How to choose an ISP?
This question can be honestly answered only by a techie who has used all available accounts on a given computer. So that counts me out instantly. I have not used all accounts but quite a few of them. I restrict the scope of my review at this stage to strictly the following ISP’s: VSNL, Satyam, Dishnet, MTNL, Caltiger. Let me just briefly outline the essential features that you should look for an ISP.
1) BRAND power: it should be a heard name. I mean if you tell your friends that I have such and such an account, he should be like “Ah that one” and not “I’m sorry, what?” All the four mentioned above have that for sure. Because VSNL was the first ISP in India, it had a tremendous advantage over the others. Even Now they have a monopoly over so many things. They do not even bother to advertise elaborately like the others.
2) First dial connectivity: It should not be like you have to dial a number of times till you get the verifying password screen. A person sitting in front of his PC waiting for the connection to be established looks like a fool. ( I have a large mirror beside my PC ). In this regard among the four ISPs VSNL and Satyam are more reliable than the others. MTNL is pathetic in this aspect. I think Satyam is the fastest.
3) Quick verification of passwords. Satyam verifies in 5 secs, VSNL in 11 secs, Dishnet anywhere from 7 to 14 secs. MTNL takes forever and is very slow. Can not determine exactly for Caltiger.
4) Stability: the other day I read a review and was writing a big comment I mean really big, as big as a review itself. As soon as I pressed submit my connection was lost. I got page not found and on pressing BACK could not get the typed material. Your connection should be stable. Delhiites and Amchi Mumbai Mandali make sure you know the 118/119 funda in your dialup connection. Basically call waiting facility should be closed before you go on the net else any one who dials your number will effectively cut your connection to the net. Electronic telephone exchanges as opposed to the analog ones will be great. Barring MTNL and Caltiger all the remaining three are stable enough.
5) Wise people learn from other’s mistakes. Go to some of your fiend’s places and see how different accounts work in your area. Coz ultimately it all depends on the quality of the telephone connection in your area. Telephone Lines are the so called last mile providers here.
6) Customer service should be prompt, polite, precise and concise. Ideally they should have telephonic support as well. In this regard I think so VSNL is the best hands down. In this aspect VSNL and Satyam rule. Their service is excellent. If you ever have a chance of going to the VSNL office at Fort, you will see one branch of the government that thinks of the general public as human beings. You will be treated very well. As opposed to this Dishnet people are not that good. Don’t have any experience of MTNL and Caltiger.
7) Your ISP should give you an excellent mail service. Ideally it should be a POP3 account. Read my review on How to use email effectivelyIn this regard VSNL is the best POP3 service. Combined with Outlook Express it downloads emails very fast. Satyam and Dishnet are quite good too. MTNL is O.K but Caltiger is pathetic. Using VSNL (5 MB inbox )though you cannot send a single mail to more than 10 people. You will get it back. This is VSNL’s policy of avoiding Spam.
8) Your account should be accessible to you from every corner of the world.
9) Have you ever tried sending your friends a file or a picture while you are both logged onto a messenger service. Chances are you were not able to do it successfully. This is because most ISP’s have a firewall. This is to protect you from viruses. It works to our detriment though. The VSNL firewall is O.K. But all the rest have pathetic firewalls. Once I connect through any of these accounts I cannot send mails using my VSNL account. I can only receive them.
10) Last but not the least. Economics. Cost of an account should be a big big factor for you to determine which one. Caltiger is free so forget it. All the four have different packages among which you can choose. My advice to you would be not to take those one hr per day accounts. The best option would be to go for a VSNL 100 hrs package. Take it. Also VSNL has attractive offers. Their Monsoon offer was a sellout. All the remaining hours of Existing subscribers were doubled and 100 added to them on renewal.
Watch out and make up your mind. With prices so low you can afford to make mistakes. Buy an ISP. If you like it Use it or else Loose it.