Mir Farhat
Srinagar, Jan 31: The subscribers of various cellular companies in Kashmir are furious over poor mobile and internet services provided to them despite paying heavy bills.
Using different services like Reliance, Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone and Idea besides BSNL, the subscribers said all these telecom companies are “fleecing” them in the name of providing “good” signal.
The subscribers said the internet connectivity of these companies are weak, inspite of their claims of proving 3G services.
Javed Ahmad who uses Reliance internet said that the company is promising 3G services while it gives only 2G. “They are fleecing the customers”, he added. Another customer Shakeel Ahmad said that Idea is promising 3G while it provides 2G service.
Mohammad Amin, who is using Airtel internet (Doongle), said that he recently subscribed to the Telecom company after hearing that it provides better 3G services than others. “But today I am disappointed. I regret to have port my SIM. The company is fleecing us in the name of providing 3G net when they are actually giving 2G services, and charging us for 3G,” he said
Similarly, subscribers of other Telecom companies said that they too are facing same issues with their Doongle services despite paying bills for 3G.
IT engineers said that all these telecom companies claim that they are providing free surfing to their subscribers and charge them for downloading only.
“This is a farce claim to lure the people to buy their services. Free surfing is a misnomer. When you actually browse any service like Gmail, Facebook or any other site, the file is actually downloaded on a device screen for which the companies charge download fee. So, how is it free surfing?” said Tahir Yousuf, an IT engineer.
Over the high speed provided by the companies, he said that the companies have kept a lot of ambiguity.
“Suppose a company promises to a customer that they will provide him a net service with 40 kbps download speed. The b in the acronym is not known to a subscriber whether b stands for bits or bytes as 1 byte is equal to 8 bits,” he said.
He asked that if a company provides a Doongle with 7.25 Mbps to a subscriber then why does it provide only 1 Mbps internet speed.
The companies have been slammed for providing their poor services by politician and the businessmen in the Valley.
Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), a know body of traders, expressed serious concern over the dilapidated condition of telecommunication system in the Valley.
Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, Senior Vice President of the KCCI said the paralyzed telephone landlines and mobiles are causing inexplicable problems in the conduct of daily business in the market places as also in day to day common life.
Wani said the major telephone operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has failed to revive the system effectively. “Similarly the other telecom operators like Airtel, Aircel, Reliance and Vodafone are continuously failing to provide uninterrupted smooth telecom service to its users.”
He said with astonishment that the damages caused by flood have become somewhat like eternal excuse with the telecom services operators for their failure to restore their services.
The subscribers have urged Governor N N Vohra, the Union Telecom Minister and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to intervene and address their issues.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel