Super Pathetic Condition of BSNL in Assam

As most of you know, I have been a BSNL broadband user for nearly 8 years now. I have always been on their relatively high end plans (the least plan in all these years was UL 1350). I am currently on the 2091 ULD plan and was on their 2841 ULD plan a couple of months ago (had to reduce the plan to the next lower one as my internet has been dead most of the time nowadays and so, it did not make sense).

The problem with BSNL is that there is virtually NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. They are just becoming more and more pathetic all these years. And they don't give a damn to their customers. I had in a way fought with my local neighbours in my road to help BSNL even lately as the people were not allowing them to dig up our newly constructed road. I have been an extremely supportive person and call up the SDO, JTO or the line man whenever I notice any BSNL line cuts or other issues. I have tried my best to support them all the while. But alas, they have hardly reciprocated to all this help.

In the last six months, my internet and landline has been down for nearly four months or so. And now the guys hardly even respond to the complaints. It now takes weeks for the lines to get fixed. It is not that they fix the lines for free and in all these years, the line man has taken money from me to fix the lines each and every time. Yet, they do not do their work properly and days after the line is fixed it becomes bad again. For example, in this current spell, my phone became dead on 8th of this month (today is 29th). They at first said it was some exchange problem. Then after 8-10 days they confirmed that it was not an exchange problem. Then the lineman came and converted the phone from dead phone to extremely pathetic noisy line where internet does not work properly. Then I met the JTO and he is saying there is some other problem and he cannot guarantee when it would be fixed.

And BSNL has been charging me every single penny of the line rental too all these years. I pay like upto Rs.3500 per month (till a couple of months ago) and around Rs.2500 per month (in my current plan) with no internet throughout the month. And they are the least worried about the customers. Narendra Modi says of Digital India but even the official govt. ISP is taking India only backwards and not providing any support. And NDA govt. is saying about providing prime importance to North East but things have only become worse with time. I am not a NDA baiter either and have voted for BJP/NDA at least for the last two elections (Lok Sabha 2014 and Assam 2016) in the HOPE that something good would happen. But things are only taking a turn for the worse each year. There is no change in the attitude of govt. companies or govt. employees irrespective of the change of govt.

Really p!$$ed off but there is no other major ISP in Assam too due to which I am stuck with the crappy BSNL which rarely works nowdays.

Please post your complaint on: pgportal.gov.in

I think this is now the only way out.

Yup. Keep complaining on the pgportal website. It's not your duty to help bsnl. It's their job to provide a service.

BSNL offers refund if your line is down for 10 days or more. Check about it as well.

Are you going to continue with Bsnl?
If so, I can tell you what to do

Saurav said:

Please post your complaint on: pgportal.gov.in

I think this is now the only way out.

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Thank you. Posted a complaint on pgportal yesterday. I had posted another complaint on pgportal a few years ago. Hope it works on a permanent solution this time.

Luckily, the internet suddenly started working today. The ping is terrible (more than 400) and the upload speed is also terrible (around 0.10 Mbps per second as per speedtest.net ) but I will let the matter rest for the time being. Hope it lasts at least for a month or so now without any major problem.

Gurugarmee said:

Yup. Keep complaining on the pgportal website. It's not your duty to help bsnl. It's their job to provide a service.

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It is not my duty to help BSNL but then if I do not help they do not even care to do their duties at times. I help when the BSNL officers ask for help and when they have problems with the local residents (such as their road digging issues etc.). Anyways, I always like to help them. I would probably like BSNL to grow big and profitable more than the BSNL employees and officers would the company to grow. We the citizens feel more about our PSU than the actual babus working there. This goes for nearly all PSUs out there. Anyways, it is not my duty to pay the lineman a few hundred bucks every time he fixes the line. But I have been doing that too for the last 8 years. Nobody there is actually concerned about the company's future or the customers. The "sarkari" attitude is there still.

meetdilip said:

BSNL offers refund if you line is down for 10 days or more. Check about it as well.

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How do you claim for a refund. I have had heavy downtimes all this time. At times, more than a month at a stretch but I have never received a single penny refund. They always charge me full even if I internet connection is down for a month. What is the procedure to claim the refund. I am always on high end plans. For example, my internet was down for a whole month in December when I was on the ULD 2841 plan where I ended up paying Rs.3400 or so without any internet for the whole month. Similarly, my internet was down for the last 22 days or so this time. It would be good if I can save a few thousand bucks in such cases. At least, I can invest them in 3G etc. for those times where I end up paying double (the dead broadband as well as the 3G if there is some urgent work). What proofs are needed and where do you apply for the refund.


@xtc yes, I plan to continue with BSNL till I find some reliable alternative. BSNL does not have fiber and so, if some good company comes to Guwahati which provides Fiber connection with good speed and price in the future, then I might make such a company my primary connection.

I was in the same situation, net going dead for weeks, every few months, despite greasing regularly.
This is my solution

Grease only twice a year, no matter what.
If they know that you will pay to get it fixed, then it will go down more often ...... just to collect the money.
1-2 weeks after my line would get restored, they would short the wire at the junction box. I found out by chance, after that I stopped paying the lineman.

You must make complaints every 3 days and keep the docket numbers. At the end of the month, go to CC and write a letter quoting the docket numbers, saying that the service was down for xx days and that you want a rebate.

When a rebate is asked for, then the accounts ask the JTO, DE to verify that the service was down, and more importantly, it is on record that it was not repaired for so long.
Now the JTO will be questioned as to why it was unattended for so many days and he better have a good reason or they will kick his ass. The higher ups take these things very seriously because they know customers are being lost because of the shitty service.
The accounts dept may refuse the rebate, you must persist until you get it.

I used to have 6 downtimes a year lasting from 10 days to 25 days, After I started doing this, my max downtime is 2 days ......... usually it gets rectified the same day.

It only works if you do it

Zaman2011 said:

They always charge me full even if I internet connection is down for a month.

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It's because you have to talk to the accounts officer to claim refund. Whenever you line is down, make an official complaint and get the complaint no. If they close the complaint without solving, make that an complaint and book a new complaint. You can refer these complaint nos. in your application for refund. If I am not mistaken, you would need to meet the accounts office in person to get this done the first time.

My internet is back now (was back on Saturday and then again phone dead on Sunday). But the pings are too high now i.e. near 400 or above and the speed is also low.. download speed is above 2 still on a 4 mpbs line but the upload speed is extremely slow sort of 0.08 - 0.18 mbps .. internet pages are taking very long to open.. dsl lights are also going out once in a while.. just confused what is going on this time.. the lineman did not come .. it seems that their Dispur exchange is also messed up now.... at least exchange was somewhat decent in the past but their telephone exchange also seems to have messed up this time.. not very sure what to do now... pgportal has not contacted me till now too.

xtc said:

I was in the same situation, net going dead for weeks, every few months, despite greasing regularly.
This is my solution

Grease only twice a year, no matter what.
If they know that you will pay to get it fixed, then it will go down more often ...... just to collect the money.
1-2 weeks after my line would get restored, they would short the wire at the junction box. I found out by chance, after that I stopped paying the lineman.

You must make complaints every 3 days and keep the docket numbers. At the end of the month, go to CC and write a letter quoting the docket numbers, saying that the service was down for xx days and that you want a rebate.

When a rebate is asked for, then the accounts ask the JTO, DE to verify that the service was down, and more importantly, it is on record that it was not repaired for so long.
Now the JTO will be questioned as to why it was unattended for so many days and he better have a good reason or they will kick his ass. The higher ups take these things very seriously because they know customers are being lost because of the shitty service.
The accounts dept may refuse the rebate, you must persist until you get it.

I used to have 6 downtimes a year lasting from 10 days to 25 days, After I started doing this, my max downtime is 2 days ......... usually it gets rectified the same day.

The problem is that

It only works if you do it

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I have anywhere between say 20-50 downtimes a year. I also agree with your statement "If they know that you will pay to get it fixed, then it will go down more often ...... just to collect the money.1-2 weeks after my line would get restored, they would short the wire at the junction box. I found out by chance, after that I stopped paying the lineman."

Even when the weather and everything is fine, it used to go down every few weeks after the last payment was made. Or the line was made noisy. And he always says that there is some problem with the junction box in all such cases. My parents also doubted that the line man might be intentionally messing up the line for the money.

Did not know about the refund thing. Will try that. JTO or SDO hardly cares about the customers. I am very cordial with them both and call them both Uncle. They have been the same for the last 8 years since I took the connection. They also know my parents (who are retd. govt. employees) and so, we have a good relation but then customer service is not a thing which they care. Even the SDO (senior to JTO) has advised me to disconnect the line when I try to complain. So, not sure if anybody can kick their ass. Anyways they do not care at all. They grease the ministers and the govt. as the Assam Legislature and State Govt. Offices come under their BSNL jurisdiction (I am in Dispur BSNL exchange). Also most of the minister's residences etc. are in Dispur. So, they grease those ministers and govt. officers, offices etc. and half of their time is spent in that. In case of Assembly session etc. (which happens many times a year), they spend their whole day in the state Assembly taking care of the BSNL lines. Customers are the last priority. They anyways get a lot of connections in their exchange as most govt. offices are in Dispur. So, not much worried.

meetdilip said:

It's because you have to talk to the accounts officer to claim refund. Whenever you line is down, make an official complaint and get the complaint no. If they close the complaint without solving, make that an complaint and book a new complaint. You can refer these complaint nos. in your application for refund. If I am not mistaken, you would need to meet the accounts office in person to get this done the first time.

Click to expand...

I give the complaints almost immediately but they close the dockets without resolving in many cases. If I do not call the lineman personally (and pay him a few hundred bucks), they take weeks to fix the line. They say that they are low on staff and lineman. As mentioned earlier, they give priority to govt. offices, ministers, banks etc. which are mostly under their exchange as I fall under Dispur i.e. the capital of Assam. However, I will try to go to the accounts officer. I am not sure who is the accounts officer in the BSNL exchange. Let me try with this refund thing once. At least, it would be good if they improve their service a bit for the pressure of refund.

On a side note, does anybody have any idea when and if Jio would actually come all over India i.e. Jio Fiber. I am really p!$$ed off with this shit. It seems as if BSNL is doing a favour on me by providing the line which works once in a while. I would love to have a more professional and reliable company. Hope that something good happens. Have waited 8 years for a decent competitor to BSNL pan-India (at least in Guwahati) with fair prices (at least comparable to BSNL) but this wait seems to have going on forever.

When you make a complaint, the docket number is sent to you by SMS.
If they close the docket without doing anything, you will get another SMS saying the complaint is closed.
Immediately make another complaint via their toll free number, NEVER, NEVER on pgportal or online.

If the problem persists go and meet the DE with a list of docket numbers and the dates when the complaints were made.
If you want to sit back, nothing will happen. Being nice is fine if it doesn't work be ready to take out the stick.

My line is relatively stable now because if there is a problem, I go to the exchange and raise hell with every officer there.

I had the docket no. sent to a previous mobile phone that I do not use anymore. How to change the registered mobile no. for the docket sending etc. I need to change that to my current mobile phone number.

I understand your point. In fact, at times I really get p!$$ed off. For example, as mentioned my internet came back from yesterday but now the pings are super sh!tty and websites do not even open up. There is not much noise in the line but there seems to be something messed up as the DSL lights goes every twenty minutes or so. Websites including Yahoo, IBF etc. which are fast enough are taking ages to open. The upload speeds are terrible i.e. around 0.1 range or so in a 4Mbps connection. The internet is running in dial-up sort of speeds especially when opening pages. Not sure why that is happening.

Do you remember the correct settings for attenuation and SNR. I feel that the line is seriously messed up again. Internet is there but it is not even properly usable. To be honest, BSNL is such a pain in the ar$e that it takes half of my time just to try to get these lines fixed. They rarely work properly nowadays. Perfect internet with good speeds comes like once in a blue moon nowadays.

I have also noticed since yesterday that the websites open a bit normally and the internet is a bit usable after 1 o clock in the night or so. I am not sure if it is a coincidence. Happened yesterday night and it is happening today again. Ping is still like 380 or so (last night after 3 in the night ping reduced to around 150 and internet started working normal). But it is 1:30 in the night and maybe it would again work normally around 3 in the night or so. What can be the reason behind this?

The phone also went dead for sometime a few hours ago and came back soon after. One more surprise. There was no noise in the phone like 5 minutes or so ago. And now there is suddenly heavy noise in the phone. Weather is normal with no rain right now. Not sure how the line noise came over. BSNL lines are very confusing to me to be honest. One more thing. When I put down the landline phone receiver, then too the DSL restarts at times.

Super slow Bsnl broadband in Kolkata nowadays