NEW DELHI: Lower tariffs do not guarantee good call quality and many consumers have reported issues with their call clarity, voice breaks and calls drop. In an online survey, consumers have reported major issues, saying that many of their calls do not connect even on multiple attempts.
LocalCircles conducted detailed surveys to ascertain consumer perceptions when it came to call drops and call clarity across the country, and polls were conducted across 200 districts in India. The first poll asked citizens how often they were forced to make a data or Wi-Fi call (using WhatsApp, Facetime, Skype etc.) because they were unable to connect via regular mobile networks. Twenty per cent said they did it more than 20 per cent of the time, and 27 per cent said they did it 5-20 per cent of the time, while 26 per cent did it less than 5 per cent of the time. But 27 per cent said their mobile calls always went through.
A call drop represents the telecom service provider’s inability to keep an incoming or outgoing call going. LocalCircles asked citizens about what they had experienced in the last three months with various mobile service providers with regard to call connectivity and call drops. Almost 8,000 votes came in on each of these polls.
Thirty per cent of the respondents who were Vodafone users said that the situation with call connection and call drops had significantly deteriorated, while 27 per cent said that it was the same as before. Seventeen per cent said they did not use Vodafone themselves but those they called seem to be facing deteriorated services, while 26 per cent were unsure about the issue.
When it came to Airtel customers, 38 per cent of those surveyed experienced a major increase in issues with call connection and call drops, and 32 per cent said the issues were the same as before, while 17 per cent said they did not use Airtel themselves but people they called seemed to be facing these issues. Thirteen per cent chose not to answer.
The numbers for Reliance Jio were little different, with 27 per cent saying call connects had become difficult and call drops had increased, while 23 per cent said the problem was the same as earlier, and 23 per cent said they did not use Jio but people they called seemed to be having issues.