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From Somewhere in India, the News on Paid Content

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Net connection

10/27/2002 5:36:54 AM
Posted By: T. R.

The situation is quite different in the larger Indian cities. The speeds are good enough and for those who are willing to pay can choose broadband or ISDN connections.

From Somewhere in India, the News on Paid Content

10/25/2002 11:50:27 PM
Posted By: RM

Thanks Rafat. I am from Bombay and read e-media tidbits very often. I do admire your enthusiam to update your website keeping in mind the web connection at Aligarh is not so good (to say the least)!
However i'm quite inquisitive to know why/how u spend 5 hours updating your site - i mean is it a commerical venture or just ur interest?
What you do is indeed an achievemnet, considering the circumstances. And it is an interesting site. But I would like all to know that India is not as backward as generally assumed. Even though our infrastructure is the pits and internet connections terribly slow...it has spread out into many small towns!

The United States of India

10/24/2002 2:24:03 PM
Posted By: Rafat Ali

Alright, so for all the India lovers, here's some dope:
--I am in a small town called Aligarh, about 100 miles from New Delhi.
--Our phone line is generally out of order a week out of a month, a normal occurrence, and if you don't bribe the lineman twice a month (the telephone repair guy), even that won't be possible.
--Even if the phone line is working, it has enough bad "earthing" (some bad connection which gives terrible voice and data quality) that a 56.6 modem works at 21.6.
--The ISP in my town has maxed out on subscribers, which in simple terms means that it is not giving out any new connections. So I had to beg a friend of mine--who normally doesn't access the Internet but has an existing connection--to sell me his hours. And, oh, by the way, we don't have a flat-rate pricing scheme here; it is billed by the hour.
--We have regular 8-hour power cuts scheduled every day, which means that my laptop doesn't work when the power is out, for more than an hour.
--And, ah, how can I forget Internet cafes: there are about 15 (perhaps more) in the town: all of them have dialup connections, each of which is shared by 5-10 PCs. There are perhaps a couple of "broadband cafes", which are shared among 20 terminals. The end result of all this is that the connection in these cafes is even slower than my home connection.
--I am online about 5 hours a day to update the site, which would normally take me about one or two hours with a normal connection anywhere else. And if anybody happens to call our number during that time, due to some peculiarity of the phone line, the Net connection gets disconnected. Everytime.
I can write a book on this...maybe someday I will. Let's just stick to the basics. The progress is definitely there: as Steve wrote, the fact that I can even do this is heartening. I was in Delhi for a day and you could find decent broadband connections in Internet cafes. But basic telecom progress anywhere outside big cities is a pipe dream, literally and figuratively. And a clogged one at that.

From Somewhere in India, the News on Paid Content

10/24/2002 1:36:27 PM
Posted By: RM

I'd like to know which 'small indian town'is rafat from? B�oz a laarge part of india has net connect today - atleast most indian towns do. India is developing more rapidly than most outsiders think!

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