Feb 21, 2007 08:03 AM
3023 Views
This broadband service is the Mercedes on the Mumbai road.Move-over autorickshaws and Fiats(also known as the Tata Indicom and Sify Broadband).The pedigree of a sarkari company brings along with it a lot of advantages though one will also have to put up with shoddy customer service.But at the end of the day, if a call centre can drive you up the wall then why not put up with your neighborhood MTNL quick customer service centre. The lady at the counter will be busy reading her newspaper at eleven in the morning but at least whatever she does works, unlike some of our other broadband service providers.
A little history would help to explain this issue: I was possibly one of the many in Mumbai who got suckered into Sify broadband as this was the only broadband service available in my housing complex. Little did we realize at that time it was little more than a hoax. By all available accounts, the broadband division of Sify is a losing business and it is a matter of time before they close this division.
Unfortunately till the time they are around they will continue to pull in new customers and then let them be on their own.After about six months of Sify the local service engineer was even refusing to take my calls. That is when I got cracking on the broadband section of this website and honed onto the MTNL triband service which had the most favourable reviews.
There was one hitch: I did not have a landline from MTNL and had to acquire one. Secondly the layout of the line from the local telephone junction box to your house plays a big part in the broadband speed and I was not sure how it would pan out. For a start I ordered for a landline connection and wonder of wonders, I was allotted a number across the counter.
This I knew was a marketing ploy as the line would finally be installed by the MTNL linesman but these chaps have improved by leaps and bounds over the years. After about ten days a landline was finally installed in my residence. As I had put my application for installation of a broadband connection along with my landline application I thought the triband connection would be installed immediately. I was wrong-in true sarkari istyle the triband connection installation process is activated only after the work order for the landline is filed and closed and this took about two days after which a third party vendor came and installed my modem- router and activated my account. Installation was a jiffy and did not require the drivers provided with the router as this is used only for connection through the USB.
And then I was on the highway but after the experience with Sify for some time I was like a rabbit under bright headlights; the speed just dazzled me. I checked the speed from several third party vendors who measure broadband speed including MTNL own speed meter and all them showed a speed in excess of 1 MB for download and about 850 KBPS for upload. This was a no contest with Sify where I could never get speeds over 90 kbps and that too only when others in my building were not using their broadband. I have been using this service for about a month and there has not been a single minute of downtime.
Now I have to observer my bill for the next couple of months to determine the optimum broadband plan for me.I have started with the basic plans of 200 bucks for 400 MB of free download and chargeable downloads thereafter. A Mercedes however has its own set of problems-you tend to drive and drive and drive as the surfing experience is just so good.There are however some recurring charges like the modem which MTNL provides on hire.
Though they have an option where a subsriber can buy use their own router I was advised by everyone to use the MTNL router as this is an equipment which is still not entirely trouble free and therefore it is best if this is retained on hire so that the replacment become easy. Another tip that I received from the installation chaps- don’t use a splitter to use the phone line for both broadband and voice as this slows down the speed. Connect the phone line for the broadband connection only.
Of course some chaps cannot afford to have the luxury of a dedicated line. The last tip from the installation guy-don't change your password from the one assigned which is the customer no for your telephone account as this can result in frequent disconnection of service. I could not understand the logic of this tip but have not changed my password since installation and have not faced any problems on this issue. Looking back over the past one month the service and speed has been too good to be true but let see how it goes! Possible after six months of service I may be able to get a more balanced view.Meantime the Sify chaps have also started enquiring whether I would like to restart on my Sify connection again!
