It was two years ago in 2013, I bought Airtel 4G connection with wifi router. That was much before the pretty girl from Airtel challenged all other internet service providers in India claiming Airtel 4G is the fastest internet network in India.
Initial Postpaid Plan : My initial post paid plan was 4G LTE 2000 - 40 GB of 4G LTE data(after 40gb,100% free with lesser bandwidth). I used to get a bill of Rs.2000 + Taxes.
Enter CPE Lock Plan : In December 2014, Airtel quietly withdrew the above plan and replaced it with CPE Lock Plan 1999 30GB. In this plan, rental amount is 1999 and one would get 30GB data at 4G speed. Post completion of 30GB the data will be charged 0.2Ps/10KB till the limit of 3995. That is user would be paying Rs.1995 for 10 GB between 30 to 40 GB. So, according to this plan, if you happen to cross the data limit of 30 GB and reach 40 GB, you will be paying nearly double the rent. I smelt a rat but did not worry much as my usual usage was around 25 GB.
I also enquired Airtel about any other plan which would give me unlimited data without the crappy 10 GB intrusive data, which is charged at premium. But Airtel would not have such plans in Bengaluru. I would rather have some plan which provides me with 30 GB data at 4G speed and post 30 GB at much lower speeds. I am also not aware of any other internet service provider, who has a weird plan like this. If any of you know of any such plans by other ISPs, please let me know.
Real trouble began in July 2015, when I started getting post 30 GB data usage notifications on my email. I did not worry much since the usage was still under control. But in the month of August 2015, I made sure I monitored my usage with less devices connected and severely reducing the usage of internet. But to my surprise, I did not get any notification regarding my usage crossing 30 GB but was billed for 40 GB. That was double the regular bill amount. When I contacted Airtel customer care, they would not hear any of my statements. I was really disappointed with Airtel. So, in the subsequent month, I cancelled my Airtel 4G connection and switched to a local ISP.
While searching on the net to find anyone else who got affected by Airtel's innovative way of extracting money from their customers, I found the following link, where in a customer says he was charged even when his Airtel 4G LTE hotspot was switched off! That is preposterous. I also suspect my wrong billing in my case primarily because of two reasons. One, I had drastically reduced my data usage in the month when I got billed for Rs.3995 + Taxes. Two, there was no data usage notification for crossing the data limit during that month.
So, be cautious when switching to Airtel 4G especially when choosing the postpaid data plans.
Initial Postpaid Plan : My initial post paid plan was 4G LTE 2000 - 40 GB of 4G LTE data(after 40gb,100% free with lesser bandwidth). I used to get a bill of Rs.2000 + Taxes.
Enter CPE Lock Plan : In December 2014, Airtel quietly withdrew the above plan and replaced it with CPE Lock Plan 1999 30GB. In this plan, rental amount is 1999 and one would get 30GB data at 4G speed. Post completion of 30GB the data will be charged 0.2Ps/10KB till the limit of 3995. That is user would be paying Rs.1995 for 10 GB between 30 to 40 GB. So, according to this plan, if you happen to cross the data limit of 30 GB and reach 40 GB, you will be paying nearly double the rent. I smelt a rat but did not worry much as my usual usage was around 25 GB.
I also enquired Airtel about any other plan which would give me unlimited data without the crappy 10 GB intrusive data, which is charged at premium. But Airtel would not have such plans in Bengaluru. I would rather have some plan which provides me with 30 GB data at 4G speed and post 30 GB at much lower speeds. I am also not aware of any other internet service provider, who has a weird plan like this. If any of you know of any such plans by other ISPs, please let me know.
Real trouble began in July 2015, when I started getting post 30 GB data usage notifications on my email. I did not worry much since the usage was still under control. But in the month of August 2015, I made sure I monitored my usage with less devices connected and severely reducing the usage of internet. But to my surprise, I did not get any notification regarding my usage crossing 30 GB but was billed for 40 GB. That was double the regular bill amount. When I contacted Airtel customer care, they would not hear any of my statements. I was really disappointed with Airtel. So, in the subsequent month, I cancelled my Airtel 4G connection and switched to a local ISP.
While searching on the net to find anyone else who got affected by Airtel's innovative way of extracting money from their customers, I found the following link, where in a customer says he was charged even when his Airtel 4G LTE hotspot was switched off! That is preposterous. I also suspect my wrong billing in my case primarily because of two reasons. One, I had drastically reduced my data usage in the month when I got billed for Rs.3995 + Taxes. Two, there was no data usage notification for crossing the data limit during that month.
So, be cautious when switching to Airtel 4G especially when choosing the postpaid data plans.
I believe Airtel is known to target individuals, if it is corporate connection they are more careful. Let us hope they don t resort to such cheap gimmicks.....every internet provided runs his meter faster and faster just to ensure that you reach your limits faster and faster. Umesh derebail
ReplyDeleteThanks fr the post, i was actually planning to buy this plan from airtel. Not anymore.
ReplyDeleteHi Umesh,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback!
Hi Ateeth,
ReplyDeleteGood to know that people becoming aware of unethical ways of telecom majors in India.
In other countries, this would have been a serious complaint. And, operator would have got penalty for not addressing such complaint. Here customer is always taken for granted.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Senthil, unethical practices in India by Telecom giants go unchecked. There should be a serious regulation in place.
ReplyDeleteRecent regulation by TRAI asking operators to pay for call drops is a first step in this direction.
Airtel's policy is to milk existing customers till they exit.. Kiruba Shankar also had bad experience with Airtel broadband..
ReplyDeleteHi Shrinidhi,
ReplyDeleteThat is sad to know that a reputed company like Airtel not addressing customer issues appropriately.
Airtel is notorious for confusing users and playing foul. I think Lalu is the management guru for them.
ReplyDeleteHi Kudpi Raj,
ReplyDeleteYou comment explains pathetic attitude of Airtel towards its customers.
I have had a lot of experience dealing with Airtel Customer Care.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this time and again. When the bill is outstanding, call them about cancelling the account. Guess who'll suddenly work out the customer satisfaction part?
Hi Arvind,
ReplyDeleteYou are right. When I asked them to cancel the connection, some body from the customer care called me and talked butter smooth. She told about my loss in keeping Airtel 4G wifi router as a dummy piece and was convincing me to go for the lower rental plan as a back up to the new connection I was about to take. That was Rs.100 plan with 300 MB data limit. If I want more I would have to buy top up data backs. I thought this was another trap and rejected the offer. That is the eagerness to retain the customer, which is displayed only when you try to cancel the connection. Also, with mobile internet there was no need for a backup internet connection for daily tasks like checking email and social media, I explained her.
Even I have closed my airtel plan... That 10 GB intrusive stuff was really annoying for me as well!
ReplyDeleteMohan,
ReplyDeleteGood to know that you cancelled your 4G airtel connection as well because of unethical billing
Mts is also same.
ReplyDeleteOnly BSNL has the right metering so far i have experienced all pvt players are in the domain of doctoring
ReplyDeleteVery true. I changed to ACT about 3 years back. I wanted internet connection, not specifically 4G. 60GB data @ 30Mbps, is more than sufficient for my usage
ReplyDeleteThanks Karthikeya, Umesh, Ravi Shankar for your feedback on your net connections!
ReplyDeleteSame problem boss, i faced in bangalore with airtel 4G. I was using dongle with 10GB limit. just 5 days I used for emails checking, it reached 10 GB DATA usage. Reality is I used only 150 MB in 5 days. I raised complaint on this & no solution found from airtel. I told them to cancel my account.
ReplyDeletehi Sreenath,
ReplyDeleteSad to know that. Looks like Airtel is taking customers for a ride.
I have brought this post to Airtel PR staff in Chennai.
ReplyDeleteOk Nidhi!
ReplyDeleteI somewhere heard that, companies simply put the unpaid bill on other customers. If a guy has not paid 100 rs, that 1000 rs will be split in 10 paisa and distributed across 10,000 customers or more. nobody will notice.
ReplyDeleteReally? If it is true,that is preposterous...
Deletesad to know that. Hope they must have heard about it.
ReplyDeleteHope so, Yogesh!
ReplyDelete