This is not a review on the quality of the programs on television, but a review on a service provider who offers this new platform as an alternative to the traditional cable or DTH. Hats off to BSNL for having taking the initiative for this in India.
Triplay or voice, broadband, and cable (television programs) is a reality in India today. BSNL offers this service on pilot project in some metros and Bangalore is one. The rates are reasonable and no billing until the promised boquet of 150 channels is available. Quality is great and service is okay. Go for this service but do not buy the modem on outright purchase. Take in on rental for now, and later on when the price drops and the technology changes you may consider buying the modem. It has about 77 channels on offer in bangalore today and the latest addition is Neo and Neo plus. Dish and TataSky charge you a fortune for these channels. Very soon all the channels will be available and it is going to be interesting.
I wanted to go for Dish or Tatasky and found the slashed rates of the hardware very tempting, but the packages were misleading and if I want all the channels that I need, I end up payin 500 pm, which is not worth it. In the BSNL IPTV I have to shell out a max of 300 pm. So I feel it is a smart choice.
The local cable guy can no longer boss over you and one less headache of payments as it is clubbed with your regular telephone bill.
Nice thing is BSNL readily took back my old modem for broadband and replaced it with a new one. I have been a loyal broadband customer of theirs from day one in Bangalore
So far so good. I will keep this review updated...