[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by NPV

I'm seeing charges in my Airtel bills for "1860" numbers

1860 calls have always been chargeable with my Airtel, Idea and even BSNL numbers. The 1800s are fully exempt in all three (for me at least, in prepaid). However, its another matter that nine out of ten times the 1800 numbers do not connect whereas the 1860s are picked up in a jiffy. If my memory serves me right, Airtel charges ₹2 per minute.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Parth46

Many companies are now discreetly, and without informing customers. moving to paid customer care lines and not the usual toll-free lines. 1860 is indeed a "charged" line, not toll-free.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

1860 calls have always been chargeable with my Airtel, Idea and even BSNL numbers.

Thanks guys.

Yes, the customer care numbers of various service providers have now become "1860" numbers and just realized that they also mention "Local call charges apply"

[Sebring]

I made the mistake of paying 6 months upfront for a new connection, in Bangalore. There is no added benefit there, actually. Hardly 2 months and they generate a fresh bill of close to 3k, saying my speed has been increased to 100 mbps, which everyone is offering these days, along with high usage - or some such nonsense. They're handing a high-net-worth customer over to Competition - in this case, Jio or Fibernet - on a platter. Thinking of shutting it down!

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Sebring

....They're handing a high-net-worth customer over to Competition - in this case, Jio or Fibernet - on a platter. Thinking of shutting it down!

Be very careful if you switch to an alternate service provider. Service quality is heavily dependent on support available to you locally, irrespective of how large or small the underlying organisation is.

I got the run-around from Hathway for a month for a technical & billing issue they caused and refused to resolve, and my attempt to switch to ACT Fibernet is still pending a week after paying up in advance.

Long-term contracts don't make sense unless the service provider is trustworthy, the type becoming increasingly difficult to find.

[Sebring]

Are you saying they have a cartel going on and won't allow any poaching, or that they will deliberately cause issues? I'm new to all this. And yes, long-term contract should be avoided, I agree.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Be very careful if you switch to an alternate service provider. Service quality is heavily dependent on support available to you locally.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Are you saying they have a cartel going on and won't allow any poaching, or that they will deliberately cause issues?.

I didn't mean anything sinister by my comment. Ensuring the quality of service in your area is good because a 5-star provider elsewhere is useless to you if your area gets 1-star service). Anecdotally, Airtel service is great in some parts of town (a colleague in Domlur swears by them) , but monstrously pathetic elsewhere (another colleague in Hormavu swears at them).

Cartels and arm-twisting tactics aren't unheard of, esp. if your property is in a gated community or housing complex that may have tied up with a service provider to save infrastructure/equipment costs.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Long-term contracts don't make sense unless the service provider is trustworthy, the type becoming increasingly difficult to find.

I too have Hathway long term, prepaid contract on my internet for last few cycles. Thankfully have not faced any issues yet. I, to the contrary, find these prepaid long term contracts much hasslefree over the regular postpaid billing models when it comes to most of these operators.

I switched over to Hathway as a test case since they offered me 0 charge install with no commitments beyond the 1st 3 months. I tried for 2 consecutive quarters and found the service superb. No downtime, good speeds, no need to deal with any call center (where the real headaches begin)etc. Now I have switched over to their 6 months contract which is as good as having free, high speed internet.