Mobile companies do not provide detailed billing statements as a matter of course. However, these can be obtained at extra cost. Indiscriminate phone users will have to pay more.& Subscribers who pick up their handsets from the service providers benefit, since replacement in case of malfunction and matters pertaining to guarantee, warranty, etc are taken care of.

By dangling a free handset as a bait, the service providers sell more airtime in advance. Benefits only those subscribers who run up several hours of talk time every year.& Subscribers have only five seconds to cut off unwanted calls. Or else they will be billed for their entire call.& Despite the promises of insurance cover, subscribers who forget their handsets in cabs and other public places do not stand any chance of recovering the instrument.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.