THE SERVICE
Asianet provides Internet Data Service through their cable network at some locations. The speed is capped at 64 kbps, and connectivity outside is provided via satellite for the consumer service. Ping time for most sites are over a second, so voice applications would be out.
INSTALLATION
I called about installation and the asianet rep came to my home to sign me up. I was impressed with their speed and customer service. After collecting all the details I didn’t hear from them for a week. After I called up, they told me that they were having problems getting modems, and that there was a long waiting line for it. According to their reps, it was available in Bangalore, but they couldn’t be bothered to buy some there because they had a bulk deal from some other place. Finally, after a three month wait, they came in for the install. The installation itself went smoothly. Activation was quite straightforward too--I called up tech support and within minutes I was online.
I CAN SURF
The speed was limited at their end at 64 kbps. I was surprised to see that I got exactly that while downloading! There were virtually no timeouts either. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long.
HURT ME PLENTY
There was a big push by ADL at the time to get more customers. Meanwhile, their organization was not good enough to handle such a task. There were brief periods of outages, and over time they became longer. Their technical support number is not toll free, and that in itself is an outrage for a service which costs so much. Another bait and switch tactic is their free email account--even though it is mentioned in their bill and promotional material, when I called customer service, they told me that they don’t provide that service.
Your IP is assigned via DHCP, and the lease given for just 30 minutes! And your IP does change all the time, compared to other cable ISPs, who give the same IP to the same MAC address. This is a good or bad depending on your view. For one, you definitely cannot run any servers on this connection. They run only one DNS server, and no news server is provided.
ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE
About three months ago, a large portion of the Internet became inaccessible from my home connection. I called tech support after a couple of days. The person who answered told me that they were doing some upgrades and that everything would work after a week. I called back after one week, and the guy who answered told me that he would call me back after a couple of minutes.
No surprise, he didn’t call me back. So I called the third time and was told by another representative that no problem existed (’’it works for me’’, yeah right!). He wanted me to delete my temporary internet files (I suppose this is Internet Explorer specific). He seemed unable to grasp that all network programs had the same issue. At this, he wanted me to reset the computer and the modem.
Of course, that did nothing to solve the issue. I hung up after he asked me to reinstall my operating system. I finally figured out what went wrong--they had changed the configuration of one othe routers so that packets went to the wrong network and were dropped. The chances of getting this through their highly trained and capable ’’tech support’’ was virtually zero. The problem was fixed after two months, probably by accident.
For the past four months, the network goes down from 5pm to 11pm everyday. This is prime time, what you pay through the nose for. Complaining to the customer service line gets no response, and they wouldn’t need to, since they still charge for days they don’t provide service. And when the service is restored, it is very flaky and that’s a more frustrating than no service at all. You cannot use it for casual surfing, chatting etc., as all of this is usually done in the evening.
What is more galling is that they continue saturation advertising through their cable network, where they make wild claims of ’’the best in the state’’, and ’’high speed’’. This kind of in your face marketing when they are ripping you off every month really gets to you. Another scheme (how appropriate!) is one you pay for five years (over 50K!) to get the same fabulous service. And they pitched this to me during a so called ’’customer satisfaction survey’’ where I told them all the problems listed above--it boggles the mind. Oh, and BTW, the Motorola Surfboard modem required for connection retails for about 1000/-, but they sell it for 5000/-, or you can rent it for a low price of 1000/yr with a 2000/- deposit.