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362

MTNL Triband Review

I have been using MTNL triband for more than a month now and yes I can include myself in one of their happy customers :)

The speeds are very good, there is no downtime at all..till now I have not seen my net connection going down…(apart from daily disconnection at 11.54 in the night..I think it’s for NU plan…)

They have plans ranging from Rs. 199 (400 MB – 256 kbps) to Rs. 9,999 (18 GB – 2mbps) a month

The plans are very good value to money and you get what you pay for..not like local cable operators who charge more and give less…

Let me move on to everything step by step:

Requirements: You need a MTNL telephone line, machine with at least Windows 98 installed (of course you can use it on Linux or other OS too but they won’t be able to help you with that), Ethernet Card

  1. Registration Process: The registration process is very easy, you have to visit their telephone exchange, fill small form and submit it. The registration fees are Rs. 300 and Rs. 500 initial deposit for modem (if you are going to use their modem). If you have your own modem then you do not need to pay Rs. 500 extra. These charges will be added in your telephone bill. You can also register by calling them on their helpline number 1500 (Mumbai) but there is kind of risk in that, they might put wrong plan under your telephone number. It had happened to me, instead of NU plan, they had put me in pay as per use plan. (I will talk about it more later in this post)
  2. Time Required: They require around 1 week of time to get the things rolling but if it takes more than a week then it means that the time has come to visit telephone exchange and enquire about it. Reasons for delay can be problems with local server computer, issues with work orders etc…But visiting them personally will solve the issues quickly.
  3. Installation: Their person will call you before visiting your place, there is nothing much to install actually. You just need to change your IP settings and configure the modem with your username and password. The guy will configure the stuff for you and the things should start running in 10 minutes max.
  4. Things to be taken care of: First change your modem admin panel’s password. The admin panel is located here: http://192.168.1.1/ (that’s the default location)…the default username and password will be admin and admin. Now since it is very easy to guess so it is better to change it….to change the password, logon to the admin panel, click on tools tab and type in the new password.
  5. Troubleshooting: There is generally no problem with the net connection and you do not need to contact triband support…but if you are contacting them for some technical problem then do not expect them to solve your problem…you won’t find technically sound people, (of course they will be able to fix very basic problems) they will just have answers ready on their screen so if they see something which is not in their answer sheet then…they will give you complaint number and then be ready to follow it…you might need to visit the telephone exchange if they don’t reply in couple of days :D or the best way would be, use google for technical errors you get, its very easy to trace out the problems :)
  6. Customer Support: The people at MTNL (telephone exchange as well as on phone) are very polite and helpful but the only thing they lack is resources, they are ready to help you with their best but they don’t have enough resources, answers ready to help…The other part is, they do not have enough customer support executives (which again comes under resources but worth mentioning it again)…now you will get idea about it when you call them…when you dial 1500 or 1504, you will have option to dial 1 for Marathi, 2 for Hindi and 3 for English…whatever number you press the answer will be in Hindi or Marathi…so this shows that they really need some English speaking and technically sound people…

Here is my short story about their customer support:

I applied for Triband NU plan over the phone, I got confirmation with the registration number…I waited for a week or so, still no one has visited my place for installation, I called them up on their helpline, I was asked to confirm it with the telephone exchange people…I visited telephone exchange…enquire about the net connection….lady at the helpdesk wrote something on the paper and asked me to meet someone inside the office…I managed to find that person after asking few people…I gave her details about my registration…she told me, due to some server issues the person couldn’t come to my place but he will be there after 2 days…and dot after 2 days person came to my place and setup the net :)

So that part was over, I was very happy with the connection and was waiting to test out download speeds in the night…started the download…was getting around 25-27kbps on torrent downloads…I checked my online usage on their site…and was bit shocked to see the different name in the plan…I had applied for NU plan and it showed me TRIB_AA which is pay as per use plan…I called their helpline at 1.30 AM, I was not expecting anyone to pickup the phone but a lady picked up the phone, I told her about it, she also confirmed that its TRIB_AA, they have not given me NU plan…she asked me to call 1500 and get it changed…I called the other number…it was ringing…so I called in the morning and was asked to visit telephone exchange…I visited telephone exchange, the lady at the helpdesk asked me to meet some person inside (the same person I had met last time), I met her and gave the details…she looked in her files and told me that 1500 people told us to give TRIB_AA plan so we gave you the same…so…what next? She asked me to visit helpdesk and fill the form to change the plan, I did that…I got some receipt…and was told that it will be done within a day….I waited for 2 days…nothing happened…I visited their office again…I was told that someone did not close my earlier support ticket so it will be done once this ticket is closed by 1500 people…I asked her to do something and get it done…she called some person…and closed the support ticket and gave me new work order number….and told me that it will be done in a 2-3 days as the computer of the person who manages this was not working…..

I waited for 2 days, nothing happened, I called directly to the person whom I had met earlier (in the office)…I gave her my work order number and asked to check the status…she told me, she has not received work order from helpdesk and she will try to get it today and it will be done in 2 days…

Today, her last day of her “2 days”….

So I hope the plan gets changed by tonight…

Update – 12th Nov.: They deleted my account by mistake and it will be activated on monday….

Update 2 – 12th Nov.: My net is back….and now it shows me NU Plan :)

So this whole incident proves that, they lack proper customer support system, customers have to meet people who are in the testing room and get the things done, there is more of paper work than computerized things…so this leads to slow implementation of things…so being helpful and polite does not help, the people should be active and quick at the same time…..

So, to end the review….Pros include:

  • Very flexible plans for everyone
  • Less installation and registration charges
  • Very good speeds
  • Reasonable rates compared to other ISPs like TATA, Sify etc..
  • No downtime or very less downtime
  • Customer Support – very helpful people and very polite

Cons include:

  • Takes time to fix the problem
  • Lacks proper support system to solve user problems
  • Customers still have to visit the telephone exchange to fix certain problems…it should be made online and with ease

I think above points should be enough to point out pros and cons of the MTNL Triband..

I hope you guys like it :)

Update: Don’t forget to read my bad experience with MTNL Guys

362 Comments

  1. Retro 11-Nov-2005 at 5:39 pm

    Heya Deep,
    Rocker of a review man, rock solid. Would you mind if I used some of your comments and ideas in my soon-tobe opened site on broadband. I promise to link back/give credit to your blog or site.

    TY

  2. Deep 11-Nov-2005 at 9:18 pm

    Hi,
    Glad to hear that you liked it… :)
    About using the content, Please go ahead, No probs at al…

    Regards,
    Deep

  3. Vidyadhar 12-Nov-2005 at 8:48 pm

    Hey Deep,
    I have heard that because of the always on connection, the modem keeps on sending packets to the MTNL server, just to ensure that the connection is kept alive. These packets are also included in the CHARGEABLE per Kb download that is billed. Is it true ????

  4. Deep 12-Nov-2005 at 9:07 pm

    Hi Vidyadhar,

    I do not think it sends packets to check the status of net connection, because it does not need to. But the firewall, antivirus or some software might check it.

    Regards,
    Deep

  5. Ashish Shah 24-Nov-2005 at 9:24 am

    Hi Deep,

    I just wanted to know how much of data would be transferred (considered downloaded) while talking on chat clients like GogleTalk for one continous minute?

    Ashish Shah

  6. Deep 24-Nov-2005 at 9:28 am

    Hi Ashish,
    Since it is audio chat so it should download / transfer around 1 MB per minute or more. But this is totally rough figure because it is not possible to find out exact download amount per application.

    Regards,
    Deep

  7. Pankaj 24-Nov-2005 at 8:59 pm

    Hi Deep,

    Must commend you on your reviewing skills. You could take up writing as a profession if you wanted.
    I too have an MTNL connection which I have taken up after trying out the local cable guy for quite some time. Certainly cheaper and more reliable than the earlier option.
    I have just come across a problem. Drawing near the end of the month, assuming I have a lot of download limit left, I decided to start the download of an entire movie (in XVID format). Just to be sure that I won’t exceed the limit by too much I tried to check the usage so far. Sadly, I just can’t login. Clicking on the forgot password link, I entered my phone number which is the default username. Surprisingly, the page gives Invalid Login ID defying all logic. The helpline just doesn’t understand my problem. Can you suggest a way out?

  8. Deep 24-Nov-2005 at 9:19 pm

    Hi Pankaj,
    Glad to hear that you liked the review :)
    In your case, the ID has been deleted by them by mistake. This generally happens when you apply for plan change and by mistake they make this mistake somtimes. The same thing had happened with me too.

    All you have to do is, call 1504 and tell them that the ID has been deleted by them…so they will report the same to their engineer and then will fix it in a day or two.

    Still if it does not work then you can get in touch with the local exchange guys, they will surely fix it.

    I hope this helps you.

    Regards,
    Deep

  9. Shailesh Parashar 25-Nov-2005 at 2:26 pm

    Hi buddy
    just need to know how do u check ur download usage
    and datatransfer speed !!!!

    regards
    Shailesh

  11. Shailesh Parashar 25-Nov-2005 at 3:37 pm

    Hi Deep,
    what is 25-30 ?
    as the speed mentioned is 256 kps !!!
    is the connection shared ?

  12. Deep 25-Nov-2005 at 3:44 pm

    Hi,

    I meant 25 – 30 KBps (kilo bytes)
    The speed you get is 256kbps (kilo bits)

    KB = kb / 8
    256 / 8 = 32

    So you get around 25-30 KBps

    Regards,
    Deep

  13. Shailesh Parashar 28-Nov-2005 at 11:37 am

    what is the cost of the modem if we purchase from market
    is it fessible to purchase or take from mtnl. ?

  14. Deep 28-Nov-2005 at 12:00 pm

    Hi,
    DLink modem should cost around 3.5 to 4K.

    I prefer using MTNL’s modem coz you get kind of life time warranty with it…u just have to pay Rs. 80 a month where if you have your own modem then you need to pay 4K at one time + if something goes wrong after 1 year (i.e. warranty period) then you need to shell out money from your pokcet for exp.

    Deep

  15. George 02-Dec-2005 at 3:48 pm

    What would be better option unlimited net usage with 400mb max dnld or unlmtd dnld with 10hr usage.With extra being charged for both in case of exceeding the limit.Since evry data transfer is added to total download.

  16. Deep 02-Dec-2005 at 3:52 pm

    hmm if your usage is high then NU plan is best, I am on NU plan, I keep movie for download at 12 and when I wakeup at 8, movie is downloaded :D (700 mb one)

    So thats the best plan for downloaders :)

    Deep

  17. Nikhil Joshi 07-Dec-2005 at 9:52 pm

    Hi Deep,
    I want to change my mtnl unlimited net plan with tri-band. But it is slight jumbling to me about 400 mb download. I want to know if I open some pages, will it be count as download. I play chess online about 5 hours. Is it suitable me to take tri-band plan.
    Can u help me.
    Nikhil

  18. Deep 08-Dec-2005 at 9:52 am

    Hi,
    Yes whatever you view on the net will be counted as download as it is getting downloaded on your PC first.

    I would suggest going for 400MB plan which cots Rs. 199 coz in the unilimited plan, you will get 199MB for Rs. 199 but in this you get double of it..

    Deep

  19. simran 11-Dec-2005 at 12:48 pm

    hi,
    my account summary says DSL_TRIB_59NU as the plan. we had gone for the combo plan. Is this plan night unlimited?

    One more thing, at download.com the speed shown is arnd 13-14.On kaaza the speed is only arnd 1-1.5. i guess the 13-14 speed itself is not very good, for the 256kbps plan. Am i right?
    what do i do abt the low speed?
    Thanks

  20. Deep 11-Dec-2005 at 12:54 pm

    Hi Simran,
    NU plan is unlimited in the night i.e. from 12 to 8 AM.

    The speeds should be around 25-30 kbps…

    You can download some test application from any site..say for example download Winzip from http://www.winzip.com and you will notice the good speed.

    On Kazaa, the speed depends upon the connection of other connected users, so you do not get maximum speed many times.

    I am also using NU plan and I get around 27-28kbps download speeds.

    Regards,
    Deep

  21. anji 15-Dec-2005 at 12:28 am

    hi deep,
    i deal in stocks so i am at my pc from 10am to 3.30pm mon. to fri. what i would like to know is,i have to keep my net on all this time to check the current stock prices.does this amount to downloading? please tell me which mtnl plan i should go for? currently i am on “surf 500″ (pre-paid)by tata indicom which costs me about rs.414/= every 3 weeks.

    regards,
    anji

  22. Deep 15-Dec-2005 at 11:14 am

    Hi,
    Yes it will be included in downloads. I would suggest that you should start with DSL 399 plan which will give u 700 MB for Rs. 400 + modem charges

    If the usage is more than that then you can shift to higher usage plans..

    Deep

  23. Sagar Radia 15-Dec-2005 at 11:55 am

    i m using mtnl nu plan…i m havin a real major prob… the net goes off @ 11:53… nd den it does not start again… i keep waitin til 2 or 3 in d mornin still nothin happens… den i hav 2 go 2 d dlink page where i c tat my modem settings r changed… usually it should b pvc0 nd it alwayz shows me pvc1 as selected… i dnt think ne1 has dis prob… i dnt wanna keep wtg everynite nd change settings nd keep my net workin… nd even somtimes d settings dnt change nd i hav 2 keep wtg until dlink pple com 2 my house 2 chk d setting… i m a technical person, so i know wat 2 do nd all… i wonder if i was a non-technical person… wat would had happened… do ne of nu plan pple face dis prob, den i should stop xpectin from mtnl… if not, i wanna know… plz lemme know abt it… coz i feel its my modem den which is havin a problem, which does not restrain d original settings….

  24. sanjay pradhan 16-Dec-2005 at 1:42 pm

    i have also opted for MTNL (THANE) triband but betting very high bill.( we are using only for chatting twice a week, 1 hour each time). is it possible to tamper with line at used illegaly by others. i tried to change the password but repeated attempts failed. what should i do. the complaints with MTNL resulted no response.

  25. satish 27-Dec-2005 at 4:46 pm

    hello,
    good posting.. i’m trying to help my Mom in delhi setup her MTNL broadband connected, supposedly rated at 256kbps.

    we tried some voice-chat apps, and the results are still pretty slow.. lot of clipping.

    I tried measuring her download speed using http://performance.toast.net/ and i get under 100kbps.

    Could some of you try this site and post your upload / download speed results?

  26. Nicholas 29-Dec-2005 at 1:22 pm

    How do I configure Triband with Mandrake 10.1? I’ve selected DHCP as my DSL mode and entered the host name as 192.168.1.1

    I’ve almost given up. The funny thing is that I can access mozilla.org and rediff.com and a few other sites, but no yahoo, google etc. It’s very frustrating.

    Thanks

  27. Deep 29-Dec-2005 at 1:28 pm

    I would suggest using static IP instead of DHCP…there is nothing wrong in it but satic is a good option if you have only 1 machine…

    Put your machine IP as 192.168.1.2
    Put gateway IP as 192.168.1.1

    For DNS if you are in mumbai then you can use:

    203.94.227.70 and 203.94.243.70

    Keeping host name as 192.168.1.1 wont help because it is just a name you have to provide that IP in gateway IP.

    Regards,
    Deep

  28. Nicholas 01-Jan-2006 at 10:15 pm

    Wow Deep ! Thanks a zillion!!! I am indebted to you. It finally works!!! You made my new year and wish you Happy New Year too! :)

    –Nicholas

  30. ROCKY_VISHY 03-Jan-2006 at 7:55 pm

    hi i have mtnl combo plan and get 400 mb free every month . strangely this month its showing that ihave used 26 mb upto 3 jan
    and my balance is 250 mb for the month. but it should be 400 – 26 mb. called 1504. dum lady told she doesnt now wht to do ?
    she wrote my camplaint . mtnl sucks not in its product but in its customer service. I was working as a TECHNICAL SUPPORT AGENT IN A CALL CENTER OUR PROCESS WAS DSL KNOW IN AN OUT ABT TROUBLE SHOOTING ON DSL. NEED HELP JUST PM ME AT ROCKY_VISHY@YAHOO.COM

  31. Deep 03-Jan-2006 at 8:37 pm

    Yup…thats where they lack..customer support is just worst…they are ready to help but they do not have resources and they have to say NO instead of keeping us wait like people in few big call centers do..

    I think it will be better if they can just outsource the customer support to some better company and this will help them a lot…and increase their sales too…

    Regards,
    Deep

  32. Pingback: So MTNL.. how do we send feedback?

  33. ROCKY_VISHY 04-Jan-2006 at 12:52 pm

    hey deep can u tel me good download link where i can get free anti spy ware software i allready have yahoo anti spy

  35. ROCKY_VISHY 04-Jan-2006 at 3:03 pm

    thanks deep i would share with u this execlent voip software net phone software that allows u to make free calls to ANY LAND LINE OR CELL NO IN US ,UK , CANADA AND MANY MORE COUNTRIES FOR FREE FOR 5 MIN
    https://www.voipfone.co.uk/login.php
    I CAN DOWNLOAD THE SET UP AND REGISTER U R SELF NO OF TIMES WITH DIFFRENT EMAIL ID AND MAKE INTERNATIONAL CALLS
    TO DO THIS DOWNLOAD THE SET UP AND THEN UNINSTAL AND REINSTAL THE SOFTWARE

  36. ROCKY_VISHY 04-Jan-2006 at 3:04 pm

    HEY DEEP CAN U TELL ME WHT IS THE AVG TRF RATE THAT U GET IF U R USING MTNL TRIBAND I GET AROUND 27KBPS IS IT GOOD ENOUGH

  38. Virendra Shinde 05-Jan-2006 at 12:16 am

    hi deep nice work u doing out here ..can u tell me abt the name of ur modem …dlink ??? …. i want the actual name …. the dlink modem i am having is 56kbps …. for 256kpbs i need the better modem ..which modem do MTNL ppl provide…. and u siad it cost around 3.5 to 4k please clearify that too…… thnx in advance

  39. girish ahuja 05-Jan-2006 at 1:28 am

    how do i check my account balance,,,no one is helping me out on ur service number they are just passing on numbers,,,plzz help me out,,,

  40. Aneesh 05-Jan-2006 at 9:19 am

    to Check ur Account Balance & useage details go to http://register.mtnl.net.in … login with the username as ur Telephone Number and password as the CA Number Printed on ur Telephone Bill… Hope this is what u need….

  41. Anil 05-Jan-2006 at 9:23 am

    I am using MTNL Triband since last 2 months.. since i am bad at networking point of view.. could u tell what is to be done so as to access my home PC Remotely from my office….do i have to Create Static Ip or anything ??? Could any one brief me in detail…

  42. Aneesh 05-Jan-2006 at 9:27 am

    Well Done Deep …. for taking Initiative ….A good forums for the MTNL Triband users… I guess this is the very first forum Intended for the MTNL Triband Users

    Wish u a Happy & Prosperous New Year

  43. ROCKY_VISHY 05-Jan-2006 at 10:45 am

    i find mtnl usage meter not in sync with how mutch is use
    i have taken the combo plan iget 400 mb per month
    last month i downloaded files of 150 mb
    did lot voice and cam to cam chating
    lot of surfing
    my usage for last month shows only 125 mb

  44. Virendra Shinde 05-Jan-2006 at 5:50 pm

    hi deep nice work u doing out here ..can u tell me abt the name of ur modem …dlink ??? …. i want the actual name …. the dlink modem i am having is 56kbps …. for 256kpbs i need the better modem ..which modem do MTNL ppl provide…. and u siad it cost around 3.5 to 4k please clearify that too…… thnx in advance

    ….. LOTS of post no answer for this one please answer fast i am thinking of buying it pls pls

  45. Deep 05-Jan-2006 at 6:36 pm

    Virendra – This modem is called ADSL modem and is totally different from dial-up modems.I guess max speed of this modem is 100mbps…The exact name of the modem is DSL-502T

    Anil – To access the machine from outside 1st Method is using Static IP (you can ask MTNL to give one) and 2nd would be using service called Dynamic DNS check more info on it here

    Aneesh – Thanks for the compliment :) Wish you a great year too..

    ROCKY_VISHY – I do not think so that will be possible, it should be same as what you download..I hope you are not counting uploads in 150MB….

    I hope I answered all..

    Regards,
    Deep

  46. ROCKY_VISHY 07-Jan-2006 at 8:48 pm

    hi deep i read this some where that when mtnl website is down
    one can chg his user id and psw by going into 192.168.1.1
    and after that wht ever u download willnot be included i u download
    i tried doing it
    i chg my user id
    i am still connected and yes i restarted my modem
    so wht ever i download will it not be included in my usage history is that true
    and can mtnl catch me

  47. Deep 08-Jan-2006 at 11:57 am

    Hi,
    I guess it will be included in the history of the username you are using but I am not very sure about how MTNL detects…they must be getting the phone number from where user is connected so they might track it…but still not sure..

    Deep

  48. ROCKY_VISHY 08-Jan-2006 at 1:16 pm

    deep the user name i am using is not a fake tel no that does not exist the no is
    21234355

  50. Sujay 11-Jan-2006 at 11:17 pm

    Hello Deep,
    I was planning to switch to broadband internet but was not sure which Service provider to go for. This page has helped a lot in convincing me to go for triband.

    One query though about the tarrifs.
    According to the tarrif page of triband(http://mumbai.mtnl.net.in/triband/htm/tariff.htm) do i have to pay Rs.100 (Safe Custody Charges per month) too every month ?

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