okay, thanks for the info
🙂
just curious, what are the available alternatives? and how expensive are they?
That would depend entirely on which other ISPs are providing services in your area.
Most of Chennai is in the unfortunate situation of having not much in the way of infrastructure for other ISPs to operate, so you've got BSNL, Airtel and not many other choices unless you want to look at wireless of some sort (Photon, Netconnect of MBlaze) - this will give you better upload speeds than DSL - assuming the signal in your area is strong - but may end up being prohibitively expensive if you're not careful about usage.
Tata and Reliance I believe have *some* presence in Chennai but I don't know off the top of my head which technology they're using there (all of these providers use practically every technology that is available in various locations around the country, but only they would be able to tell you which one they're using in your area)... basically if they're using DSL technology as BSNL and Airtel do, then you're out of luck on the upload speeds from them as well. If, however, they're using some form of Metro Ethernet or something then you've got a decent chance of being able to attain higher speeds from them.
I think Sify and Tikona are also available but user reviews of these companies are not always favourable (as per threads on this and other forums), so caveat emptor!
See if there are any posters in your area for small-time providers or cable operators - you *might* be able to get them to customize a plan for you if you ask really nicely (I can't guarantee it, but give it a shot if it's available).
