Dec 25, 2002 06:45 PM
8276 Views
(Updated Jan 11, 2003 12:12 PM)
I am a user of Airtel Mobile service in Gujarat. Airtel had been launched in Gujarat in mid of August 2002. What tempted me to purchase the Sim card of this brand was their launch offer of free SMS for three months from the date of activation of your newly purchased sim card. I and my friends who purchased this brand's sim card made a lot out of this launch offer. Airtel is an affiliate of Bharti Telecom. Managing director of Bharti - Sunil Mittal Bharti has recently been honoured by ''The best businessman of the year'' award.
Airtel has many hidden benefits which most of the leading cellular operators fail to provide to its users, some of which are as listed below:
1> User of Airtel pre-paid card (Airtel - Magic) is facilitated by two-way roaming in 13 different states of India. Two - way roaming means that the user can make outgoing calls from his mobile, even while he is in a roaming network. This facility of two-way roaming is not provided by most other leading cellular operators of India on pre-paid cards, though it is provided on post-paid cards.
2> User of Airtel pre-paid card (Airtel - Magic) is facilitated to recharge his pre-paid sim-card anywhere from 13 different states of India i.e. for eg. a user who has purchased an Airtel-Magic sim-card from Pune is enabled to recharge the same even in Gujarat and similar other 13 different states of India, in case the balance on his sim-card gets exhausted while he is roaming in Gujarat, or similar other 13 different states of India. Even this facility is not provided by most other leading cellular operators of India on pre-paid cards.
3> The user of Airtel pre-paid card is facilitated to check the balance available on his card on his handset screen instantly by simply dialing *123#.
4> Recharging of Airtel pre-paid card is easy and instant by simply dialing 10114-digit code#.
5> All calls made to customer care (121) are free of cost.
The coverage of Airtel is good. They have recently increased their cel-site by 50% by adding 80 towers in Gujarat. The user is able to get good highway coverage, and its network works amazingly even in most congested areas, thanks to its 1800 Mhz. (Dual band) operating frequency. Necessary to mention at this point that most other leading cellular operators of India i.e. Hutch, Orange, Idea, BPL, Spice, Escotel etc. are still operational only on 900 Mhz. (Single band) operating frequency!
Additional features provided by Airtel are Call Hold, Call Wait, Call conferencing, Call divert, voice mail, SMS etc. which are general features provided by others.
The Airtel managers are well aware of the intense competition prevailing in the Indian markets and thus, make regular attempts to get ahead of others by introducing new tempting offers like free SMS to it's users for additional 1 month, free incoming calls to it's users for additional 1 month etc. These offers make the Airtel service extremely light on your pocket.
The Interactive Voice response system of Airtel is good. The caller to an Airtel is properly made to understand if the user has switched off his mobile phone, or has travelled outside the coverage area.
Customer care executives have improved a lot in technical aspects. They have stopped beating around the bush and fooling the caller, as they used to do previously.
I personally feel that Airtel is improving a lot nowadays and is sure to emerge as one of the best and largest mobile operator of India. I give Airtel the highest recommendation.
