Archive for the 'Personal Experiences' Category

TRAI: Disppointing response from Appellate Authority

Published on 02nd Feb 2010 in Broadband in India, Digital Divide, General Thoughts, India Broadband News, Indian Telecom, Other Frustrated Customers, Personal Experiences and TRAI. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

As per the previous post, it is clear that they have sought to “play down” my response and call it as “hypothetical question”. If it doesn’t smack of playing favorites, then what else does? It’s the folks from the same department who are trying to cover each others ass!

I am terribly disappointed by their response. Hypothetical? My foot. I had asked pointed questions and everything here is in public domain. Even the response received from them which I got scanned and put it up here. To say that TRAI is full of assholes, is truly an understatement.

I was not even called for the appeal which is unfair. This case was decided “ex parte” which is not called for. Indeed, it is my privilege to attend the hearing; it is my call (as per the law) whether or not I need to go their dung infested shit holes.

I am not even surprised that they have not even bothered to go in the nature of the appeal but rather dismiss it as “fucking hypothetical”. What was the b**** even thinking about? Is it possible to quell the public opinion just because these motherfuckers are bedfellows with the vested corporate interests? What the FUCK is the Government of India doing as we all get raped for the public convenience that truly belongs to us?

I am sorry to say but we have juvenile delinquents hired as “regulators” who are not even fit to stand tall on their two feet but then it’s too much to ask for these creepy crawly lowly beings. They ought not forget that EVERYTHING about them is out in the public domain; although it is not a “personal fight” but based on their responses, I might even be compelled to ask them for their qualification, the reason they have been appointed for this job and their merits.

The second appeal, of course, is now the CIC, New Delhi and thats where I am headed. In order to maintain the transparency, each of the exchange of the email, the response received and the action taken would all be in pubic domain, that is, here on this blog.

May I also hasten to add that the frequency of posts has dwindled down in recent times because I am very busy with the academic pursuits and it is difficult to move ahead full steam with the present case as well as do justice to this blog. Nevertheless, I am expecting some response from CIC and since the courthouses are open for all, in the event that this case lands up there, I invite you all to present your side of the story.

I shall keep you informed via this blog or through the forums. Stay in touch and I am even more determined to take the fight to the finish.

TRAI: Appeal against information to appellate authority

Published on 22nd Nov 2009 in Airtel, Airtel Broadband, Broadband in India, Digital Divide, General Thoughts, Indian Telecom, Other Frustrated Customers, Personal Experiences and Right to Information Act. 4 Comments

This gets interesting.

Having the useless information from the Public Information Officer, I explored ways and means to get the FULL information from TRAI.

It appears that there is a huge lobby to keep the definition of broadband as 256 kbps which can be “offered” at an attractive “price”. Anything over and above that is chargeable at a higher price. The companies incur a fixed price to extend the wire from the exchange to your premises. However, after that, we have no clue as to how a company, for example, Airtel justifies it’s monthly costs to service me as a customer. In the recent price fall, on what basis, the price was reduced? On what basis, the earlier price point was maintained?

The PIO has not specifically mentioned about the fair usage policy. Under no circumstances, does this fair usage policy apply, nor it is mandated, nor it is ‘legal’. I have no clue about whether TRAI is aware of such a thing but in any case, it needs a follow up and TRAI should be forced to stop the unfortunate usage.

In the long term, the license of these firms needs to be made public; how these private companies acquire them, how they charge and what are their revenue sources. Their accounts need to be audited and everything should be in the public domain.

I am only interested in a bare bones 2 Mbps connection and any other value added service maybe charged for. That is a legitimate right to make a profit. However, charging exorbitant rates for something as simple as a plain vanilla broadband access is unfair and the customer needs to be put in the loop.

I am reproducing the mail to the appellate authority in full. The best part is that I don’t have to pay the requisite fees and I am sure that the PIO would be put under the mat. TRAI should exert itself as an authority and not a hand maid of the various lobbies. Lets fight them!

November 23rd 2009

To,

Smt. Sadhana Dikshit,
Pr. Advisor (FA &IFA) & Appellate Authorit,
TRAI, Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan,
Jawaharlal Nehru Marg,
Old Minto Road,
New Delhi-110 002.

Sub: Misleading, incoherent and incomplete reply received from PIO, Mr. P.K. Dutta vide letter No. 1(229)/2009-RTI dated 18th November 2009.

Respected Madam,

With reference to the above mentioned subject, the reply received from PIO Mr. P.K. Dutta is INCOMPLETE, INCOHERENT,ABSOLUTELY MISLEADING and NOT TO MY SATISFACTION AT ALL.

1) The definition of Broadband mentioned as per the letter is and I quote verbatim, “minimum speed of Broadband has been kept at 256 kpbs (sic) as per definition adopted by International Telecommunications Union(ITU).

After accessing the website of ITU, the picture is entirely different.
It says and I quote verbatim,” Recommendation I.113 of the ITU Standardization Sector defines broadband as a “transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) at 1.5 or 2.0 Megabits per second (Mbits)”.
(Accessed from http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/birthofbroadband/faq.html and accessed on 22nd November 2009).

Hence this information is INCORRECT AND MISLEADING a customer.

2)The question number “4, 5 and 6” in the letter to PIO dated 6th November have NOT been answered. I had specifically asked:

Does fair usage policy violate any of the provisions of TRAI?
If it does, what action can be taken against errant Internet Service Provider?
Has any Internet Service Provider been ever penalised for violating for introducing “fair usage policy?

NO ANSWERS WERE GIVEN SPECIFICALLY TO THESE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS and it amounts to WITHOLDING THE INFORMATION.
Further, If the usage of the term “FAIR USAGE POLICY” is ‘illegal’. What action has TRAI taken to notify the various Internet Service Providers to avoid the usage of term and it’s implementation for ‘reducing the speeds’ to 50%’ of the availed plan. The following definition of Fair Usage Policy is taken from Airtel available as a pdf download from their website (www.airtel.in/applications/xm/Fair_Usage_Policy.pdf)

“Under the policy we have defined fair usage levels for unlimited data transfer plans and
needless to mention, the usage levels set are very generous such that most customers will not
be affected by the Fair Usage Policy. On reaching the fair usage level, the plan speed would be rationalized by up to 50% for the restof the monthly billing cycle.”
IS TRAI AWARE OF SUCH A POLICY? WHAT ACTION HAS TRAI TAKEN TO AVOID THE USAGE OF THIS TERM?

3)Question number 8 in letter dated 6th November 2009 was specific and has NOT been answered to MY SATISFACTION, namely,
Has TRAI suggested reducing the price for various plan combinations?If yes, what is the base price fixed for an unlimited Internet Connection by any Internet Service Provider? If no, is there any provision whereby TRAI can act on behalf of the customer to reduce the prices?

I need to know whether TRAI speaks on behalf of the customers, whether TRAI asks the service providers about the break up of the various tariff plans as to under what head the various tariff plans are designed and on what basis the end customer is charged for availing the services of the various Internet Service Providers.

4)Question number 9 has NOT been answered at all namely, “ How has the tariff on unlimited broadband (1Mbps unlimited) being offered by Bharti Airtel fixed line been calculated?”

Please rush the information to me by speed/registered post at the following address listed below. In case the requisite information is not provided to me by the mandatory period, I have the option to escalate the matter to the second appellate authority namely CIC, New Delhi.

Tata Wimax India: Some praise for them

Published on 05th Nov 2009 in Airtel Broadband, Broadband in India, General Thoughts, Indian Telecom, Other ISPs, Personal Experiences, TRAI, Tata Communications and Tata Indicom. 0 Comments

Here is a low down of the Tata Wimax; a first user account of their services and the reasonable expectations from a service provider.

I am happy with Airtel providing me with an excellent DSL at my premises. However, in my opinion, I am paying a “heavy price” for 1 Mbps unlimited connectivity.

I am filing a RTI application with TRAI to know as to how the price has been ‘fixed” and whether it has the mandate from the regulator. It would take some time for “action” but in the meantime, I would continue to write about the “experience”.

I don’t endorse any of Tatas’ products personally but I guess, I need to be fair in my coverage. It’s very difficult to get a uniform view about the products because of various experiences with the companies and their products; given the fact that most of the customer surveys are funded by the companies themselves.

Over the Shyam’s blog for the low down on Tata Wimax.

Cheers!!

Fight against Vodafone India: Sweet victory

Published on 25th Oct 2009 in General Thoughts, Indian Telecom, Other Frustrated Customers, Personal Experiences and Vodafone Sucks. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

It was a big long drawn fight against Vodafone Essar India. I have documented this here, here and here. I want to fight for the next level of transparency in the sector because information is not flowing in freely and it is a big hassle to know about the status of the complaints.

I have already documented that each operator needs to file a compliance report with TRAI every quarter including the action taken on the same. I had to push the company to act based on the threats sent as I insisted that they be made public using RTI. It was a “threat” alone which did the trick.

Further, the nodal officer and the appellate authority system doesn’t seem to be working because they are company officials. Even though it is mandated that all complaints be addressed in a time bound manner, it doesn’t happen so. What is the way out?

Department of Telecom is going through it’s own hassles with CBI raids in connection with the huge telecom scam related to auction of spectrum. I don’t foresee anything coming out of it (nor it’s worth reporting here) because it is just political arm twisting. Those officials are useless anyway; in that case, DoT is out of question.

That only leaves us with the option of TRAI and the idea that it needs to be more proactive in enforcing it’s own regulations. This calls for a concerted action against the errant officials because the companies are focused only on customer acquisition and not customer retention. Mobile number portability MIGHT change the service scenario a bit but I am being cynical about it because the exit and the entry barriers would be unfair to customers; unless the ensuing events prove me wrong. The charges for plan migration have yet not been defined; we as customers should demand a “pro-customer” outlook and not whims and fancies of fat cats dictating terms to both Government and Media.

On a happy note, the network coverage in my premises has vastly improved in all areas of building making it a hassle free experience. It took time and effort but it was worth it.

In the process, I learnt about the bad corporate ways too. And recounted it all here :)

Update (27/10/2009):
I got a call from the Vodafone Network people asking me to send across a mail of “appreciation” for the “good work” that they have done!!

I countered that by asking them to send across the details of their CEO so that I could cc to them as well! Strange kind of assholes indeed!

Vodafone Essar: Ball in TRAI’s court

Published on 03rd Aug 2009 in Airtel Broadband, Broadband in India, Digital Divide, General Thoughts, India Broadband News, Mobiles, Other Frustrated Customers, Personal Experiences, TRAI and Vodafone India. 2 Comments

Vodafone Essar finds itself on sticky wicket or so much as I would like to believe. Over the past two years, I have been a customer of Vodafone in the place where I work; I have been facing a network issue by virtue of incomplete signal bars or call drops.

As usual, frequent call drops and inaccessibility has made my life miserable inside the campus. At first, they were “happy” to claim that an in building solution would be provided to address the issue. This was put down on some pretext or the other. I had no option except to grit my teeth and accept the status quo. It was then that Airtel installed it’s “boosters” and I sent a formal request to Vodafone to tie up with Airtel to share their infrastructure.

I understand that this is done on a revenue sharing basis; the company doesn’t want to incur on this cost for very obvious reasons.

It is from this time that the tug of war started. The first problem was the emphatic denial of the company that their network had no issues; which they claimed in writing. Unfortunately, a few hired dingbats from their company called in to narrate different versions of sob stories. One claimed that they needed permission from the Government to set up a cell site. Other bugger insisted that he’d be contend to “sweet talk” my pants off; for which I wasn’t forthcoming for very obvious reasons.

Finally, on a hot Sunday afternoon, I got a call from the Vodafone’s Nodal Office. It was supposed to be an official call but the idiot had it from me; specially when I quoted specific provisions of TRAI act which made it mandatory to ensure that there was no disruption of services.

Anyway, I mailed in to the Secretary of TRAI who, as per the information on the website, is supposed to ensure that the various regulations as passed by TRAI are enforced. On expected lines, the bloody leechy babu didnot even acknowledge my email. I mailed them on other occasions and specifically told that I’d be seeking the information through other means; to no avail.

I have now sought information under Right to Information Act, 2005 which is an amazing piece of legislation and perhaps truly empowers the citizens of India.

How are these two incidents related to each other? I want to exert pressure on Vodafone Essar to act; to get TRAI in the loop because these bunch of morons are good for nothing and to force them to act on my behalf.

It does take time for information to filter out but emboldened by this, I plan to seek information about the Broadband pricing; the various heads under which it is charged and why the official definition has not been revised in as many years.

Watch this space.

It’s high time we act in unison. I remember the time when we had forced BSNL (and it’s lethargic army of frigging idiots) to implement unlimited Broadband. At that point of time, I was totally convinced that a concerted public action can achieve wonders. At this point of time, it’s me who is alone in fight against the big bad corporate telecom company and I intend to take the battle in their court till the time I am assured of a decent network coverage; something that I pay for.

Oh by the way, it reminds me that so far, Vodafone Essar would qualify easily for the “COVETED” asshole of the year award!!

Airtel Broadband: Assholes

Published on 05th May 2009 in Airtel Broadband, BSNL Broadband, Broadband in India, General Thoughts, Indian Telecom, Other Frustrated Customers, Other ISPs and Personal Experiences. 0 Comments

There is no other word to describe the scumbags who are hell bent on ruining an excellent service. Rome wasn’t built in a day and I have no clue as to why they want to implement their “fair usage policy”; unless of course they are extremely worried about the “load” it would cause on their frigging copper cables.

Airtel had a headstart as far as the Broadband was concerned. They could afford to deploy best of technologies and get superior cables. They were not plagued by the usual red tapism and clearly were not answerable to the public for their investments. I am not sure but I have a feeling that they donot have those fancy Chinese crap as their backend. They made a huge splash when they announced their underground submarine cable from Chennai to Singapore to carry the streams of data. Where is the “leader” now?

There is only word to describe them: Assholes for their pig headed policies.

I remember the time when my Internet had conked off. It took an entire cabling change without rectifying the problem. Ultimately, the problem was traced to their exchange; I am sure that they would have to revoke the “fair usage policy” because I raised a hue and cry about not getting the promised speeds. It is conjectural to assume the exact cause of the troubles; nevertheless it was a relief to have someone come from the company to sort out the issues at odd hours.

It’s time that Airtel pulls up it’s socks and decides about taking the lead without being vindictive. Their mobile division sucks to the core (as it’s infested with the likes of BSNL’s babus) but even if they work in a fancy corporate office, it doesn’t cost me to heap up abuses against them.

Airtel: Peristing with ‘fair usage’ policy

Published on 17th Apr 2009 in Airtel Broadband, BSNL Broadband, Broadband in India, Digital Divide, General Thoughts, Indian Telecom, Other Frustrated Customers, Other ISPs and Personal Experiences. 0 Comments

Time Warner in US had planned for “metered broadband”. In a country (US), where there is a controversy about bringing the “benefits” of Broadband as an economic stimulus in the times of recession. Time Warner had a ‘brilliant idea” to introduce “metered broadband” with assinine plans to limit the downloads. This is nothing new to Indians. We routinely suffer at the hands of ISP’s with their 1GB “limits”. BSNL had bastardised it long time. Airtel and the other ISP’s followed suit.

Frankly, most of them are re-sellers of the bandwidth. Although, there have been huge capacity layouts in the past couple of years, the last mile has been problematic. There have been attempts made to address this yawning gap by introducing novel technologies like WiMax, this hasn’t caught on given the limited modes of access and the problem with the allocation of frequencies.

For all practical purposes, whatever “infrastructure” has been laid, seems to be “overburdened” with the hordes of users latching on to Torrents or You Tube sites. It hasn’t reached a critical mass with users putting up their antics online, there has been an exponential increase in the users for social networks. This means, pictures and songs and other media being exchanged.

You Tube has made serious attempts to monetise it’s massive bandwidth requirements and signed on deals to put up movies online; all in the hope to popularise the uptake of this interesting medium online. This means a further strain on the already streched resources and a potential nightmare for the telecom companies who don’t want to invest in more resources. It practically means that they would need to put in more money for almost the same bunch of users because Internet uptake is pathetic in this country.

In this backdrop, I don’t emphatise with the ISP’s because their marketing efforts are pathetic. Although, they have a rag tag association (ISPAI) to address their needs and often claim to speak for the consumers, I find no mention about them in the mainstream press. Broadband is essential for shrinking boundaries and I have focussed on the advantages of having the same in my earlier write ups. It means all the more because we need to be able to “kick start” the initiative for free and open access.

The only way I see it coming is from the policy initiatives. This would surely need massive funds for expansion; I would surely praise the efforts of telecom companies being able to promote thin client computing initiatives based on Linux to cut costs and get more people in the loop.

Tough situations call for tough measures. We need imaginative solutions; to think out of the box to promote computing, tax breaks and subsidised broadband access in excess of 2 Mbps. Although, this is utopia but is achievable with scaling of infrastructure.

This brings us back to the issue at hand here today. There was a huge public outcry against Time Warner which was accused of “monopolising” the access to Internet. It claimed that people would “misuse” it for sites like YouTube; but if you can’t provide the necessary infrastructure, get out of business. Simple. One can’t just turn off or turn on the cap; people pay money to access regardless of the restrictions.

This has far reaching implications on issues like Net Neutrality. Unfortunately, Indian media is solely focussed on issues which it considers as “sellable” or expects a “reader/viewer” interest. Unless, there is a decent platform to debate or talk about such issues, we cannot really expect a dramatic improvement in the state of affairs.

I challange anyone of the ISP’s or their representatives from the industry for an open debate and I gurantee facts and figures to downplay them. They have the Government of India to blame but their rag tag association has hardly helped the matters to make a sincere and honest efforts to ameliorate the matters.