Thread: MTNL 3G is hopeless - need advice!

I went for MTNL 3G after reading good reviews. I use the internet through 3G for all my internet related work. I am currently on a MTNL 3G prepaid plan and I found it very economical before buying it.

I also have Airtel BB for my use.

I was using MTNL 3G by connecting my Nokia N78 to my computer. The speeds were good but the connection used to be lost many times in the day and especially in the evenings. I got myself a Huawei USB port and now I use it through the Huawei.

I am facing tremendous problems all the time. The speeds have slowed down in the last 2 weeks whereas earlier it was good. Also the number of times the line gets cut makes it useless because I have to keep connecting almost all the time. I cannot concentrate on the work that I do online because of disconnections 20 times in a day.

I gave a complaint to MTNL a week ago. There has been no follow up at all. I have called up 4-5 times on 1503 to check status but they have no answer the only response is - "when the problem is rectified you will be informed". I asked to speak to anyone senior and they gave me a number 011 24329507 which they said is the nodal officer but there is never any response. The way they speak to you makes you wonder how they got the job - they are untrained, uncouth and rude. Btw, you have to call 2-3 times because they are gossiping even when you call and disconnect the call without any reason if they are in the middle of their gossip which you can hear when the line gets connected.

I stay in Vasant Kunj in New Delhi. Can anyone suggest a solution or can anyone point me to the right person. I am ready to go and meet the GM or whoever - I should at least get a response to my complaint before discontinuing MTNL. I invested in a USB and bought a prepaid after all.

I thought of 3G because of its portability. I had also thought of trying MTNL Broadband but looking at the service I think you can use MTNL for BB or 3G only if your father or someone in your family is working as a senior officer in MTNL and is in a position to really help you with status of complaints. It's pathetic.

The rave reviews given all over are false - this one is the real review. I have been using BB for many years. I have used and still have Airtel BB(superb service though speeds are slow) and Spectranet(v good). I was dissuaded from using Vodafone 3G because of its high cost. 3G of MTNL is absolute cr_p.

Without speed, with very high disconnection rate and extremely poor Govt of India service MTNL 3G is a huge problem than a solution for your internet connectivity needs. Thoroughly disappointed and really surprised at people praising it at many places including in this forum.

the govt allotted 2100 mhz band for GSM-3G. due to higher frequency there would always be penetration issues for indoor use even though one gets bursts of high speeds.
if your use is mainly at home I would suggest going for wire-line broadband for much better experience even with MTNL.
if you prefer to continue with wireless form I would advice you to go for CDMA 3G (evdo) which works on 800 mhz band and has better penetration indoors. you would get stable connection but be warned that the maximum speeds would be much lower than GSM 3G. there are several operators offering EVDO service with rates similar to MTNL 3G.
I can tell this from my personal experience as outdoors I use MTNL 3G in phone and indoors I use evdo.

It is true that 2100 mhz is not stable for continous connectivity indoors compared to 800 mhz cdma wireless bb.

I have used Tata photon Plus & Reliance Netconnect in CDMA so called 3G

and BSNL,Airtel,Vodafone,MTNL in GSM 3G.

But BSNL and MTNL have permanent connectivity problems. Frequent disconnection and relative slow www connection in the evening peak hours are more often than exception.(download may be ok)

You get what you pay for.

There is no frequent disconnection in Airtel 3G and Voda 3G indoors like in BSNL/MTNL.

Iam using only wireless for the last more than 1 year with out any wired broad band.

I'm getting about 512 kbps indoors n 1 mbps outdoors in south Mumbai (MTNL 3G). I was in delhi for a while (traveling for the desi F1 grandprix) 3G connectivity was great in Paharganj, India gate, janpath n rajiv chowk n central secretariat (all the places I covered).

No action was taken on my complaint to MTNL as I have described above. So last week I met the MTNL folks in Vasant Kunj and I was given the number of Rajinder Kumar who looks after 3G in south delhi and sits in the Jorbagh office. He sent a person today to check the signal which was showing as full signal. He said that he will try to reset the system or something but it was clear that he was not too confident of a solution. I asked him for his contact no so that I could follow up later but he refused to give it to me. Let's see - but I doubt whether I will hear from him again. Of course I will chase them till they also get fed up. I don't think they even know what to do next leave alone offer a permanent solution.

He also told me that the tower is 500m from my place so it cannot be a weak signal issue at all.

As I write this post it has taken me around 5-6 minutes to log in and come to this page - it is snail slow also. The disconnections continue everyday and I use it a bit and switch over to Airtel BB. The post above makes sense to buy a BB line for my desktop.

MTNL 3G is available at the cheapest rates amongst all operators. But it is not worth half the cheap rate that it is offered.

If I get a solution from MTNL or if there is any improvement I will post it here.