Broadband connectivity in Pune

RX135 · 9th June 2006, 18:40

I am now tired of Reliance's slow dialup connectivity at home. I am planning to get broadband connection to work from home. I tried following so far:

BSNL DataOne - This was my first choice since I have a telephone exchange near by home. I registered on net 2 times, no one turned up. I called 1500 to register. She said someone will call back and check feasibility for your home. More than a week passed, haven't heard anything back from them. Typical govt. company attitude and it sucks!
Hathway - I have Hathway cable TV at home and I thought having broadband from same service provide will help. I am planning to go for 512kbps plan.

Now my questions:

Do they differ in quality? DataOne is ADSL, while Hathway is through cable.
Does distance/location play big role?
Although they have claimed speeds upto 512kbps, their engineer says I can get only upto 80%, which is fair enough. But, how do I ensure that I get that. Should I trust engineer's word for that? I don't want to get stuck with a pathetic connection for 6 months. I have heard some horror stories from my colleagues.
Any other better service providers than mentioned above?

Disclaimer: I have "search"ed relevant threads, but didn't find any thread which fulfills my requirements.

Minardi · 9th June 2006, 19:14

i have both hathway (512 kbps) and MTNL (256 kbps) broadband. The average speed of MTNL is faster though.

My parents in Pune have DataOne, and they didn't go through the trouble
you seem to be going through.

Here in Mumbai at least, there is a shortage of modems, so if you can buy yourself and tell the MTNL guys about it, they immediately give connections. I suspect that may be the case in Pune as well.

M

adya33 · 9th June 2006, 19:36

Hey RX, I have BSNL DataOne 512kbps at home.
It works fine. However sometime in the evening there is some problem with connectivity. It generally gets sorted within half an hour.
As for speeds I do get around 50kBps when downloading files.

One of my friend had Hathway internet connection, 64kbps. It also was working fine. Which he had taken from local cable operator & not from Hathway directly. The biggest downside was whenever electricity at his cable operators used to go his connection died.

Quote:

Does distance/location play big role?

For ADSL the closer the better.

Quote:

Although they have claimed speeds upto 512kbps, their engineer says I can get only upto 80%, which is fair enough. But, how do I ensure that I get that. Should I trust engineer's word for that? I don't want to get stuck with a pathetic connection for 6 months. I have heard some horror stories from my colleagues.

For dataone yes, you do get good browsing speeds.

Quote:

Any other better service providers than mentioned above?

Reliance broadband?

hkanitkar · 10th June 2006, 00:51

hey man..
BSNL connection's good enough but the waiting period is too much nowadays due to shortage of Modems ( *** ??? )
I have been pushing around BSNL guys for some time now but they are not allowing me to get the modem by myself ( again *** ??? )

Go for Hathway .. heard from some friends that its quite good.
There are some other services like IQARA, SIFY etc.
I have Iqara at my place and it works pretty fine... PMing you their contact no.

tsk1979 · 10th June 2006, 13:52

Hi RX when you are working from home speed is just one part of it. You may have a connection which gives you 60KBps download speed(Yes I said Kilobytes) but may be worse than a connection which gives you 25KBps.
This is due to ping times. Before you choose any connection, do a traceroute/ping to your company server. Select the connection with lower ping times. A long ping time would mean that when you type a char on your terminal at home, its going to take a long time to get update on the screen in front of you. IF you are doing lot of unix work like programming etc., it can be frustrating. But if all you do is download stuff locally, make changes and then upload, you want one with the max throughput.
But if you do VNC quite a bit you want something with lower ping times.

Dataone is quite good. Most people have favourable reports. I also a had dataone, but shifted to Airtel as at that time they did not have any unlimited plans.

As for Hathway, I dont know wether you should go for it. MAke sure the give you a public IP and you are not on a subnet.

sajo · 10th June 2006, 18:50

Hey RX, I have a Hathway connection (256kbps) at home, and its okay..at the best. It suddently dies on me every once in a while, and takes hours to reconnect (but it could be area specific, because most of my friends here have the same problem). Still, they start their processes really fast and they did the cabling on the day I paid them, and the connection was activated the next day. But thats maybe because almost my entire building is on Hathway. BSNL made a friend of mine wait for 4 months before giving him a connection. And since you have a hathway cable connection at home, they wont charge you for installation.
But..as far as I can tell, avoid Hathway and go for Sify, simply because of better reliability.

RX135 · 12th June 2006, 12:05

@hkanitkar, thanks for the IQUARA number! I am going to call them (I got another contact in Kothrud). I have BSNL tel. exchange at stone's throw distance. But, they really suck with their attitude.

@tsk, thanks for the info! I am not going to do lot of programming as such. (Unfortunately, they don't let me do that these days. Instead, now a days, I spend most of my time with Excel and Word documents. A real big

)

@everyone else, thanks for the info! I'll update this thread once I make a decision. Looks like, lot depends on how good is your local service provider.

prakash2757 · 13th June 2006, 05:23

If u have just 2 choice. then go for Hathway,

MTNL & BSNL Su** big time in billing. they are worst. Check out for Airtel. I am using it,. Its really worth it.. No problem at all. its been 5 months still not a single downtime, its too good.

sajo · 13th June 2006, 07:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by prakash2757

Check out for Airtel. I am using it,. Its really worth it.. No problem at all. its been 5 months still not a single downtime, its too good.

Is Airtel available in Pune?

hkanitkar · 13th June 2006, 09:31

nopes. Airtel is not available in pune i guess.. but you can use it @ around 170 kbps if you got a EDGE enabled phone and airtel postpaid connection with GPRS active ( thats Rs 150 per month flat -- and no charging as per MBs or Hrs of usage )

prakash2757 · 15th June 2006, 06:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkanitkar

nopes. Airtel is not available in pune i guess.. but you can use it @ around 170 kbps if you got a EDGE enabled phone and airtel postpaid connection with GPRS active ( thats Rs 150 per month flat -- and no charging as per MBs or Hrs of usage )

Are u sure u get 170 Kbps ? Bcoz I dont get it even on my broadband connection

hkanitkar · 15th June 2006, 21:53

@prakash..
yeah.. i do get 170 kbps -- sometimes ( forgot to mention this in the previous post ) - mostly at 4-5 AM if connected thru Edge enabled phone ( 6630 )

RX135 · 26th June 2006, 18:48

Update:

I had eventually opted for Hathway since they promised me quick installation and IQURA didn't have good 512kbps plans. I was promised fast service blah blah. I specifically asked them how long will it take to get the connection. I was told that since I have Hathway cable, I'll get connection fast in 4 days. I agreed and then after almost more than 10 days and numerous phone calls, Hathway tells me that it will take few more days since they don't have amplifier in Kothrud. What crap? Did they not know about it when I had asked very specifically earlier. What disgusted me even more is that, I needed to do follow up like a government office. I told them to send me cheque back at home.

Hathway sucks and it sucks big time.

I'll now be going with either Iquara or BSNL. Let's see how they fare.

airfoil · 26th June 2006, 20:08

I suggest you opt for BSNLs 256kbps unlimited plan, its at Rs. 900 per month.

It is good for around 35kbps download speeds and is quite reliable. Best of all, it isn't affected by power outages in other areas.

adya33 · 26th June 2006, 23:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by RX135

Update:

I had eventually opted for Hathway since they promised me quick installation and IQURA didn't have good 512kbps plans.......................
.....................
Hathway sucks and it sucks big time.

I'll now be going with either Iquara or BSNL. Let's see how they fare.

That's real bad but then again don't be surprised to get similar response elsewhere.
I don't have any experience with Iquara but I could tell you its worth going through follow up in BSNL as in the end it works fine.

9th June 2006, 18:40	#1
RX135 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: pune Posts: 2,106 Thanked: 75 Times	Broadband connectivity in Pune I am now tired of Reliance's slow dialup connectivity at home. I am planning to get broadband connection to work from home. I tried following so far: BSNL DataOne - This was my first choice since I have a telephone exchange near by home. I registered on net 2 times, no one turned up. I called 1500 to register. She said someone will call back and check feasibility for your home. More than a week passed, haven't heard anything back from them. Typical govt. company attitude and it sucks! Hathway - I have Hathway cable TV at home and I thought having broadband from same service provide will help. I am planning to go for 512kbps plan. Now my questions: Do they differ in quality? DataOne is ADSL, while Hathway is through cable. Does distance/location play big role? Although they have claimed speeds upto 512kbps, their engineer says I can get only upto 80%, which is fair enough. But, how do I ensure that I get that. Should I trust engineer's word for that? I don't want to get stuck with a pathetic connection for 6 months. I have heard some horror stories from my colleagues. Any other better service providers than mentioned above? Disclaimer: I have "search"ed relevant threads, but didn't find any thread which fulfills my requirements.
	() Thanks

9th June 2006, 19:14	#2
Minardi BHPian Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Mumbai Posts: 413 Thanked: 15 Times	i have both hathway (512 kbps) and MTNL (256 kbps) broadband. The average speed of MTNL is faster though. My parents in Pune have DataOne, and they didn't go through the trouble you seem to be going through. Here in Mumbai at least, there is a shortage of modems, so if you can buy yourself and tell the MTNL guys about it, they immediately give connections. I suspect that may be the case in Pune as well. M
	() Thanks

10th June 2006, 00:51	#4
hkanitkar BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: pune Posts: 668 Thanked: 109 Times View My Garage	hey man.. BSNL connection's good enough but the waiting period is too much nowadays due to shortage of Modems ( * ??? ) I have been pushing around BSNL guys for some time now but they are not allowing me to get the modem by myself ( again * ??? ) Go for Hathway .. heard from some friends that its quite good. There are some other services like IQARA, SIFY etc. I have Iqara at my place and it works pretty fine... PMing you their contact no.
	() Thanks

10th June 2006, 13:52	#5
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,717 Thanked: 22,812 Times View My Garage	Hi RX when you are working from home speed is just one part of it. You may have a connection which gives you 60KBps download speed(Yes I said Kilobytes) but may be worse than a connection which gives you 25KBps. This is due to ping times. Before you choose any connection, do a traceroute/ping to your company server. Select the connection with lower ping times. A long ping time would mean that when you type a char on your terminal at home, its going to take a long time to get update on the screen in front of you. IF you are doing lot of unix work like programming etc., it can be frustrating. But if all you do is download stuff locally, make changes and then upload, you want one with the max throughput. But if you do VNC quite a bit you want something with lower ping times. Dataone is quite good. Most people have favourable reports. I also a had dataone, but shifted to Airtel as at that time they did not have any unlimited plans. As for Hathway, I dont know wether you should go for it. MAke sure the give you a public IP and you are not on a subnet.
	() Thanks

10th June 2006, 18:50	#6
sajo Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 2,625 Thanked: 1,153 Times	Hey RX, I have a Hathway connection (256kbps) at home, and its okay..at the best. It suddently dies on me every once in a while, and takes hours to reconnect (but it could be area specific, because most of my friends here have the same problem). Still, they start their processes really fast and they did the cabling on the day I paid them, and the connection was activated the next day. But thats maybe because almost my entire building is on Hathway. BSNL made a friend of mine wait for 4 months before giving him a connection. And since you have a hathway cable connection at home, they wont charge you for installation. But..as far as I can tell, avoid Hathway and go for Sify, simply because of better reliability.
	() Thanks

12th June 2006, 12:05	#7
RX135 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: pune Posts: 2,106 Thanked: 75 Times	@hkanitkar, thanks for the IQUARA number! I am going to call them (I got another contact in Kothrud). I have BSNL tel. exchange at stone's throw distance. But, they really suck with their attitude. @tsk, thanks for the info! I am not going to do lot of programming as such. (Unfortunately, they don't let me do that these days. Instead, now a days, I spend most of my time with Excel and Word documents. A real big ) @everyone else, thanks for the info! I'll update this thread once I make a decision. Looks like, lot depends on how good is your local service provider.
	() Thanks

13th June 2006, 05:23	#8
prakash2757 BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 90 Thanked: Once	If u have just 2 choice. then go for Hathway, MTNL & BSNL Su** big time in billing. they are worst. Check out for Airtel. I am using it,. Its really worth it.. No problem at all. its been 5 months still not a single downtime, its too good.
	() Thanks

13th June 2006, 09:31	#10
hkanitkar BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: pune Posts: 668 Thanked: 109 Times View My Garage	nopes. Airtel is not available in pune i guess.. but you can use it @ around 170 kbps if you got a EDGE enabled phone and airtel postpaid connection with GPRS active ( thats Rs 150 per month flat -- and no charging as per MBs or Hrs of usage )
	() Thanks

15th June 2006, 21:53	#12
hkanitkar BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: pune Posts: 668 Thanked: 109 Times View My Garage	@prakash.. yeah.. i do get 170 kbps -- sometimes ( forgot to mention this in the previous post ) - mostly at 4-5 AM if connected thru Edge enabled phone ( 6630 )
	() Thanks

26th June 2006, 18:48	#13
RX135 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: pune Posts: 2,106 Thanked: 75 Times	Update: I had eventually opted for Hathway since they promised me quick installation and IQURA didn't have good 512kbps plans. I was promised fast service blah blah. I specifically asked them how long will it take to get the connection. I was told that since I have Hathway cable, I'll get connection fast in 4 days. I agreed and then after almost more than 10 days and numerous phone calls, Hathway tells me that it will take few more days since they don't have amplifier in Kothrud. What crap? Did they not know about it when I had asked very specifically earlier. What disgusted me even more is that, I needed to do follow up like a government office. I told them to send me cheque back at home. Hathway sucks and it sucks big time. I'll now be going with either Iquara or BSNL. Let's see how they fare.
	() Thanks

26th June 2006, 20:08	#14
airfoil BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 318 Thanked: 81 Times	I suggest you opt for BSNLs 256kbps unlimited plan, its at Rs. 900 per month. It is good for around 35kbps download speeds and is quite reliable. Best of all, it isn't affected by power outages in other areas.
	() Thanks