It shouldn't be this difficult. Getting online took nearly 6 months, staying online is hair-pulling. Internet here is very frustrating. There are several ISPs to choose from but what sucks is that none of them are "good", there's something wrong with every one of them.
- BSNL (our current ISP) - Government guys, means the facilities and the people are run down. They don't get off their @$$ for anyone. Internet goes off about twice a week, and is slow about 40% of the time. Call to lodge a complaint, as they instruct, and IF the line isn't busy, you'll get someone on the other line telling you to call someone else, here's the number, blahblah. So you call that number and it's dead, call them back and they give you another number. That number no one answers. This repeats until you just give up and wait for it to come back on, or to speed up. After some time you really don't know if the complaint you were actually able to leave, will actually do any good anyway, because they don't know what the problem is to "fix" it. Just in case you're wondering, we haven't quit them because they are the fastest option in the area, when it's fast. The package is "up to 8Mbs" Leaves them a little play in the line huh?
- Reliance - Worthless. Maximum speed is 2Mbs on Land Line and 3.1Mbs on USB, Support will not listen to you unless you have fullfilled their protocol list, reboot, reinstall; after that you're on your own, poor technology, may over-charge you and will fight to the death to give money back. They offer a USB device for mobile connectivity. Barely works with Windows Vista, and not at all with Windows 7, crashes non-stop after 6months. Don't even get me started on the Fair Usage Policy they hide behind. They get their kicks from marketing and selling an "unlimited" plan but you can't exceed 10GB a month. Do the math on that one and hit me back if you figure it out.
- AirTel - Up to 16Mbs, nearly American standards. Have no idea how they are, they're not in this city. :*(
- TATA - Maximum 2Mbs landline, and 3.1Mbs on USB, heard better things for customer support and up time, cost is a bit higher, but seems to only be useful for mobile.
Ranting is over, I'm burned out. May have something good to write about next time.