Under self-care scheme, Aiurtel has announced access to high speed broadband. According to the scheme, one can choose the speed he/she wants and when he/she wants. He/she would be charged based on the time of use. I tried this scheme, since I am already a customer of Airtel broadband services. My default speed is 512 kb/sec. All I had to do is visit the http://airtel.in site to activate high speed internet. Click on broadband & internet menu item. Then when a new site opens, click on speed on demand menu item. A new site will open. Here, select your region or city (in my case Tamilnadu) in th list box. This will open up a login screen. In this screen, type one's own broadband id and pass word. This screen will change to a selection screen, wherein, one can select the speed he/she wants. It also provides the charge rate against each speed. Once the speed is selected and confirm button is pressed, the screen changes to terms of offer screen.

Once Agree is pressed, the speed is activated. Then, Vrooo0mm....... One can surf the net at the speed he/she wants. Needless to say that I tried 2Mb/sec speed. It was very good. I did a broadband speed test also. The test result showed a download speed of 1943 kb/sec and upload speed of 576 kb/sec. I could see the promised speed. Video streaming was continuous and it was really good.


Any time after activation, the screen will allow you to switch back to your original speed by pressing Deactivate button.

The charges are based on the time of activation only. I feel that 2Mb/sec speed is good for gamers, online video/movie watchers and big file downloads. Considering that my online time is 120 hours a month and if I use 2Mb/sec speed all the time, then my monthly broadband bill would be a whopping Rs. 14,400/- per month. Who can afford?


Speed Thrills, but the monthly bill will also kill!