Up until now, I thought Canada had the most frustrating telecom companies to deal with as a consumer. That is until I had the displeasure of dealing with Airtel in India.

Whenever I travel, I usually research providers beforehand to try and find those with greatest coverage. My research on India led me to believe none of the providers were that great – with no one providing 3G outside the major cities. So, I went with my second strategy for selecting a provider – the one that has the best presence at the airport.

As of today, I still don’t have internet access working on my iPhone. I’ve wasted about 3-5 hours with various Airtel employees and researching online, below is a summary of my experiences:

• Been straight up hung up on at least 10 times by agents working their “help” line.
• Been SMSed 5 times that “Your phone will be activated within 24 hours” to no avail.
• Been redirected multiple times to a “supervisor” whose phone simply rings forever
• Been redirected to a manager who told me “maybe in 4 days it will work, thanks for calling!”
• Talked to at least 4 agents who could not speak english, this despite me picking the english option via the automated system
• Been laughed at by Airtel employees in Kerala who told me “you had to activate it in Delhi!”
• Found that even in Delhi, there is only EDGE coverage – meaning even if you get internet working, it’s dead slow.

In short, I simply can’t believe the incompetence of Airtel. It is truly shocking. If you are a traveller looking for mobile access while in India, pick any other vendor – there is no way you could have a worse experience.