Airtel 3G issues on iPhone – Fix it

So, you’ve been, like me, loving the rapid new introduction of technology in India over the past decade or so. The markets for Smartphone’s tablets, PC’s, Internet services and 3G services are exploding.

Explosions do sometimes, come with a cost, including the human costs whereby individuals within sectors haven’t the faintest clue about solutions and fixes to customer issues because they just haven’t kept up to speed, and the firm decided not to invest as heavily in training as they should.

A striking example of this was my iPhone challenge. I call it the iPhone challenge because there is no other way to describe the process of getting fixes from Airtel regarding 3G issues.

So, my mom comes in, all excited about her new iPhone and we got it set up. Got the relevant package from Airtel, 3G and everything, made the payment, even got a confirmation along the lines that ’3G is activated on you device’.

And then boom! No 3G.

So we called up the Airtel Customer Service line. First off, I hate customer service centers for the wait, the annoying ‘har ek friend zaroori’ jingle that grates my ears and staff that generally can’t help. But having hit a roadblock I called.

Well, I could go into the details, but let’s just cut to the chase. 6 phone calls in 3 days, and then a visit to the corporate office and the tech office, and finally a week later they managed to provide me with a solution (and one that they had to be guided through!).

So having been frustrated I set out to find out how to solve, what is obviously, not a massive deal, on my own.

And to all my Airtel 3G people I say, i think I may have found a way to avoid the customer service lines, the disappointment and the repetition of issues to each person you are escalated to.

This is what they KEPT trying to do despite it obviously not working:

Main Menu –> Settings –> General –> Network
Change the following setting
• Enable 3G – ON
• Cellular Data — ON
• Data Roaming — ON
• WIFI – OFF
• VPN – OFF
• Internet Tethering – OFF

Go back to — > Setting — > General
RESET — > Reset network setting

And none of it worked! Hmm, maybe it was time to put on my tin tech hat and get to work. So got to work I did, and fished out a simple, and elegant solution that did wonders and hey presto, I had 3G.

Now, this was something I fiddled with, and it works, although I have to point out I’m in the NCR region, so it may be easier in terms of connectivity etc, but there is no other reason why this shouldn’t work get your 3G ACTIVATED on the iPhone and not just on Airtel’s system where they charge you 3G but give you Edge. So here we go:

1. go to settings -> network->cellular data network and
2. In the APN field write ‘airtelgprs.com’ and start using 3G network.

So, Dear Airtel, take notice, get your staff trained, update your database and get offering solutions and not just issues to people who pay you good money for your services.

So give it a shot, and it should work fine. best of luck, oh and I would love to hear back from you guys and learn from any tips you have. Cheers.

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