Hii Friends,
Was very much exited to see all the ads since many months coming up on TV about AirTel’s 4G where in one of the ads claim to have a FULL 4G connectivity at a hill station near Igatpuri, between two HUGE ROCKY MOUNTAINS where a group of people thoroughly enjoying youtube videos, another video shows 4G connectivity at UMIAM Lake, North of Shillong where a small girl plays with 4G, another ad at Ettimadai forest region where a villager using 4G connectivity to navigate directions.
AirTel Ads & Locations:
IGATAPURI hill station, Nashik, Maharastra
Umiam Lake North of Shillong
Ettimadai Forest, Coimbatore!
Mashobra hill station, Shimla
After a yearlong buzz about 4G by AirTel and as per AirTel’s official website 4G coverage is available at 164 locations across India and we have 545 loksabha constituencies in India where each constituency is considered as district headquarters or 2nd head quater! Now if we go by the statistics, 4G is ONLY available at 30% of the Indian Constituencies. AirTel says its almost everywhere from mountains to forests!
Finally couple of weeks ago I’d a chance to try MyAirtel app and after downloading MyAirTel app there was an ad flashing that I’m eligible for 1GB 4G and after clicking on it, I instantly received a message as 1GB 4G balance credited!
Now, the TRUTH is 4G is NOT available at BANGALORE’s HEART of the City HEBBAL at Columbia Asia Hospital Lounge! I’ll leave the rest of the story to your imagination how AirTel is BOASTING about its WIDEST Connectivity all over India! So, there are countless puffed up stories by AirTel on youtube and on TV which are NOT REAL!
Had a balance of?239.75/- as on 2nd of Aug 2016 9:30Am but my balance fell to ZERO by 1:30Pm and had no balance to call near and dear from hospital. A message appeared soon after balance fell to ZERO which said recharge to get uninterrupted connectivity or request for a loan!
I was pissed up for a moment and checked my 4G network got swapped to 3G though the connection started with a 4G signal.
Terms and Conditions of 4G says:
If you pay for a recharge of 4G if your network connection is swapped to 3G in any case you will be insanely charged at the rate of 4 paisa/10KB for the excess usage!
This is a TRICK PLAYED BY AIRTEL as they are very well aware that weak 4G signal is automatically swapped to 3G and they charge you at the rate of 4 paisa/10KB and as a customer centric company it sends you a warm message that your balance is low please ask for a credit/loan reload!
On emailing them they offered me a solution after 72hrs of escalation and after 72 hrs they sent me an email as follows!
"We would like to inform you that though you have activated data pack, the data usage made was over and above the free benefits provided by the pack, therefore, you were charged at the rate of 4 paisa/10KB for the excess usage"
So, If all of a sudden if 4G is dropped to 3G without my notice, is it my phone issue or airtel’s network issue? Do customers need to wait for their balance deducted due to a glitch in the network till airtel’s escalation is completed or first refund the amount and perform escalation? It seemed to me that airtel is money centric company rather than customer centric!
The real reason for all these exaggeration in ads from reality about connectivity is LACK OF Govt’s supervision and ambiguity in regulations!
Another case where customers lost faith in Govt is the CALL DROP case where TRAI tried to impose strict rules on telecom operators BUT the regulation was later challenged by telcos in the Supreme Court and was quashed following which Trai conducted independent audit drive tests across 12 cities and issued results of the same last month. As most telcos failed to meet the call drop rate of under 2% in most cities, Trai has been pushing for penal powers and amendment in the Trai Act.
This is how democracy works in India! Democracy defends democracy!
All policies and regulations in India are in favor of telecom companies and there is little or no attention paid to the interests of consumers! Because there is NO ONE to Question them! If at all you being a law abiding citizen and take them to courts they will squash your petition!
Waiting for a messiah to address all these issues! Your comments and suggestions are welcome!
Update: An Executive called me in the evening and requested me that he will refund me my balance back BUT emailed me that the REFUND cannot be processed and all the charges deducted holds good! Since last 3 days airtel back end network engineers called me couple of times everyday and asked me when I’m back in Bangalore to check the connectivity BUT never answer if my balance will be refunded for the fault of their network! What a self-interest.They need my help to look into their network issues BUT doesn’t want to refund my balance BUT at the cost of my time and sufferings!