Telecom revolution in the developed world

A link to an interesting article that appeared in the Australian recently is given below. The columnist’s exasperation with lousy service, incoherent call centre operators speaking in a strange accent (likely to be from my motherland- India) are behind this story.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25236818-23375,00.html

I arrived as an international student to Australia two months ago. As a wide eyed third-world student, I never expected to have any problems subscribing to a telecom service. The telecom revolution is one thing which India has blundered along and got things right. Back home service in the telecom space is unrecognizable from what it was, say 5 years ago. There are several companies, Indian and foreign, with deep pockets offering a host of services. Basically there are two kinds of services. Prepaid & post paid. In postpaid you have the option of paying a larger monthly cap to talk more and talk cheaply. If you are the odd student or the driver or servant who has a mobile only to be reached, then you either have a prepaid mobile or a cheap post paid service so that your finicky Dad, uncle or employer can reach you 24/7. You don’t get to call anyone much. India prides itself in offering the cheapest mobile services in the world.

Before I reached Australia, I was told to subscribe to a certain service provider who (a) gives away a mobile free and (b) gives free calls on mobiles on the same service. Since my relatives were on the same service it made sense to subscribe to their service. I walked into their outlet and expressed my desire to become a customer. I explained that I am in Australia only for slightly less than a year’s time and hence, I will pass the free mobile offer. But put me on to your service. They said fine, no problem. Bring your proof of address. Would my passport do for identification? I asked. I explained that I am in Australia only from last week and I can’t produce proof of address. He shrugged and said sorry.

I walked to another service provider’s showroom and asked for a prepaid card. They readily sold me one. I thought I could put the SIM card in my phone and bingo, could start talking. No such luck. I tried calling- my call was redirected to the service provider’s call centre. Strangest of things, it was an Indian accent that greeted me. I was first read out a disclaimer notice cum terms of service. This went on and on. It was all gobbledygook. I was as attentive as I would be while ticking the check box that says “ I accept” while installing free software in my laptop or while the pretty stewardess rattles off safety instructions about how to get put on thee life jacket in the unlikely event of the flight landing on water. (Just imagine last thoughts at the time of hurling down 30000 feet from the sky towards the sea! It wouldn’t be God, meaning of life, wife, kids etc but one would surely wish one had listened more attentively to the pretty stewardess). So finally I have accepted a service which has more complex terms than a prenuptial agreement with Elizabeth Taylor on her 13th marriage and am on a service which gives 150 minutes of some kind of prepaid messaging (which later turns out to be applicable only if the other party is also a proud owner of a prepaid phone!! fat chance!!!) some bonus money, (no idea what it means) and some talk time(of only thirty minutes). I made a few calls/ sent a few messages to give my coordinates and found out that the service has died out and it has become due for another $30 recharge. (Imagine! That's more than a thousand bucks in India: for that kind of money one could keep talking endlessly) I recharged again. I made a local call to talk on an international prepaid card. Again another $30 went bust. Again I recharged. This time I was careful. But it didn’t last long. On a holiday, I connected it to my laptop to check my mail. (On working days I access from the University, where we can browse for free-wifi) I must have been online for a few seconds. It said that my service needs to be recharged. I rang up to the service provider. The guy with an Indian accent explained all the components of the service package. I understood the accent and language perfectly, but again it made no sense to me. But I could pretty much figure out that for about 120$ per month you can’t talk too long on a prepaid card. It makes sense to decide that you are going to talk a lot and go for broke on a post paid plan- which again is quite complex if you read the fine print!!!.

I went back to the first service provider. I explained my problem about proof of address. Since most of the numbers I call are on this service, I hoped that my bills would be lower. I have spent close to $120 on a prepaid service and was shocked at how little I could use for that kind of money. They said that I could go to my Bank, show my passport and get a letter showing my address. That was a brain wave! I didn’t know that one could get a proof of address just like that. In India it could be quite a torment with several instances of terrorists finding houses for rent.The banks in India could be extra cautious in changing your address. I did as advised and am on a 30$ monthly cap. I still use the phone sparingly.

The next experience was in getting my home wired up with internet and landline. I remembered my phone experience and decided to do some research before plunging into a service. As usual, several options of services were bundled into groups which would give a few gigabytes of data download, some talk time etc. I went into a website which is some kind of a chat room for customers (in which many Trojans from the service providers are also present guiding distraught members and putting in a kind word for some service or the other). I zeroed in on my plan with a service provider. Options are - One could buy a modem from them (in which case they charge 400 $) or fix my own modem (then it is $150, although no services are provided; it is some kind of an installation charge, in which the entire installation will be done by the customer!!!). They explained that the wiring which exists at my premises belongs to Telstra (originally a government company) and to divert it to the service provider it costs some money and time (something like 15 to 30 days). I signed up. But I couldn’t wait so long since my University course assignment need internet access quite a lot. So I bought a wireless USB modem from my mobile service provider also ($129 for the modem and &29 per month for 5GB download of data per month).

I started shopping around for a modem which was wireless and could take in a voip(voice on internet protocol) telephone (without a separate box for it). I went to the big electronics dealers in Canberra and stated my requirement. There were puzzled looks all around. Somebody better informed is called- he confirms that I can’t get it there. This experience repeated in 3-4 shops. Then I finally decided to go back to the service provider ask them for advice as to which modem to buy. I gave several model numbers (gleaned from the internet). They said they would not be able to give their advice regarding compatibility model wise. They gave some generic advice which made little sense. They can guarantee only their supported modem (the 400$ one) I recollected seeing complaints in the chat room about their supported modem. Recalled someone complaining that no support is provided by service provider- complaints are only redirected to the modem manufacturer. So what if I buy their 400$ modem? Fine, they said no problem but you have to give shipping address. It will be delivered between 9Am to 5 PM in your residence. Since I spend the entire day at the university, could you dispatch it to some shop or post office in Canberra ? I will pick up from there. Sorry, no go. I gave up. It is too expensive anyway.

I started shopping for modems on internet. Finally identified a modem from the original manufacturer in China for $97, got it shipped to the University and installed it myself. Net savings $400- 150 -97= $153. The service is OK. We get 16GB download per month and a naked DSL phone (no nudity involved- it only means that it is not a traditional phone. This works on the broadband channel and is free for calls within Australia. And it is cheap for international calls too). This whole process took me more than 2 months. It would have taken me 3 days max in India.

Mobile operators bundle their service with a phone. So if you want a blackberry service, it is necessary that you have to have a minimum spend per month for a sufficiently long period. This is the story in the west also. India, with its fuzzy addresses and identities has shotgun service. Nothing is kept for later. No relationships are built. If you don’t like our service discontinue and go elsewhere. No disclaimers are read out. Service begins when money is put up. Here service begins after disclaimers and liabilities are read out to the prospective customer. Back home who cares about disclaimers? If you want to move courts for deficiency of service you are welcome to do that. Prepare to wait for 20 years for justice. It makes life a bit easier for service providers and a bit uncomplicated for customers. Service is not couched in vague sounding packages which ultimately do not mean much.

Heard a Bangladeshi student disenchanted with communication services asking a faculty member whether your country is really developed? He said things are much better back home. I understand that the famous Grameen Bank (micro credit pioneer) has a mobile service also which is cheap and popular!!