Jan 26, 2003 08:41 AM
6401 Views
(Updated Jan 26, 2003 08:41 AM)
Although there are many ISPs available for the Dial Up consumers, especially in Mumbai where there were more than 30 providers when I had last bothered to count, not even a single ISP is good enough to satisfy customer needs. MTNL is a late entrant, but their USP is the Unique CLIP (caller line identification ) facility by which you can use MTNL as the Internet provider, without having to register or buying a pre-paid connection.
The Advantages of the MTNL dial-up are :
With most other ISPs, You have to buy a pre-paid package of 10hrs,100hrs etc., which you have to use within a stipulated period of time - generally within a year. Whereas with MTNL dial up, you pay nothing upfront. You only pay for what you use - and the billing for this is added in you phone bill.
If you don't use dial-up access,you do not pay anything.Whereas in other Post-paid ISPs like NOW, they charge a fee of Rs.50/- per month, even if you don't access internet for a single minute!
No need of remembering passwords., as the dial-up is activated based on the phone line you are calling from.
Now comes the important part - The Disadvantages :
As you are not buying any prepaid package nor registering anywhere, you do not have access to any kind of documentation or customer support.
If you are having problems accessing, the connection is very slow, then there's no one to complain to - you have to just disconnect.
Absolutely impossible to access from morning 6:00am to night 12:00pm. Even if you manage to get access, the connection would be excruciatingly slow, and there will be many pauses when there's absolutely no data transfer.
However, the connection is pretty good during late nights. Moreover, you get 5 minutes per pulse if you use this for dial-up, instead of 3 minutes standard pulse rate if you connect through any other ISP.
So, the bottom line is - Use this ISP for connecting late night, and Use some other ISP for your daytime requirements. As such you need not pay anything upfront to use this ISP, so you can use it whenever it's available.Just one thing - Don't expect any kind of support or help from the provider, as it's just not there.
