dhoomketu.net.in

Good Morning Mr. Chakravarthy,

I embed my reply in your mail

On Wednesday 27 September 2006 07:26, you wrote:
> Dear Mr
> I understand that you are unhappy with the speeds experienced by you in
> your plan.
Yes, you got the crux of the matter, but I am 100% satisfied with the speeds
experienced by me on a line of same speed provided me by TATA Indicom
Broadband. AND I pay Rs. 300 less!!

> The speed experienced by the user is a function of several parameters such
> as "quality of network between Point of Presence or POP and Customer
> Modem", number of simultaneous users who are online and who are downloading
> (excluding users who are online but are say "reading" a page), the speed of
> the internet cloud, the quality of network between the Website being
> visited by the customer and the POP to which the website is connected and
> several other factors ".
I agree, speed experienced is a function of several parameters.

Before I explain my point of view to you let me tell you the configuration of
my second connection from Tata Indicom Broadband (VSNL). The line has a
maximum speed of 256 kilo bits pers second (kbps) with unlimited download.
(http://www.tataindicombroadband.in/access/postpaid/order/postpaid_Pune.htm
Scroll down to the bottom -> Infinity - 256 256 Truly Unlimited 1,200)

My connection from YOU Telecom (Iqara) is of a similar nature, 256 kbps with
unlimited download.

Say, I am downloading a file from the microsoft website (I hope you agree to
the fact that microsoft servers are on high speed lines and DO NOT throttle
the download speeds). If I am able to get the file at 30 kilo Bytes per
second (kBps) on a line from VSNL.

Now if I connect to the MS website using YOU Telecom (Iqara) line and try to
download the same file, why do I get a download speed of 10 kBps? When I ask
this question to your technical guys, they ask me download three file
simultaneously and then check the aggregate speed!!

If I do put three simultaneous files for download then I get an aggregate
speed of 30 Kbps. With this kind of behavior of the network, it simply means
that YOU Telecom (Iqara) has some sort of "TAP" on the line. When I download
one file, only one TAP is opened, when I add downloads more TAP's are opened.

As a person with enough technical knowledge on networks, I know that this kind
of arrangement can be configured. This arrangement has be done on a server
controlled by the ISP. Many corporates use this method to manage traffic on
the internal networks.

I say this with confidence as I have tried downloading the same file
simultaneously on BSNL and VSNL lines. Both the lines of 256 kbps. And I got
30kbps on those lines!! And on a 512 kbps line from BSNL, the same package is
downloaded at 60 kBps!!

I dis-agree with this arrangement made by YOU Telecom (Iqara).

VSNL & BSNL, does not utilise this kind of TAP system!!

> Which is why you would find that the speed
> experienced by you in a 256 kbps plan while on the network would vary from
> 50 kbps to 256 kbps.

I am talking of pure download speed, when downloading a file from the network
and not browsing websites (reading pages over the web).

> The industry currently focuses on guaranteeing the "quality of the network
> between POP and Customer Modem"

if the ISP guarantees the quality of network between the POP and customer
modem, why there are speed related issues, when only one machine is directly
connected to the modem?
Does the ISP not gaurantee network speed from the modem (Motorola surfboard,
provided by YOU Telecom (Iqara)), over a cat 5 cable (merely 3ft long) into
the consumer's network card (10/100 MBps) on a regular DELL Laptop?

> where the speed is reserved for use of
> customer. Irrespective of whether you are using or not, this part of the
> network is reserved for you.

Has to be, I have paid for it!!

> You will find that all service providers adopt the same standard and will
> only provide you a "UPTO 256 kbps" service.
Are you sure? VSNL does not mention that on their website and also I get a
complete 256 kbps speed when downloading a file from a regular webserver
which is connected to a terabyte line. This I do not get when download the
same file over YOU Telecom (Iqara)

> You must be aware of hackers
> who sometimes are able to slow down the internet and a few targeted
> websites by generating unproductive traffic. There is no way a service
> provider can guarantee a speed from the user to the target website and
> back.
Absolutely, but I am talking of downloading file from regular websites, like
sourceforge.net, microsoft.com, novell.com, opensuse.org, download.com and
similar others.

> It is possible that in a few months time, the industry may be able to
> guarantee a minimum speed from the customer to the Internet cloud -
> however, this kind of a plan will be more expensive.
> I wish that the internet plans can be more straightforward but
> unfortunately they are not. If you are unhappy with the speed, I urge you
> to consider one of our 512 kbps plans. We still don't guarantee this speed
> but you will be much happier than you are today.

Sir, I have mentioned earlier in my mail, my monthly downloads touch close to
14GB, how in that can you even think of asking me to shift to a line, where
my monthly limit is as low as 4GB?? And secondly, if you think, I should be
paying for the extra 10GB, would it not I be thinking of getting some kind of
leased line?

Last but not the least, I request you to kindly send me the document from
TRAI, where they mention that quality (consistent download speeds) of
internet line, cannot be defined.

> Regards
> EVS Chakravarthy
> Chief Executive Officer &
> Customer Service Associate
> YOU Telecom India p ltd
> Mumbai