Pick the Right Broadband Plan for You

Affordable broadband has become a basic need, and entered our list of essentials. Fortunately India does have a lot of Internet Service Providers (ISP). How does one decide which service provider and which plan to pick? Read PC World's take on the broadband plan to pick.

Whether it is for occasional use at home, for advanced users who live on the Internet, or for working professionals whose job takes them to different places all the time, all usage scenarios have a multitude of plans on offer. Service providers that operate over DSL (telephone line), cable (like your TV), and mobile (like your phone) are all in the fray. BSNL, Airtel, Hathway and MTS are just a few of the ISPs operating in India.

Internet plans can be of two types, limited and unlimited. Needless to say, unlimited plans cost more. Where they are limited, operators can tweak pricing and “create” different plans on the basis of three factors – speed (Kbps/Mbps), amount of time used (hours/days), and amount of data transferred downstream/upstream (GigaBytes). These factors can be offered in differing quantities to create differently priced plans. Thus it is, that you can have two plans priced exactly the same, but which differ in the speed and data transfer allowed. A third type of plan is rearing its head in India now, one which is unlimited in name (a speed above 256 Kbps at all times) but is labelled as a much faster connection by the ISP.

So we give you an overview of three different use-cases, the approximate monthly cost you can expect, and a selection of plans that offer the best value for money. Read PC World’s feature story about picking the broadband plan that is most suited for your purpose.