Dananjay Anandan wrote this article.
Today, I entrusted my internet connectivity to Airtel Broadband. For the last five months or so I've been having trouble with my ISP. The connection is brought over a cable that is strung up alongside telephone posts and at least once every few weeks it gets cut and we lose connectivity for a few days.
Sometimes it was just half a day but a few times it took over four days for the problem to be rectified. Otherwise, the service has been great. The speed is consistent, the link is solid and the billing has been accurate mostly. Though there was this one time when I had to persistently follow up with the customer service department to have them give me downtime credit for the days there was no service.
Today, I entrusted my internet connectivity to Airtel Broadband. For the last five months or so I've been having trouble with my ISP. The connection is brought over a cable that is strung up alongside telephone posts and at least once every few weeks it gets cut and we lose connectivity for a few days.
Sometimes it was just half a day but a few times it took over four days for the problem to be rectified. Otherwise, the service has been great. The speed is consistent, the link is solid and the billing has been accurate mostly. Though there was this one time when I had to persistently follow up with the customer service department to have them give me downtime credit for the days there was no service.
Earlier this month, Gopinath, a
representative of Airtel Broadband came home and explained that since
he was servicing a few customers on my street he wanted to know if we'd
also be interested. He showed me the plans they were offering and the
tariffs were on par with my current provider.
I then told him I was happy with my current service except for the occasional outages. He then pointed out that their cables ran underground and they would bring the wiring underground right up to the wall of the house.
This sounded good to me. My ISP had strung an unsightly cable from the nearest telephone post on the street to the roof and, of course, since the cable was underground right from the server to the house there was no way they were going to get cut with the alarming regularity that my current connection was prone to.
Also, they were offering a Wi-Fi modem with the plan. This was good news since I'd asked my ISP recently about exchanging my Ethernet-only modem for a wireless one and they insisted that they didn't have a wireless plan.
I did some research online for reviews of their service and found that in general they were good and that their service in this city had also received favourable reports.
Yesterday, I called Gopinath and he promptly brought the necessary forms over and had all the formalities taken care of in a jiffy.
Barely had he left that I found him coming back with two other people. If he had returned any sooner I think he'd have met himself on the way out.
He explained that these men would be here in the morning to dig up around the edge of the house and bring a cable in from the street to the house. And sure enough, first thing in the morning they were there and by 9 O'clock a beautiful ten-pair twisted cable was sticking out from under the ground against the wall.
Then at 1 O'clock another person came over and ran it through a pipe that he fitted on the wall and fixed the outdoor junction box. And at around six, two other people came and ran another smaller concealed cable against the wall, from the junction box to the room. As soon as they left, a technician arrived and fixed the modem, configured the connection on the laptop and I was online!
In case you're wondering why I'm getting so excited about something like this, it's because this sort of service experience has never been very common in India.
And even though I'd switched over to what was essentially the same plan, my throughputs were showing remarkable improvements. I ran a few speed tests and the results verified what I'd sensed.
What's also neat is that if ever I need a really high speed connection I can gear up to 2Mbps with their Speed on Demand option without changing my plan and pay for only what I use. Now, this is more like the broadband I've heard so much about!
I then told him I was happy with my current service except for the occasional outages. He then pointed out that their cables ran underground and they would bring the wiring underground right up to the wall of the house.
This sounded good to me. My ISP had strung an unsightly cable from the nearest telephone post on the street to the roof and, of course, since the cable was underground right from the server to the house there was no way they were going to get cut with the alarming regularity that my current connection was prone to.
Also, they were offering a Wi-Fi modem with the plan. This was good news since I'd asked my ISP recently about exchanging my Ethernet-only modem for a wireless one and they insisted that they didn't have a wireless plan.
I did some research online for reviews of their service and found that in general they were good and that their service in this city had also received favourable reports.
Yesterday, I called Gopinath and he promptly brought the necessary forms over and had all the formalities taken care of in a jiffy.
Barely had he left that I found him coming back with two other people. If he had returned any sooner I think he'd have met himself on the way out.
He explained that these men would be here in the morning to dig up around the edge of the house and bring a cable in from the street to the house. And sure enough, first thing in the morning they were there and by 9 O'clock a beautiful ten-pair twisted cable was sticking out from under the ground against the wall.
Then at 1 O'clock another person came over and ran it through a pipe that he fitted on the wall and fixed the outdoor junction box. And at around six, two other people came and ran another smaller concealed cable against the wall, from the junction box to the room. As soon as they left, a technician arrived and fixed the modem, configured the connection on the laptop and I was online!
In case you're wondering why I'm getting so excited about something like this, it's because this sort of service experience has never been very common in India.
And even though I'd switched over to what was essentially the same plan, my throughputs were showing remarkable improvements. I ran a few speed tests and the results verified what I'd sensed.
What's also neat is that if ever I need a really high speed connection I can gear up to 2Mbps with their Speed on Demand option without changing my plan and pay for only what I use. Now, this is more like the broadband I've heard so much about!
Excellent review, Dananjay!
What sort of speeds were you getting with your old service?
Are there any sites your have trouble hitting with your new connection? Do you have a bandwidth limit per month? Are any ports blocked?
Thank you, David!
My old connection was maxing out between 230-280kbps both ways.
So far, there are no particular sites that I've experienced any trouble with. There are no bandwidth caps and no blocked ports!
I'm so glad for you, Dananjay! When you want to burst to 2MB -- how does that happen? Do you have to ask for it? Or do you invoke it from your computer?
David, I can do it from my computer. I just go to their website and follow the links!
Very neat, Dananjay! And how long does that speed boost last? A day? An hour? Or is it permanent?
It really is, David! it lasts as long as i need, when i'm done i just have to go and switch it back to the base speed.
That's an awesome speed Dananjay! I envy you! Grand review too!
Thanks, Katha! Yes, I wasn't expecting it so it did come as a pleasant surprise!
Fantastic service - I especially love the speed boost option. Enjoy :)
Hi Nicola,
I haven't tried it yet, but it sure is a good thing to have!
I'm so glad you're flying now. It makes a big difference to go fast on the web. You spend less time waiting.
Thank you, Anne! I agree! And the fact that the house is now wi-fi enabled has also made things a lot better as well.