My first mobile phone relationship was with TATA Indicom. I purchased one of the lower-end handsets & was shelling around 500 a month in the first few months of 2003. Only around June 2004 did I switch
to GSM Operators. My first was Aircel and the following are the most prominent features that I am able to recollect of that pre-paid connection,
No number that I dial would ever connect the first time. The first attempt was always reserved for the message ’All lines in this route are busy. Please try later’.
At evenings(i.e. any time between 18 30 and 20 45 hrs) I could be 100% sure of not being able to get connected to even my home number - immaterial of whether I spend 10 minutes or 2 hrs trying to do so.(The bus journey from Shollinganallur to Valasaravakkam usually consumes around 2 to 2.5 hrs in the evenings - enough time for me to ascertain the above point as a fact).
That is when I switched to Bharti. I got to choose a number from a rather vast list of numbers - since I was taking a Corporate Connection. Its been a bumpy relation since then - however, I have kept it with them and dont repent - may be am not too happy, but thats okay. I have switched close to 4 phone numbers in these years - all with Airtel. Following are what I recollect about my present cellphone Service Provider(Airtel),
Network Coverage & Continuity - Good.(Definitely better than the Aircel I had in 2004). Hardly do I get that old dreaded message. Not many times have I experienced a call getting disconnected while talking.
Roaming - Good. As long as I am in a city or town type of location, the signal is good. Similarly along common bus & train routes too, the signal is available.
Costs - Okay. I think the costs could be lower than the present and the past ones. Its an emerging field and one should expect lower costs a little longer as long as consolidation doesn’t happen.
Customer Support - Okay. I wouldn’t term this as exceptional or even good. I requested the Hutch Support folks for a Corp connection and the call center exec herself got all my contact details, best time to meet and planned for an exec to meet me to complete the procedure. But the same question when fielded to an Airtel Support exec evoked a luke-warm to almost rude response. He said they din’t have the needed info and that I should contact my company HR(Like they’re the ones that need to have info about Airtel Connections). Anyways, since I am a persistent individual, I somehow caught hold of the person.
Corp Card - Good. Once I got hold of a rep he provided me with an e-mail address. The reason I had to get him was that I had switched jobs and wanted to move from my previous employer’s CUG to my new ones CUG. It was a matter of a simple e-mail & this was completed. However, I am sure that this could’ve been accomplished by the Customer Support folks and had it been Hutch they’d’ve surely been more wise & kind.
CONCLUSION: In spite of certain grey areas, at any given day I’d rather prefer Airtel. Hutch(in spite of a good & more recent relationship) comes only a close second. May be its because I am very new to Hutch and it might take time & events to evaluate their service.
NOTE: I have been and presently am a Corporate Customer and may be that makes a difference - I ain’t really sure about it though.