Sify's Business Plan for Broadband is confusing

They are one of the biggest IT firms in India. They compete with InfoSys and Wipro and are even listed on Nasdaq. And on the B2C front, they claim to be one of the biggest broadband providers in India. I happen to be one of the unfortunate souls to be stuck with them as my ISP considering there is no alternate present in my area. And looking at the facts that came to my notice today, I am confused about their master plan on being an ISP to the masses!

They have got the term broadband in their brand name, which is SIFY BROADBAND. Broadband is supposed to be net connectivity that enables us to surf online at speeds that let us listen to and watch streaming audio and video comfortably. In technical terms (and TRAI’s recommendation), it is supposed to be equal or greater than 256kbps speeds. But looking at the product pages, it seems pretty clear that Sify does not want the common user (a typical middle class guy who wants to enjoy internet at its full glory) to have broadband. Reason being it costs around Rs. 2.50 per Meg to have broadbandish speeds with Sify! If checking emails or chatting online do justice to broadband speeds than I would have preferred this package. But no, broadband is all about audio and video transmission and well, at 2.5 rupee a Meg... not many can afford it.

So well, broadband is out of the question. Next comes the other data transfer and time bound packages which I do not even want to discuss here. Its not dialup we are talking about. BROADBAND was supposed to be permanent connectivity for god sake. The only reasonable packages left are the shared packages at a cheap (relatively) price of 600-800 bucks. The speeds are theoretically comparable to dialup but they are at least UNLIMITED! So, I can use these packages for downloading lots of stuff while I am sleeping!

Oops. I am wrong again. Sify has this hidden (or is it missed out) clause which says that there is no speed guarantee on shared packages. So, even though the package says 32kbps+ or 48kbps+, it can give you speeds in bytes and Sify won't take it as a problem. Another funny hidden feature (??) is that if you exceed 75 megs in a day, the speed is automatically reduced to worse levels (yeah, 32 is not the worst they have on their broadband scales). So, you are not going to get even the labeled speeds on the shared packages...

But they do work... don'[t they? Well, it works for sure... But with more exciting features. The new login client makes sure that you cannot just leave some download on and go to sleep. It has this interesting habit of disconnecting you from the network randomly. No matter you are sitting on the PC surfing actively or away from it. So, if you plan to download some big files... better keep checking back after every 15 minutes to see if download is still working or not. If your net works like mine, you would find it logged of almost 70% of the times. This practically shows that they do not want us to use even the shared packages for large downloads. Or perhaps I am just cynical...

So, what do they want? They do not like us enjoying high-speed broadband. And they don't like us enjoying large downloads. Why are they even in the market of providing internet services? Why not just go back to providing just dialup! It suits their plan perfectly! Get paid per hour for speeds that matches what we get in the name of broadband. Why bastardize broadband in India and leave a bitter taste for us the users. Hell, I do not exactly have an alternate to move on to if Sify tomorrow withdraws its services from me. So, I have more chances of screwing myself than screwing them with posts like these. But the fact remains, as I get to learn more and more about what mistakes they are making, the more I disappointed I get.

They have a reasonable user base with little competition at most places (Bangalore seems to be an exception). And they are messing it all up with these stupid hidden clauses. 99% of the people I know who are on Sify Broadband are stuck with it for two reasons. Lack of an alternate option (including me) and the fact that they paid a massive 3500 as installation fee. It just needs a new competitor who notices these faults and attack Sify at its core business module, and I am sure they would suffer massively.

GSM survived Reliance because they learnt from their mistakes. Net through cable might not survive Bharat Broadband. And I just cannot wait to move on...