India Broadband

Firstly,
I was tired of reading these reviews of Hathway.. Very rarely I found them matching mine..
I Live In Vijayanagar, Bangalore..

This is wat my experience with Hathway has been..
Day 1: I call up Hathway for internet connection..
Day 2: A sales agent from Hathway turns up n gives all details, good enough.. But says its gonna take 3-4 days for connection to be in place coz the infrastructure is not present in ur area..
Day 11 (Yes, its eleven): Internet connection still not here..
Day 13: Internet is Up and running.. But after all its worth the wait.. hathway is Fast!!!!!!

I got a 256 kbps connection with Unlimited usage and Bandwidth.. Just 995 a month.. Plus modem rent 100/- per month (you can buy it for 3k, router is for 25k).. plus Installation (one time) charges 1000/-, plus security deposit for modem of 1000/- (Only if modem rented).. Plus taxes(10.2% then).. (I paid 3298 incl first month rent)
This Plan was supposed to be 128kbps but recently upgraded..
There is NO equivalent plan in the market..
1. The Speeds average above 225-230 KBits per second out of the rated 256kbps.. 2. Downloads touch 30 KBytes per second.. (Getting 34-35 max off lately from some good servers) Good Eh?
3. I download a Whooping 10 GB in 15 days after I get the connection..
4. Its always connected so no issues of login or anything..
5. Its perfectly worth the price you Pay.. There are downtimes.. but its generally 2-3 mins once in 3-4 days that you would probably notice..
6. Also the call centre ppl are hopeless... They just listen and forward the complaints.. They dont help you at all.. But the technical guys call up after 5 10 mins and are very good at helping you with settings, problems, etc.. Engineers who visit for installation are also good..

If you Dont trust me on all this, you can trust your own eyes.. i have a ’’Print Screened’’ picture (taken out of the blue with no prep..) which shows the speeds i get.. here>> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pawanrh/album?.dir=/e37d
These are the stats shown By AnalogX’s Netstat Live..

If someone has better experiences pls tell me...

Now the short comings...
1. This wont apply to normal home users.. though hathway gives you a static IP address, its not public and direct connections to your computer is not possible.. (Since they Use ’6’ Firewalls (as told by a hathway engineer), thats what they say, though its a very good security feature for home Users)which means you wont be able to have a server of your own operating online from this connection..
This also means you cannot host an online multiplayer game.. though you can connect to one..
2. the Upload Speeds are not great! Its 64 kbps up (Though not mentioned anywhere, by experience).. Uploading is hence like goin back to dial-up. :-(
3. And sometimes there are minor connection problems like once in 15 20 days.. which can generally be cleared simply by resetting the modem or calling the help-line.. I recommend hathway, hoping its this way everywhere..
4. Also the usage details are not very clear but who cares when you are on a unlimited plan.. Thats what i recommend.. Also theres no smtp or popmail access for their mail address.. but even thats not a problem I guess because of the many free email service providers.. Like gmail.com

Hi

I hope you are not an employee of Hathway.

This is the first post which I am getting in favour of Hathway. These people will make you cry one day, I think the day is yet to come.

Believe me, I am getting only 100 - 120 kbps of speed whereas I have taken a connection of 512 kbps and that too pre-paid one. Bangalore Hathway is horrible and the service is hopeless and very disappointing. I don't know if they are going to return my money if I am surrendering the connection.

But one thing I will surely do, I will surely fight for the same. I am even ready to pay triple the amount of money that Hathway has taken from me to fight for my rights. I will surely file a case in the consumer case and will fight for the justice. I won't leave these people. I don't have any contact anywhere but will surely find a good lawyer , no matter how much he charges for the case but this company will see its end.

Hey that review is mine and its posted by someone else. this was my review posted on Mouthshut and some other forum. and the proof of it is infact seen in the link posted. notice that it points to my yahoo id's album.
I dont have a problem with it, but y would a senior member do it without even quoting?

Hey Pawanrh,
If you don't have problem, then don't say anything. If you have then go ahead. This is the same thing what happens with Hathway users also or users of any ISP or customer of any service. People who have problem, they complain, scream and shout, those who don't have they remain silent.

Lofty

Lofty, I used Airtel after the bad experience and I did mention about the good Airtel Service. They didnt have even 1 hour downtime in the last 4 months, I used them in Blore and believe me, they have SLA of 4 hours and if the issue is not solved in 4 hours, you will Rs. 100 credit in the next bill. Hathway in all it's true sense is getting worser and worser. Either it is technology or Service or looting money. It's all the same. Time has come for the Cable ISPs

John,
Yeahhh... Airtel seems very good in Bangalore, I have many friends using that and are well-satisfied. Anway, even I may shift to that after some days.

Now tolerating Hathway ..

Well at least here in Kothrud, Pune I'm Having a good experience- bcoz in my area hathway cable is well established since years. Also I was given a discount of Rs. 200 while registering for it, since I am already having hathway TV cable. Connection quality is Outstanding- i have a 128 Kbps unlimited connection, so it gives abt 18- 20 kbps dnld speed, more than expected. If there is a connection snag, it gets solved within 5- 6 hours.

But still, I think the customer executives of hathway are absolutely "angootha chhap"- they know Nothing about broadband. Also, the call centre number is always engaged. Also slightly expensive, but worth it.

I have found that as soon as they realize you are actually making a lot of use of the connection (they keep track of downloads anyway, even if you are on the unlimited plans), they start to interrupt your service and/or throttle your connection speed. This could be a coincidence (yeah, right) - except I find it happening all the time. This is in Mumbai. I will also say that just about ALL "broadband" providers in Mumbai just STINK. And between them, it's just relative how much worse one smell is versus the other. And oh, they are OVERPRICED as well. Anyone who thinks we have it good with "broadband" service in India must have never been out of the country.

I am using Hathway on the freeway plan that gives me a 256 kbps unlimited for over 2 years now. Good thing is that it is cheap for 995 per month plus rental for the cable modem and it delivers a constant speed close to the rated line speed.

bad thing is that 512 kbps is the minimum for online video streaing and they do not have a plan for that yet. Hathway has been so reliable that i have not recieved a single downtime for since subscription. It may be poor service elsewhere but in south bombay its the best you can ask for.

Yeah even I enjoy the Speed of Hathway. Its nice. The Surfing is the best.