I’ve got the BSNL DataOne BroadBand (Home 500) Plan installed and it is just GREAT ! I’ve had it since a month now. Initially they had said you could just register over the net on their website and it would be set up. I did register but did not get any response from them.
Later I was told that I had to submit a physical signed form at their Customer Service Centre which I did. They were very pleasant and said that it would get installed in a day or two and to my surprise the second day they came over and had it up and running in 15 minutes flat. Of course you need to understand the prerequisites first -
1. A BSNL Telephone Land line connection (obviously !) If you don’t have one you can register for one and get it in a few days time. They even waive off the registration charge for the land line connection as a special offer.
2. A PC of course
3. A PC with a LAN card (not a dial up modem card !)
4. A telephone line going up to your PC.
5. A electrical power socket to plug in the ADSL modem.
If you have all the above (like I did) it takes all of 15 minutes for them to set it up for you. ( I feel that the Rs.500 non refundable setup fee is not really justified) since anybody with a basic knowledge of computers can set up the same. They provide you with a POTS splitter from which your existing phone is connected. This ensures that you can use the phone (both incoming and outgoing) even while you are connected to the net.
The only thing is that the ADSL modem is a cheap Chinese Import and does not have a USB interface. You need to have a LAN card. The latest modems all have a USB interface which you can just plug in to your USB port on your PC and also do not need an independent power source.
Performance - Just great so far. Got connected within 10 - 15 seconds almost every time, Great speeds, I’ve clocked 300 Kbps plus consistently (you can check this out by going to some ADSL testing sites)
Cost - Fantastic - For the Home Plan (I’ve outright purchased the modem so would be paying Rs, 500 + taxes per month) I didn’t have to make any payment at all! The will bill you for the installation charge / modem etc on your next phone bill cycle (in my case some 3, 100 Rs or so)
Plan - Great ! Free access 24 x 7 - Unlimited usage till June (for those registering before Mar 31st) after that it is 1 Gb limit and every extra Mb is Rs2 / Mb. Now 1 Gb is quite a lot even though it includes all downloads/uploads, even the pages you browse, the mails you download and other downloads.
Take my case - I am definitely a power user and do a lot of downloading / uploading on a daily basis - I average around 20 Mb / day whereas 1 Gb means almost approx 34 Mb/day ! So unless you are downloading a large number of MP3 songs on a daily basis - this is more than enough for a normal user. All in all beats all other competitors in terms of tariff plans/ performance/bandwidth offered. Just go for it .