India Broadband Forum

shinujohn

I was very much excited to own an IPTV as it is a different technology and has many advanced features - comparing to DTH or cable available in Kerala. I registered my phone number at MyWay web site when I knew that BSNL is going to offer IPTV in Kerala through MyWay.

I got a call from MyWay when IPTV is launched in Kerala and fixed an appointment with me to send a sales person. He came home on time and gave me an overview of plans and features of IPTV. He also said that the service will be free for next 3 months (I got connection in August). So I decided not to purchase the STB for now even though they had some offers like home theater, holiday package, cash vouchers etc. I thought I will try this for next three months and if it is not usable, I can throw it away - costs me nothing. I gave them a cheque for Rs.1500 and signed the application.

Cheque got cleared in next 3-4 days. Another 3 days - a person came home to give me the IPTV connection! He gave me an STB from AirTies and a universal remote.

Due to some bandwidth issues at BSNL side, it took 3 hours to install. He gave me an introduction to user interface and remote. All channels were locked - he told that it will take another day to activate my user account at MyWay servers. Next day, I got access to all free channels available in my package.

I am using IPTV for a month now. Time shift is not yet available. Nothing more than what DTH offers. I was told that these features will be available soon.

Pros and cons I find:

Pros:

1. Movie on demand is really on demand! You can pause/rewind/fforward the movie just like you play a DVD. I found recent movies in the Movie list.
2. MyWay radio - good song collection under “all time hits”/”International”/”classics”.
3. My Account - really helpful to manage your account.
4. Services yet to launch - Time shift, Recorded programs and some add on services like train ticket reservation etc.
5. MyWay technicians I met were very helpful and efficient.

Cons:

1. Boot time: The STB takes 3 to 5 minutes to get ready.
2. Response to the remote: Many times I get irritated with the delayed response to the remote. It is like, you press a button, wait for a second or two, the screen is updated, and press another button. I heard that Airtel IPTV, which is now in test run, also has the same problem.
3. User interface is not very impressive. I was using ADTV from Asianet cable. Even it has a far better usable user interface than this.
4. BSNL. If you have a problem, you need to fix appointment with three persons: the line man to check the wire, the broadband technician for broad band related issues and the MyWay technician for IPTV related issues!

I opted for IPTV because I always wanted to try it out. Besides, I cannot get a DTH in my apartment, and cable service is not that great in my area. IPTV is good as you get all you want from one service provider and through one cable. If you can compromise on some disadvantages I mentioned earlier, it is better than DTH in terms of its capability.

Hope this helps

Braodband speed: Around 1.7 mbps according to speedtest.net
SNR (down/up): 24/19
Attenuation (down/up): 22/10
Modem: WA3002G4 (Type-2)

just4kix

Thanks for the review. This should help a lot of people. Rep awarded.

Unregistered

I am from Kolkata.I applied for IPTV and after application I finally got it installed after more than one moth (early September).
I was excited with new features.But my exciting is no more there thanks to poor service from myway iptv and bsnl.
Good things :
1. Picture quality (when it works)
2. Video on demand (i was lucky to view one movie at least with so many tries)
Bad things.
1.TV is not working all the time.Pictures scrambles and stops
2. Significant delay in audio and video.
3. There is no collaboration between BSNL and myway.You need to have enough energy to fix a problem.
4.No pause record yet.
5.I was able to save and view favorite channel but it does not work any more.
6.Radio does not come anymore.
7.myway website account does not work at all.
8.when you call the myway number they inquire about whether i already applied for disconnection.Perhaps they are getting this request so many times form customers.
9.Most of the on demand service does not work.When it stops you need to reboot tv and STB etc noway to back to tv



Please be 100% sure before experimenting with bsnl iptv
Md. Aliullah

shinujohn

Hello Md. Aliullah ,

I think the problem may be with your broadband connection. Could you please post the SNR Attenuation if possible? Someone can help you with this.

I never faced the freezing issues on TV and VOD. All other issues like favorites list, radio, pause record, time shift etc are expected to be OK once the trial period is over.

On demand video now has tamil movies as well. But I don’t understand why they removed radio?

harisk

Hi shinu... how would you rate picture/sound quality of the channels? Is it good enough i mean is it comparable to DTH ?

shinujohn

In my opinion the picture clarity is OK and is as good as of DTH. But some says it is inferior to DTH. So it is depended on person and TV

Sound levels for different channels are not equal. This irritates me most of the times. Otherwise it is OK.