I think not (if you are confused, read the title). After 5 years of living on dial-up connections (VSNL and Satyam, among others), it was decided to finally make a shift to ’broadband’. Enter MTNL Tri-Band, which claimed to be ’real broadband’ as mentioned by the new government regulations and definitions of broadband (256 kbps+). After about 15 days of usage, there are many things I have to share, for prospective subscribers.
MTNL makes it a challenge to get your broadband connection (at least they did, for me). I live in Malabar Hill and filed my application, online, in the beginning of April. After the 15 day period within which the connection should have been delivered, an enquiry at the exchange showed that the application was not received. Just a whiff of suspicion here, but we decided to stick it out. A paper application was filed, with promises of the same 15-day installation period. Okay, the waiting began.
After no news after two weeks, the calling began. MTNL loves putting you on a wild goose chase. Everyone you talk to will give you an alternate number. The sequence of numbers will finally repeat. I suggest you write them down to ensure that you know when the circle has restarted, so that you can start screaming at the employees. =D. The person that we talked to confirmed the connection being delivered 100% every-day. He then promptly left on vacation. Luckily, the connection was delivered after a few days of his vacation. The installation fee that they charge is quite wacky, to say the least. I knew more about the device than the ’engineer’ or technical specialist. The main technical engineer, who was supposed to oversee the installation, was a no-show.
The connection worked fine the first day. Well, 2 hours of the first day. Then it stopped. Server problems, apparently. 2 complaint numbers later, we gave up. Apparently the server was fixed because an hour later the connection was back up again. The speed was an improvement from dial-up, and clocked in at around 200 kbps, and not the promised 256 kbps. The next week involved frequent server problems, and does connections that didn’t work. It seems that they were doing some maintenance work on the exchange, and the connection has worked without fail for about a week now. So basically, my experience has been average.
There are some problems, though:
There is no service manual as such, unless you go digging through their website to find it. Once found, the manual is quite extensive and helpful.
Server is not always available.
The router needs manual configuration to use many popular ports.
The plans, in relation with the speeds, are outrageously over-priced. I downloaded 130 MB of my 750 MB limit in the first two days. I have had to cut down all my music downloading, since then.
The data counter seems to be like a Bombay taxi-meter. It ticks at an improbable speed. A normal day, where I check my email, visit forums and do chat and absolutely NO downloading ends up having a usage of 10 MB. That gives me potentially 15 MB for downloading.
The customer service is so bad, that they might as well not have one.
All in all, it is pleasant to see broadband internet finally permeating India. Unfortunately, the high access speeds are simply because lack of subscribers. I’m sure that as more people sign up in Malabar Hill, my download speeds will decrease by a high percentage. Currently I am able to download data at around 30 KBps, using P2P software. That’s all for this review. It’s really your choice. :) It seems things differ from location to location. If you are willing to risk the high initial marginal cost, then you might as well go for it.