Updated on Dec 01, 2009.Few days back, I was checking the systems settings through my remote. I found that the Signal strength was 50% and Quality was just 20%! No wonder the channels were cracking. I hit upon an idea and decided to give a try.
I went up my house terrace and called my wife on my mobile to check the transmission strength on the TV. After a lot of adjustments with the dish, I managed to get Signal strength upto 75% and Quality upto 60%. Now the Airtel signals are much better and the crackling is totally gone.
I was happy that my idea has saved a lot of time and money fighting with the useless customer care. I had read a lot of reviews in MS and had sent shivers down my spine thinking about the suffering by Airtel DTH customers. This idea has definitely made my day :) I hope even the readers can try this little trick to sharpen their sgnals on the stbs.
Hello Everyone, Couple of months back I had purchased the new LG TV Monitor. I was offered a free digital connection of my choice. I had the choice between TataSky, Airtel, Sun and Reliance. Since I have already tested the waters of all except Airtel, so I decided to take the plunge for Airtel.
A new connection recharge for Rs.1750 with additional Rs.500 was sent to me sent to me by LG. I was so happy to have got this connection for free, but later I realised that I had done the biggest blunder of selecting Airtel. When I called up the Airtel tollfree number to register, literally my calls started at 2pm and ended at 7pm! I had to call up 18 times to register the new connection. Each time I hear a new muff and the tape is rewinded. Everytime I am put on hold for atleast 10 min and the call gets cut within this time!! Finally I had to call the normal paid landline number and registered successfully and that too had to make a STD call for 20 min!
The last muff was a guy who had a terrible broken english accent. Always keeps repeating "Sorry for all the troubles you are facing" at the end of each sentence! I suppose he repeated that sentence at least 50 times! Being a south indian, I had requested for New South Mega pack and I am sure I had repeated that pack name atleast a dozen times. Later the service guys called the very next day and promised to fix the dish by 5pm. But they finally fixed after 5 days and that too after a stiff blasting.
When I started to check the channels, I found that none of the south indian channels were active! I could see oriya, bengali etc channels being active. I immediately call the customer care and when I questioned the package, I was told that the package I had selected was North Mega! Crazy! The operator swore that was the package I had opted for! when I shouted at that person who had selected this package, the operator immediately corrected that they have the best executives working for airtel! Rubbish! After a long argument the preferred package was selected.
Till today all the sports channels, kid channels, radio channels and movies channels crackle even in clear sky as if the sky is too cloudy for a good transmission. While the south indian channels are better. How come? I am just scared to call the Airtel defence line to deal these errors. I guess once the dish is fixed, I am sure they will not help in any other way.Also according to the website, there is a package called New South Mega, which has an option to select 3 regional packs out of 4. But they have alloted only 2 regional packs. When I questioned, they said the package has only 2 regional packs, but when I pointed at the website, they said it is outdated!!! What a way to cheat!
Airtel has the worst customer care with executives who can hardly talk in proper english. They seem to be like some auto wallas. They take a lot of time to understand the query. The waiting time is horrible and the line disconnects and they never even call back to take the order. There is no website mail service and you are left to the mercy of those english L board executives. Please take my advice and avoid Airtel. Reliance and Sun seem to be better for atleast the channels clarity.
I am sure that the readers might be wondering which is the best dth in india so far. Or atleast the best among the worst. I have given my personal ratings on all the services available. This is just an assumption :)
TataSky:
Clarity: (6/10) Not suitable for LCD tvs, works best for CRT TVs.
Remote operations: (8/10)
Customer Service: (8/10)
Average: 7.3
DishTV:
Clarity: (6/10) Not suitable for LCD tvs, works best for CRT TVs.
Remote operations: (7/10)
Customer Service: (7/10)
Average: 7.3
Reliance Big:
Clarity: (9/10) Best for LCD tvs. Suitable for screens above 32inches.
Remote operations: (8/10)
Customer Service: (7/10)
Average: 8.0
Airtel:
Clarity: (5/10) Same clarity on all types of TVs
Remote operations: (4/10)
Customer Service: (4/10)
Average: 4.3
Sun Network:
Clarity: (8/10)
Remote operations: (8/10)
Customer Service: (7/10)
Average: 7.6
Videocon:
Yet to test
Any Comments :)