Call Drops & Network Blackouts: What Users and Telcos Have to Say

Call drops and network blackouts are common in India, but are the telcos doing enough to fix these issues?

When will India become a country free of call drops? 

(Photo: The Quint)

Akash, Deepti and Saloni have big issues with their mobile networks. The situation is so bad that most of the time, they resort to voice calling via WhatsApp or FaceTime inside their houses.

All this because, telcos have failed to solve the network blackout issue in their area, which is another sticking point for mobile users in India. This also includes call drops. Most telecom experts have pointed out these two issues are largely India-centric. Telcos appear to be letting consumers suffer, but at what cost?

There’s a contradiction in what mobile phone users have to say about the situation and what the telecom industry as a whole believes.

While bodies monitoring the telcos claim that none of the telcos have failed the call drop test in the last quarter and things continue to improve, a consumer-based survey portrays a different story.

According to a recent quality check survey by Local Circles many users have seen a quality drop in their networks. Most of the complaints have been related to call drops, which hardly comes as a surprise.

We feel you!

Trio of Akash, Deepti and Saloni form part of the 27 percent people the survey reached out to, who’ve become regular users of WhatsApp calling/Skype to negate the lack of network in the area.

Add to that, you have over 56 percent people from the survey saying that 20 percent of their calls drop or don’t connect in the first place.

A call drop represents the telecom service provider’s inability to keep an incoming or outgoing call going. About 35 percent people have said that one in every four calls drop.

Voice calling apps to the rescue. (Photo: Local Circles)

When you consider these figures, it’s hard to understand how telcos are looking to fix the gaping network holes.

TRAI is hammering telcos on QoS, it is not happening everywhere. Our density with available spectrum (network congestion) plays a big part in that.

Telecom expert

Call drops is a big issue for many users in India. (Photo: Local Circles)

Another source from the telecom industry states that call drops and network issues are India-centric problems, mostly because the country has been lax in the adoption of technology.

Time for Change

Moving past the obvious, what are telcos doing to curtail call drops? They claim to be investing millions into expanding their network base and adding more towers.

Many people believe that voice calling (after becoming free) has lost interest from telcos, who’re focused on making money on data from here on.

With more than 650 million mobile phone users in the country, and many more to be added in the coming years, the situation needs a quick redressal.

The use of 3G/4G network to date (with its less-flexible network frequencies) is said to have played a big part in call drops. However, with the rollout of 5G likely to happen in a couple of years time, telcos expect a drastic change in how the networks behave, especially with regards to call connectivity.

If that doesn’t happen, be ready to rely on voice-calling apps to make your regular phone calls for good.