Airtel is the first and only cellular service provider I have tried and the opinion is thus based on the performance of Airtel alone.
Right, I started off with the INR 300 startup card which gave me a talktime of Rs. 50 for 7 days. As this was my maiden experience with a mobile phone, my brother and I did a lot of experimentation like calling our landline, sending SMS to the landline(it actually was sent!), calling the mobile phone, downloading ringtones etc. The voice quality was crisp and steady even when calling from the car. The automatic balance message was so attractive that I actually called just to see the message. This was my baptism in the cellular world and I was enjoying every bit of it. Now for the first mistake, I decided to download two ring tones from the AirTel world and I recieved a prompt ring tone message. I also recieved the balance with Rs.14 deducted ! There was nothing on the tariff card provided by AirTel which gave me a clue about this surcharge. Still a novice, I recharged my card
As a part of the experimentation process, I dialled their toll free number and tried my luck at putting in a random 16 digit pin number. After 10 unsuccessful tries I received a knockout from them. The computer said ’’YOUR ACCOUNT IS NOW DISABLED DUE TO SECURITY REASONS’’. (2nd Mistake) The computer also told me to contact customer care.Thus, I did. I contacted the customer care number only to be greeted by the computer.
1) ’’Press 1 for English’’ :PRESSED
2)’’Press 1 for Account Balance and Recharging, 2 for Value added services, 3 for roaming’’:......PRESSED er...1? Found Nothing , Then pressed 2 , listened to the complete list of services, still waiting, returned to the menu.
3)Finally Pressed 3 ’’Press 1 for roaming 2 for #$%^ , 3 for INFOTEL, pressed 3.’’Please wait till we call our Customer Care executive.
The Customer Care executive was overpolite(please after every sentence punctuated bt two thank you’s for waiting) and told me that it was no problem and they will fix it when I recharge my card for the next time. Till then, service would not be affected and I was quite happy. Till date, I have not experimented any more and I am happy with the voice quality, SMS and network strength. By the way, I do phone the customer care 10 times a day just for fun. ITS TOLL FREE !
-------------------(C)avi-----------------------------------