Internet and telephone connection

Slowly India is improving the access to high speed internet, although 1Mbps is considered as fast. One has to understand, that in the telephone history of the country the cable network was simply over jumped and the wireless connection has taken over in the big way. With affordable prices and good reach, thus you can see mobiles everywhere, from the farmers in the fields, over street cleaner up to the kids in school. In 2000 the whole communication infrastructure was in government hand,
and then first private companies started with landline service and even more mobile services. In 2010 we have already 12 different mobile service providers and the competition and price pressure is strong. Especially the new players with international background are struggling to get big numbers of subscribers and get profitable in that price driven market.

This situation leads to the fact, that a cable based infrastructure is not covering the whole country and that the mobile is the preferred mode of telecommunication. To get fast many subscribers the service providers concentrate to get the cities and even here the centers well connected. Therefore in areas at the city limits it is important to check the coverage of the services and don’t trust nice words from inexperienced sales people.

In the city it is nowadays easy to get good services and also to get it fast connected. BSNL, the former government monopolist is still poor in customer orientation and thus it is difficult to get the connection, payments or later changes realized. The largest private provider is Airtel, although the size leads to inflexible structures and if special needs come up (like from the expat community in form of different papers) it can take time. Also the competence in the outlets is often poor. But the later service is ok and thus this company can be considered as first option. Others are smaller with the consequence of more limited services or coverage. Over cable you can get  fast connections of 10 or 21 Mbps, but check what really comes out with your infrastructure before you pay this higher price.

As mentioned the mobile infrastructure is more common, driven through the wide coverage. Also here  the coverage given by the size of the provider and its network is an argument of selection. Airtel and Reliance are the biggest once, Vodafone, Spice, Uninor, Docomo are international connected providers with good technical cooperation. In the data sector in 2011 the 3G network has started. Here one can get speeds of up to 21 Mpbs. This data sticks are good for very mobile people on one side and for people living in areas where a land line connection is not given. In 2011 I get with my 7.2Mbps data stick from Tata between 0.5 – 2Mbps speed in speed tests, just to show the difference from marketing slogans and reality.

If the selection is made, the prices are actual quite comparable, although the marketing departments try to confuse people with special schemes. The accessibility to the service team is a decision point. The normal procedure to get a telephone or internet connection goes over an ID proof, address prove and address verification. To apply for a service you need to give the following documents: ID proof (driving license, pass or ID card, PAN) – foreigners need to show residential permit and visa, address proof (other telephone bills, lease deed, bank statements) and normally two pass photos. All the documents you have to provide with the nicely singed application form. Later someone from the company may come to your house to verify the address and help with the connection. Sounds complicated but is actually an easy way in India and after application, document check and connection you can be up and running in 2-3 days.