Internet Connectivity in India: Are you getting what you paid for?

Internet penetration in India has been restricted due to the high linkage costs and low data transfer rates.

With approximately 45 million people using the internet through the dial-up or fixed lines across the country, the average speed for a user is around 10 kbps on 33.6 kbps modem at a cost of Rs 35 per hour, while through a dedicated always on connection, a user can have an access speed up to 100 kbps at Rs 500 per month.

Most of the internet connections in India are through dial up networking.

Despite strict parameters on quality of service (QoS) laid down by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), a vast majority of the Internet subscribers continue to remain dissatisfied.

The survey also noted that close to 73 per cent of MTNL Internet subscribers were not able to get the minimum speed of 28.8 kbps on their dial-up connection. Same is the case with 71 per cent of BSNL's Internet customers, 65 per cent of VSNL and 46 per cent of Dishnet subscribers.

Over 31 per cent of Bharti's (Mantraonline) subscribers could not get the minimum speed, while 16 per cent of Sify customers faced this problem.

Many subscribers did not know what speeds they were getting. Click Here to find out your internet connection speed.

As per the quality parameters laid down by the authority, the ISPs should activate the dial-up service in six hours and a user should be able to access the Net in 30 seconds.

The service activation time would be measured from the time a request for service along with requisite payment is received by the ISP till the service is activated. As for the time taken to access the Net, it will be the time elapsed between giving the `connect/dial' command till the receipt of `log-in' prompt from the ISP node on the customer's terminal. The authority has also mandated that ISPs should provide an 80 per cent probability when a user makes his first attempt to log on. In the second and third attempt, 90 per cent and 99 per cent probability should be ensured. The regulator has also stipulated that the ISP node unavailability in a month should not exceed 30 minutes, while the grade of service on the link connecting PSTN node to the ISP node should be one in 100.

Even as the TRAI's quality of service report finds that the ISPs have managed to reach these standards, many of the subscribers continue to be dissatisfied. More than 62 per cent of the overall respondents believe that cyber cafes are better and easier means of Internet access.

Some of the other common problems faced by the Internet subscribers were the inability to get connected within four attempts of dialling and even if connected the number of subsequent disconnections is more than four for a vast majority.

The problem of high costs was further complicated by the fact that Indian Internet Service Provider’s often connected to each other through international gateways and links, which lowered the speed of the internet traffic.

With most of the traffic going to servers located in the West, internet bandwidth cannot be made affordable.

Setting up of local internet exchanges, generating Indian content and mirror sites would help in bringing down costs, which will propel the spread of the medium into the rural and semi-urban areas.

With the installation of such infrastructure within the country, international traffic fraction will be reduced from about 85 per cent to around 25 per cent.