Sify Iway is promoted by SIFY Ltd, Formally owned by SATYAM Computers Ltd. Its a chain of Internet cafe’s across the country. I thing they were in the business for the past 3-4 years. I took a SIFY Iway membership during the second year (2001) of my B.Tech while doing some Industrial Training in Chennai and I’m still using it occasionally.
Membership: There is a basic membership for which you will be allotted a Login & password thru a secret mailer (Like ATM PIN) and a membership card. You can top up your account by paying the Iway Manager. It works more like a prepaid Mobile connection. The top up has a validity period after which the money in your account gets invalid. The Membership is valid throughout India and you can just walk in and user the terminal.
There a many top ups which you can choose depending on your need and usage pattern. They detect the tax and service charge and the rest is credited to your account. Some promotional offers like recharging from the same Iway gives you extra Hours for browsing.
Cost: the Billing is done on Time slots of 15 Mins. Three browsing modes are offered. Video, Browsing and chatting and the cost also differs. This is a cool feature as for simple chatting you can pay less. The cost for an hour differs based on City and time. Normally It’s 20 – 30 Bucks for an Hour which is nominal considering the features. Happy Hours is also available.
Speed: The speed is normal and better than a dialup. The effective speed may vary depending in the ppl in the Iway, More ppl – Less speed.
Add on features: They also offer Internet telephony thru which you can make international calls at 4-6 Bucks / minute and this also works the same way as Iway membership. Printing and scanning is also offered at nominal rates though it’s not a part of the membership. You need to pay in cash separately for that.
Computers / Ambiance: The Computers are normal, basic ones with CRT monitors, all basic software and come in a specially designed cubicle, which provides privacy (Not the cabin type, Sorry LoveBirds!) as well as make sure you don’t walk away with the CPU / Hard disk !
Mostly the I ways are air conditioned, but its not a mandatory thing as the franchise owner pays from his own pocket for it.
Security: the History is deleted as one logs out and so are the cookies. These are managed automatically and suited for Internet Shopping / Trading purposes.
Overall: A nice concept to harness the franchise model. Compare with the net café next door and decide. But the advantages are Secured browsing and No worries on Spying / Key logging. But the Ambiance, Workstation condition and user friendly staff is specific to the branch / franchise and SIFY has no control over it.
Tips:
Have Look at the keyboards, if you are not an expert in typing as some letters may be erased and so is with the monitor. If you have specific need as headphones, USB drives, ask before signing in as, each sign in will be debited from your account.
Try Reliance web worlds.. Which offer a different experience altogether, with It’s own issues. I’ll write a seperate review on that later.