intermittent chatter

VSNL/Tata Indicom is going to dumps day by day. Earlier (a few years back), their whole database of users was sold and marketing calls started coming in. How do I know it was sold? Because the marketing caller had some info about me which was submitted only to VSNL while I took my first dial-up account.

Now they have started mailing their customers with clandestine adverts.

I am not against advertising in their mails. Everyone tries to optimise their revenues. But they are trying to take people for a ride by covering it up as an informational mail. Here’s an example. This is the mail that I received yesterday.

Dear Tata Indicom Total Internet Customer,

A new mass-mailing worm has appeared that can destroy files on your computer. The MyWife/Blackworm virus can arrive on your computer in the form of an attachment to an e-mail or through a file transfer, often from a known and trusted friend.

On February 3rd, all Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents are likely to be deleted from the hard drives of computers infected by the virus.

We recommend that you implement and follow these protection measures to keep your computer safe:

- Install anti-virus software on your computer.
- Update the virus signature files and run a full system scan immediately.
- Do not follow unsolicited web links or execute attachments received in email messages, even if sent by a known and trusted source
- Keep up-to-date on patches and fixes for your operating system

So far so good. Here’s the other part of the mail.

As a Tata Indicom Total Internet customer, you can buy a monthly subscription of the latest Trend Micro antivirus software at just Rs.50 per month to ensure continued protection for your PC all year round. You can also avail of a free 1 Month trial pack.

If you are already a subscriber of Trend Micro antivirus software, we request you to ensure that you have registered your software and downloaded the latest updates immediately by following these 5 simple steps :

- Double click on the Trend Micro PC- Cillin icon on your desktop.
- Click on Updates and Registration.
- Click on Register and enter your Tata Indicom User ID.
- Register by entering your license key.
- Click on Update once this is done.

We wish you a safe Internet surfing experience.

Should you require any assistance or if you wish to share a suggestion with us, email us at customerservice@vsnl.co.in

Best Regards,

Customer Service
Tata Indicom Total Internet

I am slowly losing respect for VSNL as an ISP. Some months back, we had applied for a TATA Indicom Broadband account (512 KBPS, 12000 MB download per month). Their marketing guys made lot of claims and promises, but all proved hollow. We were promised that the connection will start within 4 days. But after plethora of calls, it didn’t start even after 4 months! :x. After lot of regular follow-up and heated arguments, we were told that it can’t be installed in our area because they don’t have a hub in the vicinity. Deposit was refunded after some more phone calls.

Then we applied for a few separate MTNL Triband connections and we were connected within a week! No doubt MTNL Triband is in great demand because its price to performance ratio is pretty decent too! I have come across so many satisifed customers of MTNL Triband! It rocks, while VSNL/Tata sucks!