Infot Tech

The Bluetooth unit has a port that can accommodate standard wired headsets. This way, rather than the Bluetooth unit dangling from your ear, you have a standard pair of ear plugs that are more comfortable. The added advantage of using standard wired headsets is you can use your own pair for better sound quality and comfort. The Bluetooth unit has a clip behind it so that you can clip it on to your collar rather having it dangling from your neck.

Like all llljabra Bluetooth headsets, pairing is a simple process that is initiated by pressing the multi-function bottom (located on the face) for a long duration till the button is surrounded by an icy blue ring of light. The headset is now in pairing mode and will be discoverable to your cell phone. The headset can now be paired by typing ‘0000’ as the pairing key. The multifunction button acts as the receive/end key while three other buttons serve the purpose of changing and playing/pausing tracks.

Individual service providers have set up a three-tiered system comprising of a toll free Call Centre at Level One, a Nodal Officer at Level Two and an internal Appellate Authority to address consumer grievances. This mechanism, however, needs to be made more accessible, transparent and responsive to the needs of the consumers, which is not the case at present.

Other than the operator, the consumer grievance mechanism includes the TDSAT and the Consumer Courts. TDSAT is empowered to look into disputes between service providers and a group of consumers while for individual consumers there exist the consumer Courts at the District, State and National level.

It is, however, appreciated that for an individual consumers who has a complaint with regard to his tariff plan or the refund of his security deposit or maybe simple access to operator’s call centre service, the amounts involved are often not legal process.

But that does not mean that the issue/grievance does not need to be addressed. Rather it only emphasizes the need to develop a mechanism that will satisfactorily take care of individual grievances in a timely and cost effective manner. It is in light of the above objective that the cellular mobile industry had, last year, announced its intention to establish an Ombudsman scheme that will be run as a 100 percent voluntary and self-regulatory industry initiative. The scheme has been finalized and is expected too be announced any day now.

The Indian mobile industry, has in recent months charted a very aggressive growth trajectory for itself, adding over seventy lakh new subscribers every month. The performance and contributions of the industry have also been recognized in the latest Economic survey released by the Government of India, which has stated that India’s telecom sector has been one of the biggest success stories of market oriented reforms.

However, as is often the case when growth is happening at an exponential rate, the systems and processes of the industry are sometimes not able to keep pace thus inadvertently creating certain lacunae and mismatches in the demand and supply of some products or services. One such lacuna is in respect of an adequate and satisfactory consumer grievance redressal mechanism for the telecom sector. While there do exists forums both within a company as well as outside to redress consumer grievances (like My Mobile’s Consumer Forum), awareness of and access to these mechanisms as also their speed of redressal, cost and effectiveness are a matter of grave concern.