back to article One in eight mobile calls in India drops out __ ___ middle of your chat

India's department of telecommunications has hauled the nation's telcos in for a stern-talking to, because the nation's suffering an epidemic of dropped calls. A report issued last week ((PDF) by the nation's Telecoms Regulatory Authority found that one in eight calls on 2G networks drops out, while calls on other networks …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    Out, damned spot!

    "...with a recent meeting resulting in promises from telcos to install micro-cells to address black spots...."

    How would this work? Just the pub and surrounding alleys?

    1. mi1400

      Re: Out, damned spot!

      Pakistan's Mobilink (i.e. Nation's largest telecom with approx 40million customers) has long been providing a Service/VAS in which every drop call is refunded with 1minute and is notified via SMS to customer about the dropped call and refund given!. This is not only very ingenuitive of Mobilink but also very unique as none of the other 4 telcos (telenor,ufone,zong,warid) have been able to implement this yet...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Singling out black spots?

    It's racism, pure and simple!

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. John Tserkezis

      "I've suffered much worse 2G performance than this in Brasil."

      Think of us poor Australians. In the next couple of years, 2G is going to be wiped out entirely (lack of use or so they claim).

      Problem is, we have many trackers and alarm systems that are built around 2G modules that come from Europe where 2G is still plentiful. Well, they're going to wipe out that industry in one swoop.

      Upgrading to 3G isn't feasable, as the GSM module isn't a module, it's integrated into the rest of the device - we expect customers are going to forking over bucketloads of money to get it working again...

      </rant>

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    1 in 8 ?

    Wow, what great networks they have. If only one in 8 of my calls here in Blighty dropped out on me I would be in heaven. And I have been on 3 different networks in the last couple of years. Oh, I live in the South and spend a lot of time in London suburbs, "semi rural" parts of, the M25 and M3/M4 corridors.

    Maybe OFCOM should invite the UK Telco's in for a chat and cup of tea?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 1 in 8 ?

      Maybe OFCOM should invite the UK Telco's in for a chat and cup of tea?

      That's OFCOM's problem: Its heaviest sanction is to withhold the jammy dodgers at the next meeting. Faced with spending a few tens of millions to fix problems that only affect customers, the telcos just laugh and bring their own biscuits next time.

    2. P. Lee

      Re: 1 in 8 ?

      > If only one in 8 of my calls here in Blighty dropped out on me I would be in heaven.

      Ditto in Oz. I have a relative on an Optus-hosted MVNO and anything over five minutes is pretty much doomed to drop. But, hey, cheapskate, we ain't calling you back. I have a sneaky suspicion that its the MVNO indulging in social engineering. People just get used to it and spend less time on the phone, which is fine for them because everyone is on package minutes rather than pay-per-minute.

  5. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "the national government rejects tower shortages as the reason"

    That's curious. If 1 in 8 calls are dropped, I'd think that more towers would be a logical solution.

    As usual, real life is generally more complicated than one thinks.

    Still, adding more towers couldn't hurt, right ?

  6. Jim Willsher

    Echoing the post by AC. If you're with Vodafone in Perthshire (Scotland, for the avoidance of doubt) then a dropout rate of 1:2 would be more accurate. That's assuming you got a signal in the first place.

    Yes I have a SureSignal. No I can't change provider (it's a work phone).

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If only their damned call centres would drop out after 20 seconds!

  8. iMap
    Thumb Up

    PhilW:

    'If only their damned call centres would drop out after 20 seconds!'

    Now that's what I call wishful thinking!

  9. Gary Bickford

    Not so bad ... :(

    So, if I move to India I'll get better service than I have now? Cool!

  10. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Not to rub it in...

    Not to rub it in, but I've had like 2 dropped calls in the last 15 years. 1 was when a tornado went through town, when the power down the block went out the call dropped, then I heard a generator kick on I guess at the cell site and the service came back up.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like