Well, if you ask me, my opinion on Internet access in India sums up in these two points:
Using the term "Broadband" is a laugh - I mean what do you call a (up to) 256 kbps (max!) connections - broad is certainly not the word!! When my friends abroad talk about 3 mbps lines, I feel like chewing through the wires
Pricey: The prices are still too high for the speed being offered. Around a 1000 bucks for 256 kbps always-on connection is a crime...you just can’t get value for money...a decent download (around 700 MB) takes ages and what with Haryana electicity board playing hookey, means that you have to shut-down your pc every few hours...so you just can’t start a massive download and go off to sleep.
Be that as it may (I’m sure there must be some regulatory constraint behind this sorry state of affairs), Airtel manages magnificently. Frankly, what do you expect out of your Internet connections? Let’s see these and compare Airtel.
A. Affordable: It is as or more affordable as the others at around 600-1000 bill for unlimited plans. Time/download limited plans are even cheaper.
B. Speed: It delivers what it promises. I had my doubts at first but I used all kind of tests (recommended by Airtel and others) and can tell you it does (the kbps in smalls and KBps in caps creates all the confusion)
C. Reliable: In my three months, it was down only once, at 2 in the morn for some scheduled maintenance.
D. Cust Support: is just great. Being a BPO night creature, I have troubled them at all odd-hours and they have always patiently instructed a tech-nincompoop like me to resolve any issue that I may have.
Though I’m sure there’ll be some game-changers arriving on the scene very soon, like Reliance did for mobile phones, Airtel is your best bet meanwhile.
But I’ll stick to my Hutch service for mobile phone service always :-)