One of my friend asked to me once, “What are the two things you don’t like about computers?” I said, “A slow computer and a slow internet connection, they really piss me off”. And the latter seems to be ‘stalking’ me all the times, no matter where I go or what technologically advanced the ISPs are.
Back when it all started, there was only one speed available - 56Kbps - the dial up. At that time, I didn’t have any choice but to wait hours and hours for a page to load, sometimes even to get connected. Even the internet café’s offered dialup or sometimes ISDN, which was not much better.
Then came the cable. The first cable connection I used had a speed of 64Kbps. It wasn’t much better either. But the best part was the fact that it was unlimited. I read somewhere that broadband means both high-speed and seamless connectivity. The cable belonged more to the ‘seamless connectivity’ category (Don’t get confused, there were lot of outages also, but as compared to the speed, there was connectivity most of the times). Still there was one problem – the download limit. I never was a cable subscriber myself, but I really hated (and still do) the idea of putting a download limit on the connection. It’s like giving something you like and telling don’t use it. (This is applicable only to power users I guess)
Fed up by all this, I promised myself that if I am ever going to take an internet connection, I’ll get the one with max speed with no download limit. That day came when I moved to Bangalore. I subscribed the 256Kbps Home ULplus plan from BSNL, which was the max speed unlimited connection offered at that time. (Most of my readers are familiar with the story of getting that one). When they came up with the 512Kbps plan, I immediately switched to it. But it doesn’t matter what speed they offered in their ads, always the speed was intermittent. I had no choice but stay with the same connection as there were no other providers in that area. I felt jealous about my friends who had Airtel connections because of their stability. They gave a constant speed (at least when I used them). Whenever I heard about the stories of connections abroad (from my friends), I wanted to experience it myself. Then again I reminded myself, I am still in India, and lucky to have a decent internet connection.
Then I moved here. And one thing I was very optimistic was that I will be able to browse as much as I want with the broadband link speed not being a bottleneck. I was proved wrong the first day itself since the place I stayed had a wireless (3G based) internet. It was worse than the one I used to have in Bangalore. I couldn’t stand it, the next week itself, I subscribed a new 3Mbps unlimited broadband (ADSL) from Singtel. They said that the first week will be a bit rough as the traffic has to adjust and some crap. But as they said, after one week, I started getting steady high speed internet. I really enjoyed using it. The internet speed never became a bottleneck for any of my normal routines. I thought that the bad days are over.
But that thought didn’t last long. For last one month, I am continuously calling my service provider’s customer care centre about the intermittent connection. I have a 3Mbps connection and sometimes it even takes up to 30+ minutes to download a 1MB file (based on the speed test suggested by the customer care executive). Sometimes I have to wait for long times even to load the google.com. Think about that. It’s not consistently slow also. And guess what, a technician came last week and did something (what he did, he didn’t reveal) and for 3 days the connection was fine. Again I have to start calling the customer care. As things currently stand, there is another technician’s visit planned for the coming weekend.
Its really pissing me off. Is it so hard to provide a consistent broadband connection? I am also familiar with the data networking and related fields and based on what I know, if you have the right equipment and if they are under the correct permitted load, it’s not that difficult to provide a good link. It’s not that they are doing a charity but I am paying the internet bills promptly every month. What would they say if I started paying the bills intermittently? I wonder sometimes, Is it just me or is every broadband consumer faces similar experiences?
Back when it all started, there was only one speed available - 56Kbps - the dial up. At that time, I didn’t have any choice but to wait hours and hours for a page to load, sometimes even to get connected. Even the internet café’s offered dialup or sometimes ISDN, which was not much better.
Then came the cable. The first cable connection I used had a speed of 64Kbps. It wasn’t much better either. But the best part was the fact that it was unlimited. I read somewhere that broadband means both high-speed and seamless connectivity. The cable belonged more to the ‘seamless connectivity’ category (Don’t get confused, there were lot of outages also, but as compared to the speed, there was connectivity most of the times). Still there was one problem – the download limit. I never was a cable subscriber myself, but I really hated (and still do) the idea of putting a download limit on the connection. It’s like giving something you like and telling don’t use it. (This is applicable only to power users I guess)
Fed up by all this, I promised myself that if I am ever going to take an internet connection, I’ll get the one with max speed with no download limit. That day came when I moved to Bangalore. I subscribed the 256Kbps Home ULplus plan from BSNL, which was the max speed unlimited connection offered at that time. (Most of my readers are familiar with the story of getting that one). When they came up with the 512Kbps plan, I immediately switched to it. But it doesn’t matter what speed they offered in their ads, always the speed was intermittent. I had no choice but stay with the same connection as there were no other providers in that area. I felt jealous about my friends who had Airtel connections because of their stability. They gave a constant speed (at least when I used them). Whenever I heard about the stories of connections abroad (from my friends), I wanted to experience it myself. Then again I reminded myself, I am still in India, and lucky to have a decent internet connection.
Then I moved here. And one thing I was very optimistic was that I will be able to browse as much as I want with the broadband link speed not being a bottleneck. I was proved wrong the first day itself since the place I stayed had a wireless (3G based) internet. It was worse than the one I used to have in Bangalore. I couldn’t stand it, the next week itself, I subscribed a new 3Mbps unlimited broadband (ADSL) from Singtel. They said that the first week will be a bit rough as the traffic has to adjust and some crap. But as they said, after one week, I started getting steady high speed internet. I really enjoyed using it. The internet speed never became a bottleneck for any of my normal routines. I thought that the bad days are over.
But that thought didn’t last long. For last one month, I am continuously calling my service provider’s customer care centre about the intermittent connection. I have a 3Mbps connection and sometimes it even takes up to 30+ minutes to download a 1MB file (based on the speed test suggested by the customer care executive). Sometimes I have to wait for long times even to load the google.com. Think about that. It’s not consistently slow also. And guess what, a technician came last week and did something (what he did, he didn’t reveal) and for 3 days the connection was fine. Again I have to start calling the customer care. As things currently stand, there is another technician’s visit planned for the coming weekend.
Its really pissing me off. Is it so hard to provide a consistent broadband connection? I am also familiar with the data networking and related fields and based on what I know, if you have the right equipment and if they are under the correct permitted load, it’s not that difficult to provide a good link. It’s not that they are doing a charity but I am paying the internet bills promptly every month. What would they say if I started paying the bills intermittently? I wonder sometimes, Is it just me or is every broadband consumer faces similar experiences?
2 comments:
I couldn't stop smirking when I read "I am also familiar with the data networking and related fields"!
How far away have you gone from the tech world and how much murkier is the business world getting? :-)
ha ha ha! I just wanted to portray myself as a layman there, also didnt want to bore anyone with any tech details.. :)
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