On Wed, 2006-05-03 at 13:27 +0000, Dinesh Joshi wrote:
Hi,
It seems that BSNL has launched an unlimited 256Kbps connection(http://bsnl.co.in/newsdetailed.php?news_id=296). The cost is 900 bucks a month and it includes a landline at zero rental. MTNL has also launched its version of unlimited 256Kbps connection at 1399 bucks
Did not find a 1399 plan @ http://mumbai.mtnl.net.in/triband/htm/tariff.htm maybe MTNL Delhi has it. If so, why not in Mumbai?
a month. Unlimited connection mean no caps on data or time and an always on connection. Now why are the Mumbai subscribers being left behind? Hopefully they should be launching an unlimited scheme soon.
Let me take a guess - the powers that are @ MTNL Mumbai are like ostriches - hide their heads in the sand and ...
Anyway, the reason for this post is that I see many people using MTNL Triband connections. I was wondering if they could give me some heads up on the quality of Triband. I have heard that their upside is that they good speeds & uptime but their down side is pathetic customer care. Is that correct? On a 256K connection do you guys get constant 30-32KBps speeds or do they drop?
Beware of advertised speeds. The 256Kbps includes the bits of the link layer (ATM) over which the IP stack is initialized. This could be affected by the line quality and how far you are from the Tel. Exchg. At the ATM level I do get 256K/256K and file transfer rates of 25-27 KB/s.
What say you guys? Any good / bad experiences? Tips? Please let me know.
Occasionally, you will face timeouts to sites (in my case Yahoo! pop/mail server) as well as DNS time outs from their DNS server (I run bind on my desktop). Regardless of what others say, _obey_ MTNL's advice of rebooting your modem @ 00:00 and 08:00 hours if you go with the NU plan. Otherwise, you could find yourself in a hole with "Additional usage" charges. Also, visit register.mtnl.net.in at end of month and print the "Account Summary" page which lists your DSL plan and the "Session History" for the month - useful to resolve any billing errors. One month, MTNL charged me @ the DSL499 plan (online showed NU!) and then charged me "additional usage" for the all the downloads (GBs) I had done during the NU hours! In case of billing errors, do not waste time with the local exchange or even the Broadband GM's office - write directly to the ED. Another thing, you will have to cough up the entire amount even if they are wrong o/w you will face their wrath and have the line disconnected. Technically, the service is as good as it can get but on customer service it sucks BIG time. Hope you do not run into billing snafus (you will be ignored) where customer service does matter.
HTH
-- Arun Khan (knura at yahoo dot com) Every nonzero finite dimensional inner product space has an orthonormal basis. It makes sense, when you don't think about it.