It is time to get our act together and demand number portability...
I have been suggested by all my friends and well wishers who should have been fed up by now about my constant ranting of Aircel http://bit.ly/cvgQwy to change my mobile service provider instead of fighting these corporate thieves. That did sound like an easy way out but wait….
This is number has been my mobile identity for more than five years that means it has left an impression in lot of places that I remember of and that I don’t remember of. This is the number to which I get bank alerts, credit card alerts, subscriptions alerts, online registrations alerts, messages and calls from all those places I have made an impression. Now how do I change in all those places?
Today when I make a call for any service I am greeted by my name as soon as the operator picks up the call, thanks to the impression my mobile number has already made in their database. Today when I call my call taxi provider he sends the taxi to my residence without asking for address because of the mobile impression that has been already made and tomorrow I don’t want a call taxi standing in front of my house when someone else calls up from this number.
In the last few years I have met with hundreds of people and I have lost touch with few and many have changed the number for the obvious reasons but once in a while I do get that surprise calls asking me to identify who they are? Now how do I reach to all those wonderful people and tell them I have changed my number because a ruthless telecom company wanted to cheat me.
How many times have you been forced to change the number just because you hated the service of a service provider and how many contacts have you lost in the process?
No, I don’t want to give away my mobile identity just because a mobile service provider decided to screw me up. I believe this number I own is important to me. I believe this identity that has been registered at various places is important for me.
I have tried all the channels for more than a year now. I have been regularly asking Aircel customer support to provide me with proper bills when more than a years effort failed, I approached the nodal officer and in the last three weeks they promised me uninterrupted service till my issue was resolved only to disrupt it at every given opportunity and finally I reached out to the appellate authority who promised me uninterrupted service only to disconnect me within hours…
For all those who were praying for number portability bad news is October 31st deadline will be further delayed because DOT does not have the spine to ensure mobile companies adhere to deadlines that has been postponed many times already. TRAI wants DOT to show some spine and act upon these erring telecom companies. Detailed Times of India article
If you believe your number is an identity of yours, please join the “Allow us to keep our number” facebook group because TRAI wants DOT to act tough to ensure telecom companies implement number portability and our system only acts when they know they are being watched.
Please do tweet it and share it in Facebook if you believe the number that connects you to the rest of the world is important for you and you don’t want to run around places like me when a telecom company decides to screw your happiness.
