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ISP Shootout: Chennai

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PCQ Bureau
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We had a list of 11 ISPs when we reached Chennai. However,

after a bit of research, we found that 10 of them were operational. We bought

accounts from KMR Online and Cyber Wave at Chennai. Buying an account from KMR

was difficult. First, they said they’d run out of the 100-hour package. But

when we returned about 20 minutes later with the plea that we wanted to gift it

for someone’s birthday, they had an account ready. For the others, buying was

easy, with the respective helpdesks directing us.

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Help!

We called up the helpdesks at different times of the day. Few

of them were prompt in helping us out, while few others didn’t respond at all

at times. Those who fared poorly included Manipal Data Control, Mantra Online,

and VSNL.

On the positive side, some of the ISPs have really good

helpdesks. These include Dishnet, KMR Online, SwiftMail, and Sigma Online.

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We’d bought our Manipal account in Bangalore and wanted to

use the same account in Chennai. We were unable to get connected and so we

called up the helpdesk. Amazingly, the answer we got was "An account bought

in one city can’t be used in another". However, the next day, the same

person did agree that it could be used. Moral of the story–don’t believe all

that the helpdesk tells you.

When we approached bplnet for help, we were given a new

contact number. It was difficult getting through to this one, as the line was

continuously engaged. But finally, we were able to get through and got useful

answers to our questions, after the call was transferred to the relevant person.

Cyber Wave was prompt in answering the questions asked. It

wasn’t difficult to get through to them either, but the line had to be

transferred to two or three people before our questions were answered.

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Dishnet has a really good helpdesk. Our calls were answered

on the first try itself, and the person who answered the call had the answers on

his fingertips.

KMR Online also has a patient helpdesk. It was, first of all,

difficult to buy the account itself, and when we finally bought one, it wasn’t

easy registering on it. Our tale of woes doesn’t end here. We weren’t able

to register the user ID and password given to us with the package. We were then

given a different set on phone by the helpdesk. At last, we got ourselves

registered, but the connection was slow. Many changes had to be done in the

system settings. The helpdesk guided us patiently through all this. If a good

helpdesk were all that mattered, then KMR Online would have won hands down. But

unfortunately, a patient helpdesk alone does not make a good ISP.

Most of our calls to Mantra went unanswered. Satyam, on the

other hand, has a good helpdesk in Chennai. With SwiftMail, our calls were

answered on the first ring, and the person at the helpdesk seemed to know his

stuff. The same was the case with Sigma Online.

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One of our questions was how to use Internet telephony

software. Most ISPs said that we could use Internet telephony software on their

account, provided VSNL didn’t come to know of it. When asked, the VSNL

helpdesk said that we could use the software on their account, though it is

illegal. They, however, warned us that VSNL wouldn’t be responsible if

anything goes wrong.

Pacific Internet is scheduled to start operations in Chennai

in a month or so.

Whatever happened to those smaller accounts?

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At the time of the tests, bplnet had a Rs 550, 30-hour

account that could be bought from its dealers. Cyber Wave charged Rs 320 for a

20-hour account. Cyber Wave is concentrating on Internet through cable, which

will cost you approximately Rs 3,250 for three months with a separate modem

costing about Rs 12,325.

Dishnet came at Rs 400 for a 30-hour pack, while KMR cost us

Rs 700 for a-100 hour account.

Manipal Data Control came in with Rs 1,000 for a 50-hour

pack. Satyam Online is available at a price of Rs 690 for 30 hours, while

SwiftMail can be bought at a price of Rs 551 for 31 hours. VSNL costs Rs 225 for

a 25-hour account. As you can see, there’s a wide variation in the per hour

charges of an Internet account from various ISPs.

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Cyber Wave offered to come over and register the account at

no extra cost.

Registration blues

KMR was certainly not easy to register. As stated earlier, we

had to make innumerable calls to the helpdesk to help us register. Cyber Wave

too asked us to make changes in the configuration. After making the required

changes, it was easy to connect.

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With bplnet, we wanted to use the account that we’d

purchased at Bangalore but could not connect. Finally, the helpdesk came to the

rescue, and we were asked to suffix the user ID with "@blr".

How easy is it to connect?

Most of the ISPs at Chennai are easy to get connected to. You’d

usually get through the first time itself. KMR did give us problems on this

front, and we were never able to get connected to Manipal at any time of the

day.

bplnet is easy to connect and browse. Cyber Wave, Dishnet,

Satyam, Swift, and Sigma are also easy to get connected to, as is VSNL. However,

Mantra occasionally gave us trouble.

Transfer rates

Chennai gave us some of the best transfer rates we saw across

the country. And the best part was that it was not just one ISP, but many who

gave such fantastic transfers, with two of them, Sigma Online and Mantra Online

averaging above 4 kbps. And at night, Mantra went even above 5 kbps, recording

5.90 kbps and 5.18 kbps during our tests.

Dishnet gave very poor transfers and Cyber Wave and SwiftMail

suffered in comparison to the stupendous performance of the others.

bplnet gave us the same problem that we faced in Bangalore–no

FTP transfers. Finally, we got some results at night with bplnet, but again,

nothing to write home about. The same was the case with KMR Online. No transfers

during daytime, and at night, when transfers finally happened, it was abysmally

slow.

Satyam and Sigma Online saw a drop in transfer rates during

the night, but still managed good overall performances.

VSNL and Cyber Wave gave steady, but middling performances

when compared to the others.

And the winner is…

Mantra’s helpdesk didn’t even answer our calls. But the

stupendous throughput they gave just blew the competition away, and Mantra is

our ISP of choice in Chennai. But that is not to subtract from the services

provided by some other ISPs, particularly Sigma Online and Satyam (especially

during the day). Now, if only Mantra had a working helpdesk.

Krishna Kumar and Vini Goel@Chennai

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