I had used dialup access with VSNL since the early days of internet in India. It was always generally a hit and miss affair with more misses than hits. The connection would be dismally slow even if and when I could log on. Since then in the last 3 years internet speeds have been getting better.
When my friendly neighborhood cablewalla offered me a high speed always on connection courtesy Hathway I did not believe it at first. After meeting with the Hathway representative I agreed to try it out. I was surprised at the speed with which they got things set up. Within a month of me paying the initial amount of Rs.1500/= they had run lines up to my house. Also in a week from then once I paid the balance amount as deposit for the modem Rs.5000/= they activated the service. It took 2 visits by their guy to get it to work but since then in the last six months the service has been not accessible only 3 times which is pretty good.
The charges are Rs.1000/= per month plus Rs.500/= for modem rental and you need a LAN card in your Pc which would be a one time cost of approxRs.1500/=. But considering what you save on phone bills I feel it is Value for Money.
The speed of the connection has been pretty fast and consistent and I can now download even 10-15 MB files with ease. Also pages load blazingly fast and I can actually watch streaming video over the net without it buffering every few seconds.
In fact now I plan to buy the modem as I’m sure of continuing this service. Ever since I joined Hathway I don’t just plod on the information superhighway I fly on it.