Trapped in the Net

It all started a few months ago... On a lazy afternoon, over a cup of steaming tea... OK, I do not remember if it was over a cup of tea or a glass of carrot juice, but I knew that this was the worst thing any internet user could have asked for from his Internet Service Provider.

My net connection had started disconnecting abruptly every five or ten minutes. At first I ignored the problem thinking it was a temporary problem that would sort itself out. But after a few days it kept getting more and more irritating. I could not chat properly over the internet. My conversations would snap and I could not receive parts of my chats. I had to repeatedly ask the person at the other end to retype what they last typed. The worst part was, that the net connection would reconnect all by itself and it would be up in a minute but it again used to snap after five minutes. Of what was even more irritating, Youtube videos would not be completely streamed and I could watch only a small part of the video. The fighter that I am, I tried many things to get around the problem, but it just refused to be licked. I tried software that would allow me to download the videos and watch them offline, but many of those that I tried were not resume supported and caused the same problem, apart from leaving incompletely downloaded files on my comp. I then decided to call my cable operator, whose service I use, to solve the problem. And I had a horrendous time.

The 'technicians' that they sent over were clueless and left more mess behind on my comp than what was before they arrived. They also fiddled around with my programs without my permission and that left me furious. Many were called, and they came in droves. At a time I had five people looking at trying to download a free copy of Microsoft Office from the Microsoft website in order to test large downloads! I complained to their boss, who apparently thought that an ISP was a police officer! I had enough of these bastards!

So I began my search for a different service provider. I have four options in front of me now, Reliance, Tata Indicom Broadband, Airtel Broadband and the humble MTNL. And all of them seem to be turning out to be squeezed turnips. The guys at Tata Indicom did not even show the courtesy to call me up and tell me that they could not lay a line in my area, and the guy from Airtel who was supposed to show up a couple of days ago has not shown up yet. And I am wary of an Ambani pocketing my money. And MTNL does not seem to have a plan that would suit my needs. All these players in the ISP market should seriously look at the kind of service they are providing. I believe many people like me resist to change their service because the hassles involved. And these companies feed on this. I was not too happy with Airtel's cellular service either.

So the search for the perfect internet connection continues. Wish me luck.
__________________________________________________________