For more than four days now, private exchanges in the Fatehgunj, Subhanpura and Alkapuri have been flooded with complaints regarding non-reception of incoming calls. Subscribers hold poor trafficking of lines responsible, but operators attribute this to the ``widespread misconceptions (about private exchanges) among clients''.

These misconceptions, by the way, don't come cheap. A phone on a private exchange costs Rs 4,300 in legal fees and any amount between Rs 750 and Rs 1,500 in `other' fees. Private operators, while agreeing they end up charging more than the `decided' amount, hold DoT regulations -- demands for security deposits, fees for outgoing/incoming junctions etc -- responsible for this.

Be that as it may, a private exchange phone subscriber's woes -- read the omnipresent `This route is busy' chant -- often begin after acquiring the connection. Explains one private operator in the Fatehgunj area, ``A private exchange essentially functions as a conference facility between DoT and subscribers. If the lines are busy it is because there is some problem with the DoT''.

Each in-coming call to a private phone user first reaches DoT's parent exchange from where it is passed on to a Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) unit linking the private operator.

``Though faults at the parent exchange are rare, there might be a problem at the PCM unit, so we never receive the pulse for in-coming calls. The DoT's voice-box delivers the standby message, telling the caller access is impossible'', explains the operator.

Operators claim there is also a great deal of bickering between DoT officials manning the PCM unit and those at the parent exchange, ``so much so we pay a little extra for even minor repairs''.

DoT Senior Divisional Engineer M M Solanki, however, denies any knowledge of the problem, claiming he hasn't received a single complaint from operators.