I have just moved to a new house within the city and my wired phone and along with it my regular internet connection at my new home is still not active. I remembered seeing and advertisement by Aurcel regarding their Wi-Fi connections. So, thought of exploring the same. The following is the information posted on their website:
Now, I wanted to find out more about the wi-fi access at the locations that they have mentioned. I wanted to know if I need to be at in the stores or in the vicinity of these stores to access the connection. So, I tried reaching them on the number mentioned on their website. After responding to the call center software thrice, I was directed to the main menu.
Now comes the surprise! The main menu did not have an option for me to dial for information about the wi-fi access. Also, there was no option for me to be able to talk to a customer service representative. The best is that after 2 tries, my call was disconnected!!!!
What an absurdity !!! No wonder Aircel is no where close to being the top service provider in any of the categories in the country!!!
Now, Aircel is the only provider who seems to offer Wi-Fi connectivity in the major cities. They had an opportunity to gain competitive advantage over their competitors and they squandered it away.
I do not understand the reasoning for the following:
- Why should it take 3 entries on the automated software for me to get to the main menu?
- Why is the Wi-Fi service missing on the main menu? Or is it sitting somewhere beneath the options on the main menu?
- The service which can create competitive advantage should have been right at the top of all their communications. As this is not the case, now I believe there could be some issues hiding beneath there and would be cautious to say the least.
- Why should they restrict such a Wi-Fi access to only Aircel customers (they require an Aircel mobile phone number to send the login information to)?
- Why not make it available to any user (just like they do at the airports)? This way they can add more users to their network.
- Why not provide an unlimited usage plan with the other plans at half the price that other networks offer on the USB modems and expand the network quickly? This will give all the other service providers a run for their money?
- To expand fast, why not partner with the Indian Postal Service to get all the area in and around a Post office Wi-Fi enabled? Work out a revenue sharing model with the Postal service and you are in business faster than you can think?
Now the question is if Aircel is even aware of such an opportunity? Are the other service providers aware of such an opportunity?
Only time will tell…
