Penned Thoughts

[This essay is strictly for residents of India. Please feel free to skip it if you are not one of them.]

I’ve been an Internet user in India since the Satyam and Sify dial-up days. As Internet access kept becoming more and more affordable and new technologies kept making their way to the mass market, I kept upgrading to newer and faster connections. I’ve had more ISPs that I could count on one hand.

I know what I must sound like to the average FarmVille player on Facebook or the guy who still uses Rediffmail as his e-mail service provider: I must sound crazy. But this post is not for you, the average user; it’s for the geeks, the real users of the Internet, the ones who truly get what it is all about.

I am passionate about the Internet is a manner that I’m passionate about very few things in life. It has expanded my horizon and broadened my reach, made me so much more wiser than school or college ever could and given me opportunities I’d never dreamed of. I truly am addicted to the Internet and am glad that I am. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

With that background in place, it should be easy for you to see why I care so deeply about the state of broadband in India. I strongly believe that a strong broadband infrastructure is central to a nation’s overall growth and for the betterment of the lives of its citizens. While I do very much enjoy having fast and unlimited broadband access for my own use, I care even more passionately about the growth of broadband in this country on a national level.

In all my years as an Internet user in this country and among all the ISPs I’ve tried, I’d never felt a stronger sense of loyalty towards any company than Airtel. The day I’d switched from BSNL to Airtel, it was like I’d been infused with fresh life. The Internet actually worked the whole day long without any hiccups! The speeds were consistently higher than what was advertised! It was truly unlimited! And the customer care representatives actually cared! I was in heaven!

To date, they have not begun to offer their services in Siliguri, my hometown, and I only enjoyed Airtel Broadband for the short period that I stayed in Noida, but I’ve never felt the urge to walk up to Airtel’s offices and excoriate them for not offering their services in Siliguri. I’ve been frustrated but it has been bearable.

But what Airtel is doing now is causing regression on a national scale. They first announced that all their “unlimited” plans would have bandwidth caps of 100GB per month, beyond which the speed of your plan would be halved for the rest of the month. Later, bowing to pressure, they increased that cap to 150GB per month, but then brought it back down to 100GB at some point.

They then introduced 4Mbps “unlimited” plans (the previous maximum had been 2Mbps) that had ridiculously low bandwidth caps and cost much less than their 2Mbps “unlimited” counterparts. As you would expect, very few people took the bait. And now, perhaps deciding that they still hadn’t done enough, they have lowered the caps on all “unlimited” plans to 12GB or 20GB (or some other number in that general range).

It’s like their PR team held a meeting and someone came up with the suggestion, “You know what, we have way too much of this goodwill bullshit going for us. Let’s do something about it.” And they then proceeded on their current path, which has already lead them halfway through to the point where they completely lose all the respect they’d worked so tirelessly to gain.

I’m not angry anymore and I am not writing this essay out of frustration. That phase is over. I’ve had time to think about this and the only overwhelming emotion I am left with at the end of the day is sadness. It’s just heartbreaking to know that there are no other options. I can’t even ask people to switch, because there is nothing else to switch to.

Airtel used to be an honest company, the only one fighting the good fight, the one shining beacon in the filthy morass that was comprised of all the other private ISPs in India. It was the company that we rooted for, even evangelised for. But they’ve fallen prey to greed, just like they all do.

-Aayush