Hi,
I decided to go for Broadband about 6 months back. I enquired Airtel and Data One, I was initially apprehensive about Data One as I was afraid of the service provided by Government companies.( I was proved very wrong by my many of friends who are cruising with Data One and I believe speed is fabulous). I decided to go for Airtel, but sadly they did not have additional Sockets for my area to give the connexion (surprised at the subscription base of Airtel..Running to Over Capacity!). I was left with no other choice but to opt for Hathway.
PROS:
Installation was quick
Zero Installation Charges
Gave a brand new modem out of the box
No Modem Charges
There ends the advantages
CONS:
1.Speed or (Should I call Unspeed)?Connexion consistently averaged just about 4 Kbps . I was aghast as I got slightly better speeds even from my Dial Up Modem!
- Consistent break in service. The Internet connexion was very erratic. If you were lucky, the Internet would be on that day. Otherwise most of the time the Modem would be blinking indicating no signal.I got tired calling the hathway guys every Saturday. Now for the past one month (dont know whether the cables got cut as a result of rain though) I have been calling them every day.
3. Poor Customer Care Service Compared to the giants like Dataone and Airtel, these guys are running the show with very few resources and it shows in the quality of service. The phone would be off the hook most of the times and you would always get an engaged tone.Everytime you are lucky, a lady would irritate by asking all the details from Consumer Number , Address, ID till the mole on my left shoulder only to reply that the coverage for the area is a problem . Always I would get a reply that an Engineer would come to my place at 5 PM in the evening. But guess that engineer is Invisible Man’s cousin.
4.No Choice in Tariff : There are a few plans given , but all are useless. Also you dont get free surf time in the nights that are given by Dataone and Airtel
Now, I will mostly go for Airtel. Technically, I would rate Airtel and Dataone equally. I just am slightly tilted towards Airtel bcos they are way up in Customer service. I call these guys and these guys are at my doorstep with the connexion soon. In BSNL, you will have to keep running to and fro to your telephone exchange meeting those irritable govt employees who themselves are not clear with the requirement. For a connection, they would make me come to their exchange 10 times each time stating a new requirement . Also the documentation is voluminous. When I enquired they said I had to give a written request to the divisional engineer first, then I would be handed the form. The form as like any other government forms will have 1001 doubts . If you think you have finished everything, you will be in for a surprise as the employees will ask for something new every time. One time, they will say photo is not according to size or should be B/w. Second time, they will say, Latest bill with gazetted oficer’s sign to be produced( God knows why they are asking for this..All my payments can be had at the touch of the computer button). Third time they will find out a defect in the applicant’s name and ask thousand questions to verify the correctness, Fourth time they will ask for Ration card copy, Fifth time they will ask my dad to come in person to sign some stupid register, sixth time they will .........god knows what?!!!!!!!!!
Next is the installation part, needless to mention I will have to go to the tel exchange another couple of times to follow up for installation. I may have to give some kick back to the linesman etc....(Lots more...Dont want to waste your time!). Also free night surfing is in an inconvenient time . Airtel gives a better slot (9PM to 8 AM)
Considering all this, I have decided to go for Airtel!!