[hajaar]

BSNL rocks. I applied for a new connection day before yesterday & got it done today. Excellent service!!!

In other news, the airtel person who was supposed to come today, did not turn up as yesterday. The nodal officer's email said that the situation would be resolved by 10-Aug, 5:30 pm (timings mentioned by airtel).

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by condor

I'll say Give it a shot. From what I have seen, in case of problems, call & register a complaint. Then walk across to the nearest office (not the ones where they take payments etc). The response from the office near our place has been good.

A shot? What makes you think I haven't given a shot. I have had BSNL Internet couple times, their indifference whenever there was a downtime was just mind-numbing.

Originally Posted by condor

I would not touch Reliance. May leave you with Tata, but I'm not sure how good they are. Friend has a Tata WLL, but not happy with cust service again.

I wouldn't touch Reliance either, I have had enough experience with them. Regarding Tata, I am their enterprise customer, I have 4Mbps (1:1) leased line from them. Therefore even my datacard/usb service is handled via Enterprise channel. So I have a good service experience with them.

Originally Posted by hajaar

BSNL rocks. I applied for a new connection day before yesterday & got it done today. Excellent service!!!

Watch out for that rock when it is a downtime.

Today our company receptionist managed get a CS manager on the phone and conferenced me. Unfortunately, he was no better. He gave the same excuses and same lame promises. So, nothing happened today either.

Meanwhile, I picked up Tata Docomo 3G Hub with 5G@1000 plan. I can barely get 1.5Mbps (or less) as opposed to the 5.5Mbps I used to get with Airtel.

[srimath]

Were you able to contact the Nodal Officer?

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

My broadband bill has still not been generated for the month of July. (My bill generally gets generated on the 8th of the month)

Rohan

Hi!

Sometimes, they combine/club two month's bill together. I myself haven't got my bill for July.

Thanks

[9tMax]

Without getting into the debate of whether everything that is nationalised is bad, let me throw a simple challenge to the worshippers of efficient private sector. Please try and talk to a CC executive of tata photon+ on the number given on their website. In case you are too lazy to find it out, here it is - 1800 266 121. All the best for your endeavour.
Can't type any more as my fingers are aching due to the dialling i have been doing throughout this evening, till now.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

Funny that you should choose to let AirTel sort their mess out even if it takes them 22-24 days to do so but talk ill of BSNL because they take 2-3 days sometimes to resolve your query.

PS: This is a never-ending debate. There are those among us who do not want anything to do with PSUs. And there are those like me who do not trust the private parties with a penny of their money.

Since i do not use BSNL in Bangalore, let me take the example of my colleague and good friend who was a loyal BSNL user.

He shifted homes, and asked for the connection to be transferred from to the new address.Despite repeated calls, nothing happened. He went on pleading, requesting, in fact everything he could do to make them budge, including escalation mails to the listed higher ups. NOTHING happened.
Please note that every time he went to their office for resolution of this issue, he had to take leave from office to do so!

After this fiasco went on for months, one fine day he had enough. He took the instrument, and went and literally threw it at the faces of the smart dudes sitting in the BSNL office, and vowed never to come back again. Even then, it didnt bother them one bit! Their snooty attitude was evident, saying "Do what you want, we are not bothered".

The same day, he applied for an Airtel broadband connection, and it was home in a day, with the connection activated. Go figure.

In my own case, i have had excellent service from Airtel in the past many years, while in TN, Hyderabad as well as in Bangalore. However, off-late, the service standards have dipped, and its glaring now. All said n done, i still do believe that escalate to the right channels, and Airtel still gets things done. With BSNL, you should always know someone who knows someone, who can get things done. Else, you need to grease the palms of the lineman, who you need to revere like God.

So, as i was saying, some may have stellar experiences with BSNL, some with Airtel, but the fact of the matter is that in India, a customer is a fool. You can abuse him, ill-treat him but he will still come back to you for service, owing to lack of other better options. It's a vicious circle, i say!

[hajaar]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Watch out for that rock when it is a downtime.

I have been using both BSNL & Airtel for the last n years. So I pretty much know their pros & cons. ;-)

Airtel's service has gone from being merely bad to downright atrocious. At least the bsnl office is close to my house & I know all the people there. The airtel relationship center was a joke.

[shamanth]

Airtel promise of restoring outgoing calls for new connection did not materialize yet. They had promised it will be restored on 10th AUG. Nothing has happened till now.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Since i do not use BSNL in Bangalore, let me take the example of my colleague and good friend who was a loyal BSNL user.

The same day, he applied for an Airtel broadband connection, and it was home in a day, with the connection activated. Go figure.

Your friend is very lucky. In my apartment Airtel flatly refused to give any more connection than they already have stating that they do not have line and they can't new lines. this is same position since last two/three years.

Present sad situation in India in service sector is due to liberalization since 1990's.

The private sector which started newly wanted grow exponentially in short time (normally it is not possible) so they resorted to heavy bribing govt at all level's (increase in corruption in India since 1990's is directly proportional to the growth of private sector in this period)

one such example is BSNL mobile service launch in Bangalore and Hyderabad. BSNL started mobile services in these cities one year late compared to other places in these states. The excuse given was lack availability of SIM cards. Even today BSNL signal is very good in rural areas where the penetration of private sector is poor. But the signal is poor in cities compared to private operators. It is any body's guess as to why it is so?

In bangalore BSNL do not activate the cell towers even one year after they are installed

Ordinary customer is not bothered with all this. He/she wants proper service. So most of them went to private operators. Now these private operators are showing their true colors to customers.

It is same with Banks or any other service provider

I personally rate Reliance better than Airtel. Because Reliance sends some one to your home to collect the monthly payment, bills come in time, whatever plan you opted will remain the same

Airtel - bills do not come, to make payment it is very difficult esp if one is not doing net payment.

Once Airtel customer care center at cambridge layout refused to give receipt for cash payment. The reason given was eco friendly office????

In addition, customer care is highly arrogant. try Koramangala centre for example

[Newpunter]

I agree that Airtel service has been going down the drain lately, but it is still way ahead of BSNL or Reliance. I had a BSNL connection that used to work intermittently. When I shifted my house, I applied for the connection to be shifted too, but it never happened after repeated calls and repeated applications. However, I used to promptly get the bill every month inspite of not having a connection. My parents have a BSNL connection back home ( as there is no other option there ) and the connection is mostly down than up. They have asked for the connection to be disconnected as a result, but it hasn't been done till date and they keep getting the bills every month :| .

I have been using Airtel broad band for the past 4 years now and the downtime is probably less than 1% in all these years. My phone was not working a couple of days ago and I called them and they fixed it within a few working hours.

However, lately, it has become a pain to navigate through all the options in their call centers. The option to talk to their agent are hidden somewhere deep where it cannot be found.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Newpunter

However, lately, it has become a pain to navigate through all the options in their call centers. The option to talk to their agent are hidden somewhere deep where it cannot be found.

Even if you do manage to get through that maze, you will still have to wait for quite a while till the agent picks your call.

[Digital Vampire]

Airtel service is going DOWN for sure...I'm having major connectivity issues since last 1 week which causes my VPN to drop almost every minute.

Modem statistics says there are about 35-40 DSL carrier-loss situations ever hour and could be related to their local DSLAM.

The voice line is clear and it is not a modem problem either since the same was tested with BSNL line successfully. The DSL signal SNR is simply too low for the modem to latch on and Airtel does not seem to understand and is wasting time!!!

In spite of repeated complaints, all they did was visit and check the line once which I knew was never the problem.

[tsk1979]

This year Monsoon has not been kind to noida. I think I am the only one happy, and praying for more droughts. Why? Because every time it rains, my internet connection stops working
This is Airtel for you. And apparently, they cannot do anything about it.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by srimath

Were you able to contact the Nodal Officer?

The company receptionist tried repeatedly, but the phone never reached them. Finally she emailed them yesterday and got an automatic reply saying they will resolve it in 72 hours.

Today I got a call from Airtel, this was the first call from them in 27 days.

She: Sir, are you happy with the re-installation of your Airtel landline?
Me: No, I am still waiting after 27 days.
She: When is the best time to send the technician?
Me: Now, now, now!
She: Ok sir, technician will arrive soon.

I still not getting my hopes up. It ain't over until the fat broad(band) sings!

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Samurai

She: When is the best time to send the technician?
Me: Now, now, now!
She: Ok sir, technician will arrive soon.

I still not getting my hopes up. It ain't over until the fat broad(band) sings!

Like a true loser, I cancelled my afternoon plans and stayed at home, awaiting the Airtel technician, who promptly didn't bother to show up.

I am managing with the Tata Docomo Wifi Hub, but I really miss the blistering 5.5mbps speed of Airtel ADSL. I am not able to join any video conferencing as of now.

Edit: I called again at 12:20PM, now they say it will be rectified by tomorrow 11:45AM. That means I have can't have plans for tomorrow morning. And deep down I know nothing will happen.