For a while now, Airtel has been blowing hot air about many things they're supposedly great at! Fair enough, for in a market where all providers have the same technology, and are competing for the same customers, it's hard to stand out.
But the latest one, the "Open Network" has chosen to go a whole notch higher! Apparently, the user can see where all of Airtel's towers are, and see the signal strength on each of them. Apparently, for some reason, this is supposed to make its customers gleefully happy, thrilled that Airtel is so out in the open, without any intrigue or secrecy, and therefore is more trustworthy!
Surely, this must be thrilling for those of us who are curious about knowing where the water pressure is highest in the pipes supplying our toilets, how much the tires of buses are inflated, and which gear that autorickshaw carrying our kids going to school is plying on! If you are even half awake reading this, you should realize that this information is not just unimportant, it is useless unless you can do something about it.
WIth this story from Airtel, if you get all excited about which tower has the best signal strength, it isn't as if you can jump to the tower with the highest signal strength! It isn't as if you can use any of this tower information to any sort of advantage. None of our phones even have the hardware to do that. The linking is automatic, and this is true of all cellphones all over the world. In fact, the handover from one tower to another is supposed to be seamless.
So, what are you going to do after you find out which of Airtel's towers has the best signal strength? Gawk! That's about all you can do. This being a mere graphic, doesn't have to be telling you the truth either. Your phone has no way of physically locating all the towers in your vicinity, for if you were able to do that, you should be able to locate all towers of all the providers! We can't have that, can we? So, while your phone has no such ability, the information on the graphic has every ability to con you!
Why would Airtel want to do that? Just to give you a bullshit picture of how good their network is, while in reality, their signals will struggle just as much as anybody else's to get to your phone. How else do you think the whole of India is struggling under the menace of call drops? If Airtel customers had no such problem, why would they even be enticed to this seductive 'come see our towers' offer?
Airtel controls what is displayed on the graphic telling you stories about the towers and their signal strength. On this graphic, they can plant a tower where none exists, even though they'd be stupid to try lying like that. Because you can physically spot it! But you cannot physically spot the signal strength. It doesn't take any genius programming to throw a full signal graphic when you're really next to a certain tower, or when you are far from it!
Now, you're supposed to call Airtel customer care and tell them if you have any problems, but there's an even more thrilling kicker. It even shows up in the TV commercial. If you're interested in hosting a tower - hold your breath! If you're interested in hosting a tower, you should let Airtel know. This means you become a business partner to Airtel, and instead of the landlords that charge thousands every month to put a tower on their houses, you will probably get free Airtel services (with three asterisks for conditions where this doesn't apply), for 'hosting' one!
For those of you who fall for these ruses, here's a simple way of figuring out which network you should be on. Simply ask to make calls from your friends' phones who use providers different from yours. Do this from the places you routinely and repeatedly find yourself in. Your answer will come out clear as day.
For matters of real importance, people who 'host' towers should ask Airtel if they can certify there will be no long term health implications from the radiation. I guarantee Airtel won't be so 'open' about that.
- BSK
But the latest one, the "Open Network" has chosen to go a whole notch higher! Apparently, the user can see where all of Airtel's towers are, and see the signal strength on each of them. Apparently, for some reason, this is supposed to make its customers gleefully happy, thrilled that Airtel is so out in the open, without any intrigue or secrecy, and therefore is more trustworthy!
Surely, this must be thrilling for those of us who are curious about knowing where the water pressure is highest in the pipes supplying our toilets, how much the tires of buses are inflated, and which gear that autorickshaw carrying our kids going to school is plying on! If you are even half awake reading this, you should realize that this information is not just unimportant, it is useless unless you can do something about it.
WIth this story from Airtel, if you get all excited about which tower has the best signal strength, it isn't as if you can jump to the tower with the highest signal strength! It isn't as if you can use any of this tower information to any sort of advantage. None of our phones even have the hardware to do that. The linking is automatic, and this is true of all cellphones all over the world. In fact, the handover from one tower to another is supposed to be seamless.
So, what are you going to do after you find out which of Airtel's towers has the best signal strength? Gawk! That's about all you can do. This being a mere graphic, doesn't have to be telling you the truth either. Your phone has no way of physically locating all the towers in your vicinity, for if you were able to do that, you should be able to locate all towers of all the providers! We can't have that, can we? So, while your phone has no such ability, the information on the graphic has every ability to con you!
Why would Airtel want to do that? Just to give you a bullshit picture of how good their network is, while in reality, their signals will struggle just as much as anybody else's to get to your phone. How else do you think the whole of India is struggling under the menace of call drops? If Airtel customers had no such problem, why would they even be enticed to this seductive 'come see our towers' offer?
Airtel controls what is displayed on the graphic telling you stories about the towers and their signal strength. On this graphic, they can plant a tower where none exists, even though they'd be stupid to try lying like that. Because you can physically spot it! But you cannot physically spot the signal strength. It doesn't take any genius programming to throw a full signal graphic when you're really next to a certain tower, or when you are far from it!
Now, you're supposed to call Airtel customer care and tell them if you have any problems, but there's an even more thrilling kicker. It even shows up in the TV commercial. If you're interested in hosting a tower - hold your breath! If you're interested in hosting a tower, you should let Airtel know. This means you become a business partner to Airtel, and instead of the landlords that charge thousands every month to put a tower on their houses, you will probably get free Airtel services (with three asterisks for conditions where this doesn't apply), for 'hosting' one!
For those of you who fall for these ruses, here's a simple way of figuring out which network you should be on. Simply ask to make calls from your friends' phones who use providers different from yours. Do this from the places you routinely and repeatedly find yourself in. Your answer will come out clear as day.
For matters of real importance, people who 'host' towers should ask Airtel if they can certify there will be no long term health implications from the radiation. I guarantee Airtel won't be so 'open' about that.
- BSK
