What does ‘Unlimited Broadband’ really mean?

Broadband ISPMajor Indian Broadband market players viz. Airtel,  TataIndicom and Reliance now have an asterisk (*) [Conditions apply] on their unlimited Broadband plans. Following the metered broadband trend from International players, they are also providing unlimited Broadband attached with
Fair Usage Policy”  [..lol…]

Under this scheme if you violate their policy, your speed may be reduced to half or you have to pay some more bucks. Worse, they may terminate your connection.

There are a lot of threads you can find on Broadband forums regarding this step, so be aware and use the BB carefully respective to your ISP  🙁 .

You are not going to get all that you are paying for. [Unfair policy]

Check what unlimited means 😉

TataIndicom Unlimited Means

Speed                 Limit
64 kbps               5GB
128 kbps            20GB
256 kbps            45GB
384 kbps            70GB
512 kbps            80GB

If you go beyond your limit, you will get a call from Tata Customer Care ( 😉 ) and they will suggest you to reduce the usage or upgrade to a higher plan. If not, they will terminate your broadband connection.

Link: TCISL Fair Usage Policy

Airtel Unlimited Broadband Means

Speed               Limit
128 kbps          10GB
256 kbps          15GB
384 kbps          20GB
512 kbps           25GB

If you cross this Fair Limit 😉  your speed will be reduced to half for rest of  month with out any intimation.

So, what do you think… unlimited means ???

Link: Airtel Fair Usage Policy | Check the Reliance unlimited broadband features also

22 Comments

Mayur Somani April 16, 2009

You can use BSNL unlimited plan. It is really “unlimited”.

Gautam April 16, 2009

I only get the download speed of 30kbps while i have unlimited bsnl broadband plan (512 kbps) 😐

AKM April 16, 2009

Update : Timer Warner metered broadband has been rejected by public.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/16/time_warner_metered_billing_testing_stalled/

@Mayur
We can use BSNL, but what if they also apply the same

@Gautam

What is BSNL will also apply the Fair Usage Policy,

and about this post i would like to say ,Our Indian Companies are just following the others. They should know that International users are getting higher and consistent speed.

Prateek April 16, 2009

Talking about the Broad Band plans, the cheap and best plan is BSNL Home 500C

The good part is that there is no other rent except Rs.500 plus you get 175 free calls on landline and Night Unlimited, which really means Unlimited and the download speed goes upto 256Kbps.

AKM April 16, 2009

@Prateek

BSNL has so many options, and still giving the unlimited.

But the Problem with it is variation of speed and weak customer care

Sarbartha Sau April 16, 2009

@Gautam
I think you made a typing mistake or have a wrong idea. You probably have 30kBps download speed. And your connection speed is 256kbps ( i.e. 32kBps). The connection speed is measured in kilobits per second where as the download speed shown to us ( by many browsers or download managers ) are kilo Bytes per second. And I guess you know the relation between bit and byte. 🙂

Suman Ganguly July 16, 2010

the 600combo is the best deal from bsnl with 2.5gb free and night (2am-8am) unlimited along with 250units free from landline with no monthly rentals. even today morning i downloaded songs to my pc with an amazing speed of 234KB/sec (kilobytes/second. only takes about 20-25 seconds to download a 5MB song. amazing speeds. 🙂

toton ray January 3, 2011

hey suman i have the same plan as u.You download films with torrents after 2 a.m?what speed do u get?and it doesnt get charged right?

Sarbartha Sau April 16, 2009

Btw, the unlimited speed for BSNL is 256kbps not 512kbps.

Maharshi April 17, 2009

BSNL is the best among unlimited indeed, but their speed is mediocre. However, you’ll be habited in few months with the speed. 😉

Deepak Jain April 17, 2009

Even I am on BSNL and I think I took a wise decision by choosing it 😉

Though, its unlimited plans comes with a very slow connection to download stuff, still its good that it doesn’t cheat customer’s by saying “UNLIMITED” and providing limited facility like other big corporates in India do..

Pavan Kumar April 17, 2009

Like Prateek said, 500C is the best available offer in the market. No other telcos offer you with such a wonderful plan. But if you use internet unlimitedly, BSNL is the best…. but in some areas, BSNL connection cannot be obtained instantly….

AKM April 17, 2009

@Pavan

I do agree with you, In my locality there is not availability for BSNL so i have to take Airtel.

But it is also true BSNL is not giving consistent Speed

Harsh Agrawal April 17, 2009

I was not aware of it, usually I though they mention the max download limit. DIsclaimer warning is an official ways to cheat.

Sad thing in India, now we have 100 mbps Internet connection from Tata, but again the bandwidth cap.
What’s the use of such high speed broadband internet connection when we can’t use it for whole month?

Robin April 22, 2009

Better they should rename their plans as 10GB HUNGAMA, or 10GB BONANZA rather using the word UNLIMITED. These people are creating new meaning for words in english..

HECK !

Harsh Agrawal April 22, 2009

@ Robin
You are right , the best part was even I was not aware of it. never bothered to check there *T&C mark.

Vaibhav Kanwal April 22, 2009

Currently using MTNL 512 Unlimited Combo Plan. Gives download speed of 58Kbps and 500 free calls from the landline. Charge @ Rs.1299 pm

Earlier, was on 256 Unlimited getting 28Kbps download speed @ Rs.599.

I don’t think MTNL has any such Fair usage policy. Anyone?

Nishant April 26, 2009

I already know bout this..

Hey is this applicable only for Fixed Broadband users or even for Wireless Users too??

I use Tata’s Plug2surf and i am currently under an offer which lets me have “unlimited” usage for 3 months..

Currently in the first month.. So have no idea on the usage policy.. Will sue them if they apply this to me.. 😉 B-)

Rahul April 26, 2009

i have reliance data card.i got upto 25kbps download speed late night.it is very slow sometimes but what else you want in 300rs plan.

tnz May 3, 2009

Hi
i use BSNL 500 plans for past one year. it is really good at night.Day time it’s s…l….o…w

Aashish July 23, 2010

MTNL rocks unlimited means unlimited
i download atleast 100 gb per month at the speed of 752 kbps

kanu October 23, 2010

bsnl unlimited plan seems quite useless i got a bill of whooping rs10000 for download 10gb in a month(i wonder if 10gb is 2mch??????)what should i do