I made the following complaint to Airtel Yesterday ( June 30, 2012)

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1. I just discovered that my internet bandwidth is being stolen.

2. My office is in West Saidapet. My ISP is Airtel and I am in the 999 unlimited broadband plan. Under this plan, the speed will be reduced to 256 kpbs ( from 2 mbps ) if the usage exceeds 10 GB. So when my speed decreased within the first week ( which is rather unsual) of taking a new a/c , I checked the usage only to find that my internet account was in use even when the modem and system were unplugged.

3. After making a formal complaint to the airtel customer care, the technical person visited my office and ensured that my connection / modem / wifi were all safe from hacking. He said that there could be some discrepancy in the usage data. I insisted on the usage log specifics ( urls of the sites visited , uploads, downloads etc during the time ), to which they responded with a ‘ its not technically feasible”. After several face to face, telephonic discussions, the customer care person, offered to revise the speed to 2 mpbs. The person did not give any explanation regarding the stolen bandwidth.

4. Since the speed resumed, I did not care to check the usage and everything was fine for a week’s time.

5. Today. Back to square one. The speed has been reduced to 256 kpbs. The records show that there was a heavy usage even when the office was shut ( systems and modem turned off). The process of complaining has just started.

6. I heard a similar story from a neighbor. So this could be a very ‘West Saidapet Phenomena”

I have some questions to people in the know.

1. Is this actually a bandwidth theft?
2. Is bandwidth theft a crime ?
3. What is the legal recourse for this?
4. Is it really ‘not-feasible’ to get the details on the sites that were visited through my account?
5. Am I responsible for the use / misuse / abuse during ‘that’ time period?
6. Is it okay to approach the cyber crime and make a formal complaint?

I am unable to trace the actual person / officer ( and not the customer care person) responsible for accepting complaints of this kind. If you know any names and email ids, please let me know.

I can substantiate all my statement with evidences. My airtel number, My contact details names of the persons I made contact with, my usage records can be provided on request.

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Today one Mr. Alok from Mobile Number : 97xxxxx13 called me and said.

1. These kind of things do happen and they are not responsible.
2. It is usual in Internet Service like Airtel where leakages & theft of bandwidth to the tune of 1 to 2 gb on a daily basis.
3. Nothing can be done about it.