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India among countries with worst internet connections
I deliberately copied the whole thing. it's a pretty bad idea to goto the injectory ad-based TOI site to refer the content again and again to further the discussion
But sometimes it may create problem for admin. That's good it is times of India. If anyone else hosts surviving website, it would have created a problem for admin. You know against whom I'm pointing. If not, let it go.
But sometimes it may create problem for admin. That's good it is times of India. If anyone else hosts surviving website, it would have created a problem for admin. You know against whom I'm pointing. If not, let it go.
mgcarley
Founder, Hayai Broadband
the only ISP, genuinely making an effort and trying to give some quality, is MTNL
Heh. Yeah, they run their links at 95% capacity and an almost entirely-wireless cellular backbone because they're interested in quality 🙂
Flop show of 3g India. Now waiting for LTE. Do you think it will succeed even after checking out the Airtel 4G tariff.???
If Reliance aren't idiots, there's no reason LTE can't be successful. Mukesh has spent (and borrowed) a whole lot more money than Airtel so he's kind of got to make a splash.
Everybody knows about BSNL. BSNL is available everywhere but not maintained very well because of poor service due to their employees but BSNL's intention is to provide best service at cheap rate. It also believes in adopting latest technology. In news, I sometime read news about BSNL's investment. However, it fails because of some policy and other factors. Apart from everything, BSNL is capable to change the image of Internet in India.
BSNL has no money. Ideally, BSNL should be privatized and turned in to a network/infrastructure company and leave the services up to everyone else. If they did that, they'd get revenue from the same cables several times over, thus solving the money problem and allowing them to invest properly instead of having different equipment in each circle causing problems.
According to me, Wimax(BWA) is preferred. It is cheaper than fiber. No problem of Cable cut or cable operators' problem.
Our 4 ISPs are capable to set up fiber all over nation but I don't know why aren't they thinking about? I can see them in proposal only.
Wimax is more expensive than fiber (per megabit) - quite significantly. A single base-station is the better part of $2,000 (for a basic one - and you still have to connect that to some form of wired connection) and might serve a few dozen customers, whereas for about 5x the price I can serve around 20x the number of customers with much higher speeds on fiber (FTTB).
And here's the problem with Wimax/3G/4G/WiFi:
1. Most apartments & houses have bars on the windows, which really stuff up any kind of radio signal.
2. When you can get a signal, the speed is not that great - the output is "up to" 30mbit/s but experience suggests it's a lot less - 4mbit/s if you're lucky, less if there is any kind of significant load on the network or base station (unlimited plans + many concurrent connections from applications such as bittorrent = high cpu = problems). Don't get me wrong - I love Bittorrent and use it regularly BUT it's just not great for performance on wireless networks.
Everyone proposing to set up fiber nationwide is doing so but it's mainly long-haul stuff, not last-mile. Without a decent last-mile, the customer is screwed. BSNL & MTNL are both doing FTTH but the footprints are limited and unfortunately the plans don't make sense for almost anyone. They could speed up adoption if they lowered the prices a bit (but then again, they can't afford to because of the money situation. Catch 22 situation, really).
From couple of months, Infotel was in discussion. Waiting for Infotel but I am also wandering what the tariffs would be. I am pretty sure it will not be preferable for heavy data internet users.
I too am looking forward to seeing what Reliance offers 🙂
Heh. Yeah, they run their links at 95% capacity and an almost entirely-wireless cellular backbone because they're interested in quality 🙂
Flop show of 3g India. Now waiting for LTE. Do you think it will succeed even after checking out the Airtel 4G tariff.???
If Reliance aren't idiots, there's no reason LTE can't be successful. Mukesh has spent (and borrowed) a whole lot more money than Airtel so he's kind of got to make a splash.
Everybody knows about BSNL. BSNL is available everywhere but not maintained very well because of poor service due to their employees but BSNL's intention is to provide best service at cheap rate. It also believes in adopting latest technology. In news, I sometime read news about BSNL's investment. However, it fails because of some policy and other factors. Apart from everything, BSNL is capable to change the image of Internet in India.
BSNL has no money. Ideally, BSNL should be privatized and turned in to a network/infrastructure company and leave the services up to everyone else. If they did that, they'd get revenue from the same cables several times over, thus solving the money problem and allowing them to invest properly instead of having different equipment in each circle causing problems.
According to me, Wimax(BWA) is preferred. It is cheaper than fiber. No problem of Cable cut or cable operators' problem.
Our 4 ISPs are capable to set up fiber all over nation but I don't know why aren't they thinking about? I can see them in proposal only.
Wimax is more expensive than fiber (per megabit) - quite significantly. A single base-station is the better part of $2,000 (for a basic one - and you still have to connect that to some form of wired connection) and might serve a few dozen customers, whereas for about 5x the price I can serve around 20x the number of customers with much higher speeds on fiber (FTTB).
And here's the problem with Wimax/3G/4G/WiFi:
1. Most apartments & houses have bars on the windows, which really stuff up any kind of radio signal.
2. When you can get a signal, the speed is not that great - the output is "up to" 30mbit/s but experience suggests it's a lot less - 4mbit/s if you're lucky, less if there is any kind of significant load on the network or base station (unlimited plans + many concurrent connections from applications such as bittorrent = high cpu = problems). Don't get me wrong - I love Bittorrent and use it regularly BUT it's just not great for performance on wireless networks.
Everyone proposing to set up fiber nationwide is doing so but it's mainly long-haul stuff, not last-mile. Without a decent last-mile, the customer is screwed. BSNL & MTNL are both doing FTTH but the footprints are limited and unfortunately the plans don't make sense for almost anyone. They could speed up adoption if they lowered the prices a bit (but then again, they can't afford to because of the money situation. Catch 22 situation, really).
From couple of months, Infotel was in discussion. Waiting for Infotel but I am also wandering what the tariffs would be. I am pretty sure it will not be preferable for heavy data internet users.
I too am looking forward to seeing what Reliance offers 🙂
I am from Nigeria and i have to agree with you, The ISP i am using offers 8mbps for 84,000 Nigerian Naira per Month ($534) which is essentially 28256 Rupees here in a country where an average workers makes less than $1 (157 Nigerian Naira) a day. I am currently using a 2mbps connection for 8,000 Nigerian Naira per Month ($50) which is 2691 Rupees. You guys don't have it bad over there, trust me.
This is a good news for you.
Wait for May 11.
allAfrica.com: West Africa: Bandwidth Cost to Drop As U.S.$650 Million Undersea Cable Goes Live
It may somewhat cut down end user price.
----------
Even in our country there is not much difference, we also have to pay above 3k for 2mbps.
----------
If Reliance aren't idiots, there's no reason LTE can't be successful. Mukesh has spent (and borrowed) a whole lot more money than Airtel so he's kind of got to make a splash.
Yeah. They aren't idiots. They are investing $1b for LTE but they will keep all cards in their hands. They will not let to go their all money waste but they also will not provide their resources at cheap rate. You know LTE instruments are very costly which will definitely affect end user price.
BSNL has no money. Ideally, BSNL should be privatized and turned in to a network/infrastructure company and leave the services up to everyone else. If they did that, they'd get revenue from the same cables several times over, thus solving the money problem and allowing them to invest properly instead of having different equipment in each circle causing problems.
I know BSNL is surviving nowadays but it is capable to change its financial product. I think broadband product was great but because of poor service and high bills, they lost a lot customers. If they manage to offer FTTH before other companies' launch at good rate with good service, it may change situation. They lost much in wimax product also. Recently, they have requested for refund of BWA spectrum I do not know it is a threat to avoid 2g spectrum auction or needs finance back or an excuse of non standardize frequency. I think instruments are available in the market with that frequency.
Wimax is more expensive than fiber (per megabit) - quite significantly. A single base-station is the better part of $2,000 (for a basic one - and you still have to connect that to some form of wired connection) and might serve a few dozen customers, whereas for about 5x the price I can serve around 20x the number of customers with much higher speeds on fiber (FTTB).
And here's the problem with Wimax/3G/4G/WiFi:
1. Most apartments & houses have bars on the windows, which really stuff up any kind of radio signal.
2. When you can get a signal, the speed is not that great - the output is "up to" 30mbit/s but experience suggests it's a lot less - 4mbit/s if you're lucky, less if there is any kind of significant load on the network or base station (unlimited plans + many concurrent connections from applications such as bittorrent = high cpu = problems). Don't get me wrong - I love Bittorrent and use it regularly BUT it's just not great for performance on wireless networks.
Everyone proposing to set up fiber nationwide is doing so but it's mainly long-haul stuff, not last-mile. Without a decent last-mile, the customer is screwed. BSNL & MTNL are both doing FTTH but the footprints are limited and unfortunately the plans don't make sense for almost anyone. They could speed up adoption if they lowered the prices a bit (but then again, they can't afford to because of the money situation. Catch 22 situation, really).
If fiber is cheap, why don't they implement? I am not saying you are wrong.
In any technology whether it is wimax, LTE, 3g or any other else, CPE and instruments are costly. I have read somewhere government were discussing to make CPE and instrument tax free to cut down price of internet. I don't know it is implement or when will it be implemented?
About Wimax, I have already told my experience of internet regarding interference. Free licensed ISPs are already facing it. Even tata communication or reliance hold licensed wimax spectrum they face some issue as I experience with tata wimax. I was getting high latency from default gateway as well as any website. It depends upon couple of factors like low signal, poor speed management system at tata side(high 1: ratio) causing download speed variation ranging from 10k to 28k(for 256kbps tariff). I didn't get 32kbps or more ever with tata wimax. I tested a lot during late night hours and day time when I expect less peak requirement but not good performance. I did not have clear LOS and I had numbers of tower near to my location(very close).
I know speeds are wasted in wireless communication. If high speed is given to customers, there is huge variation between at node and customer's location.
Again, Reliance is investing in LTE not in FTTH. If reliance invest in FTTH rather than LTE, FTTH will be better performance wise just because they have strong global backbone according to me. No need to worry. What would you say?
FTTH establishment is a headache to setup last mile but anyone has to start rolling the the fiber all over the nation. They can not speed up but at least they can roll in major cities not in every city or village. How long have we to rely on coppers while whole world is adopting fiber??
if it is Catch-22, anyone has to come ahead to change for development. In this situation, government has to play important role. No private company or its investors waits longer for its return. Government is expecting it by 2014 even though they are willing to invest 6k crore. They must be kidding for this kind of long time.
This is a good news for you.
Wait for May 11.
allAfrica.com: West Africa: Bandwidth Cost to Drop As U.S.$650 Million Undersea Cable Goes Live
It may somewhat cut down end user price.
----------
Even in our country there is not much difference, we also have to pay above 3k for 2mbps.
----------
If Reliance aren't idiots, there's no reason LTE can't be successful. Mukesh has spent (and borrowed) a whole lot more money than Airtel so he's kind of got to make a splash.
Yeah. They aren't idiots. They are investing $1b for LTE but they will keep all cards in their hands. They will not let to go their all money waste but they also will not provide their resources at cheap rate. You know LTE instruments are very costly which will definitely affect end user price.
BSNL has no money. Ideally, BSNL should be privatized and turned in to a network/infrastructure company and leave the services up to everyone else. If they did that, they'd get revenue from the same cables several times over, thus solving the money problem and allowing them to invest properly instead of having different equipment in each circle causing problems.
I know BSNL is surviving nowadays but it is capable to change its financial product. I think broadband product was great but because of poor service and high bills, they lost a lot customers. If they manage to offer FTTH before other companies' launch at good rate with good service, it may change situation. They lost much in wimax product also. Recently, they have requested for refund of BWA spectrum I do not know it is a threat to avoid 2g spectrum auction or needs finance back or an excuse of non standardize frequency. I think instruments are available in the market with that frequency.
Wimax is more expensive than fiber (per megabit) - quite significantly. A single base-station is the better part of $2,000 (for a basic one - and you still have to connect that to some form of wired connection) and might serve a few dozen customers, whereas for about 5x the price I can serve around 20x the number of customers with much higher speeds on fiber (FTTB).
And here's the problem with Wimax/3G/4G/WiFi:
1. Most apartments & houses have bars on the windows, which really stuff up any kind of radio signal.
2. When you can get a signal, the speed is not that great - the output is "up to" 30mbit/s but experience suggests it's a lot less - 4mbit/s if you're lucky, less if there is any kind of significant load on the network or base station (unlimited plans + many concurrent connections from applications such as bittorrent = high cpu = problems). Don't get me wrong - I love Bittorrent and use it regularly BUT it's just not great for performance on wireless networks.
Everyone proposing to set up fiber nationwide is doing so but it's mainly long-haul stuff, not last-mile. Without a decent last-mile, the customer is screwed. BSNL & MTNL are both doing FTTH but the footprints are limited and unfortunately the plans don't make sense for almost anyone. They could speed up adoption if they lowered the prices a bit (but then again, they can't afford to because of the money situation. Catch 22 situation, really).
If fiber is cheap, why don't they implement? I am not saying you are wrong.
In any technology whether it is wimax, LTE, 3g or any other else, CPE and instruments are costly. I have read somewhere government were discussing to make CPE and instrument tax free to cut down price of internet. I don't know it is implement or when will it be implemented?
About Wimax, I have already told my experience of internet regarding interference. Free licensed ISPs are already facing it. Even tata communication or reliance hold licensed wimax spectrum they face some issue as I experience with tata wimax. I was getting high latency from default gateway as well as any website. It depends upon couple of factors like low signal, poor speed management system at tata side(high 1: ratio) causing download speed variation ranging from 10k to 28k(for 256kbps tariff). I didn't get 32kbps or more ever with tata wimax. I tested a lot during late night hours and day time when I expect less peak requirement but not good performance. I did not have clear LOS and I had numbers of tower near to my location(very close).
I know speeds are wasted in wireless communication. If high speed is given to customers, there is huge variation between at node and customer's location.
Again, Reliance is investing in LTE not in FTTH. If reliance invest in FTTH rather than LTE, FTTH will be better performance wise just because they have strong global backbone according to me. No need to worry. What would you say?
FTTH establishment is a headache to setup last mile but anyone has to start rolling the the fiber all over the nation. They can not speed up but at least they can roll in major cities not in every city or village. How long have we to rely on coppers while whole world is adopting fiber??
if it is Catch-22, anyone has to come ahead to change for development. In this situation, government has to play important role. No private company or its investors waits longer for its return. Government is expecting it by 2014 even though they are willing to invest 6k crore. They must be kidding for this kind of long time.
And here's the problem with Wimax/3G/4G/WiFi:
1. Most apartments & houses have bars on the windows, which really stuff up any kind of radio signal.
I see that you often mention this on ur BIG reply in IBF. I cant even imagine sleeping in a house without bar(read-iron..lol) on the windows. Just a glass on the window in India would be a boon to thief's. When a voice call signal reaches in a closed space y not a Data signal?
1. Most apartments & houses have bars on the windows, which really stuff up any kind of radio signal.
I see that you often mention this on ur BIG reply in IBF. I cant even imagine sleeping in a house without bar(read-iron..lol) on the windows. Just a glass on the window in India would be a boon to thief's. When a voice call signal reaches in a closed space y not a Data signal?
I see that you often mention this on ur BIG reply in IBF. I cant even imagine sleeping in a house without bar(read-iron..lol) on the windows. Just a glass on the window in India would be a boon to thief's. When a voice call signal reaches in a closed space y not a Data signal?
Its getting very popular here in Chandigarh, alot of people are going in for big French type windows with no bars and grills.
Infact, hate me for saying this but this city is probably the best testing ground for any new telecom project, the planning is great and since there are no colonies or apartments its relatively much easier to lay down cables and such.
Its getting very popular here in Chandigarh, alot of people are going in for big French type windows with no bars and grills.
Infact, hate me for saying this but this city is probably the best testing ground for any new telecom project, the planning is great and since there are no colonies or apartments its relatively much easier to lay down cables and such.
I Guess the minimum speed requirement now is 1mbps. 512 is also gone.Just think, with this low speeds, guys are downloading 10's to 100's of GBs per month. What happens if they really speed up the Internet, here in India?
it will still remain the same more or less. i download @ abt 100mbps thru a mumbai+navi mumbai based dc++ hub yet my downloads have remained constant @ abt 300gb each mnth +/-50gb. just coz u have a high speed line doesn't mean u will download 100tb every month instead of 100gb!!
mgcarley
Founder, Hayai Broadband
I Guess the minimum speed requirement now is 1mbps. 512 is also gone.
Just think, with this low speeds, guys are downloading 10's to 100's of GBs per month. What happens if they really speed up the Internet, here in India?
I was going to give a similar answer to Kickass. In short: usage will rise, but only a bit - it's certainly not going to rise by 10 or 100x as the operators seem to think it will (based on their pricing plans).
- - - Updated - - -
Yeah. They aren't idiots. They are investing $1b for LTE but they will keep all cards in their hands. They will not let to go their all money waste but they also will not provide their resources at cheap rate. You know LTE instruments are very costly which will definitely affect end user price.
Oh are they? So why then are the retail rates in other markets not very high? LTE devices are only "expensive" now because they are new, but not as expensive as 3G devices were back when 3G came out. AFAIK LTE base stations are cheaper than 3G ones, as well since there's no conversion needed.
I know BSNL is surviving nowadays but it is capable to change its financial product. I think broadband product was great but because of poor service and high bills, they lost a lot customers. If they manage to offer FTTH before other companies' launch at good rate with good service, it may change situation. They lost much in wimax product also. Recently, they have requested for refund of BWA spectrum I do not know it is a threat to avoid 2g spectrum auction or needs finance back or an excuse of non standardize frequency. I think instruments are available in the market with that frequency.
BSNL is capable of changing if it sheds maybe 70% of it's workforce. On a network level, the fact that there are so many complaints about it is probably due mostly to the scale. They requested a refund for their BWA (Wimax) spectrum because they were viewing Wimax as a commercial failure due to the model they'd chosen (franchisees weren't living up to their end of the bargain) - I don't believe it had anything to do with 2G spectrum.
If fiber is cheap, why don't they implement? I am not saying you are wrong.
In any technology whether it is wimax, LTE, 3g or any other else, CPE and instruments are costly. I have read somewhere government were discussing to make CPE and instrument tax free to cut down price of internet. I don't know it is implement or when will it be implemented?
I believe they were planning to cut down on domestically manufactured devices, not imported ones. Personally, I wouldn't touch any of the domestically manufactured equipment that I've seen or had demoed to me with a 10-foot barge pole. It might be OK for someone else, so I doubt I'd be seeing any effect on pricing from such tax cuts.
About Wimax, I have already told my experience of internet regarding interference. Free licensed ISPs are already facing it. Even tata communication or reliance hold licensed wimax spectrum they face some issue as I experience with tata wimax. I was getting high latency from default gateway as well as any website. It depends upon couple of factors like low signal, poor speed management system at tata side(high 1: ratio) causing download speed variation ranging from 10k to 28k(for 256kbps tariff). I didn't get 32kbps or more ever with tata wimax. I tested a lot during late night hours and day time when I expect less peak requirement but not good performance. I did not have clear LOS and I had numbers of tower near to my location(very close).
I know speeds are wasted in wireless communication. If high speed is given to customers, there is huge variation between at node and customer's location.
People expected too much from Wimax. Then from 3G. And now LTE. We found Wimax practically fell over under any kind of significant load. 3G fares marginally better up to a point. LTE is a bit more efficient from that. Nothing is perfect: not even wireline products. It just so happens however, that QoS on a wired product is easier to guarantee, diagnose or fix.
Again, Reliance is investing in LTE not in FTTH. If reliance invest in FTTH rather than LTE, FTTH will be better performance wise just because they have strong global backbone according to me. No need to worry. What would you say?
RIL != RCOM. RIL has zero global backbone. RIL is investing in LTE because it is probably the cheapest way for them to get that product to market. It may also be the case that they are not (yet) in the wireline (FTTx) market to avoid competing with RCOM. Anil would probably throw a shitfit if Mukesh moved in and tried to kill Anil's prize pig.
FTTH establishment is a headache to setup last mile but anyone has to start rolling the the fiber all over the nation. They can not speed up but at least they can roll in major cities not in every city or village. How long have we to rely on coppers while whole world is adopting fiber??
if it is Catch-22, anyone has to come ahead to change for development. In this situation, government has to play important role. No private company or its investors waits longer for its return. Government is expecting it by 2014 even though they are willing to invest 6k crore. They must be kidding for this kind of long time.
What the government expects and what the government will get are 2 very VERY different things. Frankly, FTTH is not yet 100% necessary (say what now?)... YET. FTTB is sufficient for the time being - it'll do 100mbit/s reasonably comfortably HOWEVER, if you're going to start building an FTTx network from scratch like we are, we figure we might as well start now so as to avoid having to build it (effectively) twice. Less cost to us, shorter RoI for our investors.
Other operators may already have legacy networks which don't need so much actual fiber upgrading, but just more fiber so that they can bring the media convertor (whether that's a DSLAM, ONU, Switch, Repeater, BTS, whatever) closer to the user - so the DSL that's currently operating from the exchange starts to be put in cabinets all over the place.
For those in Mumbai, you know those MTNL cabinets you see everywhere which are full of a bunch of wires? Those cabinets could be repurposed, fiber run all the way to the cabinet, then all the wires ripped out and replaced with shiny new mini-DSLAMs which means your copper loop becomes much shorter and your potential speed much higher - your lines which currently sync a max of 6-ish mbit/s suddenly start syncing at 15 or so with cleaner line stats and, if they upgrade the plan speeds, much better throughput... better still, since they would likely be buying VDSL DSLAMs, offerings offer a nice intermediary for companies like MTNL to start really promoting triple-play services and decent speed Internet (30-50mbit/s) before the FTTH products really come in to their own.
Sadly though, the lifespan of DSL in it's current forms (not counting future upgrades/bonding/etc) is almost over already (maybe 10 years more at most) so moving straight to fiber in a similar configuration is actually the best option BUT then the problem remains that consumers won't want to be forced to upgrade their own CPEs (especially considering the cost), so they'll probably end up HAVING to take this route of cabinets with VDSL and building the FTTH network alongside the existing DSL network, which for them means most expenditure: THIS is the catch 22, I think, and where the private companies can get an edge on the public ones.
I see that you often mention this on ur BIG reply in IBF. I cant even imagine sleeping in a house without bar(read-iron..lol) on the windows. Just a glass on the window in India would be a boon to thief's. When a voice call signal reaches in a closed space y not a Data signal?
I don't know about you, but voice signals have difficulty in my house. Moreover, Data signals are much more sensitive. A voice signal is 64kbit/s or less. Even a 2G data signal is twice that, let alone 3G/WiMax/LTE. In some apartments (mother in law's would be a famous example) literally moving inward 20cm from the outer edge of the balcony makes all the difference between a 2G/EDGE signal or a 3G one: it can be that bad. However, there are other factors which can cause it to be like this, such as the location of and/or distance from the BTS: I think they're only about 100-150m away from the nearest one but it isn't even remotely close to line-of-sight. If it were, said bars may have a lesser effect.
Just think, with this low speeds, guys are downloading 10's to 100's of GBs per month. What happens if they really speed up the Internet, here in India?
I was going to give a similar answer to Kickass. In short: usage will rise, but only a bit - it's certainly not going to rise by 10 or 100x as the operators seem to think it will (based on their pricing plans).
- - - Updated - - -
Yeah. They aren't idiots. They are investing $1b for LTE but they will keep all cards in their hands. They will not let to go their all money waste but they also will not provide their resources at cheap rate. You know LTE instruments are very costly which will definitely affect end user price.
Oh are they? So why then are the retail rates in other markets not very high? LTE devices are only "expensive" now because they are new, but not as expensive as 3G devices were back when 3G came out. AFAIK LTE base stations are cheaper than 3G ones, as well since there's no conversion needed.
I know BSNL is surviving nowadays but it is capable to change its financial product. I think broadband product was great but because of poor service and high bills, they lost a lot customers. If they manage to offer FTTH before other companies' launch at good rate with good service, it may change situation. They lost much in wimax product also. Recently, they have requested for refund of BWA spectrum I do not know it is a threat to avoid 2g spectrum auction or needs finance back or an excuse of non standardize frequency. I think instruments are available in the market with that frequency.
BSNL is capable of changing if it sheds maybe 70% of it's workforce. On a network level, the fact that there are so many complaints about it is probably due mostly to the scale. They requested a refund for their BWA (Wimax) spectrum because they were viewing Wimax as a commercial failure due to the model they'd chosen (franchisees weren't living up to their end of the bargain) - I don't believe it had anything to do with 2G spectrum.
If fiber is cheap, why don't they implement? I am not saying you are wrong.
In any technology whether it is wimax, LTE, 3g or any other else, CPE and instruments are costly. I have read somewhere government were discussing to make CPE and instrument tax free to cut down price of internet. I don't know it is implement or when will it be implemented?
I believe they were planning to cut down on domestically manufactured devices, not imported ones. Personally, I wouldn't touch any of the domestically manufactured equipment that I've seen or had demoed to me with a 10-foot barge pole. It might be OK for someone else, so I doubt I'd be seeing any effect on pricing from such tax cuts.
About Wimax, I have already told my experience of internet regarding interference. Free licensed ISPs are already facing it. Even tata communication or reliance hold licensed wimax spectrum they face some issue as I experience with tata wimax. I was getting high latency from default gateway as well as any website. It depends upon couple of factors like low signal, poor speed management system at tata side(high 1: ratio) causing download speed variation ranging from 10k to 28k(for 256kbps tariff). I didn't get 32kbps or more ever with tata wimax. I tested a lot during late night hours and day time when I expect less peak requirement but not good performance. I did not have clear LOS and I had numbers of tower near to my location(very close).
I know speeds are wasted in wireless communication. If high speed is given to customers, there is huge variation between at node and customer's location.
People expected too much from Wimax. Then from 3G. And now LTE. We found Wimax practically fell over under any kind of significant load. 3G fares marginally better up to a point. LTE is a bit more efficient from that. Nothing is perfect: not even wireline products. It just so happens however, that QoS on a wired product is easier to guarantee, diagnose or fix.
Again, Reliance is investing in LTE not in FTTH. If reliance invest in FTTH rather than LTE, FTTH will be better performance wise just because they have strong global backbone according to me. No need to worry. What would you say?
RIL != RCOM. RIL has zero global backbone. RIL is investing in LTE because it is probably the cheapest way for them to get that product to market. It may also be the case that they are not (yet) in the wireline (FTTx) market to avoid competing with RCOM. Anil would probably throw a shitfit if Mukesh moved in and tried to kill Anil's prize pig.
FTTH establishment is a headache to setup last mile but anyone has to start rolling the the fiber all over the nation. They can not speed up but at least they can roll in major cities not in every city or village. How long have we to rely on coppers while whole world is adopting fiber??
if it is Catch-22, anyone has to come ahead to change for development. In this situation, government has to play important role. No private company or its investors waits longer for its return. Government is expecting it by 2014 even though they are willing to invest 6k crore. They must be kidding for this kind of long time.
What the government expects and what the government will get are 2 very VERY different things. Frankly, FTTH is not yet 100% necessary (say what now?)... YET. FTTB is sufficient for the time being - it'll do 100mbit/s reasonably comfortably HOWEVER, if you're going to start building an FTTx network from scratch like we are, we figure we might as well start now so as to avoid having to build it (effectively) twice. Less cost to us, shorter RoI for our investors.
Other operators may already have legacy networks which don't need so much actual fiber upgrading, but just more fiber so that they can bring the media convertor (whether that's a DSLAM, ONU, Switch, Repeater, BTS, whatever) closer to the user - so the DSL that's currently operating from the exchange starts to be put in cabinets all over the place.
For those in Mumbai, you know those MTNL cabinets you see everywhere which are full of a bunch of wires? Those cabinets could be repurposed, fiber run all the way to the cabinet, then all the wires ripped out and replaced with shiny new mini-DSLAMs which means your copper loop becomes much shorter and your potential speed much higher - your lines which currently sync a max of 6-ish mbit/s suddenly start syncing at 15 or so with cleaner line stats and, if they upgrade the plan speeds, much better throughput... better still, since they would likely be buying VDSL DSLAMs, offerings offer a nice intermediary for companies like MTNL to start really promoting triple-play services and decent speed Internet (30-50mbit/s) before the FTTH products really come in to their own.
Sadly though, the lifespan of DSL in it's current forms (not counting future upgrades/bonding/etc) is almost over already (maybe 10 years more at most) so moving straight to fiber in a similar configuration is actually the best option BUT then the problem remains that consumers won't want to be forced to upgrade their own CPEs (especially considering the cost), so they'll probably end up HAVING to take this route of cabinets with VDSL and building the FTTH network alongside the existing DSL network, which for them means most expenditure: THIS is the catch 22, I think, and where the private companies can get an edge on the public ones.
I see that you often mention this on ur BIG reply in IBF. I cant even imagine sleeping in a house without bar(read-iron..lol) on the windows. Just a glass on the window in India would be a boon to thief's. When a voice call signal reaches in a closed space y not a Data signal?
I don't know about you, but voice signals have difficulty in my house. Moreover, Data signals are much more sensitive. A voice signal is 64kbit/s or less. Even a 2G data signal is twice that, let alone 3G/WiMax/LTE. In some apartments (mother in law's would be a famous example) literally moving inward 20cm from the outer edge of the balcony makes all the difference between a 2G/EDGE signal or a 3G one: it can be that bad. However, there are other factors which can cause it to be like this, such as the location of and/or distance from the BTS: I think they're only about 100-150m away from the nearest one but it isn't even remotely close to line-of-sight. If it were, said bars may have a lesser effect.