I personally have held, in the past, that MTNL’s mobile operations(Dolphin) have been the worst amongst the worst, however, in the past year I have experienced a major turnaround in MTNL’s operations in New Delhi.
There were places right in the heart of the city which for more than half a decade lacked even basic 2G coverage let alone 3G, however, now that area is covered by a 3G BTS Tower(the area is the junction of the Crafts Museum on Mathura Road-Bhairon Marg). Another instance in CP, on entering a store even in the Outer Circle there were numerous dead zones(lack of 2G signal) . Now 2G signals are available. These are two examples from amongst many dead zones which have been eradicated.
Earlier 3G/HSPA was in name 3G and non functional. Now on weekdays even at congested areas one gets speeds ranging between 0.80 Mbps to 2.60 Mbps. A year or earlier 1 Mbps was a miracle on a weekday.
Issue of call drops and bad voice clarity have been mitigated and issues are as bad as any other network, hence, it is on par with others.
On the call rates it remains an affordable option, in my personal opinion the most affordable, specially their Dolphin postpaid plans. Billing discrepancy is non-existent and nowadays they email a complimentary itemised bill apart from the hard copy by post .
On the customer service front, 1503 services are responsive both by email and telephonically and they are able to resolve a plethora of issues. Moreover nowadays requests for adding or deactivating packs are accepted both telephonically and by registered email.
Their challenges remain getting their 3G speeds up to H+ speeds on par with Airtel 3G Platinum or even BSNL H+ speeds in areas such as in Haryana, Mathura, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Chennai amongst other places. The other is improving the responsiveness of their Sanchar Haat personnel, which although better than in the past is below par when compared to others.
For their all round improvement from being in the category of bad, worse, worst operator they in my opinion have attained a spot in the good, better, best category(personally I state that they are in the sub-category of better), I give them a five star . What I really appreciated was their forthcoming response to concerns and issues of the customer and steps to allay the concerns and resolve the issues presented.