MTNL Triband Users Beware

[Deep]

I used to be lover of MTNL triband but recent incident changed my opinion about MTNL Triband...here is the story...

I have been using MTNL Triband for quite sometime and was one of their happy customers but when I received bill for the month of February, I was totally shocked to see the bill amount which was 6 times higher than the monthly amount. (Rs. 590) This was a HUGE amount compared to my usage. (Which can go max 1.5 GB a month, which would be approx Rs. 1000)

I checked my usage on MTNL website and the figures shown there gave me one more shock. The site was counting my downloads thrice for the same time / session. Check the following image, which show the recent usage. Check the Start and End date with Billed Quantity.

http://www.whoisdeep.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/mtnl_sucks.JPG

My February invoice was full of these triple usage charges and it hasn’t stopped till now. I called up MTNL call center, the lady there told me that someone from their side will get in touch with me, but no one did for 2-3 days; so I visited the local exchange. I was asked to meet AODR (Account department) in main exchange building, somehow I managed to find his place, (After 4-5 people pointing me to different offices), I met that person….he tried to understand problem and finally he gave up and asked me to meet some technical person. I met that person, he finally understood the problem and noted down my details and also asked me to get in touch with someone at Prabhadevi office. (Mr. Kanchan)

I called up Mr. Kanchan, he asked me to send letter to local exchange (AODR)…now the loop starts….I submitted the letter to local exchange…few minutes after that someone from MTNL contacted me (it was not effect of this recent letter but it was because of my earlier complaint) and he told me that, there is no mistake in the calculation. It is showing the same time thrice because it calculates like this first period shows downloads before 12 AM, 2nd one shows downloads between 12-8 AM, 3rd one shows downloads after 8 AM…now, this does not digest properly…I argued saying, If it was that case then why uploads are same all the time? (Click on image to view larger image) It should also vary like downloads, but the guy was not able to understand that and kept on saying, whatever we have told you is correct.

OK! that part is done. I emailed MTNL helpdesk about it with details and also asked for my download logs if they are correct, I got email from them approximately within 2 days with reply “Please call on xxx number” I called that number, no one was picking up, so I mailed them back saying no one picks up, next day I got one more mail saying “Please call on xxxx number”, I called on that number…a lady finally picked up and told me, this is not the correct department to call. We have no idea about this, I am just supervisor of the call center. She tried to help me by giving few more numbers to call but as expected those numbers also didn’t help.

So now the solution, nothing….you will die calling different people but no one will help you and everyone will keep on giving responsibility to some or other person…

I am fedup with these f**kers and I am getting this Triband disconnected tomorrow and get connection from my local ISP back.

Moral of the story, MTNL Triband is good when it works properly but when you face any problem, specially Billing issues, do not expect it to resolve soon, these bunch of idiots will never solve your query quickly.

 

[sanke1]

This is a perfect example of not rebooting router at approx 00:00 and again at 08:00 hrs.their coding of NU is not so great thats why ur facing such problem

 

[Deep]

but IP automatically gets changed at 12 right? I have never rebooted the router since begining, never faced such problem at all...but it started from this Feb only... (I have been using it from Nov)Edit: One more thing, their employee only told me that 2nd line which shows 0 is downloads between 12 - 8 so I guess it happens automatically...Deep

 

[viralbug]

^^^ yup thats the main problem.the thing about counting your session thrice, if you check the quantity billed column, always 1 or 2 of them show 0 mbs billed.never ever trust the session history. it shows the right amount of mbs downloaded exactly but it never shows the correct time. you can get charged for downloading something after 2 days. it happens with me all the time. but there has never been a problem about the amount of data being downloaded. you should keep a track of each mb you download and tally it in 10 days to check if it is being properly billed or not.i repeat again, your main problem is not rebooting your router at the night time.

 

[Deep]

I will test out by rebooting the router tonight and see what happens...but what makes me wonder is, if rebooting was the issue then why it didnt happen earlier i.e. between November to Feb...I have never rebooted the router till now (before 12 and after 8)What's happening here is, its counting partial data in night unlimited download and rest in day time...and 2nd thing that makes me wonder is, why uploads are same all the time...it should also change along with download right?

 

[waterloo_sunset]

Yea they usually automatically disconnect u at 12 and again at 8am but u should never take a chance with stuff like this and especially with an isp like MTNL where they don't know the definition of customer care. The person who talked to u was right....the 3 sessions have been logged b/w the same time period since u didn't bother rebooting so they had to breakup ur downloads into 3 sessions and didn't bill u for the NU one. And the uploads are the same for all 3 since they are not billed hence they don't feel there's any need to break it up into 3 sessions. But how they break the downloads up is a mystery to us all since it ain't uniform and ths system is quite moody infact. For this very reason u should always reboot the modem from ur own end so that u have proof to back urself up incase of any billing goof-up at their end and there are a lot of ways to automate this process and they have been discussed in this forum. They started the auto-disconnection thing only coz most ppl choose to be ignorant and refuse to follow instructions (clearly states u gotta reboot on the website as well as in the manual) and then flood their "helpline" with complaints. The only logical explanation for this happening now is that they may have stopped auto-disconnecting ppl in ur area for some reason and that caught u off guard. My advice would be to pay up this time and be careful from now onwards. Local isp walas are no angels either and will find some way or another to screw you. Atleast with MTNL ur getting a fast and reliable connection. But then ultimately it's ur call.

 

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[Deep]

waterloo_sunset, I guess you are right...I will test it out tonight and see what happens...Thanks all for replies..Deep

 

[Deep]

Quick update on it...
I tested it...I rebooted the router at 12.10 AM and 7.50 AM

this is what it shows now...

28/Mar/2006 15:32:57 29/Mar/2006 00:13:40 28.9264  30331520.669109880613357 5609082

29/Mar/2006 07:53:42 29/Mar/2006 13:12:15 12.6616  13276697.480772249254474  3423427 [/b]

They havent charged me for night usage i.e. they havent counted the usage itself...
So I guess the problem was rebooting of the router, my local exchange server stopped refreshing / reconnecting at 12 and 8...and this caused me a problem...

Deep

 

[sanke1]

happy ????Methinks atleast

 

[smartbuddy_82]

yes its always good to know the reason for the problem, MTNL still rocks in mumbai, its simply the best, 5 star Rating* *Rating excludes Customer Care.

 

[Deep]

Yup...customer care is the worst part..net is just too good...if customer care would have given me hint of this, then it would have done the job...but they too were not aware about it...hahaanyways, thanks everyone for replies 🙂Deep

 

[viralbug]

MTNL rocks B) the customer care might not be the best(in other words its the worst 😛), but the net is awesome. and anyways, if you look at other isp's, they too have a problem with customer care and have many many problems with the net. the need to call the customer care comes when there arises a problem, but i havent yet really faced any problems as such. 🙂

 

[mystery_inc18]

i wonder where did mtnl find the people who put this whole triband thing together, why cud they get some descent CC execs from there itself ???

 

[viralbug]

hey you should be happy that they atleast got this thing working. 😛

 

[Deep]

haha I will echo viralbug's statement...but on a serious note, technical guys are totally different than these guys..the main reason for MTNL not getting good english speaking guys is, the environment...still their offices are like age old offices and no one would like (atleast today's generation) to sit next to 40 year old aunty or uncle speaking marathi...(although they try their best to help out people and are good)and 2nd will be payscale...I do not think government sector will pay high amount salaries compared to the BPOs and other companies around...