[tsi_niks1989]

I would like to wait and see how the company fortune changes, I have been a loyal Vodafone customer since 2010 and happy with the network coverage and call quality. Yes there are call drops and coverage can be better but still I will like to stick to Voda as of now.
Family has three Airtel and 2 Jio numbers which work almost similarly. Yes, network wise Jio can be a tad better as they have better coverage throughout the country, Jio provides network at places where Voda and Airtel's network strength in phones cannot even show a single bar.

[Sheel]

Never been a Vodafone or Idea consumer, but please hear me out.

I used to pay approx. 3K+ for my BSNL post-paid connection, ported it to AirTel some 8 or 9 years ago [circa 2012 or 2013] and was paying some 1.5K odd per month. Shifted to Jio as neither BSNL nor AirTel worked at my ancestral place and in 2017 floods in Bihar [or was it 2018], only Jio worked.

I ported to Jio and now I am paying Rs. 234.xx [Rs. 199 rental per month] something per month for unlimited pan-India calls & 25 GB per month data. Similarly, I was on BSNL since dial-up days, but customer care got the better of me, outage existed even 10 days after escalation.

Searched frantically for other operators, but had to go for Jio as others were not ready to serve [presence or thin coverage]. Just one outage in 1 year as a wire broke, resolved the same day.

[SnS_12]

Never used Vi and all in the family are on different Airtel plans. We all had a second Jio sim when they had launched and the data and calling was free for almost two years in the name of testing which helped them create a customer base..We haven’t cancelled those sim connections and hence continue to receive a email message once in a while asking us to recharge to avoid adding up to our negative balance. Hence, Jio despite having the highest customer base also accounts for highest inactive customers as well.

Now if one is having network issues they should definitely port but many here port to Jio and not Airtel any specific reason for that?

On Vi surviving or packing up from India I guess they never had that intention and all this negative publicity has made the government to come to their senses and get things in line for the telecom sector.

1) If they had to leave they would have no spent on their rebranding exercise last year

2) They wouldn’t have bided for the 5g spectrum or work towards it

3) Further Vi has a good amount of 2G customer base which Jio cannot absorb as they have a pure 4G network and Airtel don’t have the infrastructure in place for the additional load

4) Finally I feel Vi is trying to get its debt down which it owns to the government in for of AGR dues or spectrum charges. Once that is done I have a feeling Amazon or someone big might invest in them. Its only the FDI rules which is favouring Reliance retail or else Amazon would have taken them out of business and the other region where they can induce financial pain for Reliance is Jio.

As an investor in VI i would find out if my understanding learning on Vi has been correct or not in the coming weeks/months

[JoshMachine]

I will wait / keep my VI connection for some more time before jumping ship. Not getting worried in the short term.

Been using Idea (and now VI) for the past 10-12 years.
I moved to a family user plan of 4 people for the past 5+ years now, and have been paying 1500 per month for all, including free CUG and virtually unlimited mobile data that gets roll over to next month if required.
Excellent value for money.
No major network issues in the area we stay.

When it comes to such national matters of having a deregulated telecom market, I think the current government will do all that is possible to retain the 3-operator market ecosystem. It simply cannot afford to have a duopoly market during these times when it wants digitalisation + broadband penetration as the bedrock of India’s economic growth.
And among other things, there’s the risk of FDI erosion and more importantly the sensitivity of topics like unemployment etc.

For us consumers, however, this could be the beginning of perhaps a different era, if things such as common floor tariff plans are rolled out.

[som9729]

Originally Posted by amvj

Just a few days ago, my father's Vodafone post paid plan has been automatically changed. I am planning to port it to BSNL.

Data plans are irrelevant to him and he only uses it for calls. Just how good is the BSNL for mobile ? I am using their Internet connection in my hometown it is fine.

Is it possible to port Vodafone post paid to other network prepaid ?

Yes. Just inform the recipient network that you want prepaid.
Settle all your dues & port.

That's it

[RohaNN_kWh]

Originally Posted by GTO

As a wise man (i.e. me ) once said, "the best customer service is the one that's never required".

AGREED !!

Already ported out of Vodafone, even before it was Vi, was fed up with the poor reception and low speed spotty 4G connectivity. Got Airtel and have nothing to complain about, Airtel has the best connectivity in my opinion with decent pricing.

Interestingly when I used to visit the Vodafone store the customer service guy told me to go to 4G Settings and connect to Airtel 4g/Idea 4g for getting good connection speeds as the Vodafone signal in our area was bad and I guess they had leased Idea/Airtel for 4G Connections on Vodafone SIMs, STRANGE !!

[ads11]

This is indeed worrying. Our family have all been Vodafone post paid customers going back all the way to Hutchinson in 2000, so that's a two decade plus association with the brand.

Originally Posted by govindremesh

Further if you are someone who maintains an Indian connection while living abroad (like I do), chances are that the investments you made to keep your SIM alive for the convenience of using a phone when you land back in India will probably disappear, not to mention that you won't have an Indian connection to call anyone/use data for calling taxis etc. when you land back in the country.

Like OP, I'm one of those who keeps an Indian SIM active and on me for those times I need to fly home and would like to have the ability to contact people (I was left in the lurch without a SIM when I flew to Chennai & got marooned during the 2015 floods, hence this is something I prioritise). Furthermore, I usually do my admin work (official paperwork, bank stuff, etc) when I go home to visit but not being able to go home for the last 2 years, it's meant I've been very fortunate to be able to receive OTPs via my Vodafone SIM in order to do things like link Aadhaar & PAN for example or access other Indian services requiring 2-FA. Just the thought of trying to port my number somehow from overseas gives me a headache and I'm really loathe to lose the actual number itself given I have loads of contacts who reach out through said number, and have had this as my contact details for nearing a decade.

I'd hate to see the Vodafone brand fold, not just for personal reasons, but also the fact that I'm terrified our mobile operator market is falling headlong towards the network hell that is America. While folks have enjoyed fantastically low rates (for now..), as more and more players have tumbled we're left staring at a bleak picture when only 2 or 3 players are left standing. At that point, with a captive market, what's to stop them from gradually and eventually charging what they want? As someone who is a bit of a fervent anti-trust advocate, you can understand my feelings about what Jio has done to reshape the telecom space in India..

[LivingCars]

Hi,

Have already ported of Vi.

The days of superfast 4G network on vodafone are long gone. The network symbol says 4G but the network behaves like 2G network so you actually cannot exhaust your data pack even if you want to . Vi cannot even get the basics right and call drops and network issues keep plaguing the users.

Losing out on the existing balance etc. does not count when the productivity loss is so much more. Add to that the failed attempts and long waiting period for getting your OTP and it was an easy decision to port out.

The telecom market in India is now an oligolpoly and may become a Pseudo duopoly with BSNL existing only for extreme rural connectivity in a few of the areas.

[abhi_tjet]

I was an Idea/Vi customer since my school days and I finally ported out to Airtel earlier this year after around 16-17 years. Their service degraded like their Internet speed (2G speed with 4G label). No regrets and Airtel works pretty smooth.

In my recent road trip to Hyderabad we were able to listen music online in car via Amazon music/ YouTube for entire 1200 kms with no network coverage issue.

[Aravind_M92]

I believe jio will be the only company to remain in the future. MTNL/BSNL is basically in the next Air India scenario. The operators want the bandwidth and the assets. But nothing for the existing workforce. Given the remaining three Vi, Airtel and Jio, Jio literally came in the market pouring all the resources and bringing in competitive pricing and brought the others to state that they too reduce the price or quit the market. Idea and Airtel are Indian origin telecom and have been here a very long time. And as idea has left the market to Vodafone, I don’t see the benefit of holding on to Vi. Vodafone’s situation is comparable to Ford’s current scene. They have profitable overseas market, why concentrate in a loss making one! I do feel they too might shut down operations for good.
I heard rumours about Airtel and BSNL going in for a JV in the 5G bandwidth but not sure on how sustainable it would be. So in the next 3-5 years, Vi may shut down. BSNL will definitely be a private entity, mostly under Jio than Airtel. And 10 years down the lane, Airtel might shut down mobile operations and concentrate on DTH ( if it still would be a thing).
I would suggest to migrate to Airtel, which I did with my Vodafone some after holding on to it for about 8 years as call drops were increasing and Internet was getting very poor. There was point in Chennai where my BSNL 3G connection was faster than my Vodafone’s 4G ( comparable to Tirupati’s crowd where people flock to get special dharsan tickets while the entire general queue is free!). And the best part was that the Airtel guy who ported my number kept pushing me to move to Jio instead!
Currently I’m holding on to Airtel and BSNL ( was also a anti Jio kinda a guy, but staying in remote area literally put me in a situation to get a Jio dongle). I did get the BSNL 4G sim in 2017 for my old number which I’ve nee been holding on to since 2011, but there are literally no 4G towers from them yet! Unless a competitor who’s willing to pump in money and overcome losses until all the competitors give up, I believe Jio will be the ultimate one to remain.

[rohansachar]

I ported my entire family from "Vi" in May 2021. All because "Vi" just cancelled my second number randomly & then in the second wave, were asking me to come down to the store to activate it. Even after explaining that the number was in my 70 year old mothers name, they actually told me on call that it doesn't matter, come along with her to the store. In a pandemic. To do KYC. Which competitors are doing at customers home.

The sad thing is that I was a customer with them since Orange->Hutch->Vodafone->Vi.

I feel bad for the employees, but a bad business will almost always succumb to better competitors.

[RaghavEvoX]

I remember buying my first SIM in 2005. That was Aircel in TN. Then got a BSNL SIM in 2006 (after a 6 month wait, that too with some recommendation ). Then moved to Airtel in 2007 and have been a customer ever since. It's a decent service and have improved over the years.

In my home, we have 1 Airtel and 3 Vodafone and I am convincing others to move to Jio for the last 6 months but they just don't listen. Infact they pay Rs.500+ every month for Vodafone Postpaid. And I just moved from Airtel Postpaid(500+/month) to Airtel Prepaid(1500/year) a month back after comparing the prices. Never bothered to check the postpaid rent / prepaid recharge for the last many years. Have lost considerable amount.

Even after explaining all these, my family members tell that they are not comfortable recharging (even though its once a year) and they just don't want Jio (I don't know why they hate Ambani).

I will now try convincing them again to move to Airtel.

[kutts]

Been an erstwhile BPL/Hutch/Vodafone/Vi customer for 18 years until 6 months back. They were a premium at the initial days and being a post paid customer has always loved the extra care I used to get. I could see flashing "Retain customer at all cost" in their monitors of I walk into a Vodafone store.

Things changed since last 2 years. Network issues remain unresolved even after 6-7 complaints to the nodal officer. Network engineer who visited my location acknowledged a tuning problem in a tower just 300m away. Customer care couldn't do much than say we are upgrading our network.

Switched my entire family connections to Airtel after evaluating Airtel network for 3 months using a prepaid connection. Retained one Vi prepaid for its excellent 2G coverage.

[W.A.G.7]

I ported my number out of Vodafone to Jio and it has been a digital nirvana ever since. Earlier, I struggled with a simply horrible network, dropped calls, and slow browsing speed. Ever since I shifted to Jio, the mobile "life" has become so much easier. I have already ported my remaining two numbers out of Vodafone to Jio in the last month.

Vodafone is on its way out, instead of waiting for a formal announcement of the end of services, it's better to get out of the network as soon as possible.

[kiran_cr]

Definitely Port-Out. I have already ported out (to Jio) since the network coverage was pathetic here in Chennai. Also i stay on 18th Floor the coverage inside the house is very bad. Its not smooth flowing with Jio either, even when there is good signal (read no of bars in signal strength indicator) on my phone, i have had issues of callers unable to reach me.