[rkg]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That explains a lot why my reliance experience was so horrible, both as individual and enterprise customer. See this: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ml#post1210929 (How reliable is Reliance leased line service?)

RCOM is in CDMA. Rcom started around 2003. Airtel in 1998 . Airtel is in GSM sphere. BSNL is also in GSM only it did not have CDMA mobile service.

So who poached BSNL most is anybody's guess.

What i find most pathetic about most of these private operators is there is no one a harassed customer can approach except anonymous call centre. No accountability at all.

Good service provider should be not be afraid to name the officers responsible for customer grievances and a time schedule for repair or restoration of services. Unfortunately none of the private operators be it in telecom or other fields have this apparatus

[Samurai]

Broadband & fixed line was not part of Airtel until 2005. They bought a fixed line/bb company. I don't remember the name right now.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Broadband & fixed line was not part of Airtel until 2005. They bought a fixed line/bb company. I don't remember the name right now.

In fact Airtel started its Fixed line operations in 1990s. I had Airtel landline connection much before 2005.

Like any other large corporate, they have separate legal entities and the one dealing with landlines was called BT-SOL IIRC.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Broadband & fixed line was not part of Airtel until 2005. They bought a fixed line/bb company. I don't remember the name right now.

Airtel Landline/Broadband was previously known as Touchtel.

Rohan

[aniketvu]

Hi Guys,

I have nowadays found it more efficient to go social and complain on twitter/facebook. Usually, they try and fix problems of people who complain publicly to minimise bad publicity damage.

We had a problem with our office Airtel PRI lines and after 4 days of calling their call center, I just started complaining on their twitter profile and bingo... instant call back and rectification much faster with direct phone calls from their tech teams.

Aniket

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Airtel Landline/Broadband was previously known as Touchtel.

Thanks, that's it. I remember getting bills as TouchTel.

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

In fact Airtel started its Fixed line operations in 1990s. I had Airtel landline connection much before 2005.

When in 1990s? Bharti only used to make phones and fax machines.

Originally Posted by aniketvu

Hi Guys,

I have nowadays found it more efficient to go social and complain on twitter/facebook. Usually, they try and fix problems of people who complain publicly to minimise bad publicity damage.

We had a problem with our office Airtel PRI lines and after 4 days of calling their call center, I just started complaining on their twitter profile and bingo... instant call back and rectification much faster with direct phone calls from their tech teams.

Aniket

You had to use twitter to get support on PRI lines? That's really sad. What kind of SLA you have on those lines?

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Thanks, that's it. I remember getting bills as TouchTel.

Touchtel was Airtel's landline/BB arm in early 2000.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Thanks, that's it. I remember getting bills as TouchTel.

When in 1990s? Bharti only used to make phones and fax machines.

Bharti started, Telecom ops in 1995. This is company history in Telecom:

Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated on July 7, 1995 as a company
with
limited liability under the Companies Act, for promoting
telecommunications services. Bharti Tele-Ventures received
certificate

.....

1995

- Bharti Cellular launched cellular services'AirTel'in Delhi

1996

- STET International Netherlands NV, or STET, a company promoted by
Telecom Italia, Italy acquired a 20% equity interest in Bharti
Tele-Ventures

- Bharti Telenet launched cellular services in Himachal Pradesh

1998

- Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint
venture,
Bharti BT Internet for providing Internet services

- First Indian private fixed-line services launched in Indore in the
Madhya Pradesh circle on June 4, 1998 by Bharti Telenet thereby
ending
fixed-line services monopoly of DoT (now BSNL)

[madan80]

Thank god a thread to vent out the frustrations! over the last few months I hvae noticed a degradation in Airtel's service and its reached a point if it works im happy and if it doesn't I shudder to call the customer support. The constant tet-a-tet with their call enter. My landline - there is constnat disturbance and if they fix it - then it goes dead, then they fix that it works for 2 weeks and then the line disturbance starts. it took them almost a whole year to figure out that it was the primary copper which was the problem and replaced that. And the best part is that they dont have the connectivity to offer the 8mbps connection @ home. Finally the kicker came 2 weeks ago - when we were facing some isseu - the engineer came and said "Saar- splitter problem - you have to buy yourself"
I was flabergasted - where on earth do i go and buy a splitter? no answer. Apparently they dont supply the splitter, nor the instrument nor the Modem. if there is a problem with the modem you have the fix it- yourself.

The best was with my parents line at home- we complained on 4th august till the 28th of august the line was still not working. Those jokers took the complaint as line dead and called me and said "saar- line working what problem you have?" I unfortunately couldn't tlel him that he is the incompetent problem that I have..
Nonetheless - my dad fedup with Airtel went to the BSNL office, gave the form - they said 8 days. the next day the engineer was in the house with the wi-fi modem. I was shocked! tested the line - brilliant d/l and upload speeds. and amazing service.
BSNL is going whole hog in getting customers back.
Airtel - has sneakily raised their call tarifs as well for mobile phones. I was surprised to see my bill going up from about 1800 a month to about 2500 a month - they have removed CUG etc etc.

I am seriously contemplating switching to BSNL. Had a hell of a time with Tata Indicom Broadband (VSNL) so its a call between devil and the deep blue sea. I might just choose to court the devil and sign up with BSNL.

@samurai - Tata Indicom offer a 384 kbps line with static IP. We were using it in office for some of our test servers. Take that and keep it purely for VPN traffic.

[bigman]

This poor service is not just limited to the fixed line business. The only way to get any joy out of Airtel was usually to go via their CEO office, but since Mr Kohli left this is no longer an option. They truly do provide pathetic customer service. I have an Airtel SIM which I use when in India, it spends most its time in my leather wallet. Some how whilst being in my wallet it has been activating services such as video pack and eating up my balance. I telephoned customer service and told them that before I left India in April 2011 all services were checked and I was not subscribed to any and since then the sim card had been in my wallet. Unless my wallet is something out of a 007 movie and doubles up as a mobile phone there is no way I have activated any services. Will they listen.....No.

They seriously are a poor company and if they have aspirations to be a global player they better sort their customer service out and stop the unsolicited activation of services. It is rather sad that they appear to have resorted to such practices to create additional revenue to beef up their accounts (I know of several other people who have had similar problems with Airtel).

[vista_qjd]

Originally Posted by madan80

Nonetheless - my dad fedup with Airtel went to the BSNL office, gave the form - they said 8 days. the next day the engineer was in the house with the wi-fi modem. I was shocked! tested the line - brilliant d/l and upload speeds. and amazing service.

Had Very similar experience with Airtel broadband. Finally moved to BSNL, better speeds and better price. Took me 10 mins to submit my application, installation carried out in 3 days. Would highly recommend BSNL to everyone.

[kutuias]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I feel they have been Nationalised because their service is no better than a government organisation.
=======
I can't use this to connect to my office on permanent VPN. My productivity is really down because of this.

Similar thing happened to me while shifting houses, the new place was just 100 meters away. It took them 3 weeks to come and change it.

I am lucky to have a backup BSNL connection, you wont believe that the work got done by BSNL in 1 (really one) day!

Most of us took Airtel thinking even though it is expensive and that the billing is a loot, still at least we used to get good service.

Airtel has expanded so fast but has not kept up its service to the mark.

Add to all this is the concept of calling themselves 'UNLIMITED' but then putting 'FAIR USAGE' in it. This is limited to a few GBs, which gets over in no time, after it is time to milk the costumer dry with huge bills. The truth is except for BSNL unlimited which gives you 512 kpbs unlimited. Rest of the providers are unlimited only to 256 kpbs. This is daylight robbery.

Communication era in INDIA is nothing but a huge scam.

It is guided by men and women who have no vision, dedication nor passion to put OUR NATION in global communication revolution.

Calling for a Anna Hazare like movement against loot of citizens by these cheap corporates.

Someday we Indians will sail on true high speed broadband. Till then Sunil Mittal and Raja rule

[rkg]

Originally Posted by kutuias

Communication era in INDIA is nothing but a huge scam.

It is guided by men and women who have no vision, dedication nor passion to put OUR NATION in global communication revolution.

Calling for a Anna Hazare like movement against loot of citizens by these cheap corporates.

Someday we Indians will sail on true high speed broadband. Till then Sunil Mittal and Raja rule

Almost the entire private services sector in India is in the business to loot public at rate faster than the competitor.

Sunil Mittal is son of a small congress politician. It is a miracle how he built such an empire in such a short time beating the original masters of such games.

Unfortunately there is no ramnath goenka to tell us how he did this in black and white.

If Anna Hazare were to launch a hunger strike for this, then Arundhati roy & co will tell us World bank or some one else from Mars are behind this and endangering democracy

[rki2007]

Airtel is digging its own grave. These days i hear a lot of complaints about Airtel. I am not an exception. Firstly i cancelled the DTH followed by Broadband+Fixed line and now i am thinking of porting by mobile connection to some other network because of continuous un-authorised activation of all kind of VAS services. The customer care people simply do not bother for anything . I always see my face resembling a jack *** when ever i call the Airtel customer care.

[noopster]

Let me join the party. I called the Airtel folks and informed them that I was moving to another apartment down the road and could they please transfer my line there? They said to would have to raise a request for this and somebody would get back within 24 hours. Fair enough.

Then the guy asks, is that your billing address? I was thrown for a moment then said, dude I haven't shifted there yet: let me know if it's feasible and we can discuss that. Then he says it will cost 300/- to transfer. I grumble but say fine ok. THEN he says it will take 10 days to transfer.

What the hell. Why? I got my new connection in 24 hours flat. He yammers about how it can be anywhere between 1 day and 10 days. WHY 10 DAYS? No response.

Anyway all this discussion was moot. I got a call saying they will not be able to transfer my landline/broadband connection there since there is no network there. I said- fine, so please just cancel my subscription.

Please raise another request with customer care- I am told uninterestedly. Why don't YOU do that for me, I ask a little irritated. Sorry, sir- I am from moving department. We don't do cancellations.

I am holding out cancelling till about a day before I vacate the apartment.