Times of India on Fair Usage Policy
- Thread starter Sushubh
- Start date
- Replies 134
- Views 23,042
mgcarley
Founder, Hayai Broadband
I don't like Fair Usage Ploicy. But I am supporting it. Look it is not bad to have 500GB data transfer cap per month for upto 1MBps or 2MBps home user. Fair Usage Policy should only be implemented for dividing consumer types. We should also need an extended short time boost plan for bandwidth. Such as top up type.
Again a point.. We want good infrastructure. Without a good service FUP is really bullshit.
And to ISP..."Dont use the term Unlimited".. Use the "Free upto X GB"... Be good Google type, don't be Microsoft type.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Airtel, MTNL, BSNL - every service provider providing ADSL services (I think those 3 cover the vast majority anyway) should just DROP the speed nonsense and have much more clear-cut plans. The reason I pick on ADSL providers is because it's easiest for them: cable providers are a bit different.
They should offer speed-based, "flat-rate" (as in pricing) but not necessarily unlimited (as in usage), with speeds of 256, 512, 1mbit/s, 2mbit/s. There should be no FUP to speak of, and plans priced fairly (based on my knowledge of wholesale pricing, I expect they could charge about Rs600, 1000, 2000, 3000 respectively to consumers).
and
1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300GB data packages, priced appropriately (from say Rs99 to about Rs3000-4000) - with no speed limit. Let the line-speed be free. Then Indian users could experience up to about 7 or 20mbit/s depending on what equipment is at their DSLAM (ADSL or ADSL2+).
Then users could make sense of which plan is best for them, and even more encouragingly - we wouldn't have to worry about all this "minimum speed of 256kbit/s" nonsense that pretty much everyone is tuned in to now.
JUST FORGET MINIMUM SPEED AND LOOK AT THE MAXIMUM AVAILABLE SPEED.
let me tell you something. MTNL is making heavy losses. The government wants to FIRE 2/3rd of ALL EMPLOYEES. MTNL has threatened that if there are any job cuts, they would go on strike during the Commonwealth Games 2010.
MTNL Union opposes job cuts; threatens to go on strike - The Economic Times
The company is MAKING LOSSES. The losses they make is nulled by the money we all pay through our taxes. So, essentially, we all are paying a big price for their douchery.
---------- Post added at 07:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------
funny thing is that the government is paying them Rs. 182 crores to provide infrastrucure for the commonwealth games. do you think it would be used judiciously? god knows how many MTNL babus made shit load of money from this arrangement.
if they had contracted with a private operator, they could have saved this money by giving them free advertising.
MTNL is not only making losses, having finally had to pay for the 3G spectrum, it is now heavily in debt, to the tune of thousands of crores. Silly them for not capitalizing on their first-to-market advantage!
I think MTNL should fire ALL employees and just start the hell again. Give me a price - I'd take it over in a heartbeat
Since there seems to be a discussion about MTNL, let me add my data point. Overall I am quite happy with the service and it's been far more reliable than Tata Indicom which I used for several years. I am not sure where the writer gets the information that MTNL is a lot worse than the others. Apart from my own experience, my impression from reading this forum is that while some people may have problems,MTNL is pretty decent by Indian standards.
It seems that the discussion is pretty much split down the middle. We all know some users have had excellent experiences - yay for them. Other users have had absolute shit experiences. Oh bugger. This is where/why/how the private operators get to swoop in in the first place.
Yup it did, so its getting some exposure, at least, I hope. Kudos to admin and mgcarley and whoever else contributed to this piece. Cheers!
Thank you.
This is a start in the good direction.
Hope TRAI introduces the 2mbps minimum speed limit for broadband.
So do I.
---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------
By the way, I wrote to Javed this evening regarding my response to the ToI article:
Javed,
I had written a comment/response to the article published in the ToI yesterday (timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Caught-in-the-Net-of-slow-broadband/articleshow/6538767.cms), but it has yet to be moderated and accepted. Personally, I think it contains a summary of some of the important information which was provided to you by Sushubh and I, but was not (or could not) be included in the article for whatever reason.
While I enjoyed the article and felt it raised some good points, something was missing. There is no call to action. So I asked myself, what's the point in having such an article if there is no call to action? Even though this is for the most part true, India is the world's largest democracy, so we (well, you... I'm not a citizen) should take this to heart and say "we've identified what's wrong, now here's how to fix it".
Unless we do that, all it does is make us sound like we're just a bunch of idiots whining about being screwed over by the big companies. "What do we want??? Something!!! When to we want it??? Now!!!" - and that's precisely what we'll get. I personally come from a very small democracy, and although I'm not after the publicity or anything right at the moment, my mission in India is to fix the broadband situation.
Below, I have included for your reference the comment which was submitted on the ToI website, and would also like to mention that there is an elongated version of the same at broadbandblog.in/993-the-most-hated-thing-about-indian-broadband
To which I received this response.
Hi Mathew,
I appreciate that you liked the article and concede your point that it lacked "call to action". I am sure you will understand that being a mainstream newspaper, we mostly cater to a readership that is not very tech savvy. My purpose behind the article was to inform people that something like FUP exists and its a hindrance to good browsing experience. Also, it's unfortunate that we did not have the space to go into the details.
You had given some fantastic inputs but that information was deemed too technical for our readers by the desk/production team. But as I said earlier, I will write about the issue at my official Times Of India blog and there we can talk a lot more freely. I will be out of be the town for about a week, once I come back I will shape the article for the blog because what you have told me surely deserves to be told to others.
Before a journalist, I am someone who is passionate about technology and Web. I assure you that I will do whatever I can to make people aware of FUP and highlight where the problems exist.
As for your comment at Times Of India website, I am sorry that I can not do much as far as approval or disapproval is concerned. It's a separate department. Though I am sure that your comment will be approved.
Warm regards
Javed Anwer
Chief Copy Editor & Feature Writer (personal tech)
Times Of India, New Delhi
+919818218551
WebWise : Javed Anwer's blog-The Times Of India
http://twitter.com/Javed_Del
It looks like the excitement is just beginning
Again a point.. We want good infrastructure. Without a good service FUP is really bullshit.
And to ISP..."Dont use the term Unlimited".. Use the "Free upto X GB"... Be good Google type, don't be Microsoft type.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Airtel, MTNL, BSNL - every service provider providing ADSL services (I think those 3 cover the vast majority anyway) should just DROP the speed nonsense and have much more clear-cut plans. The reason I pick on ADSL providers is because it's easiest for them: cable providers are a bit different.
They should offer speed-based, "flat-rate" (as in pricing) but not necessarily unlimited (as in usage), with speeds of 256, 512, 1mbit/s, 2mbit/s. There should be no FUP to speak of, and plans priced fairly (based on my knowledge of wholesale pricing, I expect they could charge about Rs600, 1000, 2000, 3000 respectively to consumers).
and
1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300GB data packages, priced appropriately (from say Rs99 to about Rs3000-4000) - with no speed limit. Let the line-speed be free. Then Indian users could experience up to about 7 or 20mbit/s depending on what equipment is at their DSLAM (ADSL or ADSL2+).
Then users could make sense of which plan is best for them, and even more encouragingly - we wouldn't have to worry about all this "minimum speed of 256kbit/s" nonsense that pretty much everyone is tuned in to now.
JUST FORGET MINIMUM SPEED AND LOOK AT THE MAXIMUM AVAILABLE SPEED.
let me tell you something. MTNL is making heavy losses. The government wants to FIRE 2/3rd of ALL EMPLOYEES. MTNL has threatened that if there are any job cuts, they would go on strike during the Commonwealth Games 2010.
MTNL Union opposes job cuts; threatens to go on strike - The Economic Times
The company is MAKING LOSSES. The losses they make is nulled by the money we all pay through our taxes. So, essentially, we all are paying a big price for their douchery.
---------- Post added at 07:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------
funny thing is that the government is paying them Rs. 182 crores to provide infrastrucure for the commonwealth games. do you think it would be used judiciously? god knows how many MTNL babus made shit load of money from this arrangement.
if they had contracted with a private operator, they could have saved this money by giving them free advertising.
MTNL is not only making losses, having finally had to pay for the 3G spectrum, it is now heavily in debt, to the tune of thousands of crores. Silly them for not capitalizing on their first-to-market advantage!
I think MTNL should fire ALL employees and just start the hell again. Give me a price - I'd take it over in a heartbeat
Since there seems to be a discussion about MTNL, let me add my data point. Overall I am quite happy with the service and it's been far more reliable than Tata Indicom which I used for several years. I am not sure where the writer gets the information that MTNL is a lot worse than the others. Apart from my own experience, my impression from reading this forum is that while some people may have problems,MTNL is pretty decent by Indian standards.
It seems that the discussion is pretty much split down the middle. We all know some users have had excellent experiences - yay for them. Other users have had absolute shit experiences. Oh bugger. This is where/why/how the private operators get to swoop in in the first place.
Yup it did, so its getting some exposure, at least, I hope. Kudos to admin and mgcarley and whoever else contributed to this piece. Cheers!
Thank you.
This is a start in the good direction.
Hope TRAI introduces the 2mbps minimum speed limit for broadband.
So do I.
---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------
By the way, I wrote to Javed this evening regarding my response to the ToI article:
Javed,
I had written a comment/response to the article published in the ToI yesterday (timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Caught-in-the-Net-of-slow-broadband/articleshow/6538767.cms), but it has yet to be moderated and accepted. Personally, I think it contains a summary of some of the important information which was provided to you by Sushubh and I, but was not (or could not) be included in the article for whatever reason.
While I enjoyed the article and felt it raised some good points, something was missing. There is no call to action. So I asked myself, what's the point in having such an article if there is no call to action? Even though this is for the most part true, India is the world's largest democracy, so we (well, you... I'm not a citizen) should take this to heart and say "we've identified what's wrong, now here's how to fix it".
Unless we do that, all it does is make us sound like we're just a bunch of idiots whining about being screwed over by the big companies. "What do we want??? Something!!! When to we want it??? Now!!!" - and that's precisely what we'll get. I personally come from a very small democracy, and although I'm not after the publicity or anything right at the moment, my mission in India is to fix the broadband situation.
Below, I have included for your reference the comment which was submitted on the ToI website, and would also like to mention that there is an elongated version of the same at broadbandblog.in/993-the-most-hated-thing-about-indian-broadband
To which I received this response.
Hi Mathew,
I appreciate that you liked the article and concede your point that it lacked "call to action". I am sure you will understand that being a mainstream newspaper, we mostly cater to a readership that is not very tech savvy. My purpose behind the article was to inform people that something like FUP exists and its a hindrance to good browsing experience. Also, it's unfortunate that we did not have the space to go into the details.
You had given some fantastic inputs but that information was deemed too technical for our readers by the desk/production team. But as I said earlier, I will write about the issue at my official Times Of India blog and there we can talk a lot more freely. I will be out of be the town for about a week, once I come back I will shape the article for the blog because what you have told me surely deserves to be told to others.
Before a journalist, I am someone who is passionate about technology and Web. I assure you that I will do whatever I can to make people aware of FUP and highlight where the problems exist.
As for your comment at Times Of India website, I am sorry that I can not do much as far as approval or disapproval is concerned. It's a separate department. Though I am sure that your comment will be approved.
Warm regards
Javed Anwer
Chief Copy Editor & Feature Writer (personal tech)
Times Of India, New Delhi
+919818218551
WebWise : Javed Anwer's blog-The Times Of India
http://twitter.com/Javed_Del
It looks like the excitement is just beginning
mgcarley
Founder, Hayai Broadband
I think TRAI made 2mbps as minimum speed from last year (I guess in July'09).
Isn't it applicable yet?????????????
No. It's been recommended, but not legislated. The fact that 2mbit/s as the lower limit was even on the cards was behind our decision to bump our lowest speed based plan up to 5mbit/s.
Isn't it applicable yet?????????????
No. It's been recommended, but not legislated. The fact that 2mbit/s as the lower limit was even on the cards was behind our decision to bump our lowest speed based plan up to 5mbit/s.
Found a good link on TRAI website....
Comments received from Stakeholders on Consultation on “National Broadband Plan
http://www.trai.gov.in/ConsultationPapers_content.asp
Comments received from Stakeholders on Consultation on “National Broadband Plan
http://www.trai.gov.in/ConsultationPapers_content.asp
mgcarley
Founder, Hayai Broadband
Found a good link on TRAI website....
Comments received from Stakeholders on Consultation on “National Broadband Plan
http://www.trai.gov.in/ConsultationPapers_content.asp
I think I know the document you're referencing - it's for the "new and improved broadband plan of 2010", right?
Problem is, that link is invalid. Some things on TRAI website you just have to tell people how to get there
---------- Post added at 06:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------
At trai.gov.in, hover on "consultation papers on the left", then click on "year wise". It's about 5th down.
---------- Post added at 06:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------
This is also worth a read http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/trai/upload/StudyPapers/10/spaper1jan08.pdf
---------- Post added at 06:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ----------
Bharti also wants copper loop unbundled: http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/trai/upload/ConsultationPapers/209/16.pdf
---------- Post added at 06:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------
But look @ 21, 26 and 27 in this same document. WEASELS. THEY OWN most of the international capacity and are barely using it. What rubbish this is.
Comments received from Stakeholders on Consultation on “National Broadband Plan
http://www.trai.gov.in/ConsultationPapers_content.asp
I think I know the document you're referencing - it's for the "new and improved broadband plan of 2010", right?
Problem is, that link is invalid. Some things on TRAI website you just have to tell people how to get there
---------- Post added at 06:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------
At trai.gov.in, hover on "consultation papers on the left", then click on "year wise". It's about 5th down.
---------- Post added at 06:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------
This is also worth a read http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/trai/upload/StudyPapers/10/spaper1jan08.pdf
---------- Post added at 06:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ----------
Bharti also wants copper loop unbundled: http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/trai/upload/ConsultationPapers/209/16.pdf
---------- Post added at 06:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------
But look @ 21, 26 and 27 in this same document. WEASELS. THEY OWN most of the international capacity and are barely using it. What rubbish this is.
Well even BSNL suggestedMinimum BB Speeds Dec 2010 --- 512 kbpsDec 2011 --- 2 MbpsI for one believe if not 2 Mbps at one go they should make it 1 Mbps right from Jan 1 2011 as minimum citeria for broadband ! Vodafone suggests speeds are not important.....even EDGE speeds of 144 kbps are good as long as they can reach the far flung areas 
As of the PDFs in the link....open in IE so that it opens properly. in FF just delete those " ' "
As of the PDFs in the link....open in IE so that it opens properly. in FF just delete those " ' "rohaan
Regular
As all of u r discussing about FUP. I have an idea for those who r all in Delhi and Mumbai if u r all on Airtel or some other ISP which has f**king FUP why don't u change over the ISP to MTNL UL plans which doesn't have FUP and so u all dont crap about ur experiences with other ISP that have FUP.This will atleast a team effort which will make other ISP to kick their FUP down the drain if they want consumer base.If u all dont want FUP change ur ISP as simple as that. Very sorry about people in cities other than Mumbai and Delhi as they dont have MTNL.I have been using MTNL Triband since its inception and never had problem. I'm on 1 mbps ul plan and even cant cross 15GB in a month. God knows how do people cross 200Gb as said by Airtel which they call as data/bandwidth hoggers.As mgcarley wrote as MTNL didn't capitalize on being first to have 3G they r in debt of crores but dont worry central govt can easily rescue them.mgcarley r u Indian or just on working visa in India with Hayai broadband as ur name sounds foreignish:imwink:.In the end just one thing MTNL is the best ISP in India.:dance:
rohaan
Regular
admin of course it comes from taxes what's the big deal. U dont want to pay taxes, be realistic everyone needs to pay tax. And if u earn within 1.6 lac u dont need to pay tax. Pls be realistic friend. Either be a govt employee and enjoy benefit or else one will always criticize the govt.