How to chose a BSNL Broadband Plan: Home Plan vs Unlimited

Many times I have heard users complaining about high internet bills from BSNL Broadband. In most cases the users say that they only watched some movies, heard songs, or chatted online, and had to pay from thousands to lakhs. The term 'download' used in the calculation of broadband tariff is a misnomer to common man since for him 'download' means downloading a wallpaper or a movie etc. He doesnt know that viewing is 'downloading'. Thus an user who has not 'downloaded' anything to his computer will get a bill which will be more what he expects. As a result some will quarrel with the authorities, some will terminate the connection, while some others will go for the unlimited plans.

Unlimited plans cost us more and offer only lower internet speeds. A BSNL Rs. 750 unlimited plan provides you a maximum of 256 kbps while a Rs. 100 data transfer plan will give you a maximum of 2 Mbps, which has (theoretically) ten times the speed of the other plan.

Data transfer plans are ideal if you use it with some care. While using data transfer plans you should take utmost care not to cross the limit. Using more MBs will make you cost more, sometimes double or even more.

For example if you are a BSNL Home Plan 250 user which has a limit of 1 GB per month you should have to pay only Rs. 250 plus taxes for a month. If you (for any reason) crossed the limit of 1 GB and used another 1.5 GB more you will have to pay Rs. 1350 more, and a total amount of Rs. 1600 (1350 + 250) which is six times than your usual charge. By the time a 500 plan user can easily use this 2.5 GB limit by only paying Rs. 500 and an unlimited plan user can use with Rs. 750 when you pay Rs. 1600 for the same usage.

So before chosing a broadband plan for yourself try to find out how much you will use and keep your usage strictly under the limit.

Nowadays internet providers offer online usage statistics in their websites. But it is not always possible use the internet by checking to the usage statistics every now and then. There are some online broadband usage calculators available in the internet which work using questionnaires.

Based on analysing usage of text, image, video, updates information in my account, I have created a simple hour to data usage table.


(The table is merely based on average usage statistics and may only be used for referal puposes. The data will vary according to various usages.)

This post is a result of my last broadband bill which gave me a little shock.