I applied for the 200P plan in Mumbai as a backup connection; I had opted to get the modem from MTNL. Guess what, I was informed that there would be a waiting period of 2-3 months for that due to unavailability of the modem with MTNL!!!!!!!!! On top of that, the clerk also gave me a Sub-divisional engineer's number and asked me to contact him if I have my own modem. This smells kind of fishy to me. Of course, I did not buy a modem; I am not desperate for it.
However, this also reminds me of another similar incident about 5 years back when I was on 56k dial-up. I was doing a project on the net and required a good connection, but my telephone line was giving me a lot of trouble with constant static. Then, I was considering going in for an ISDN connection. When I approached an MTNL engineer at their QCS center, he told me that the static cannot go away as some insulator may have come off from the telephone pole, and the ISDN connection would be perfect. He then went ahead and gave me the telephone number of a couple of ISDN equipment retailers and said he would personally help me in getting the connection. Of course, I had also walked away at that time. After about 6 months, I then got an internet connection form my cable guy (that is another story in itself, but presently am very satisfied with my connection).
Why are these MTNL babus so corrupt?? A 2-3 month waiting period for a DSL connection??? What next, a monthly license renewal for their soon-to-be-launched triple-play connection reminiscent of the quarterly radio/
tv license renewal at the post office back from the 70s???