which are the best mobile and internet providers in mumbai?

TiX

Hi everyone,

I recently received my first airtel bill and was in for an unpleasant surprise as airtel is charging me 8.500 Rs (eight thousand five hundred!!!) for extra downloads. i know i had some torrent clients on over night by accident, and i knew i was over the download limit, but i would have never expected a bill like this.
since it is my own fault for stumbling into their trap i will have to pay it, but i willwork out something to do it in installments over several months.

After that first shock, I immediately contacted airtel in order to change my broadband plan, since some new options had come up in the meantime, allowing for unlimited download at a slower connection. Airtel assured me that within 3 working days my plan would be updated to the new scheme (that was on july30.), so i continued using the net in good faith. Yesterday, 18th august (19days after, instead of 3 days as promised), i received an email stating that my application for the upgrade was declined. I suppose they saw i had lots of traffic again and want to cash in more on my cost.

today i called the airtel agent and told him to come and pick up his crap (modem) and terminate the connection, (guess he is on his way to my apartment now).
This is not the first time that i am suffering from airtels promises of resolving any issues within 3 working days. I have really had enough with this sleazy company. they are unreliable, lie straight into customers faces in order to squeeze more money out of us. This delay in declining my upgrade will for sure result in another bill of 8-10.000 rs.I have no intention of paying this amount. they will have to drag me to court if they wanna see more cash from me.

I advise everyone to be very careful when dealing with airtel if it cannot be avoided altogether. be aware of their schemes, and never believe any promises for return calls of solving of issues within a certain time span.

i hope to spare lots of people a similar fate
greets

tx

TiX

i will look for a new connection soon.
datacard doesn't work for me, since the macbook pro doesn't have a slot for the old pcmcia, also i want to use the net on al my computer via a network, so also usb dongles are not an option ...

maybe i will check out mtnl, but it's probably gonna take weeks and tons of paperwork to get connected since its a government run company.

any experience anyone?

greets tx

Nick-H

You can check out your account status, and check the "unbilled amount" on Airtel's site at any time. Anyone who is doing major amounts of downloading should be doing this on a regular basis.

Declining the change to an unlimited plan is something else; "Oh dear, he wants unlimited and it looks like he is going to use it..." Sheesh.

Mcneil

I have a slightly different question on this subject;

Can anyone recommend a broadband internet company that will deal with expats?

I am a UK national in Mumbai, I need an always on broadband connection, ideally without download limit. A wireless thingy will simply be too expensive.

I approached both Airtel and Tata today, offered to supply my passport, residence permit and a year's subscription in full, in advance and both said no.

I know security is important (esp in Mumbai) but I mean there has to be a way around this?!

Would sincerely appreciate any views

Neil

Nick-H

This expat is a customer of both Airtel and BSNL. I had no trouble getting a BSNL line and broadband nearly five years ago, when I didn't even have an Indian wife to add to my credentials, and my tenancy agreement was just typed on plain paper, and I only had a tourist visa, so certainly no residency or registration.

I have no idea why you should have had this problem; you are resident, that's what counts .

TiX

Of course i did check on my account status, as it was pointed out "everybody should do". I didn't wanna labour the point cause its a boring read. anyway here it goes:
I had checked on the website and, since the links to the information is hidden very well, i did that with the help of their hotline 121. The call centre guy guided me thru the process and even did the calculation for me, coming up with a sum of approx 460Rs. what he didnt consider (and i didn't know) is that, since the first bill was due after only one week (because they do the billing on the 26th of every month), the maximum allowed download was also only 1/4 of the monthly 8GB, which turned out to be in fact only 2GB for that particular period. So my 460Rs extra downloads turned into 9500Rs, minus the 1000Rs deposit (which airtel kindly refunds in the first bill), which makes it 8.500Rs, which is 8.040 more that I could possibly conclude by checking my account, even with the help of a call centre person.

However, this was not the actual point of my frustration with airtel. It is rather the false promises they constantly use to their own means. you can not trust a word they tell you, the whole procedure of dealing with customers requests is either ridiculously incompetent or maliciously scheming. How can they assure me an answer and resolution within 3 days, if in fact they don't have the capacity to do it in less than 3 weeks. I simply do not believe it's a lack of manpower, it is a proper con-job. Too bad most people in this country are used to having things done in an ass-wise and incompetent manner, and feel that it is usually a pointless endeavour to complain about anything, so Airtel is getting away with it's sloppy/cunning attitude time and again...
Even if it was lack of staff... they are not a small company by any standards, so they should hire enough staff to do their work properly instead of stuffing their top peoples' pockets with our hard earned money. They should fire the incompetent managers and executives who come up with these half baked procedures, unrealistic promises and devious schemes.

I can only repeat, be very careful with this company, behind the clean and proper facade things are deeply rotten.

best whishes

tX

TiX

Hi neil,

i am a german expat, and havent had any trouble so far to get telephone, internet, bank account / credit card, etc... in my experience most of them are even very keen to have foreign customers.
you will need your lease agreement and sometimes a maintenance/electricity bill (maybe with the landlords signature). For me no problem so far, easier in mumbai than elsewhere in india...

best of luck

tX

Mcneil

@ Nick-H and Tix, thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

I pushed Airtel again and managed to get a rep to visit my home - no issues and the installation will be tonight or tomorrow (I hope!).

That's one thing crossed off the list!

Thanks again,

Neil

punspans

what is the reason they said No to you ? there shouldnt be any reason why they cant offer you a connection unless they dont have coverage where you need the connection.

Alternative will be got for MTNL triband internet but you will need a phone line also. http://mumbai.mtnl.net.in/triband/

Nick-H

It is not hidden at all. Click on Account details, select your DSL line, and select unbilled amount or unbilled details.

That does not in any way condone Airtel staff, though, for giving you bad service and wrong information.

mattr

How do the Indian ISP's in Mumbai compare to, say, American ones? I would guess the speeds are slower? what about connection stability and last but not least the price of the connection...
Just interested know, in case I should travel down there.

Mcneil

Guys

I got Airtel broadband installed tonight at home - no issues, running 3 laptops via the router, speed seems fine. No idea about up time yet of course...

I have a reliance datacard for work and so far (2 weeks) seems fine wrt to reliability and speed (given the technology)

Hope that helps

N

TiX

Everyone who signs up for a limited download option with airtel should be very careful in the first month with downloads. you will not get the full free download, but only a proportion, depending on when you signed up till your first bill.
The airtel website does not display this accurately, it will show you are still in the green while in fact you are not. With this trick (or bug) i received a bill of more than 8000Rs in 2 weeks.
Just be aware of that...

good luck

t.