Broader Banded By Bharti

After months of procrastinating(11 to be precise - I had inquired with Airtel last December) I finally moved myself to fill out a form for BSNL DataOne. But of course it got rejected as the phone at my residence is currently under an official name rather than a personal one. BSNL requires a mountain of paperwork to believe that I wanted a connection at a residence due to the name the phone was registered to. I thought it should be easier to get a new phone line. HA ! The forms one had to fill in for this were as long as the ones to apply for a visa to the USA. So I gave up on BSNL. Then there was a period where both machines I have at home crashed at the same time and so spent time getting them fixed. To-date only one has been fixed. Of course the older, slower machine works now while the newer faster fancier PC sits unused suffering from an as yet undiagnosed affliction.

I saw some ads in the paper about Airtel offering a 5 GB connection for Rs. 500 a month and was curious. Looked up the net and of course their plans haven't been updated. But I saw something I liked "Unlimited 256 Kbps for 999 a month". I called Airtel last Wednesday and asked for a new unlimited connection("Home 900" plan in Airtel speak). I would need a new phone line from Airtel. I was resigned to getting yet another phone connection. I was given a reference number and that within 48 hours someone would call me. 48 hours go by and on Thursday I call Airtel as Mr Someone still has not called me. Ms Airtel tells me that Mr Someone would call later in the day. Mr Someone calls on my home number and of course I am at work. Where else would I be during the daytime on a weekday ? They are told to call me on my mobile but they don't call.

I call back the next day and then was told to wait for someone to call. I finally get the call and think they will stop by home and drop off any forms I need to fill. But no ...They want to meet me in person to fill the forms due to some 'formality'. I haven't understood what that means till now. To add to the mess I didn't have an address proof of my current residence as it is a temporary residence. Luckily I have address proof that is in the same city. Airtel seems to be okay with that and will send the bills there but provide a connection to my temp residence. Also the rep seemed to be okay to show up

at my place as late as 10 PM if needed. Was given an estimate of between 3 days to 10 days.

Since I don't have a life and got home late at night on Friday(not out partying ..just working late), I asked the Airtel rep to come home at 8:30 am on Saturday morning with the forms. He did show up just a couple of minutes later than 8:30 am. I was amazed. Got the forms filled in and Rs. 500 paid for registration charges.

I got the new phone line on Monday evening (the house already had Airtel cabling so it didn't take much time to get the new phone line installed) and was told another person would install the modem within a day. I got a call on Tuesday evening asking if they can come over to install the modem. No one was available at home on Tuesday so I asked them to come on Wednesday after 8:30. The rep squawks for a bit before he realizes I meant 8:30 in the morning. Predictably they call at 9:30 on Wednesday (today) and then come over and fix up the modem in 10 minutes. I am now on the net at high speed :-) and with no limits :-) all a little over a week after ince I applied.

So so far the whole Airtel experience has been good. Shall keep updating the whole new connection saga as it progresses.