ISP Shootout: The Winners

There we are finally, the winners in each of the nine cities.

But before we talk of the ISPs and their respective merits, we have another

interesting question. Which city is the best for the Internet junkie? Which is

the city that gives the best Internet experience across the maximum number of

ISPs? That label goes not to Bangalore or to Hyderabad, but to Chennai. Chennai

gave the best transfer rates among all the cities. And it was not just one ISP

who did it for Chennai. It was the extremely good performance put up by most of

Chennais ISPs that got the city this crown.

Four National ISPs and one regional players made a strong

impression in this shootout.

The first was Satyam Online. They won in three cities, and

were a strong second or third in most of the others.

The same is the case with Mantra Online. They won in two

cities and put up strong performances in some others. However, one place where

they got consistently low ratings is with the helpdesk.

Sigma Online also put up strong performances in the South and

in Mumbai. It lost in Bangalore because the registration process did not work

and there was no helpdesk to help us out. Once we registered the account (from

Mumbai), they gave good connects and transfer rates.

And finally VSNL. The first ISP in the country could win only

in Delhi, but was a steady presence everywhere else. It was the only ISP to be

present in all the cities. The strain of having the maximum number of users in

the country is clearly showing. Hopefully, VSNL will improve their

infrastructure in the days to come. Also, the helpdesk could be more helpful.

Of the local ISPs, only one could make a mark. Glide, which

gave the national players a run for their money and won in Chandigarh.

You will notice that we left Central India out of this

shootout. As Internet usage stabilises and as the ISPs themselves get stable, we

will be back, covering these cities too.

PCQ