I’ve been an avid mobile user for about 3 years now, and have had an airtel connection for more than 2.
yes, they’ve had their problems - network / technical mostly - but have ironed out each one of these every time. their network is so good that they have supported rival Spice for extended periods of time in the past few years. infact, they’ve also provided the startup network to hutch - as their customer care executives inform me.
believe me, people - this is one cell company who doesn’t cheat - when your bill says 62 seconds, you’ve connected for 62 seconds - make no mistakes there. these chaps are okay on the billing front.
technology - though gsm is pretty much standard, individual providers would have their own hang-ups, and airtel is no exception. they have their cold spots, they have their congestion (specially with the new night-chat, mobile-to-mobile and other offers), they have their issues. believe me, spice and hutch have a lot of catching up to do if they were to match up with a small fraction of airtel’s services.
customer service - number one in the country - these guys listen to you and make extremely reasonable suggestions. (i’m speaking from personal experience here - in the initial stages, i’ve had all sorts of problems across four handsets, all pointing to network issues, and every single time they’ve supported me as a single customer). one instance was when they supplied me two new sim cards in one day, to help me help them to diagnose a network problem (i must have had a lot of time that day!).
i was on the business lifestyle plan all these days (3-2-1 rs / minute outgoing, .50 rs / minute incoming, 30sec pulse rate), but have changed today, to their privilege plan (1.25 / minute outgoing / incoming, 60 sec pulse, free outgoing to all airtel numbers in karnataka, free night chat, 2 numbers inc./out. free, etc...).
i guess this is a good scheme, but bear in mind that almost all tariff plans ensure that the provider makes around rs.1000 to rs.1500 per month per subscriber, on an average.
probably the only problem i’ve experienced with airtel is their lack of web-based support - their website is really the pits (i wouldn’t touch it with a 28.8kpbs modem, or even a 10-foot long pole, for that matter). not many facilities are available thro the website... I could go on, but work beckons ;)
imho