A few days back a read an article
of Kapil Jain (from Tata Communications) about his 25 years journey of Internet
in India starting with 15-Aug-1995. It makes me look back into my own journey
not from 1995, but from 1996.
So in 1996 I joined NIIT (a reputed Computer Training institute in India) through the Bhavishyajyoti Scholarship scheme somewhere during mid-year. It was the Mumbai, Santacruz (W), Hasanabad Lane centre which was quite reputed those days. It was around the end of the year that Dial-up Internet connectivity arrived at the centre. There were many families invited to demonstrate what Internet was. I was lucky enough to get the first glance, being a volunteer in the centre. It was provided by VSNL those days and due to errors in Telephone lines, the connectivity would drop often. It would probably take a minute or 2 to just load an image in a website. The Internet was also available in 2 variants – Text and Graphical. If you had the Text package, then you would dial using Hyperterminal and then be presented with Linux logon prompt and post login we had to use the Lynx browser which would present the webpage in a non-graphical (Black & White) format. I had a close friend (Anish) who had all the latest things at his house in Vile Parle and other than NIIT, it was his place where I would explore all tech.
In 1999 I graduated in Physics and was presented with my first Intel Celeron powered PC along with a GVC 56k modem towards the end of May’99. My own PC provided a big platform to me to explore the things. By now Internet had stabilized and was offered by state-owned operator, MTNL, who also provided Landline Phones at Mumbai and Delhi. Connecting the Internet those days was associated with screeching sounds from the Dial-up Modem (I still have my first Dial-up Modem in my stash) and it also meant an increment to your Phone Bill, as the numbers were not toll-free. FYI - MTNL provided around 150 free calls those days (3 mins per call).
Around the year 2000 many new
Internet Service providers also started offering services. Caltiger and
Chikoo.com became very popular around that time with free Internet offered by
using their proprietary dialers which also doubled up as Ad-bars. Gradually the
method of delivering Internet started changing. Around 2000-2001 ISDN and
Metro-ethernet links with around 256 kbps speeds were being offered to
corporates and Cable Internet services were being offered to retail customers. MTNL
also introduced with Toll-free numbers starting with 172 for Dial-up Internet around
2001-2002.
Gradually the services of MTNL
also matured and I moved from a PSTN Dial-up modem to an ADSL Modem around 2003,
since MTNL started offering Triband service (Telephone + ADSL Internet) on
Telephone lines. The ADSL Internet probably provided the most stable Internet
since it operated on a different frequency and did not interfere with regular Phone
services. On 7-Jan-2003 I was gifted with my first Mobile Handset (a Nokia
3350) by my dad. Those days Internet on Mobile was commonly referred to by
GPRS. The choice of Handset was mine, as this Handset was GPRS enabled and I
used it occasionally to access Internet (Textual). Across all the handsets I
changed over the next few years, I always ensured that I had a GPRS package
enable.
Between 2003 and 2016 my ADSL
speeds increased from 128 kbps to 8 Mbps and my download quota increased from
100 MB per month to 1 GB per month. During this entire period the Indian Independence
Day of 15th Aug would also remain special, as MTNL would mostly
announce speed upgrades to their ADSL services. Over these year’s my
connectivity also shifted from wired Internet to wireless Internet through a
Wi-Fi Router.
Around 2010 I moved to UK and had
my first experience of fast Internet using Verizons 20 Mbps Fibre connection
which also included Phone and TV. When I returned to India I continued with
MTNL’s services until 2016 (as described in the last para). The year 2016
introduced brought about a major shoft of connectivity at my home. I finally
bid good bye to my long time Internet Service Provider (1999 – 2016) MTNL and
moved to Hathway Docsis 3.0 Cable Internet, which provided speeds of 50 Mbps
without any download quota (FUP). My engagement with Hathway was short-lived,
due to their high latency, pathetic Customer Services and due to availability
of a local ISP (Joister Broadband) providing Ethernet drops with better
performance. Over the last 3 years I also moved from Fiber To the Building
(FTTB) to a Fibre To The Home (FTTH).
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