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Before the advent of DSL connectivity, cable Internet was the only option for broadband connections and while cable Internet providers served for almost four years, they seem to have learnt very little from their past experience. The service levels as well as connectivity is plagued with the same old issues of frequent down time, erratic speeds and high latency connections. Hathway and Sify are the dominant cable Internet providers today and both have a lot of explaining to do.

Mr. Divyesh Palrecha from Mumbai has a very specific issue with Hathway. He says, “I have opted for a 7GB monthly plan and paid but my account shows a limit of 6 GB! I have sent 10 reminders and made several phone calls but it is still in process, God knows when it will be rectified. Even the usage calculations are tricky, even when I am out of town and not using the connection, the logs show usage!” The fact that 67 percent of the users on cable Internet said that they were planning to change their ISP is probably a sign of things to come with more and more users opting for DSL connections over cable.

Dr. Jagdish Kumar from Patna is a Sify user and has a 64Kbps unlimited connection. He needs connectivity for about 3 days a week and hence is not bothered about speeds or download limits. The only gripe he has with Sify is that on one of those three days; the link is invariably down, forcing him to visit an Internet café. “What’s the point of paying for a connection that is not there when you need it the most?” he complains. Both Hathway and SIFY concentrate on certain areas of a city and operate on a limited scale. They enjoy a distinct advantage of being able to deliver connections in less time and often run promotion schemes like free installation and zero modem charges — something that the bigger players cannot offer.

Read more of this article at PCWorld