My experience with TATA Indicom ‘Broadband’ even b4r I become a customer!

I am currently a Sify ‘Broadband’ user that review can be found at http://socrates0.blogspot.com/ . Since I am not happy with the quality of Sify I had applied to VSNL for the TATA Indicom ‘broadband’ connection.. I was told to ring up their number 56478000 for a connection, when I did that I was told to go to their site and apply for it (what happens if the potential customer does not have a internet connection?) after which they would do a ‘feasibility study’. The fact that I am already a broadband customer & had the requisite CAT 5 cable to my house and my current last mile operator is also providing TATA Indicom ‘broadband’ fell on deaf ears. I made my application on their site and after 3 days (what speed) a lady called Parveen called me to tell me that since I already have a CAT 5 wire to my place I am getting a ‘discount’ of 75% and would have to pay Rs 551 as ‘Registration’ instead of the usual Rs 2000 as installation charges.

I told her that when I shifted from my cable wallah’s ‘broadband’ (He became a franchisee of Sify) to Sify I was not charged anything so how come they are charging so much, to which I was told very pompously that ‘these orders have come right from the top, You can speak to Mr Tata about it to get it changed’. And that is just what I did with a copy to customer care to date I have not received even an acknowledgement of my email.

Another lady called Saira called me from customer care to apologise about the whole issue & to tell me that Rs 551 is charged to cover their backend cost, which I find quite hilarious that a company as reputed as VSNL is resorting to such specious excuses. (The reason had now changed). After that I got a call from another gentleman called Noel with a similar story but with a different twist. (they should get prizes for imagination & creativity). A few weeks another person from VSNL (said her name was Uma) rings & offers me TATA Indicom Broadband for Rs 2000 saying a registration of Rs 551 is 'nonsense'. (Now another person & another story). Considering that international bandwidth prices are rapidly coming down also the competition in the country these excuses are pure nonsense & a cheap attempt to milk the ignorant customer. Looks like there is a oligopoly amongst the service providers just like in the mobile phone ‘service’ providers. The reason I am posting this review (if u can call it that) is so that other potential customer resists this extortion attempt of gullible potential customers by VSNL in the name of ‘registration’. I am a dial up customer of the same company from 1996 and find that the quality of service in Mumbai has deteriorated AFTER it became a private company !!!!!! It seemed to be better as a PSU company. . One thing this has done is all the legends, myths I had heard about the goodness & ethics of TATA companies has gone out of the window. Lets see how long this farce continues. Their engineers have told me that even though they claim ‘up to 512kbps, you can expect anything between 128kbps to 256kbps’. I wonder if that qualifies as broadband according to the new rules. Now I get a phone call on a weekly basis pleading that I shift to their ‘broadband service’, even offering ‘free installation’ the fact of the matter is that others in my area who are customers are regretting their decision. Also their packages are a rip off.