Thread: Questions (trepidations) regarding new BSNL service

Folks:

I'll be visiting India from the US to be with my folks who are not well.
Need to connect to my office in the US through VPN and parents are in Kerala State, in a small town called Annur.

I have asked them to install BSNL UL 1350.

Can I consider that the connection will be reliable enough for me to connect to my work place in the US ( mainly I'll be working running commands on the Unix Servers thru VPN) and carry out useful work.

What is the likelihood of falling prey to disturbances in the internet and since I will be working mostly at night when it is day in the US, will there be customer service from BSNL to solve issues if any in the night.

Also, if there are issues and the phone customer service (which from reading all the posts, are not reliable and useful) does the tech person who comes in person to fix it at my home do a good job, also how often does the internet go down?

Regards,
Pranit

Are you happy with UL 1350 ? You will get 2 Mbps till 20 GB only. Afterwards, the speed will dip to 512 Kbps. Please refer

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

Me too live in a small place. Connection is fine for me. Never had any problem with connection in last 3 months.

It mainly depends on your line condition. Expect a speed of 180 - 200 KBps or above. During night time, the speed will be inferior to that in day time, still it is manageable.

As for customer care, BSNL has its drawbacks as a government firm. But you can rely on forums like this for assistance. But I will suggest to opt another ISP if available.

You can also try BSNL EvDO or BSNL 3G for better plans and tariff. There is an offer for Rs. 4,200 unlimited for 6 months. In effect it come Rs. 700 per month for unlimited 3G.

Other options are Reliance net connect or Tata photon plus. For Reliance net connect, 3G and EvDO, you can request a demo at your place and check if the speed is reliable.

Check with the neighbours about the performance of BSNL at your place.

Thanks meetdilip.

Unfortunately, the place I'm going to, is too small to have any of the private
players, like Reliant/Tata etc etc want to set up shop over there.
Probably there arent many users over there.
But then you know what I was thinking was that since there wont be many users in such a small place, doesnt that mean better speed for me, does that sound right?

What plan do you recommend I go for, which one did u take?
The reason I took UL 1350 is I wont be doing much by way of download etc,
all I need this connection for is to connect to work and do VPN.

But then again, during my spare time when I'm not working, ie. during the day time, I may want to do some browsing.

Is this 20 gig download limit pertaining to at one go or is it total, does it mean that if I download a 22 gig file, then 20 gigs will be at 2 mbps and the rest 512 kbps.

Or does it mean that I have now reached the total of 20 gigs and any subsequent download I do will now be 512 kbps?

If I use the internet connection only to connect to my corporate email and to connect thru VPN to the servers in my office in the US, how many gbs do you think approximately that kind of activity will consume?

Really appreciate all the help, thanks meetdilip, eagerly awaiting your reply to my followup questions.

Regards,
Pranit

You will get 2 Mbps till you reach 20 GB and afterwards 512 Kbps. I am using UL 750 which give 512 Kbps unlimited.

I am not sure how much bandwidth will be consumed by VPN. Please check with your network admin.

512 Kbps is enough for most requirements. Choose UL 1350 now ( as it is the only plan which give 512 Kbps after FUP), you can shift to a better plan if your bandwidth is not enough.

Broadband and 3G penetration is high in Kerala when compared to other states. Please ask anybody at home to check about the availability of 3G at your place. Local exchange can help in this regard. All you need is a BSNL tower which will be there in most of remote villages.

Check RURAL BB tariff plans, if the town qualifies (ANNUR Kerala)

customer service from BSNL to solve issues if any in the night.

You will get a Docket number for the complaint!!!!

does the tech person who comes in person to fix it at my home do a good job

very rare after initial installation.

VPN set up etc :You are on your own.!!!
will update later.

REF:Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

thanks meetdilip and essebe.

By the way, my VPN is already set up, so I'm thinking I may not need to set it up again, correct, hope I'm right on that front.

Regards,