Well, This is how I used to describe VSNL sometime back, exactly in 1997. But I think when the Tata took over VSNL, they have made some good upgrades and now it is pretty much ok. I have been using VSNL Dial-up since 1997. Here are the bandwidth I got since then
1997 - From Durgapur (W.B) - 22 Kbps(this was through DOT)
1998 - -do- - 30 Kbps(Actual VSNL Calcutta)
1999 - -do- - 30 Kbps(Actual VSNL Calcutta)
2000 - From Chennai (T.N) - 36 Kbps
2001 - From Chennai (T.N) - 33-40Kbps
2002 - From Bangalore - 48-50 Kbps
2003 - From Bangalore - 56Kbps
(Yesterday It went to 66Kbps at 1am midnight!!!)
Without wasting much time let me go to the Pros and Cons
Pros:
Good reliability, less connection drops
Very few times connection errors, atleast in a day.
Never had to listen to Engaged Tone
If it says 56 Kbps, it will give 7-8Kbps Download speed in Download Accelarator!!!
No mail bounces, atleast for me I never faced such problem
One connection, accessible across india. Mine is sill cal.vsnl.net.in
Cons:
Pathetic Customer Service.
If it gives connection error, dont try for atleast 2 hours. Means when it goes down, it goes big time..
Mail doesnt bounce but it takes looooooong time to reach the inbox.
Suddenly when you are working everything stops, then you need to reconnect.
WORST Renewal Feature. When VSNL was with Govt, whenever you renew your account, the existing hours got added to the new set. Here it just vanishes!!! The worst part is Helpdesk Calcutta told me it wouldnt, but when I complained the same guy said its not so and blissfully ignored my last 2 mails.
Verdict
If you want a ISP that has good connectivity, cheaper but you can live with bad customer service, Only then go for this....