On Tuesday 08 June 2010 12:56:36 Amol Hatwar wrote: > Hello, > > A quick read of my recent blog post at http://hatwar.org/epilogue/ > should give you a feeler about the problems I am facing. > > Basically, when one buys an iPhone from the official channel in > India (Airtel or Vodafone), one is glued to the service provider > for life.
The bigger the hype the worse the product. > (Think about a contract that can't be terminated or > reversed). Despite paying the full price for the device, you can't > change your telephony provider. Doing so involves > unlocking/jailbreaking the iPhone which is illegal according to > Apple. > > Talking to Airtel about it has been unproductive. On the other > hand, Apple doesn't even list a customer support number for the > iPhone in India on it's Website: > http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/country/ > > I am told, people who use BlackBerries and other smart-phones face > similar problems. You are forced to: 1. Pay the full marked price > for the device Nothing illegal here > 2. You aren't allowed to change mobile phone providers Is there something specific in any contract you signed that says so?. The way i see it Airtel is legally bound to service a defect piece subject to the warranty terms. Same with Apple. Dont want Airtel dont use it. Take the phone to the new provider, who should be able to do the needful. Airtel is not obligated to enable your switch. Ofcourse if they installed something they are obligated to uninstall that. > > I feel this is totally unethical and doesn't give a sophisticated > consumer any choice. As India gets a 3G network, these problems > will only grow. > > As of now, I am frustrated enough to bring these people to the > books. Any help, pointers on how to go about it will be helpful. Consumer court - with a very long shot. Instead of buying these overpriced pieces of hyped up crap, buy a cheap chinese knockoff and setup your own server either in house with a static ip or one of the numerous virtual server providers. It's far cheaper and safer than the branded crooks. -- Rgds JTD _______________________________________________ network mailing list [email protected] http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
