Hidden costs in In2Cable's service. Review on Choosing a Cable Modem Service Provider

I have been a client of In2Cable in Bangalore for almost two years now. Having lived in the US and having had a cable modem subscription with a 1.5Mbps download speed cap for the same price as a 64kbps connection in Bangalore, I was clearly very unhappy when I signed up with In2Cable, but I really didn't have much of a choice. For several years now I have seen companies dig up all the roads in and around Bangalore several times over for the purpose of laying fiber optic cable, but I have yet to see even a single one of these services reach regular households. To be very clear, the ISP situation in India is absolutely pathetic, but it's all we've got, and we have to choose the best from what we've got.

Okay, I needed to get that aside, just so you know where I am coming from. Over two years, I have noticed a few worrying trends with In2Cable that I would like to publicize here. It is possible these trends are also apparent with other broadband ISPs.

The first trend is that of value for money. The subscription rates have actually gone up very very slightly. The cheapest connection, a single 64kbps one, is still the same as it was two years ago. But the other subscription rates are a little higher now. Also the discounts for bulk subscriptions (1-year or over) have been reduced for all but the cheapest connection, so the overall cost is higher. However the cost increase is still very small. So why am I concerned about value for money?

The answer is that the restrictions on each account have increased significantly over the last two years. The most important restriction is that of total monthly data transfer. In Bangalore, the maximum monthly data transfer allowed is 600MB at a cost of Rs 1100/- per month, whereas in Mumbai it is Rs 900/- per month for 500MB. This pricing change was made AFTER I signed up with In2Cable, without any notification to me. One fine day I just received a big fat bill charging me for data transfer in excess of 600 MB. I need broadband because I do more than check email every day. I like using voice-chat with friends and relatives all around the world. I browse a lot of websites and download a lot of music, pictures, and movies. The 600MB data transfer is ridiculous, let's see why.

If I connect at 64kbps (8 KB/s) for just ONE hour every day (I usually am online for 6 hours or more), and if I am using that full bandwidth for that one hour, then my total data transfer for the whole month is:

8KB/s * 3600 sec/hr * 1hr/day * 30 days = 864000 KB = 864 MB.

Okay so I've exceeded my 500 MB data transfer limit. The charge on excess data transfer is Rs 2/- per MB. Which amounts to:

(864 - 600) * Rs 2 = Rs 528/-

Okay, so with a 24-hour (always-on) broadband connection which I am supposed to be able to use all day long, I am still charged Rs 528 + Rs 1100 = Rs 1628 per month.

And I have only transferred 864 MB. If I need to download the latest Redhat Linux, I need to pay another 600MB * Rs 2 = Rs 1200/-. So, what I am pointing out is that according to the fine print, you are liable to pay a LOT LOT LOT more money that you initially bargain for.

Now usually In2Cable will not charge you for small excesses like 864MB instead of 600 MB, BUT you will end up downloading 2 GB or 4 GB one particular month, and then....

BOOM!

Your mailbox will explode with a bill from In2Cable of about Rs 6000/- or even more. Suddenly. Because they just decided to enforce their data transfer limit. Randomly. Poor you. I'm not being paranoid. It's happened to me.

Seriously, if you're In2Cable, either enforce 64kbps, OR enforce total data transfer. Don't enforce both. OR at least be realistic with the data transfer limit. If all I want to do is check email, which is all that the 600 MB data transfer limit allows, I can just use a dialup connection. For email, dialup isn't all that bad. Compared to the nonsense that In2Cable has put me through. And the dialup companies don't throw surprise Rs 6000/- bills at you.

Anyway, this is the hidden cost that I want to point out. In2Cable will let you go if your data transfer is only a little over the maximum ''contract'' limit, but they will empty your bank account if you ever dare to ignore that limit. No matter which ISP you choose, check on the data transfer limit.

And of course there is the big problem with the special In2Cable client that you need to install, and the restriction on VPN's because of that client. However that problem has been discussed in depth in the review by bkganesh.

Incidentally the In2Cable client contains programs called restart.exe and restart2.exe. Does anybody smell trojan? If you would like to try open-source alternative clients, search on Google for Slyberoam (for Windows/.NET) and linc (for Linux).