A lot of my friends with MTNL triband connection have started using VOIP. Due to reasobaly good bandwidth (not during monsoon) , the voice quality is superb. At the end of the month a few of my friends noticed that they were being charged for downloads that were over and above the 400 Mb monthly limit despite the fact that they rarely used the computer (except to make VOIP calls).
It is important to realize that VOIP typically results in about one Mb of data being downloaded every two minutes. Thus, imagine you are talking to a friend in Mumbai using say skype (which is free). If your friend is also using Tri Band, than he/she too will download approx one Mb every two minutes. If you speak say 20 minutes that’s 10 Mb added to both accounts. If you have subscribed to the combo plan and have previously used up the allotted 400Mb per month, then this 20 minute conversation would have cost each of you Re 1/- x 10 = Re 10.00 (currently MTNL charges Re 1/- per additional Mb of download) Now if you had used a regular landline or a mobile, only the calling party has to foot the bill. With MTNL’s Tri Band - both parties foot the bill and MTNL ends up laughing all the way to the bank.
If you were using a VOIP calling card then you pay by the minute + download charges (so add 50 paise per minute to calculate net call cost). How do you find out how much you have downloaded and what is the likely impact on your monthly bill?
If you are a Triband subscriber, then you log on at: https://register.mtnl.net.in/ and click on ’’Account Summary’’ a more detailed report is the ’’session details’’. The reports are by no means user friendly but hey, at least some information is available. (Considering that this is a govt. co.) On the technical side, MTNL’s Triband is good (except in the monsoons). But their customer service stinks. God forbid if you every need to upgrade from Combo to some other plan... So if you are someone who makes or is planning to make a lot of VOIP calls, you might want to consider subscribing to a higher plan. For an extra Rs 90 per month, you could get TriB 590 NU* which offers 1Gb download and unlimited downloads between mid-night and 8 am. All in all, MTNL’s Triband is cost effective and quality is not bad.
Update added on 08/Jun/2006:
Since the download limit of 400Mb per month was too less, I upgraded my plan from Combo (phone + internet for Rs 500 per month) to 512Kbps plan which permitted 1Gb download. After the upgrade, <u>my bandwidth improved but never crossed 112Kbps and during the monsoons, am lucky to get even 60Kbps !!</u>
- Please check https://mumbai.mtnl.net.in/triband/htm/tariff.htm#tariff for the latest plan names and tarrif as these keep changing every second day.