[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by RX135

How about online payment with your favourite net-banking? I've registered mine around 4-5 years back and it has never failed me since then.

UP-East does not allow this. I have been using the net for my Reliance CDMA for the past 3+ years

Now I maintain a surplus in my BSNL mobile account

[Samurai]

About 3 years back when my Internet options were very limited, I tried to get hi-speed broadband or leased line from BSNL.

So my staff visited the local exchange, and inquired about it. After a long blank look, the BSNL staff told him that the concerned person is unavailable. When will the concerned person be back? After 3 weeks. Who is the backup person while the concerned person is away? Nobody.

When I heard this, I told my staff "Trust me on this. He is not a concerned person. If he could walk away for 3 weeks without assigning a backup, he is not at all concerned."

My experience with Airtel/Tata has been mostly good, but so-so with Reliance.

[lohithrao]

"You reap what you Sow" fit BSNL! we had bsnl landline for more then 15years at home last year for some reason the phone went dead and we were without the connection for about a month when try to get some help we got a very cold response from them, so ditched it and went for Airtel.

[anupam00]

I totally agree that BSNL Needs to improve a lot.

One more point that i would like to specify - I know it is not generic,it is location specific - I am very happy with BSNL Landline & Broad Band.

I also know that I would not get many happy customer's of BSNL.

But yes my experience till now has been quiet good.

But again this is not generic - I know mass people are not happy with BSNL.

Thanks & Regards
Anupam00

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by RX135

As per BSNL employees, the downfall is mainly due to executive management of BSNL, which is hand-in-glove with private Telecom operators. Same goes with the decision making politicians. There has been intentional delay in upgrading the infrastructure, which is forcing customers to look at alternatives.

I am a telecom industry insider and I can say that the first part of this statement is absolutely true. Lots of information on tender delays is available in the public domain as well. Having said that, BSNL is still overstaffed and needs to be right sized. BSNL plays a valuable role in places where no private telecom operator would venture and India can't afford to let it die. Nor should it be propped up using taxpayers money. The company needs some strong and honest people at the top to drive some drastic changes and implement some hard policies.

[CrackedHead]

We have a BSNL broadband connection at home for over 3 years. It's worked reliably (touch wood). Think I'm about to praise BSNL! No way.. We applied for an unlimited connection - they put us on the 250Rs plan - I used 20 GB in the first month - they sent a bill for 35K!!

My father had to chase them for weeks without end, they said they'd changed it to unlimited. Next month, they sent us a bill for 60K!!

This continued for several months. We couldn't disconnect the connection because dad wants to retain his landline number.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Until and unless BSNL become customer centric they are doomed.
On one hand the BSNL Broadbacnd is totally choked from 5:00pm to 9:00pm on the other hand they are trying madly to sell more connections.

BSNL are not at all concerned about the customers. They still behave like we are living in the 80s where BSNL was the only service provider and people used to wait 2-3 years to get a telephone connection and still pay bribe to the lineman when he finally came to fix the telephone.

BSNL mobile is also horrible. They have sold more connections than what their network can handle. The result is network congestion (again resembling the old times).

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Why I am keeping it is because of two reasons, you go into any village BSNL works (congestion etc are purely urban problems) and until number portability comes it is too much work to change my number.

If and when number portability is implemented, BSNL would be the biggest looser. Number portability has again been put on the back-burner citing security issue, but the real issue IMHO is that BSNL doesn't want to loose its existing customer base.

Rohan

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Number portability has again been put on the back-burner citing security issue, but the real issue IMHO is that BSNL doesn't want to loose its existing customer base.
Rohan

Not true. That issue has nothing to do with BSNL. The Home Ministry did have some concerns about Telcordia's presence in Pakistan, but they have been cleared now. It was a typically bureaucratic move by the ministry as even other equipment providers like Cisco and Ericsson and ALU have a presence in Pakistan.

[Daewood]

technology-wise BSNL is on par or even better than other operators.
It is the management policies that need to be "upturned".

I know an uncle who is in the marketing team of BSNL, Chennai. You know what he was a couple of years back.
He was in the technical department and knew nothing about marketing.
He happened to do a MBA through correspondance and later took some internal test and became a marketing guy

and today this man takes important marketing decisions with his "null" marketing knowledge. This seniority based system should be abolished and "real professionals" should be recruited for important posts and BSNL will turn profitable again.

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by Daewood

and today this man takes important marketing decisions with his "null" marketing knowledge. This seniority based system should be abolished and "real professionals" should be recruited for important posts and BSNL will turn profitable again.

A real professional would never join BSNL. Do you know how much they pay? They pay peanuts and hence get only monkeys. Even the line monkeys can be trained, but first you need changes at the very top where corruption is very rampant.

[Gansan]

BSNL will be allowed to bleed deliberately and then sold off to a private player. Everyone is in cahoots with everyone else to achieve this goal!!

PS: I am not a BSNL subscriber, except for a (very long standing) land line!

[sanjayc]

BSNL should not be allowed to die. Some public sector option should always be around to keep the private sectors in check, at least in the most essential services like telecom/insurance/banking/airlines etc.

Having said that, it must be ensured that some amount of basic professionalism should be put into place. Remember that organisations like BSNL/IA/DD etc cannot be quantified / judged only in terms of profit margins.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by Gansan

BSNL will be allowed to bleed deliberately and then sold off to a private player.

No private player will want to buy all those 3 Lakh employees!!!

maybe splitting up the company and selling in pieces like how GOI did with Ashok Hotels and retaining some profit making divisions like Broadband may help.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

BSNL should not be allowed to die. Some public sector option should always be around to keep the private sectors in check, at least in the most essential services like telecom/insurance/banking/airlines etc.

Sitting in cities we have many options and ditch operators

But for remote places, i think BSNL has to be kept alive. Private operators play only in locaiton where they get revenue. Not those remote locations. Ofcourse, its changing now, but very slow.

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

BSNL should not be allowed to die. Some public sector option should always be around to keep the private sectors in check, at least in the most essential services like telecom/insurance/banking/airlines etc.

Having said that, it must be ensured that some amount of basic professionalism should be put into place. Remember that organisations like BSNL/IA/DD etc cannot be quantified / judged only in terms of profit margins.

Well put. Airtel would love to double the price of their broadband service, but they can't because of BSNL's cheap 250/500 plans. I would like to see their wireline operations continue because there is very little private sector competition there. It's a different story in wireless.