Jan 24, 2007 03:42 PM
4151 Views
Will you believe it when I tell you that getting a BroadBand Connection in Indianow a days is as easy as taking out coke from your refridgerator - open it and gulp it down? No?? Yes? you should. And its no more expensive than a Crate of Coke - Trust me on that.
Or else better check out my experience with Airtel BroadBand.
One fine morning when I landed back in Hyderabad(if you had a chance to read my last review you must be aware of the same that I work from home) - after almost staying back home with my parents for more than 3 months+. When I went home I was alone and came back with wifey darling and a one and half month old daughter. Now the biggest worry I had was - will I be getting a good broadband in here too? same like the one I had back home(BSNL). Spoke to BSNL babu's and came to know that since I dont have a landline - first I need to get a landline and than I can apply for a BroadBand connection - so that was a strict no no for me as I didnt had time. I had to start from the day I land here.
I called up Airtel guys and they promptly sent their surveyor in about one hour from my call, he looked at our building and declared that they have a hub in here and providing connection to me wont be an issue.
Next a sales guy comes in(the day is friday) and fills up a simple form, takes 500/-from me and goes off with documents, he tells me that I will be getting a land line a whole lot of deals with it, I had no idea what he is talking about as all I wanted was a BroadBand connection and to hell with a local land line.
Nobody speaks to me rest of the day and I know they dont work on saturdays, Monday moring I get a call for address verification, done. Still nobody comes. I go to my frieds home with my laptop and router and open my shop for the day.
Tuesday morning I get a call from airtel customer care promising that they will be fixing up the connection today.
Some line man came and drilled the cable in from my bedroom window, but does it in a way too professional manner than I expected, they hide the cable all the way from window to the area I tell them to and leave almost like a 20 metre extra cable too.
Wifey gets 3-4 pictures tagged to the bedroom wall too and they do it just like that with a smile on the face. Wow Airtel.
Wednesday I get my router fixed and the telephone instrument with a caller id is fixed too - now the installation guys has to do something from their server room to make them work and bravo - on Thursday morning the fone rings and they give me an ip address to configure the net as well.
That full week my friend proved that a friend in need is a friend in deed, As everyday I used to go to his home to work.
Now, Ready to surf the net @ 256 KBPS with unlimited data download, the router provided has two slots - One Ethernet and another USB - but the catch is one will work at a time and both will not work in one go. No worries - 500/- more and I get a good Zebronic 8 port hub, although I have only two computers and a voip phone so remaining 5 slots are still empty - if any of you want to come to my home for some free internet surfing - please do so - no worries.
I got a fixed land line with the broadband which has no rent at all, this is a good instrument with caller id, speaker fone, hold, mute, and 20 memory options and all that.
Apart from this they have offered calls from this land line to any one Airtel Post Paid number(Local) absolutely free both ways for life - I gifted a Post Paid connection to Dad the same day. 3 Local cell numbers(Any company) are absolutely free one way that I can call them as much as I want and One STD number anywhere in India at 1/- a minute for the first three months. And after completion of 3 months - I will get all these services if I want to @ 199/- a month - I am sure that I am gonna continue it.
Surfing speed is damn good as I have uptil now downloaded something like 15 Movies and 5 GB's of Music Videos, apart from the usual office and home work. Although its a 256 KBPS connection but the usual data download speed what I get is something in the range of 30-35 KBPS which my techy friend Ravi says is perfectly good speed. Even back home I was getting around 40 KBPS download speed by BSNL - So I am kindda convinced on that part.
Customer care is damn goodas I had some issues with the fone instrument and they promptly changed the instrument without any fuss.
The only shortfall here in case of airtel is that you cannot pay its bill online - you've got to visit the nearest centre every month for bill payment.
Can you ask for anything more in just 500/-? I dont think so. Monthly cost is 999/-+ taxes and including the 1/- calls made by my wifey to her cousin - the total bill till this day in last 3 months has not crossed 1250/- at max.
I am sure Airtel must be the best BroadBand connection as of now wherever it is available, as I heard that its not available everywhere.
My recommendationis - if in case you want a broadband and airtel is available - go for it guys - I assure you that you wont regret it - just bear with them till they come and install it as that can take sometime.
Ratings and comments are more than welcome as always.
