India is a bandwidth starved nation. What ever service provider you take the speed is almost same. The so called 56kbps modem is totally useless. Actually, speed of dial up in india ranges from 2-8 kbps(downloads). So even with a much slower modem u can get connected.
Now MTNL has two kinds of dial up services,
> One is the postpaid service, where you dial the number 24880000(delhi) and you are charged at the rate of around Rs.6-8 per hour. The billing is done with the normal MTNL phone bill. Expected download speed is around 1-6 kbps. This service is however not available to the non MTNL phone customers.
>>Second is the prepaid service, where you first buy a pack from them and then activate it. Its access number is different. Now the first type of service is a bit poor in terms of connectivity and speed. The main reason being that now almost all net users keep it as their second connection option and some as primary, and the bandwidth is very limited. The good thing is the flexibility it provides to the customer:
no registration
no payment hassels
no renewing required
quite cheap
The service has become very popular especially among students and the young lot.
The second service(prepaid) is a bit better then the first one. The speed is better an somewhat constant. I got download speeds around 6-8 kbps. The connection time was ok and I got got connected in one try(twice sometimes only).
In the field of customer support it is no different than a government office. You don’t get good support on phone (mostly either no one picks up the phone or its busy). The registration process ok. You can buy new or renewal packs only from specific MTNL offices (so called Sanchar Haat).
Over all the both the services offered are good as in Indian conditions. I have used both the type of sevices(1year prepaid and also the other one) but if you are a heavy surfer think of broadband and forget dialup’s.