Hello, this is my personal experience with my journey on broadband and fiber.
I was a BSNL broadband user for almost 8 years (2007-2015) and I didn't have any other option due to service unavailability by other service providers. I really would say that BSNL broadband coverage is amazing and it is available even in remote villages where no other providers can think of. All thanks to its landline connection network which BSNL leveraged to provide broadband connection. But this is the only advantage and let me tell you what are the cons.
The major con with BSNL is that their employees are not trained enough and the process is not well defined or maintained. I used to face frequent downtime say twice a month and it takes 1 or 2 days to get a response from BSNL only if you are a friend of repair guy. There were few long-time technical issues and BSNL never takes them seriously. I had to compromise all of these and pay a hefty amount for basic internet connection. They take 1500 for security deposit along with one-month advance + installation, all this ended up paying around 2500~3000 to get a new connection without modem. It was way back in 2007 but now a lot of things got changed.
So after the expansion of fiber optic in the state, I got a chance to change to ACT Fibernet. BSNL was also offering fiber connection but I dont want to face the issues again. Without any second thought I opted for ACT. Just one call, the person came, gave him the money, installed the next day and the internet was ready for use. In the same situation, BSNL took over 10 days to install fiber for the same premises.
The tarrif plan was giving more than what BSNL was offering. In the case of BSNL fibernet, you get a wired modem, UPS for that modem and then you have the wireless modem or router. Note that you will be paying rent for the UPS and you dont have it as optional. (That modem stopped working in a week and when checked with BSNL, they openly suggested me to buy a 12V adapter and use, Then why UPS is required was my next question and pay rent for around 150 rs per month). Whereas in ACT, its just an optic cable coming inside your house which connects to WIFI modem.
At first, I was very skeptical about their connectivity as the speed is almost similar to BSNLs one. But it was way too much different. I had 16 mbps connection in BSNL and in ACT the base speed is now at 50mbps 1000GB limit for Rs 649 (in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu) with amazing ping response.
Now its been 5 years with ACT and I faced downtime for not more than 10 instances where they fixed it in hours most of the time which is incredible.
The major con with BSNL is that their employees are not trained enough and the process is not well defined or maintained. I used to face frequent downtime say twice a month and it takes 1 or 2 days to get a response from BSNL only if you are a friend of repair guy. There were few long-time technical issues and BSNL never takes them seriously. I had to compromise all of these and pay a hefty amount for basic internet connection. They take 1500 for security deposit along with one-month advance + installation, all this ended up paying around 2500~3000 to get a new connection without modem. It was way back in 2007 but now a lot of things got changed.
So after the expansion of fiber optic in the state, I got a chance to change to ACT Fibernet. BSNL was also offering fiber connection but I dont want to face the issues again. Without any second thought I opted for ACT. Just one call, the person came, gave him the money, installed the next day and the internet was ready for use. In the same situation, BSNL took over 10 days to install fiber for the same premises.
The tarrif plan was giving more than what BSNL was offering. In the case of BSNL fibernet, you get a wired modem, UPS for that modem and then you have the wireless modem or router. Note that you will be paying rent for the UPS and you dont have it as optional. (That modem stopped working in a week and when checked with BSNL, they openly suggested me to buy a 12V adapter and use, Then why UPS is required was my next question and pay rent for around 150 rs per month). Whereas in ACT, its just an optic cable coming inside your house which connects to WIFI modem.
At first, I was very skeptical about their connectivity as the speed is almost similar to BSNLs one. But it was way too much different. I had 16 mbps connection in BSNL and in ACT the base speed is now at 50mbps 1000GB limit for Rs 649 (in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu) with amazing ping response.
Now its been 5 years with ACT and I faced downtime for not more than 10 instances where they fixed it in hours most of the time which is incredible.