4 years on Dial Up and now Freeeeeeedom !! :-) Thats the first and foremost point for me . I have been using the Internet since the time there was Lynx browsers and Shell Accounts. As the days went by , I made more and more friends all around the net using first Email , then chat rooms and then Messengers and after that Forums and messageboard. I knew that every advancement we made with having VSNL as our ISP , we were still way behind my friends over the internet. They were already using Webcams, downloading CD's , sharing via Napster and Kazaa and Listening to music via Shoutcast network and watching CNN in Real Media player . And here we were double clicking on the Shortcut to My Connection icon :(
And just using / getting a slow connection was not the pain enough , there was the very much true-to-life regularly increasing telephone bill. In the past year or two , my phone bill has seen a regular escalation from Rs.4000 to Rs.6000 and to Rs.9000.
But now with BSNL's DIAS , at last I am free to do what I want at my own luxury . I mention luxury , not just because of the speed or connectivity but also of the luxury of time . It's 24 hours unlimited , and hence I am not forced to stay up till 4 in the nite as the traffic is less then . I can watch my favourite programmes and still download stuff.
However , my using the term ''unlimited'' is not fully correct, as I am limited according to the PLAN I choose. BSNL's DIAS comes in 3 flavours :
Rs.850 per month for 500 MB transfer
Rs.1700 per month for 1.5 GB transfer &
Rs.5500 per month for Truly Unlimited.
I used to use somewhere around 4-6 hours a day normally when I was on VSNL's Dial-Up , and thus paying around 8500+ of which I will make huge savings now . Till date , I have had seamless and uninterrupted connectivity . Before the line was setup , I had major problems getting the line setup and workorder processed; But once it was done , it has been real good. I have there Support Desk numbers which are well manned . Although I have heard complaints from some other users that ''when DIAS is UP and working it is Heaven , when it is Down , it is down .'' I have not faced any major problems . But I am keeping an option open - to edit my review in days to come ... if I get any difference in service in days to come .
Also another point I need to mention here is - DIAs maybe very very cost effective for high- users like me , a bi-monthly bill of Rs.3500 may seem very high for low users .
<Update>
Support realy is not the strong point . Their After Sales Dept. do tend to work and call me up any times when everythign is smoooth. But during problems, when I call back, there's only just one guy who answers all technical question . Even then , he is not sound . I had to explain to him from scratch - what is FTP , in order to complain about the FTP service not working , while browsing an chatting was ok.
If for some weird reason , DSL connection fails (an it has in past few days) after 6 PM , I am sort of stuck till the next day 10 A.M as in between there is no Support personel I can ring up. :(
<Update>
<Update # 2>
First , sorry for the delay to all those numerous MSmembers who have requested me time and again to Update / Comment on the preswent situation with DIAS . Believe me , this was long due , as much has changed .
n the previous 1 month I have been through hell using DIAS . After been a customer since the beginign days of DIAS also , in the past 1 month I have had very bad experience which changed my opinion towards the worse .
One not so fine day , my connection went kaput for which I reported to a number which I have for DIAS helpline . Since that day , I have spent almost 2 weeks trying to get them to come down to our office and even after they came and replaced the modem ... requested us to change our phoe lines , re wire the electircals all around and what not !! but still they could not pinpoint the problem , and even admited that ti was bafling them . So I went higher up and met some officer , and even figting and requesting and imploring - made no positive result . hey would say and not actualy send linemen , call up on phone and ask us to wait till the weekend was over .
In the meantime , we took a secondary Cable Internet connection as backup .... sadly , that didnt help ... they were even worse . Virus used to come in from THEIR server , which we had to LOGON to ... imagine ! On asking about it they admited saying ... you have to bear with it , since you are using Internet :p Even more horrifically , they had a File Upload or Email sending LIMIT of less than 150 KB , while Download was not capped .
Anyway , back to DIAS . After 3 weeks of hell , we finally got DIAS fixed although mysteriously , it was not pinpointed what the problem was or how it was rectified .
Hence I will again just say , what I have said before :
When DIAS is UP , it is sweet as honey , when it is DOWN , you better know How to Pray , as you will be able to nothing more than that .
<Update>
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- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.