Anybody facing problems with AIRTEL Mobile network

[gd1418]

In Delhi/NCR too the situation is the same. Calls inadvertantly drop. Have you guys seen the "Hello, Hello" ad in the TV. Most of the time I keep on doing that only.

Customer care - forget it.

[snaronikar]

I had reliance CDMA earlier, I bought a new handset and changed my operator also to Airtel. Unfortunately, i'am now feeling that it was not the best of ideas.

Guys, how is the service of vodafone and other service providers? If this continues, then I think I have to switch over to one more operator (maybe vodafone) as in my kind of work it is very much necessary to speak with the people every day.

[Jaggu]

I guess am one of the few lucky ones in Airtel without much issues, couple of months back when I shifted my house to HSR had issue with tower here. Complained about it and as resolved in 2-3 days, no other issues including dropped calls to report otherwise.

My data usage will be more compared to voice so I might be a low usage person

[tajender]

Have not faced much of issues with Airtel here in Delhi. Call drops do happen however not that frequent. Most of them happen in specific areas and there are jammers installed in those areas which cause this, rest it is good and far better than any other service provider here.

[nvldvr]

I stay in North east mumbai. Took an airtel connection, and had to switch to vodafone 'cos of the almost nil signal in most parts here. Even if signal was there, problems like call dropping were aplenty.

[Gill]

Airtel network is facing problems off-late, In chandigarh ,there are identified spots on road where calls are bound to disconnect while driving.At home i can't roam from one room to another otherwise call would drop.I pray that TRAI implements the Same number with different operators ASAP.
Airtel's road coverage is really bad,my phone bill has sored 5-6% cause of it.

[navpreet318]

^ i'm having exactly the same problem.A few guys trained in airtel and what they say there was very weird.these guys have programming for change of towers.whenever you change a tower they can keep you logged on or can disconnect you on the priority basis.so if they keep someone connected they'll disconnect you.

I hope i'm able to put my point through.

another thing that they noticed in the programming division was selective calling system.Like if i call my most called number it will not connect.where as if i just then call up another number it will connect.

also the signals.when i set my phone in a zone which has full towers and call someone and when the call connects the signals drop by 3-4 points on the nokia symbian signal meter.

there are also a lot of other things which i have heard from my friend who's a very highly valued dealer of airtel.he tells me these guys have programming to help new users get connected very fast and have a great experience where as older users since have given this number to a lot of people and are not in a position of changing the number are given lower priority and calls don't connect and signals vary a lot.

weird i must say.don't know how much of it is true though.

My father is using a BSNL for the past 7 years and he's very happy with it.even i'm planning to shift to bsnl and phase out this airtel slowly.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by mmmjgm

These days during one conversation with my Bangalore associates it takes 3 call drops sometimes 4 to five call drops if the party in Bangalore is driving or in a vehicle.

I face the same issues with calls to mumbai. In my case the person in mumbai always gets cut or I can't hear his voice. His airtel phone is always not reachable or busy or he doesn't pick up. On the rare occasion he picks up, it will get dropped many times. Yesterday when he called, I couldn't hear him. After a few hellos from me and nothing from other side, I was going to cut the call when I got an incoming call on call waiting from the same number when I was already connected to him. How that happened we don't know.

Imagine, he carries an airtel, a vodafone and a reliance phone but is difficult to reach.

I carry just a Vodafone.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

My data usage will be more compared to voice so I might be a low usage person

Surprisingly, data network is so much better than voice network as far as Airtel Karnataka is concerned.

[kkdelhi]

Beware: a somewhat long post!

My wife's airtel sim stopped working Sunday morning. The phone showed the network tower, but the sim failed to register. I fiddled with the settings (SE Xperia Mini Pro) but the phone failed to connect to Airtel or IND Airtel (both 3G and 2G). I knew there was a fault in the sim as the phone easily connected with another sim. It being Sunday, the Airtel Relationship Centres (ARC) were closed. Next day evening, I visited the ARC in my area and told them about the issue. They readily agreed to replace the sim, but regretted having no spares of the particular series the sim belonged to. They suggested I go to another ARC (let's call it ARC 2) as they had the series.

I went to ARC 2 today after work. The counter girl refused to replace the sim, insisting that my wife should visit personally as the sim belonged to her. I said I had not been informed about this, and that ARC 1 was ready to replace the sim even though my wife was not accompanying me at that time. ARC 2 called up ARC 1 and began arguing and scolding them as to how they could send such customers ('customer keh raha hai...' [look at the language used]) to them without informing them about the requirement of the sim owner being present for the replacement of the sim. Now I don't know what ensued between them over the phone, but the girl then passed on the phone to another, who passed on the call to yet another girl (who looked like a team leader or something). This 'team leader' then turned around and said that I could not get the sim ('how can a husband get the sim for his wife?'). I was aghast. I said I was not asking for a sim replacement for a neighbour or a friend or a relative, this was for my wife. But the girl simply refused to listen.

My home has four sim connections, broadband, IPTV (thus, total 6 connections) and I told the girl about it and that I had had good dealings with airtel so far and that she should not try to ruin it. But she was adamant. Things such as client service, client interaction, courtesy, willingness to find alternate solution were all missing. At that time, I thought that if this girl was at a higher and responsible position (should she get such far in life and I hope she does because she will then know), she would have had the good sense to use her discretion or found a way around the problem. At the end, all I was asking for was a courteous solution. Disrespect and being talked down to really puts me off (and I am sure anyone).

Finally, I said I would follow it up with airtel senior management about her and others' behaviour. The girl said, 'Go ahead, put in a complaint. Yahan bahut aate hain.' I was taken aback. I mean, where has all the courtesy, the good manners, the polite way of speaking gone?

I came back to ARC 1 (the original ARC in my area) and told them about what I went through at ARC 2. ARC 1 quickly sensed the state I was in, pulled out a sim, took a copy of my ID, and released a new sim (but same old number) in my name. And that was that. It took less than five minutes to do that. And, I was like...this is customer service, this is the way a problem should be tackled; not being tied down by a rule, but the ability to use discretion, apply one's mind and find a solution.

If you have read this far, thank you. The whole point of this post is to demonstrate the presence of good attitude versus bad attitude. And, in the service industry, if you have bad attitude, boy will your business suffer. Therefore, being polite, being calm, having a smile on your face and treating everyone equally (in terms of giving respect) will really take you miles ahead of the competition.

Comments welcome!

[acsandeep]

You should put up a complain to senior officers at airtel,describing the whole scene with ARC2,

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by kkdelhi

took a copy of my ID, and released a new sim (but same old number) in my name.

This was wrong on part of ARC1. They disconnected a service without a customer's consent (your wife's).

There is a reason this is not allowed. It is quite close to stealing someone's identity since even Credit Card/Bank withdrawal alert are sent to customer's cell number.

[noopster]

They were absolutely within their rights to refuse to issue a duplicate SIM to anyone but the owner.

The problem here is that you refused to take no for an answer. So beyond a reasonable point they, being human, will just give up trying to reason with you and become recalcitrant.

The guy at ARC1 probably knows you and bent the rules to retain a "good customer". Fair enough. Perhaps he had some discretionary powers.

At the end of the day you got what you came for despite not really being entitled to. So what are you complaining about?

[kkdelhi]

Thanks @acsandeep for your support.

@Netfreak: My wife knew all along about her sim not working and that I was going to get it replaced. So, this was not being done without her knowledge or consent. And, ARC 1 did take a copy of my ID, thereby ensuring they had the record straight in their books.

[AbhiJ]

kk

You should have taken an authorisation letter from your wife with her signature. What the ARC2 did was not wrong, the way they did it was.

Tomorrow, if I have the same last name as you do, I can pretend i am your brother, and can go to airtel and ask to deactivate your SIM (will tell them handset was stolen) and issue me a new one with your number. That will not be pleasant will it?
By ARC1 security standards, that is totally possible.

Rules inconvience us but are their for our protection also. ARC1 needs to be penalised by airtel for forging paperwork.