Seriously mobile.... Review on Airtel Mobile Operator

We are not very heavy users of cell phones - yet need two

phones for time-critical information exchange everyday to

manage home/work/daycare for kid.

Have been Airtel customers for 2 years now. No problems with

billing etc yet. Since we have two 'dependent' phones, calls

between these two are free and that helps. Have also got

roaming on one phone and out on the highway - their network's

quite decent. Also they did settle the security deposits

against the bills when converted the connection from a personal

to a corporate one.

Cribs:

Their customer care people are not too sure of how things

work or even their products. I've got very different replies

from different people. Also - no effective way of giving

feedback on service/pricing. The call centre ppl are not

empowered enough. I mean 50/- for detailed billing is quite

absurd, as is 100/- for roaming 'rental' - charge me the

airtime.

Given the hot topic - CDMA vs GSM - I have no technical

reasons to abandon GSM and costs wise - given how large the

Bharti network is I'm positive they'll have smart bundles

comprising their landlines,cell,and internet products soon

at rates to match anyone. After all - a Bangalore to Delhi

call can be routed easily thru Airtel/Touchtel networks

alone and they should be able to give cheap connects.

The gripes are really more to do with the way the cellular

industry charges for stuff:

• 250onwards rentals for what ? The phone is mine, I'm paying

for airtime and there are no free calls!

• 100/- for enabling roaming every month is steep. At least

do it only when I use it (auto on/off)

• detailed billing + CLI should probably be a common feature.

Worst case charge me 25/- for both. 75/- is criminal.

• When I call STD over ur network - make my airtime free -

u're earning enuf from the call anyway. This will boost

ur long distance business like crazy.

Problem with the entire industry - not just cell people.

• calls shouls be charged uniformly across networks - really

now i'll have to think of whom I'm calling, calling thru,

and calling from! They should worry about splitting profits

transparently to the user.