Consumer Blog » Airtel

Message from AR-Airtel

Pegu — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:15:29 +0000

Recently it happened with me.

I got a promotional message from Airtel with sender id AR-Airtel, and when I opened it, it opened as Service Message, which read something like this,

Hey !! Koi karna chahta hai sirf aap se dosti, Airtel Friendz Chat per only at Rs. 30/month Click.

http://10.2.45.161/wapchat/main.aspx?channel=WAP/AirtelLive.

And the above is a click able link as one can guess, it uses AirtelLive! Now, be aware, it does not tell you about the complete story! I learnt the complete story hard way, after spending 10 rupees as well as Rs. 30 a day after!

Being curious, I clicked the link, and it immediately took me to some webpage! After that I closed, but I immediately got an alert, Rs. 10 deducted from my balance! The story did not end there! After 4 hours or so, I got an SMS from 54321 saying that You have been successfully subscribed and Rs. 30 has been deducted!

I immediately called up customer care, but they explained me that the Rs. 10 was charged for using the AirtelLive service, not for chatting! And why was I subscribed ? They said I must have clicked subscribe but if I insist they can reverse the subscription and refund!

I said wow! Airtle has started a new scheme to scheme away money from its customers!

So, be careful when you get this kind of innocent Service Messages from Airtel. My friends tell me that they even sent messages for subscription of monthly bollywood picture download etc. etc. Be aware of those, even if you do not subscribe, you may still end up paying Rs. 10 for clicking that link and after

Airtel GPRS Service

myvoice — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:10:07 +0000

I have been using Airtel post paid connection of Rajasthan circle for last 5 months or so. While applying for the connection, I made clear to the Airtel sales executive that I would be mainly using the connection for GPRS and roaming facilities which he dutifully claimed that Airtel is best for both.

I was traveling to Kolkota for last few months I had no problem in either accessing voice calls or GPRS. But I had to go to Guwahati on 26th July 2009 and my trouble started. And let me assure you, it is not only accessing voice calls, but also GPRS, and the saddest part is I was getting frustrated all the time while trying to connect to Airtel GPRS using Mobile Office. I called up 121 and average time for speaking to any customer care agent had been 20 minutes and I was holding the call like a fool while listening to the prompt, ” your call is important to us, please hold the line while we transfer the call to a customer care execuitve.” It normally took me around 10 minutes to 20 minutes. I am a patient guy.

I spoke to Mr. Sunny on 30th morning at around 00:30 hours and he made me do many things, but GPRS just did not work for more than 30 mins.

I forgot about it again the whole day and faced the same problem while trying to connect to GPRS at night. This time I spoke to Mr. Surinder at arund 11:41PM and i got to speak to him at around 12:13Am, 31st Jul 2009. Sadly, he made me do many settings and it never worked.

So, bottom line is, do not trust Airtel promises about GPRS and roaming. Better still do not take Airtel post paid connection. Because I am going to surrender Airtel as soon as I get back to Jaipur from Guwahati around mid August 2009.

Online Payment for Mobile Bill in Airtel

myvoice — Tue, 26 May 2009 04:24:25 +0000

Can it be a scam waiting to be unearthed ? I wrote about late arrival of bill and late payment charges by telephone companies, and I had an experience with online payment facility provided by Airtel. So, I am just wondering, can it be a scam where mobile companies love to levy late payment charge as it is their extra earnings!

The following incidence had happened and please be your own judge! I am just wondering, if it is possible! Anything is possible! which may look impossible before it actually happens! I firmly believe online payment is better option for collecting payments by any utility companies for obvious advantages! Still the following incident took place!

I have been using Airtel broadband and Airtel Mobile number for almost 6 months now. As I keep traveling, I always paid my bills online. Normally I used to pay on the last day of the due date. But for last two months, whenever I tried to make payment, airtel.in did not allow me! It was giving me error in red that Unable to process request, please try later!
And eventually I missed my due date this month, May 2009! I was not happy to miss my due date! So I complained to Customer Care of Airtel, and also wrote an email! I also informed that I am missing the due date for bill payment and it s no fault of mine! I have not heard back from them!

Airtel to launch 16MBPS wireline Internet Connection

myvoice — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:11:05 +0000

Airtel, which has 8MBPS wire line internet connectivity for quite some time now, is likely to launch their 16MBPS connections soon in select cities like Delhi and NCR, Chennai and Bangalore. Here is the media reports :

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has pioneered 16 Mbps broadband – the fastest wireline broadband on DSL in the country. This service, powered by Airtel’s Carrier Ethernet Network, will be initially available in the cities of Delhi NCR, Chennai and Bangalore with phased roll-out to additional cities of Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata. … Source

Customers will have two traffic plans:

a. Speed Combo 2999 – receive 16 Mbps broadband speed with monthly data transfer limit of 20 GB along with a fixed line connection at Rs. 2999 per month
b. Speed Combo 4999 – receive 16 Mbps broadband speed with monthly data transfer limit of 50 GB along with a fixed line connection at Rs. 4999 per month.

Interestingly, they do not have any unlimited plan as of now! But with 16MBPS bandwidth, unlimited download makes a lot of sense for subscribers. With recent controversy over fair usage policy, most probably, Airtel is avoiding the unlimited download plans.

With introduction of this, Indian Internet Subscriber too can enjoy true broadband connectivity.

Airtel most congested Mobile Network in India – News

myvoice — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:09:18 +0000

According to latest news, Bharti Airtel has the most congested network as per TRAI. Congestion simply means you can not make a call to other number at that point of time. You may have heard the voice many times, ” All lines in this route are busy, please try later.”
It normally happens when you try to call a number from other networks. For example, you have Airtel Number and if you try to call a BSNL number, than you may get network congestion. It depends on POI ( Point of Inter connectivity) between Mobile Operators. More the POI, less is the congestion. But as Mobile operators keep trying to increase their subscribers and don’t keep increasing the POI or capacity of POI, the congestion increases giving that dreaded message to mobile subscribers.

Here is the news :

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the country’s leading telecom service provider, has the most congested cellular network among all pan-India operators,said the telecom regulator Trai on Monday. Trai also said that Tata Teleservices had the least congested network.

The regulator tracks this by evaluating the congestion levels at the points of interconnection (PoI), which are places where mobile traffic is exchanged between the networks of different operators. Congestion level is one of the important parameters and signifies the ease by which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. … Source

My Experience With Airtel Broadband in Jaipur, India

myvoice — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:10:41 +0000

When I shifted from Delhi to Jaipur, first thing I did was apply for Airtel Broadband connection! With amazing efficiency, they accepted my application on 1st Oct 2008, and installed the telephone on 3rd Oct 2008 as 2nd Oct was Holiday!

I was sweet talked by Airtel Executive that if I book the broadband connection on the same day, make payment of Rs.500 by check and opt for the unlimited package, I would be given a Wireless Wifi Router free! Though I had Wifi Router with me, being an Indian, I took the deal!

Problem started when they sent the first bill! The bill came around 20th Oct 2008 with last payment date of 28th Oct 2008. But sadly it included the additional extra Rs. 1500/- for the WiFi router!

Sequence of Events followed :

1. I called up Airtel Customer care! After frustrating customary talking to machine called IVRS, finally I got to speak to human customer care executive! As soon as I explained, he told me, there was no such offer! Stumped, I gave him details about the Airtel Executive name, number etc.! Now he got stumped! He put me on hold and came back after 2/3 minutes, recorded my number for 3rd time and promised he would get back.

2. After 2 days, no call from Airtel. I called up the original Airtel Marketing Executive, he promised he would get back, and he surely got back!

3. Sadly, last date of payment was nearing. I shot another email, informing as the due date is nearing end and my problem not near any conclusion, I will not make the payment as and my services not to be deactivated! They did not.

4. After due date expired, 28th Nov 08 itself, one collection agent from Airtel came demanding payment. I explained him and he went back!

5. Finally, the marketing executive called and informed the issue fixed! By the time, my next bill came along with late payment for the last non-payment bill!

6. Another email, argument on phone! Finally I got waiver for late payment, but bill with waiver of the WiFi router has not arrived and I started getting calls informing my services likely get disconnected if I dont pay up the bill!

7. I again called up Airtel Customer care, shot of email.

8. Finally, in Dec 2008, I made payment after deducting all late payment charges, extra Rs.1500/- and peace returned to my life!

Moral Of The Story: I had to argue, work hard, make calls to save myself from paying extra amount to Airtel which was unjustified. Had I not fought, they would have made few hundred more completely illegally!

Sadly, this may be happening to everyone and we may not notice as it is a small amount! But just imagine, Airtel has 10lacs subscriber, they make this kind of mistake, over charging to all these subscribers, and only 10% of them like me, “nutcase”, fight with Airetl Customer care department, talk to Machines (IVR Ssystem), get justice! And Airtel gets payment from 90% that is 900,000 multiplied by Rs. 15000/- equal to Rs. 135,00,00,000/- that is Rs. 135 crores! Ring a bell ?

Contact Me for the complete Email Communication with Airtel. ( I made them private.)