It looks like 2009 is the year when the long-suffering broadband users of India (i.e. us) finally see some real progress. For example MTNL has doubled speeds on its unlimited plans so that you now get 512kbps for 999, quite a reasonable price. Airtel has changed its FUP to something reasonable. There is a data limit but after that limit you get unlimited usage at a lower speed. And the limits are generous, for example 100 GB on the Turbo 1299 plan: more than enough for the average user. Of course we are still far behind East Asia and Europe but finally you can get a reasonable unlimited plan in India for around 1500 pm. From a personal point of view I only wish Tata Indicom would introduce some new plans for their prepaid users like myself. But at least I know there is a decent option at MTNL that I can switch to.
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Finally some progress on unlimited plans in india
- Thread starter Asterix
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Airtel has changed its Fair Usage Policy to something reasonable. There is a data limit but after that limit you get unlimited usage at a lower speed. And the limits are generous, for example 100 GB on the Turbo 1299 plan: more than enough for the average user.
Uhhhhhhhhhh...... :huh: reasonable? It's 100 GB download and upload total. So realistically if you are using torrents, it works out to be about 45GB of downloading, or 1.5GB a day. To someone who just uses hotmail and MSN messenger that's huge. But to anyone downloading movies / software or viewing streaming videos or using voice chat, that's not that great.
Uhhhhhhhhhh...... :huh: reasonable? It's 100 GB download and upload total. So realistically if you are using torrents, it works out to be about 45GB of downloading, or 1.5GB a day. To someone who just uses hotmail and MSN messenger that's huge. But to anyone downloading movies / software or viewing streaming videos or using voice chat, that's not that great.
personally speaking, i have not faced any issues if AFUP is applied on my connection. the bigger picture with AFUP is that if these operators are allowed to get away with it, limits can become tighter in the future. and not everyone is going to be fine with a 1.5GB limit a day. even for legit purposes.
IMO reasonable use of the internet means being able to surf any regular website, do youtube, voice chat etc. as much as you want and perhaps the occasional big download. That is what the vast majority of users do and 1.5GB per day is easily more than enough especially considering that you can continue to surf/download at a lower speed even after reaching the limit without paying extra.
Of course if you want to download enormous torrent files every day the FUP isn't going to be enough. But why should the ISP or indirectly the average user have to bear the costs for the habits of the massive downloaders? If you want hundreds of GB of download per month you should be prepared to pay extra for the privilege.
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I would add that over time the definition of reasonable use would change and perhaps five years down the line 100GB would no longer be reasonable. But let's get real; the vast majority of people who want more than 100GB want to download torrents of movies, shows, games etc. It's completely unrealistic to expect ISP's to hurt their bottom line to accomodate such users.
Of course if you want to download enormous torrent files every day the FUP isn't going to be enough. But why should the ISP or indirectly the average user have to bear the costs for the habits of the massive downloaders? If you want hundreds of GB of download per month you should be prepared to pay extra for the privilege.
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I would add that over time the definition of reasonable use would change and perhaps five years down the line 100GB would no longer be reasonable. But let's get real; the vast majority of people who want more than 100GB want to download torrents of movies, shows, games etc. It's completely unrealistic to expect ISP's to hurt their bottom line to accomodate such users.
youtube alone can easily consume gigs of data if you are hooked to it (no kidding) provided you have the speeds to watch HD content in real time with no waiting for buffering. video quality has increased so much in the recent times, that it can easily be used on a decent sized screen for full screen viewing. with google planning to launch rented movies in the future (no luck for us in india)... it sure is a legit reason to demand bigger limits.
Like I said the fair usage depends on time and context. Probably in Japan 100GB wouldn't be reasonable. And when commercial video downloads and high-quality video chatting become reasonably common in India then you could make a similar argument here. In today's Indian context though Airtel's policy is very reasonable for the vast majority of Indian users so I think they deserve some credit.
Like I said the fair usage depends on time and context.
Heh, i think it depends on what your competitors are offering and whether you can get away with doing it. It would seem thats the main factor here.
Have you read through the petition, once these limits are in place it takes very long to increase them. Are they going to listen to us ? hell no!
Only if they lose customers to a competitor then they will.
Think of it this way, its like putting limits in the future without knowing what it will bring, using todays consumption pattern 🙁
You can take it for granted that data consumption will increase in the future looking at the last ten years of usage.
And what do you do then, pay yet again to go onto a more expensive plan isn't it 🙁
Heh, i think it depends on what your competitors are offering and whether you can get away with doing it. It would seem thats the main factor here.
Have you read through the petition, once these limits are in place it takes very long to increase them. Are they going to listen to us ? hell no!
Only if they lose customers to a competitor then they will.
Think of it this way, its like putting limits in the future without knowing what it will bring, using todays consumption pattern 🙁
You can take it for granted that data consumption will increase in the future looking at the last ten years of usage.
And what do you do then, pay yet again to go onto a more expensive plan isn't it 🙁
The whole idea of limits is flawed..its been mindlessly borrowed from western countries where it was first introduced..donno which bugger first thought of it..then the thing stuck on and became almost like a convention..since it favours the service providers they readily adopt this practice... Either u give Unlimited or Limited period. What is limited unlimited ? 😡