Comments on: PTCL offers free connections under ‘Bilkul Muft scheme’

By: Teeth Maestro

Teeth Maestro — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Free !!! Free !!!In Pakistan things are ‘rarely’ free and soemthing free from PTCL is unthinkable, whatever the game plan I suspect that this 111-900-900 call would be the some whopping charged phonecall that lands you a bill for call to some center in Cayman Islands.

Whats the offical cost for a new connection BTW (ofcourse with the bribing and chai-pani)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

You are underestimatingMost businesses (cellphone carriers and cable providors especially) offer a free service and lock the consumer in. Once your telephone number is out there you wouldn’t want to lose it and will pay atleast the monthly subscription charge which to them is better than no monthly charge at all. The business plan is very good, however, the problem I suspect might be with its execution.

Not sure how much a regular phoneline costs but if you want it done within a month or so you’ll need to tip the lineman.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Thats a new onewhats the catch

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

YUPi agree totally free? nbody here knows the meaning of that word

By: Zunaira

Zunaira — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

In the news…today, apparently a number of subscribers who signed up when the same scheme was last introduced are still waiting for the free phone to show up–or a PTCL lineman who can update them on its status. PTCL is getting so predictably unreliable, it should coin a slogan around it.

I signed up for a regular phone line 3 months ago. So there is no rocket science to it. Fill out a form, attach a lease agreement, ID card and two references…done! In four days I reappeared, picked my demand draft and paid up close to Rs.900 for a new phone.

So how can this possibly go wrong? The phone exchange instead of issuing a new phone number to me, alloted one that was ‘no longer in use’ [previously issued to some one else] running thousands of rupees in excess billing. And so it started, a 2-month saga of running around PTCL, exchange, HQ, phone disconnections, incorrect billing, and finally, a danda from the top fixing things for me.

You think these guys can sell free phones??