Choosing the right ISP. Review on Choosing a Wireless ISP

Well well well, I think its time I wrote down my experiences with the ISP's. I have had loads of them, until I stuck down to one, I trust more than anything else. My journey to the internet started in October 2000 when I purchased my 3rd computer a celeron 600, and I still use it. I had a bsnl dial up account during those days. A monthly bill of 3000/- was just an average I used to get in those days.

Then came the world of DSL from BSNL, I was overjoyed with the service as it was a pilot project and started from Amritsar. The first 8 months was a happy period for me, I got addicted to downloading movies and music videos from the net, but then came the hammer, they shifted the plan from 1800 unlimited to 3 plan rates, namely 850 per month for a 512 MB download, 1800 per month for a 1.5 GB download, and 6000 per month for an unlimited download.

In November I joined my fourth professional job as a programmer at Kochar InfoTech, Amritsar (consultants to Bharti Mobile for GPRS product). Here I got to learn about the GPRS product though I was still skeptical about it. Then came the bombshell from BSNL, they shifted from IP based network to PPP based network.

This was the time when their promised speed of 128 kbps came down drastically, more so I started clocking 1600 to 1900 in monthly bills on DIAS.

From March 2004, I shifted over to Airtel GPRS and have not looked back since, I received a 600 per month unlimited package, plus 225 per month in terms of post paid rentals, I made a calculation that 900 per month is not bad in terms of unlimited download. And when I made a calculation on the average amount of download I make over a month it came to 4.5GB, that too on GPRS.

I have downloaded Terminator 3, Atlantis - The Lost Empire, Legally Blonde 2, Spiderman, and Spiderman 2, and many others, including loads of music videos both hindi and english. I currently find Airtel GPRS as the best and the most affordable ISP for heavy download users.

I also find it a special mention that since I am also working as R & D head at kochar infotech - https://kochar.com/team.asp , I made a lots of changes on my handset including building a ratchet using broken parts of a yagi antenna, which boosted my signal strength, and thus the speeds I get on GPRS by almost 300%.

The basics are innovate or die, this works in case of all wireless ISP's, you need to help yourselves when it comes to boosting speeds. Also there are certain secrets best known to programmers which help in boosting speeds which I do not plan to share.

I also took time to try the Hutch network, which I find is currently in its infancy stage in Punjab, though in terms of network it might cross Airtel in a year or two. It needs special mention that any wireless provider takes a minimum of 2 years to be able to provide the best services, you need to understand their shortcommings and innovate working plans to get around them. There are special signal booster products available worldwide which can boost the signal strength of your mobile phones, so as to reduce your complaints with your providers. Since the handset is yours, it is your duty to locate and buy these boosters as per the specifications of your handset.

Grey market boosters are just for window showcasing, they offer no practical help. What I have written in this review are my personal practical experiences and not for the purpose of marketing for Airtel, that is a different matter that I have least complaints with Airtel, because when I have a problem all I have to do is to give a ring to the concerned department directly.