Okay, we have been harping about pathetic Broadband speeds in India for sometime now. Although, speeds are better than what they were couple of years back, they are still very low compared to global standards.
![indian-telecom-subscribers[1]](https://trak.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/indiantelecomsubscribers1.jpg "indian-telecom-subscribers[1]")
Now, Airtel seems to be making amends in Indian Broadband speeds, last year they became the first telecom service provider to offer 16mbps broadband speeds, Now according to latest news, they are all set to offer broadband speed of 50 mbps –
Now this is huge !
This ultra-fast 50 mbps will be offered on wired VDSL2 technology.
If you are not aware what ADSL2 is:
VDSL2 (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line) is the newest and most advanced standard of DSL broadband wire line communications. It is designed to support the wide deployment of Triple Play services such as voice, video, data, IPTV, high definition television (HDTV) and interactive gaming. VDSL2 also enables customers to stream HD Content anywhere from the internet world as well.
Here are the details of the plan that Airtel is offering:
- 50 MBPS – @ Rs. 8999 per month, free data transfer upto 200 GB and additional free value added services (VAS) like Parallel Ringing, Website Builder (Basic), PC Secure (Anti-Virus software), Online Storage, Unlimited Gaming on Games on Demand.
- 30 MBPS – @ Rs. 7999 per month, free data transfer upto 200 GB and additional free VAS like Parallel Ringing, Website Builder (Basic), PC Secure (Anti-Virus software), Online Storage, Unlimited Gaming on Games on Demand.
Imagine downloading a full length movie or 1 Gigabyte file in less than 5 minutes – Yes, that’s the kind of speeds 50 mbps connection (theoretically) offers. This is good news, but like always there are few questions that need to be asked.
- First and foremost, even though Airtel has promised 50 / 30 mbps, will it actually offer that kind of speed on ground to your PC?
- Even though, you have 50 mbps speed, you are still limited by 200 Gigs of download limit. With that kind of speeds available, you can finish that transfer limit in less than couple of days. They have not mentioned anywhere about availability of unlimited download plans.
- Currently, it is only offered in Delhi & Gurgaon – It will probably take months before it is available in other major cities
- The initial cost also may be quite high, as it may require special modems !
Anyways, even with all these questions, I am quite happy that we are atleast hearing about such speeds in India – This itself is something we should be happy about :)
Whats your take?
50mbps is a huge speed but the tarrifs are not good with the speed.
You say Rs.9000 per month
and they limit it to 200Gbs
why not unlimited even after such a heavy cost.better to take 3 lines of 16mbps 16*3=48Mbps
better and affordable
First – all the ISPs in India are a bunch of frauds liaising with the regulators. The key point overlooked is that all the servicec provide speed up to xyz Kbps/Mbps which means it is only the maximum that you can potentially get. The actual speed is much lower and sometimes even a few bits per second even on a high speed broadband line. More so in the Tier 2 and 3 cities of the country. In the name of customer service most of the local service providers are local goons who would never listen to you, forget understanding bits and bytes of internet technology. Just another example of how the rich kills the poor in this country under the state umbrella.
Speed is good.but huge spectrum of us are still using 256k to 1M .As “Abhi” said,first reduce the rate for 256k,512k and 1M
Love the speeds offered. However, the so called 200GB limit spoils, rather destroys the entire idea of this speed. This 200GB limit would be finished with in a matter of days with the 50mb or 30mb speeds(I am sure the ratio would be 1:8 as in all packages until now). I use a so called “broadband” and “unlimited” package of 1mbps Airtel broadband, where nothing is unlimited, and the fair usage policy limits the downloads to 100GB. In this time and day, where you are always on the net with social networking, browsing for information, research, work from home, downloads, what the hell does the unlimited thing even mean? The ISPs have been exploiting the situation with a cartel kind of ring and they continue to do so. The 16mbps last year by Airtel was also the same hoax!!, get this speed, pay 4 times, but guess what “we wont give you the real unlimited plan” is what it speaks in one’s face. Waiting for the day when we will be able to use internet with much faster speeds and with no download or the nonsensical Fair Usage Policies. They suck!!
First Introduce 2Mbps Unlimited below Rs.500 per month, then only we think India has taken a step forward in terms of Internet Speeds.
OK. To set things straight, I live in quite a good locality in Ghaziabad. We still don’t have Airtel lines here ;). More than technology we need ground implementation. what say?
The last line should have read – It seems that the unity cable has become operational and Bharti should have enough bandwidth – http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20080225_newcablesystem.html
According to press release, the construction started in Feb ’08 and the the cable was supposed to become operational in 1st quarter of 2010
I am sorry for multiple comments
For once, I do not have a problem with fair usage limit :). I mean sure you can use all 200 GB in a few days but the limit is so high that it should not be an issue. Also, if like me you want to keep everything you download, you will be limited by your hard disk.
No, I think the fair usage limit should not be an issue for individuals. I think the price is high and only few individuals will actually use it. But for the speeds they are providing, I think it is a good deal.
It seems that the unity cable has become operational and Bharti should have enough broadband – http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20080225_newcablesystem.html
Abhilash,
Thanks for the lnk, I had heard about it, but I thought it would take much longer time to get it operational. Will find out more whether this 50mbps line is from this Unity project or not.
Also, I think currently individuals will not go in for this Airtel ultra-high speed connection, as 9k a month is far too much to shell out and I dont see a need for it as well..
However, it is very attractive to SMEs in India who rely on lot of online activities. It sure could be a boon, so if you look at it from their point of view, 200G of usage may not really be much..