India Broadband Forum

pavan4568

Hi,

I want to go for Airtel Data Card/USD modem for internet since my area is not feasible for cable connection from Airtel. I live in Bangalore, Marathahalli area so can any one please share your experiences and thoughts - can i go for it or not???

skap

If you are a mobile user and roam outside Indai, go for Airtel orelse go for Reliance. But both are purely depends on the signal strength of that service provider in that area. Also datacard connections are not suited for big file size download.

gardencityboy

Can some one post what is the speed they get with the data card?

skap

I used Airtel Datacard once, it gave me 88 kbps connection. But you need to confirm whether Airtel Tower in your area supports EDGE, it enables connection upto 100kbps

gardencityboy

I spoke to airtel customer care they said that it supports speed up to 238 kbps

but they do not assure the speed

I think the initial cost a bit high as they charge Rs 3999 for the usb connector and then Rs 999 for unlimited download plan

vivekkhemka

As per my advice, do not even think about Airtel Datacard service. Their service is pathetic both in terms of speed compared to other service provider and billing procedure. I had terrible experience and within 9 days of my connection, i had surrendered it. Their daily unbilled amount does not consider your data plan and free transfer limit resulted your service will be deactivated even when you have not reached your free limit.

Take example of their 350/- rental plan where 500 MB free data transfer is allowed and above that Rs. 5/- per MB. Now say you credit limit is set to Rs. 1200/- and you made a data transfer of 300 MB after the activation. Their system will take is as 300*5 = INR 1500 which means you are above your credit limit and your service will be deactivated until you make payment of INR 1500 or wait for your billing to generate. Their billing system will consider free transfer of 500 MB only at the time of bill generation. So you would never be able to utilize at least your free limit.

The same is true for Rs. 999 wala plan. You can utilize the internet data transfer till your credit limit and once you reach their credit limit as per their faulty unbilled system, you have to make the advance payment of entire amount to get it reactivated but in reality are required to pay only Rs. 999/- which will be considered only at the time of billing generation.

Their speed is even poor compared to BSNL/TataIndicom.

If any one is even considering going for this, i would request them to clarify the issue specifically related to billing system with their customer support executive before they go for.

yasheshb

Hello,
I've had a pathetic experience with Airtel's Wireless Internet services using the USB Modem

I purchased this on Mar 10th 2009 and till today 14th April 2009 (34 days) i'm not able to
even load a single homepage of Google using this service. we're using the unlimited monthly Rs 599 plan which is supposed to have speeds of 256kbps but i don't even get 0.5 kbps. From a practical perspective on how poor the service is

URL Time to load
Google 5-6 minutes
Yahoo! 10+minutes

This was tested at different locations in Mumbai (Andheri east, Chakala, Vile Parle w) and at Daman, Gujarat. Absolutely unacceptable speeds. This is regarding the quality of the service. Now coming to the Customer Support which seems to be non existent for the consumers. Emails were sent on 30th Mar and 14th April to Nodal.West@airtel.in,
Albuquerque.Ashley@bharti.com, ashley.nodalofficer@bharti.com, Mumbai.Admin@bharti.com, wecare.west@airtel.in, Nodalofficer.Mumbai@airtel.in

and get the standard Auto Reply "We'll get back in 3 working days."

I then took this matter up with Airtel Relationship Centre at Chakala (Mar 21st) where
they were not able to diagnose the problem. On further inquiries with ARC Chakala they're now asking us to goto Malad to fix the problem which is really pathetic since the consumer has to now run around in circles for 35 days to get a problem fixed. Since they've already taken the Rs 3500 they really don't care about the issue.

We've got an annual billing of Rs 50,000 with them for the different phones we use but it seems they really don't care about customers.

This reminds me of the Aircel adverts i see in Mumbai these days "Time to Move On"

Yashesh Bhatia.