Note : Review based on personal experience!!!!!!!!
Today Geek Airlines installed a new broadband connection inside its plane.for passengers to use.(Technology Used: Wireless!)
OK. Before I start, just answer my simple question through the comments section:
Q- In what year airtel launched its broadband /landline facility?
Q- Do you have an airtel broadband connection at your home?
I will be waiting for the answers...
The Review :
Today for me is a good day, due to 2 reasons:
As this is my 25th review &
India has won the match over Pakistan by 7 wickets and 6.9 overs to spare.
So here I go.........................
I have been patronizing ’Airtel’ for the last 2.5 years. First I opted for a mobile connection and till date havent faced any major problems.Now with its increasing popularity/demand & commercials being aired on television, I decided to tryout the broadband cum landline services provided by airtel. (Since was fed up with my earlier connection(Hotwire).So after, checking the tarrifs, speed & consulting my friends, I finally booked my connection on 26th November ’05.It was installed well before the time told by the salesman.(28th November’05)
I cant understand why airtel calls its 128 kbps connection a broadband one as government hass declared that 256 KBPS min. is required to call it a broadband ...
Anywazz let’s move on--
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Installation :
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Immediately after the salesman got the form filled up by me, within the next 3 hours the wiring men came. I found the people very polite & nice to talk to.
Vo loog Idhar udhar ki baatein nahin kar rahe the
The whole wiring process was completed round about in 3-3.5 hours. The quality of the cables being used by them is too good (Basically mean: Superb).The ones which are underground are made up of Total’Optical Fiber Material’ & the ones above the ground are made up of ’Copper’. These copper/fiber cables have a very big advantage that they never break & are also difficult to cut (Can’t be cut with the help of a simple scissors/knife).
Coming back to the installation process, thereafter I was given a thick yet informative booklet containing info. about Airtel as a company, features available with the landline etc.On (27th November’05), Around 10am in the morning, two people with the ’Engineer’ tags hanging from their T-Shirt came and rang the house bell. Quickly ran downstairs to handle them. I and one of the executive went at the backside of my house where the ’DP’(Distribution Point) box was installed. The executive opened the box, joined the wire coming from my house and the one underneath the ground.
Then we both went back and sat at the computer. As he installed the software, Modem & splitter boxes, I went through the booklet.
AND hurrrrraaaayyyyyyyy, the connection had started.
Now days, till 1st March airtel is providing connections for free.Installation + modem charges are not applicable.So this is the right time to GO FOR IT !!!
Today is 12th of Feb ’06 & believe me I haven’t yet faced any sort of’Dikaat’.
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What is a DP (Distribution Point) box?? :
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A DP box is kind of a ’Single Line Provider’. The underground cable first comes to this DP box, and then from the DP box another cable (Copper) is joined to our Home PC. Only 5 connections at a time can be installed through that box.
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Wiring :
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Wire from there main exchange to the DP box is fully underground.All the wires which are above the ground are fixed on the walls with the help of ’Clumps’ & ’’Straightners’’. When the wire enters are homes, PVC pipes are made to cover them up so as to make it look nice & clean.
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What makes airtel different from others??? :
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As compared to sify and hotwire, I found airtel the best.(Haven’t used MTNL, BSNL).
The difference :
Always a line from Sify/Hotwire comes to a hub installed near your colony. From that Hub, that one line splits into say about 6 connections. At that time, if the line is carrying a speed of 256 kbps, then it will obviously split into 6 connections. (256 divided by 6= 42.66). That means, then you will only receive a speed of 43 kbps which is much much lower than the one promised by the operator/company..In the case of airtel, single lines are provided to the customers so they receive the desired speed.
Note : Dont confuse yourself between a DP box & a HUB. Both are different things.
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Tariffs :
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Tarrifs I found to be much much cheaper that the others. Now you can have broadband at Rs 350 also.There are different charges for different speeds available. I am using Home Plan@Rs 699/pm with unlimited usage(128 KBPS). + a 10mb email account free.Voice charges are extra.
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Speed/Surfing :
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The speed is excellent.As promised by the executive, I am receiving a Bandwidth of 128 KBPS but my physical speed is 12.5-13 kbps..i.e. whenever a file will be downloaded, it will download at 13 KBPS...
The net slows down a bit between 12 noon and 1pm..I dont why????Mind you, if you have read in the news paper that after 10pm At night, airtel offers double speed than the opted one. After reading it, at 11: 25 pm exact, checked my speed and listen...........it’s true..:).. I was receiving a Bandwidthof 216 KBPS(This is not the physical speed)..........
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Personal Experience :
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The overall experience with airtel, as I said earlier was totally awesome.Everything like the - wiring process, filling up of the form, installation process went very smoothli..
Here’s each person’s descibtion:
Wiring Men: They were very polite, nice to-talk-to and fast. Did thier job very well.
Salesman: He answered all my queries/questions. I was satisfied with his answers & he was confident in what he was doing. In other words he was a friendly person.
Engineer: He had all the information & very quickly finished his job. Once my internet was not working due to some modem fault.Immediately called him up and hey he was there in just 10 miuntes..I also liked his way of working.(No offense, personal thinking.)
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The 4 hours funda :
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As told by the executives, if the connection faces any problem and is not fixed in maximum 4 hours, then Rs 100 will be credited to your account.I really dont know that how much truth lies in that thing....
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Billing :
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You receive paper bills every month.Any issue against the bill???Just log a complaint on the net describing your problem and it will get solved. Never ever call the 121 option..
Continued In the comments Section ==>>>>>