Originally Posted by
fabricoftruth
While it is certainly true that BSNL has the widest coverage, their networks are oversubscribed. What that means is there will be times when it is impossible for others to get through to you and for you to call. That made it very unreliable for me - I switched to Airtel and it works fine. Occassionally, if you dont have cell phone coverage and need to make a call from a rural area, head to the nearest PCO. Good luck!
Fast busy signals -- indicator of overloaded system -- has definitely been more common with BSNL than with the other majors recommended here. Also other providers connecting calls (or SMS) to/from BSNL seems to have caused more issue than should be the case. While those conditions still persist to some degree, we've had less issue with BSNL in the last 6 months than in the 6 months prior to that.