sling-shot
Wise Old Owl
Apologies for the title.
I am going through an experience now. I bought a Sony Xperia ZR last month and needed a MicroSIM. As my existing SIM was older generation MiniSIM, it could not be safely cut down. I was asked to submit new set of documents to get this MicroSIM at an Idea franchisee. My older SIM was deactivated and MicroSIM activated after a gap of few days due to intervening holidays. I received 2 SMS informing me that documents have not yet reached the next 2 days and nothing afterwards. (It would take that much time for the physical copies to reach their headquarters or whereever they keep them).
After around a week people started complaining that they could not reach me. On inspection, I saw that my phone did indeed show network signal. However I could not call customer care as I was informed that my number had been barred. On contacting customer care from a second number, I was informed that as I had not submitted documents, my number was barred. When I tried to explain that I had already submitted the documents, I was just asked to approach the franchisee and that Idea themselves could not do anything! This seemed preposterous as I am an Idea customer and it was them who disconnected me without informing.
As the My Idea point lies at fair number of kilometers away from I could not reach them. I called them on phone and they told me that they were informed that there was a discrepency in the address proof submitted and the address on record. Today when I went there, I found out that there was a small difference in the way my house name has been spelled in the Election ID submitted. (I had taken the connection originally around 6 years back and Election Commission had issued new ID around 3 years back.)
Now they give me 2 options:
1. Submit the original address proof as given 6 years ago. (I cannot do this as that has been taken back and no longer in my possession)
2. Submit as new address but lose the original plan and whatever balance remaining in it plus a 72 hour deactivation period (in addition to the present loss)
I am completely flummoxed by this logic:
1. Is it not possible for a mobile phone subscriber to have a change of address once a number is granted? Even a landline will probably let you have a change of address.
2. What will happen when a municipal authority / panchayat / State government renames the city / street you live on or changes your house number as is a common practice in India.
I understand that theoretically a mobile phone number is tied to a person rather than an address compared to a land line which is rather tied to an address. The purpose of ID proof is to make sure that it is issued to the same person and the purpose of address proof is to catch him if he does any hanky panky. So what is the point of insisting on an older address while he may have moved on elsewhere and is actually willing to provide the newer updated address to help the authorities harass him there?
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Apparently, according to unofficial communication with the franchisee staff this is being done at the behest of TRAI.
------------
How do I go about fixing this mess?
I am going through an experience now. I bought a Sony Xperia ZR last month and needed a MicroSIM. As my existing SIM was older generation MiniSIM, it could not be safely cut down. I was asked to submit new set of documents to get this MicroSIM at an Idea franchisee. My older SIM was deactivated and MicroSIM activated after a gap of few days due to intervening holidays. I received 2 SMS informing me that documents have not yet reached the next 2 days and nothing afterwards. (It would take that much time for the physical copies to reach their headquarters or whereever they keep them).
After around a week people started complaining that they could not reach me. On inspection, I saw that my phone did indeed show network signal. However I could not call customer care as I was informed that my number had been barred. On contacting customer care from a second number, I was informed that as I had not submitted documents, my number was barred. When I tried to explain that I had already submitted the documents, I was just asked to approach the franchisee and that Idea themselves could not do anything! This seemed preposterous as I am an Idea customer and it was them who disconnected me without informing.
As the My Idea point lies at fair number of kilometers away from I could not reach them. I called them on phone and they told me that they were informed that there was a discrepency in the address proof submitted and the address on record. Today when I went there, I found out that there was a small difference in the way my house name has been spelled in the Election ID submitted. (I had taken the connection originally around 6 years back and Election Commission had issued new ID around 3 years back.)
Now they give me 2 options:
1. Submit the original address proof as given 6 years ago. (I cannot do this as that has been taken back and no longer in my possession)
2. Submit as new address but lose the original plan and whatever balance remaining in it plus a 72 hour deactivation period (in addition to the present loss)
I am completely flummoxed by this logic:
1. Is it not possible for a mobile phone subscriber to have a change of address once a number is granted? Even a landline will probably let you have a change of address.
2. What will happen when a municipal authority / panchayat / State government renames the city / street you live on or changes your house number as is a common practice in India.
I understand that theoretically a mobile phone number is tied to a person rather than an address compared to a land line which is rather tied to an address. The purpose of ID proof is to make sure that it is issued to the same person and the purpose of address proof is to catch him if he does any hanky panky. So what is the point of insisting on an older address while he may have moved on elsewhere and is actually willing to provide the newer updated address to help the authorities harass him there?
-------------
Apparently, according to unofficial communication with the franchisee staff this is being done at the behest of TRAI.
------------
How do I go about fixing this mess?
