.

On logging in I go to Account Information, then DSL and this is what I get. I can't see any "Usage" link. Is this the same interface you get? The url is "https://ebpp.airtelworld.com/cares/wps/myportal/............."

Just checked speed on "http://www.speedtest.net/" and it turns out okay. MY (or rather my wife's, because she is the one who deals with them) experience with their call centre is prettty good and their response is usually prompt.

[rishab.k]

@ Guite,

Click on the link "view unbilled details" for detailed daily usage or the "view unbilled amount" for total usage for the current bill.

[JustCause]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Excuses are flying around "Site maintenance" blah blah etc., but nobody is telling me whether my problem is going to get sorted or not!

They had informed me well in advance to not use any Broadband VAS like Speed On Demand or try to pay bill online through C Card for the month of July as their site is undergoing maintenance. My DSL was down for about 2 hours on the 17th, which they attributed to the same problem. I don't know about the service in your area ,but it is pretty good in West Delhi (Where I live). No use labelling this as an excuse & getting impatient over the issue, it is just that you had not been informed about this.

I have not migrated to any of the 2mbps or 4mbps 'impatient' plans & my FUP limit is still 100GB @ 1mbps as of today. Those who took the bait of higher speeds have fallen into this trap.



Too many people are bashing Airtel based on things they are 'told' or have 'heard'. Let me tell you that I've had one of the better experiences with Airtel as far as Customer Care is concerned (I earlier had MTNL tri band). They refunded an amount of 1000Rs when they wrongly billed me for additional MBs when I was on a data capped plan. AFAIK only Airtel & MTNL offer periodic free bandwidth upgrades (4 mbps or more) when the server is on low load.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

My first mobile phone service provider was Idea. They troubled me so much that it took me less than 3 months to switch to BSNL. This was sometime in 2004-2005. I have never felt the need to switch thereafter. Sure, there are issues with BSNL too. For instance, to activate any additional service one needs to give them a written application. I am fine with that. I mean, how often do we need to active or de-activate services on our phone?

The deal clincher is their super transparent billing. We had an issue once with one of our phone bills. When brought to their notice they offered us a choice - either park the difference as credit so it gets adjusted in subsequent bills or take a refund. Now, how many players actually offer a refund of their own accord?

Well, I've had a horrid experience with bsnl, despite having a landline for the past 2 decades.

I had bsnl broadband for 5 years till April 2010, and each time things were not working, it would take around 40 calls and 2 to 3 days to set things right.

The worst part was being charged Rs 200 for some 'games' in May 2010, though I'd surrendered the BB connection in April. Despite showing them the acknowledgement for disconnection, and paying them 3 visits, they could not sort it out. I stopped going to them as I was ending up spending more on fuel and wasting my time.

[abhibh]

Airtel Customer support was one of the reason why i shifted from them in February 2011. They are a BUNCH of IDIOTS in the call center.

Though i must compliment Airtel on providing one of the best broadband services i have ever used but at the same time their billing has no transparency and customer support is full of idiots.

[carfreak77]

Shocked to read the comments about Airtel broadband customer service. I have been using mtnl tri band for sometime now, and thought their customer care was bad. But, from what I read it appears that Airtel is worse!! Would never have thought this.

[vina]

Slightly off topic:

Which ISPs/plans provide the best Fair Usage policy?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by JustCause

I have not migrated to any of the 2mbps or 4mbps 'impatient' plans & my FUP limit is still 100GB @ 1mbps as of today. Those who took the bait of higher speeds have fallen into this trap.
Attachment 584689

I did not do any plan migration. IPTV FU used to be 25GB, and it got reduced to 15GB, on its own.
Now I have the option of paying 300 INR less, and going to 2mbps and 10GB FUP, which I have asked them to enable, since I rarely download more than 10-11GB a month.
The problem is that due to their site maintenance, my usage is not being reset.
I am paying for 1mbps and getting 256kbps, which is fraud, whatever the reason

Too many people are bashing Airtel based on things they are 'told' or have 'heard'. Let me tell you that I've had one of the better experiences with Airtel as far as Customer Care is concerned (I earlier had MTNL tri band). They refunded an amount of 1000Rs when they wrongly billed me for additional MBs when I was on a data capped plan. AFAIK only Airtel & MTNL offer periodic free bandwidth upgrades (4 mbps or more) when the server is on low load.

I have not heard or not being told anything. From more than a year, every time it rains, DSL connectivity goes for a toss. The local guy says all wiring is faulty and nothing can be done. Many other people with IPTV report same problem in Noida. So while your area may have good service, for me its fraudband.

[mercedised]

I have been charged for ISD calls (even when I had not called any ISD numbers), STD calls (even when I had not called any STD numbers), and excessive broadband usage on an unlimited plan. From then I don't even look at AIRTEL. I have BSNL now and it works like charm. Switching to Airtel is like a BLUNDER.

[vamsi.kona]

Now this is funny. An airtel ad on an Airtel bashing thread


Contrary to the experiences here, I never faced any problem with Airtel service till now both for mobile as well as broadband services. As mentioned by some other member they even enquire about the reasons if my usage of any service is less than normal. May be the service here is good because of the personnel. Ultimately that's what decides isn't it. The people working for the company make or break it.

[Newpunter]

Like a few others have said, I have been using Airtel Broadband for the past 4 years and have never faced any issue with them. The very few occasions where I had a problem, one call to the Customer Support solved the issue immediately. The same cannot be said about my experience with Reliance and Sify. I used to spend most of my time calling their customer support coz the connection would be down for half the time.