I saw the hoarding last night while returning home from work. They also seem to have the ads on TV, but I hardly watch television nowadays. Though the idea, of Vodafone’s Call Filter service, sounds appealing, it has two clauses that might put-off a number of users.
1. The cost: Activating the feature costs a rental of Rs 99 a month (as usual mentioned in fine print). This might be a small price to pay to get rid of all those unwanted callers who have the tendency of calling up at all the wrong times.
2. The message: The ‘Blacklisted’ callers, when they try to call you up, will hear a message that says, “The Vodafone subscriber you are trying to reach does not wish to receive your call.” Now this is something that many subscribers wouldn’t want.
When I told my gleeful colleagues about this, all the Vodafone subscribers let out a moan. One of them, an Airtel subscriber, was in fact contemplating switiching to Vodafone to avail this service. This perhaps has to do with Indian sensibilities, we might want to say no, but also don’t want to sound rude at the same time (there are notable exceptions, as always).
Maybe, the user should be given the choice to choose a message of his/her choice. Something that says:
“The Vodafone number you are trying to call is out of coverage area.”
“The Vodafone number you are trying to call has switched off his phone.”
“The Vodafone number you are trying to call is currently busy. Please call after some time.”
or even (for those who like it)
“GET LOST AND DO NOT DARE CALL THIS NUMBER AGAIN!”
“ABBEY AGAR AUR KABHI IS NUMBER PE PHONE LAGAYA TO PHONE KE ANADAR GHUS KE MAAROONGA!”
There doesn’t seem to be much of a benefit from the National Do Not Call Registry. I had registered more than two months ago, but still receive a number of unwanted SMSes. The phone calls, though, have reduced drastically. Meanwhile I’m planning to register a complaint against the erring parties.
And those of you Vodafone subscribers wish to avail the Call Filter service, first visit the Call Filter page on Vodafone’s website, and then take a decision.
