Well, Airtel has come a long way in customer service, I feel, at least in Bangalore, if not elsewhere.
Approach: I approached Airtel guy on phone through a poster in my Apartment Complex in BTM Layout. It was a service manager, who came on a car, and he told he works mainly between 5:00pm to 11:00pm, because that is the time he can serve office going people! So I called him to collect money and documents at 8:00pm and he came at that time. They follow a proper appointment procedure. And he specified it that it would take upto 3 working days. And guess what, he came at 9:00pm and got the system working in just 2 days itself. Amazing example of customer service at the first place! Don’t promise more.. Set the right expectations!
In 2 years of using the service, there were only two instances when the internet was down. (apart from planned outages for an hour or so in the middle of the night). The first occasion was during the time when the Atlantic cable itself was broken and I remember BSNL took 1.5-2 weeks to get it right for end customers. Airtel took only less than a day to restore the same.
The speed was not as per the plan but was still much bearable. Another outage was mine specifically, and to my surpirse, I complained on Friday 6pm and by 6:15 pm, the technician was ther in my house. He corrected it within 10 mins and then I got a call from Customer service representative confirming whether it has been resolved in the presence of the technician. Then he made me fill the form for complaint being solved and feedback, and of course, I was delighted!! The planned outages are so planned that the subscriber gets an sms a day in advance on his registered mobile phone. Airtel connection speed may not be as good as in corresponding plan in BSNL, but they’re much more reliable. In BSNL, if you use VPN, I used to get frequent disconnects. In Airtel, there were absolutely no disconnects whatsoever. The connection was always quite smooth.
Overall, I feel if you need a reliable connection and excellent customer service, and if Airtel DSL is available in your area, this is the best connection to go for (provided you’re ready to pay a little extra)