Avoid Sify Broadband like Plague
September 20th, 2004 Leave a comment Visited 140 times, 2 so far today
Full saga at:
Sify Broadband Blog | Sify Broadband Forum
My last 5 months with Sify Broadband
Let me tell you the basic mantra of this page. DO NOT TAKE A SIFY BROADBAND CONNECTION. Why? There are loads of reasons and this page explains few of them. I have been a customer since December 2003 and I can safely say I have seen downtimes at an average of 3 days per week in these 5 months. This month alone, out of 25 days I have seen the net down for 15 days. And I am writing this article while my net was down for the last 2 days and there is still no guarantee of it coming up for god knows how long (apparently the international gateway is down along with the local network which is down as an additional convinience). So let’s begin! Shall we…
The mode of connection distribution is faulty
Sify has gone the way of franchise based network distribution in which the franchise (mostly the local cable TV operator) is responsible for the management and maintenance of the local network. And if you have a cable operator as nice as mine you would know this is not a good way to begin. Sify in this way get a nice little way of silencing the end customer as they don’t have the headache of maintaining the network. And how responsible the cable guy will be, I don’t need to explain.
The technology is faulty
In my area at least they have got a LAN based system which runs on wires hanging on poles and trees. They are connected with switches in between. The problem is that the network is so fragile that switches and power supplies get fried frequently like hot cakes with power fluctuations and other problems. They also go down big time when it rains or there are minor storms! And funnily the Delhi ’s Sify representative today asked me if I had anything to suggest to them to solve the problem. Of course when I suggested that Sify should get the network on a wireless backbone, they backtrack citing the costs! Now that means Sify requires network engineers to be their customers who can tell them what is wrong with their services.
The attitude is wrong
If you read their brochure you are made loads of promises. Reliability, great customer support and what not. But they don’t explain to you that you are getting the connection from a local CTO and not Sify. So, the quality that goes with the brand name does not apply to the service. And they also don’t tell you that the network you get on paying 3500 INR as installation gives you a net that can go down 20 days in a month. The Sify people now tell me to switch to either Dialup (!!!!) or a direct connection to their server (that cost around 50,000 INR to the end customer) if I need a reliable net! I wish they can explain these fine points to a prospective new customer.
They defend the CTO
I have fought hard. I have had arguments with the CTO, I have called the Chandigarh office thousand times, and I have even made STD calls to the Delhi office. And after a lot of effort they finally one day arrived at my house with the CTO. The CTO promised me in front of them, if given 4 days he will get me a secondary line. 10 days since then, now he is backtracking. Now he claims that the costing is too high to afford. And Sify is defending the CTO! The costs to CTO is important, the loss the user is suffering because of the in-competency of the CTO stands no where. So, the CTO can get away with lying but the user is an asshole, who can go to hell once he is screwed by becoming a customer of Sify Broadband. I don’t see much future for them if they defend the CTO while just overlooking the problems suffered by the customer.
Customer is an idiot
I went to the Sify’s office in Chandigarh and was enlightened by what I saw there! One of the Sify’s representatives actually told a Sify customer that he can go get another service if he does not like Sify’s service. And what was the poor guy asking for? He was asking for what Sify promised him initially. Another support individual was so nice to me when he said, the net can be down for further 2 to 10 days, he is not sure and he does not exactly care. This was the guy who told me to contact him in case the CTO does not provide me a second line when we all got together to look into my problem. Today he was the most vocal supporter of the freaking CTO.
Quality of Service
The technology is faulty! They cannot prevent the downtimes, but they can at least improve on response times! The response time I am getting is in range of 12 hours to 24 hours from the local CTO. Today the guys fixed my local network after around 26 hours. That is Sify Broadband for you. They have got 2 guys to serve entire city I live in. And when I raise that issue to the Sify people, they tell me that I should not comment upon what is CTOs responsibility. What the heck? I get service in 24 hours just because their are not enough guys to fix the network and I cannot even comment on that?
The lies and lies and lies
Even before I had taken the Sify’s services the lies had started coming. And the experiences in these 5 months here have given me more instances to talk about! Here are some I remember!
- Before I even shifted to Chandigarh , I had called the local CTO asking about the kind of services that Sify was providing in this area. And guess what I was told. I was told that the local customer is provided wireless connectivity!
- When I shifted here, I was promised 24 hours customer support and that some one will be always available at the local CTO office. The CTO office actually closes at 8PM and the CTO himself picks up phone at his leisure. He was not responding to calls at 11 am in the morning. And today was a Tuesday and not a Sunday!
- I was told that I will have a UPS based backup that will keep me up and running for around 5-6 hours. I got that UPS working only this month and that too after some individual arrived from Delhi office to get it done.
- This month only! As I mentioned above, the local CTO promised an alternative line that will keep my net working in case of a network problem on the local line. Now he is backtracking and no one is blaming him.
What they can do?
- If they cannot provide the service, don’t pretend to provide it!
- If they cannot serve the already existing customers stop taking new customers.
- If they cannot tell their CTOs to provide services to the customers then stop getting CTOs to serve the clients.
- If they don’t know what technology would work for Sify broadband, they should stop charging the suffering customers, take back their services, ask for a batch of 100 people in the areas they want to serve and do a crash testing of their services before it actually is worth charging for.
- Get responsible and people with some decency (this is pointing to one particular Mr. Raman in Sify’s Chandigarh office). Don’t make promises you cannot keep. And stop lying in faces of the customer.
- Stop crying in front of the customer about the expenses and loss the CTO is making. He is responsible for the network not me. If he cannot serve the customer properly, take away the dealership from him. If he has to get me a fibre optic connectivity for the reliability he promised me in the first place, he has to pay for it. He owns the network not me, I am paying for the connection not the connectivity.
- Get involved a little more in day to day working of the networks. Just blaming the CTO for anything and everything is not exactly funny. The CTO works for you not me. You can get him to do work not me. He can take out his personal grudge against me without you getting any idea about it. There need to be someone accountable and there should be someone who is available to take complaints. This is not cable TV for god sake, this is what some people’s livelihood runs on.
I am not alone, there are more!
The trip to the local office was enlightening. I saw a dialup customer who was being ripped off by the Sify people because he was not informed that his package which earlier had free hours no longer had them. Then I met 2 more customers who had their net not working since the last 2 days! And they were living pretty near to the main Sify’s office. Considering I live around 20 KMS from that office, should I feel lucky? I met another guy who was interested in getting a connection but his CTO was taking him for a ride since 30 days. He had kept his money and was later making excuses for not getting him a connection! He even offered to get him the necessary equipment but no use! And then I met another guy who had left Sify for BSNL and was happy.
Mark my word. Even the local internet guys are better. There is less attitude and better service. The net might run a bit slow (Sify is good on speeds) but they don’t play a blame passing game.
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May 30th, 2004 at 12:31 am
This was a tech board, and not customer grievience and trauma center :))
May 30th, 2004 at 12:38 am
In case u missed reading the punchline “Technology News & Views” you see I am entitled to post my views for other to benefit from. And I can only express my view on something I have used and in this case suffered.
July 9th, 2004 at 12:18 am
i acquired sify connection 20 days back and i think its gr8. the network was down for 2 days initially but now it works quite well. take for eg the day before i downloaded a 40mb file in 40sec. believe it or not!!! the thing regd the local cable operator is right n i have not yet gone into the details of network management n infrastructure. but things seem 2 be going well for me. right now.
July 9th, 2004 at 12:26 am
well as i said somewhere… it all depends upon the local CTO and server guys. 40 meg in 40 seconds seems like a dream to me in india but sify do have the bandwidth to make that happen. the problem is that they take too many customers than they can support.
September 16th, 2004 at 5:00 pm
I completely agree with what Sushubh had expressed in his views. SIFY people are pathetic. Even I am facing same problems as mentioned earlier, but in my case I didn’t had connections for months when I am out of station. And when I called the CTO he told me that BSNL and other govt. bodies had cut all the cables since they were using the pols owned by them.
In terms of customer support from Chennai is quite satisfactory as atleast they give you the complaint number and you can call back again and again about the status of the complaint.
Even I feel the same as if the CTOs are good and responbile the SIFY network will be the best.
January 5th, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Me my self is sify broadband engg. i don’t want 2 mention my name,
i am sorry 4 that , n I know I sify is more concentrating on new customer. As I am under TM(territory manager ). I have got instruction to give preference to new registration rather than troubleshooting .i am tell u this because I use to give more preference to troubleshooting , due 2 this there customer base was less I got transfer to another area.
February 25th, 2005 at 5:27 am
Boss, The supposed to be broad band connection is the worst connection which I have ever seen. From the time I had taken thi connection, i have had only problems after problems. Nobody care for your connectivity and speed. The speed what i get is 7 download and a brousing speed of around 60. The game is played up with the collusion of the company and the CTO. The infrastruture of these CTO are deplorable. I think it is time that we all should shift to Data one offered by BSNL. I am supposed to get a brousing speed of 256, and I get 60. Innumberable complaints to their 24 hours support get you no where and the local help line is not bothered. Why, I have been contcting the higher ups like Mr Ajay nambiar and his breed, but nothing has happened. Very sorry state of affairs.
drjoe99
March 14th, 2005 at 9:00 pm
Well I agree with all the cons mentioned everywhere, stay away from SIFY broadband for as long as there are no better reviews than this!
Blaming the local cable operators is letting Sify off easy, SIFY is to blame for initiating their services based on such unreliable and regardless entities as our local cable operators!
We pay in advance, Sify gets its money in advance and so does the cable operator and the customer is left high and dry with no connectivity! Every second day we can’t connect!
I would like a refund of my installation fee…but that is a dream as unrealistic as a functional broadband connection from SIFY! I say it is a laid back attitude of the management that such a nationally present company flaunting an analogy of their internet connection with the bullet train gets away with such crappy service! Bad strategy and thoughtless planning are costing the customer a whole lot time, money and frustration!
The lousy local cable operators don’t give a damn and the SIFY customers care numbers are rarely open to lodge a complaint! If you have read this and still go for SIFY broadband then I am glad I dont know you!
Wake up SIFY!
May 12th, 2005 at 9:40 am
I do agree whole heartedly with the writer. let me tell you they are the worst connection pessible in whole india. Even Dialup connection are better than Sify. At least they have a reliebility.
May 23rd, 2005 at 7:39 pm
I provide sify internet connection in sec.52,53,61 of noida & My customer are satisfied lot & ask me the address of other cto So that they can get net in other places My clients are in very senior position in Innodata, Adobe ,Three software co.(Core consultancy ,Globtier, Durlabh Co. ),one finance co. ( Equity Strategists ) & more the 150customer
June 10th, 2005 at 9:16 am
Very true! Sify is like a hell for me, but I m helpless, there are no other internet service providers in my area. I hate sify
August 2nd, 2005 at 5:03 pm
shailendra how to contact you
September 21st, 2005 at 4:38 pm
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not take SIFY BROADBAND connection for your home , along with the SIFY BROADBAND connection you will get free package of “HEAD ACHE, BLOOD PRESSURE, MOOD OFF and many more ” So if you need “ALL IN ONE ” package then please go for SIFY BROADBAND connection. You can contact me for this free offer package at my cell no : 91-98456-71356 or mbg13@yahoo.com
I think if you wait for DIWALI offer you may get more offer along with this “ALL IN ONE ” package. So please wait……..
September 25th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Hay they chage more than MRP, more conectivity hopeless, since last three days, i cant open page, cant play game on yahoo, last month i called sify engineer, asked them why they blocked games of yahoo, he said not blocked, i connected MTNL & shown him games, it started next day. much more, their agent asking 125/- more per month for services on above MRP,which i paid happily when asked by area manager of sify, Now I decided to switch ower to power surfer (Reliance), to whom i started.
September 25th, 2005 at 12:01 am
Hay they chage more than MRP, more conectivity hopeless, since last three days, i cant open page, cant play game on yahoo, last month i called sify engineer, asked them why they blocked games of yahoo, he said not blocked, i connected MTNL & shown him games, it started next day. much more, their agent asking 125/- more per month for services on above MRP,which i paid happily when asked by area manager of sify, Now I decided to switch ower to power surfer (Reliance), to whom i started.
September 25th, 2005 at 12:05 am
Hay they charge more than MRP, more conectivity hopeless, since last three days, i cant open page, cant play game on yahoo, last month i called sify engineer, asked them why they blocked games of yahoo, he said not blocked, i connected MTNL & shown him games, it started next day. much more, their agent asking 125/- more per month for services on above MRP,which i paid happily when asked by area manager of sify, Now I decided to switch ower to power surfer (Reliance), to whom i started.
October 11th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
Ask me…I can explain to you better. I’m frm bangalore….find sify hopeless to the core…Trust me I call up 10 times a day..Everyday morning and in the evening the network is down. I have take unlimited package for no use at all. Its only since 22 days I have taken the connection and all teh 22 days I have called and lodged a complaint. There has been completely no access available for 6 days among the 22 days. Gosh!!!!!!! I dnt think i need to add anymore…I’m sick of this connection….
October 17th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
I think the only man to cheer among all of us is me. I was just planning to get a Siffy Broadband connection and I was searching google for there fetures when i came across this blog. Man this could be my life time mistake. Thanks to all of you guys. You saved me.
October 25th, 2005 at 9:30 am
I am CTO of Sify in Gaziabad, this not only problem to sify customer only, Sify’ CTO will aslo facing problem with Sify, Sify peoples are very fraud, when the sign you the promise a lot to support you, but after sign sify will no more, no support. They are only interested to sell ACU. they are not intrested to not customer sutisfy.
This probleb is not with me 80% CTO will facing this problem, so SIFY BROANDBAND thought that customer and CTO are Fool, they are only intrested to make money, i am working with sify last 1 and half year, it’s a froud comapany total.
If company give CTO to proper support, then after CTO will give you proper survice,
CTO,
Laxmi Internet Services
October 25th, 2005 at 9:33 am
I am CTO of Sify in Gaziabad, this not only problem to sify customer only, Sifyâ?? CTO will aslo facing problem with Sify, Sify peoples are very fraud, when the sign you the promise a lot to support you, but after sign sify will no more, no support. They are only interested to sell ACU. they are not intrested to not customer sutisfy.
This probleb is not with me 80% CTO will facing this problem, so SIFY BROANDBAND thought that customer and CTO are Fool, they are only intrested to make money, i am working with sify last 1 and half year, itâ??s a froud comapany total.
If company give CTO to proper support, then after CTO will give you proper survice,
CTO,
Laxmi Internet Services
ravishankar18@gmail.com
January 1st, 2006 at 11:46 pm
I back evryone who critisizes Sify broadband. I wonder how they are still surviving. Even their topmost oficials are totally irresponsible.They have their broadband leased to people who own footware shops and cooldrink parlours.What more can we expect out og them?????
January 16th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Dear Readers,
HORRORS OF SIFY VIZAG – A NEW LOW IN CUSTOMER CARE.
Beware of Sify in Vizag. Here the service is run by a franchisee ‘Vaishno Communications’. As is the habit of the obnoxious laid-back attitude of the person who work here in almost all the MNC brands, the same applies to Sify’s functioning here.
After getting sick & tired of making many complaints to their call centre- which I am sure not recorded or regsitered at all in the first place- I am constrained to use this blog to vent my anger.
I am a hapless customer of Sify Broabdband. When I first applied for the connection, they promptly landed up near my doorstep to collect the money and then they dissappeared for a good 14 days despite my phone calls. Then they gave the connection and the very next day, the internet connection was gone.
Just imagine when I got the internet back? After 27 days. Can you beat that? I mean are we living in some communist country? They are truly unashamed. They were indifferent to my outcry.
Then, eventually they restored the connection and sent the monthly bill! and they gave me charity of 7 days paymnet waiver! I thought things would get normal. But I was wrong. Every Second Day the connection goes off.
The longest period of Sify’s continous connectivity was 4 days. That’s it. The new trend is that when the connection is up and running, a guy from Sify would ring the bell and ask if the internet connection was okay. Once he leaves after 1 hour or so, the damn connection is off again.
I can bet on this. Sify SUCKS big time. I don’t know if the guys who are supposed to monitor these employees of the Franchisee are sleeping or just ignoring customers like us.
Come festival time and the Sify Franchisee guys behave that it is their birth right NOT to attend to your complaint. Wait until the festival season is through!
To top all this, when the payment date arrives, indicated by their client, when I call them to come and collect the payment, they don’t and the connection gets expired and gets restored only after a day.
If Vizag has to atleast match Pune, Coimbatore, Surat (Forget cities viz. Hyderabad etc. with such sick mentality – NO CHANCE), atleast, all of us vizagites should ‘teach’ these guys here a lesson or two and be PERSISTENT in getting things done.
IF YOU ARE SERIOUS BUSINESSMAN OR A PERSON WHO NEED TO HAVE GOOD AND ALWAYS ON CONNECTIVITY, PLEASE DO NOT APPLY FOR SIFY. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR COOL PRETTY SOON. YOU BETTER OPT FOR DATAONE FROM BSNL OR EVEN IQARA BROADBAND – IQARA GUYS ARE MUCH MUCH BETTER COMPARED TO SIFY.
A VERY VERY ANOOYED CUSTOMER. IF ANY MEMBER OF SIFY MANAGEMENT IS READING THIS, MY SIFY ID IS globalex123. AS I HAVE MADE ENOUGH COMPLAINTS ALREADY OVER PHONE, I HAVE NO PATIENCE LEFT. THIS IS PERHAPS THE ONLY WAY TO ATLEAST SAVE OTHER GUYS FROM THE HORRORS OF YOUR SERVICE.
February 25th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
I really thanks myself that I didnt go for siffy.I am using exattnet and the service provided by them is really satisfying.
April 13th, 2006 at 9:22 am
i have problem with dataone connectivity, it always fluctuates.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:02 am
After being fedup with the continuous downtimes with Sify broadband for about a Year or so , I switched to Exattnet. All I can say that it’s the best decission ive ever made .. been with Exattnet for 5 months now and have had virtually no down times .I started of with their 256 Kbps pack and got speeds of between 25 to 31 KBps. Now on their 2Mbps Night Unlimited plan and get speeds of between 200 to 240 KBps!
3 WORDS ABOUT EXATTNET
=======================
1)Best value for money
2)Virtually No down times
3)Honest Customer Support. (The only CS ive seen that answers calls at 4 in the morning!!! with a resoutin for my issue, they are actually qualified network engineers who answer the calls and not some Undergraduate half trained ass !!! )
===========================
Location : Pune (Yerwada)
Local Cable Wala : ICC
Plan Cost : check http://www.exattnet.com / http://www.xbroadband.in
===========================
Problem with Major ISP’s
1)BSNL – has a bandwidth cap of 1 Gb , too expensive and connection keeps fluctuating one minute u will get 60+ KBps the next it drops to 8 Kbps.
2)SIFY = Stay away from it .. IT STINKS.
3)TATA = Disconnection problems … not as bad as sify but it’s getting worse.
4)Airtel – Pretty good but again disconnecion problems.
5)Reliance – Expensive.
6)EXATTNET – peace of mind . If u are a heavy user then go in for the night unlimited plan … they are offering it at throw away prices. Picture this… u get 1 Mbps for 1365 RS and the same line is given on lease to a company for 20 times that amount. The decission is urs … Have fun !!!
May 18th, 2006 at 3:29 am
AM I THE ONLY ONE WHOS SAYING THAT EXATTNET IS GOOD …. WELL I DONT THINK SO … take a look at the forums below and decide for ur self !!!!!
http://broadbandforum.in/lofiversion/index.php/t980.html
http://broadbandforum.in/lofiversion/index.php/t711.html
June 21st, 2006 at 11:03 am
I am facing same problems with Tata Indicom broadband!! Bloody assholes harrased me for paying in advance for connection! I paid for their 64 kbps line unlimited plan for 6 months in advanced.
They promiced me to give connection in 7 days. Now its over 40 days and still there is no connection. After a month r so, their engineer came and fixed up modem and line and asked me to convert my existing dial-up ID to broadband so I can get 50 mb mail box. So I did. After that both the accounts were locked for 2 days. I was not able to receive my regular business emails even on dial-up.
I fought with them hard, so they atlease started bak my dial-up account but till this date they have not activated my broadband connection, god knows why?
Their customer service is another issue. If you call up their service in Pune, it asks you to always call back as the wait time is 99% above 10 to 12 mins. If you still hang on, then after 10 mins there representative comes. Every time new one. So you have to repeat all the things again and again. Then all they do is to tell you that they have forwarded compaint and within 24 to 48 hrs, I will receive a call from their technical team. I never did.
I am so fade up witht them so I really used bad language one day and have asked them to cancel my connection, but till date there is no refund.
Now i am thinking of going to Police for fraud.
I did not know they are so pathetic!!!
I have reliance connection at my office and that is the BEST! Immidiate connection, 750 rs for 150 kbps , unlimited dl. Hardly any down time. dl speeds at 18 kbps. and v good customer service and we are provided with direct access to a corporate liason. I am to happy with them. I wish they put lines fast in my resedencial area!!
I would strongly suggest that never go for Tata indicom cause it seems every one in pune is facing problems with them!
Ashish
September 4th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
I am one of the unfortunate sify broadband user for last
3months. my broadband was down for 25 days.When down I was
supposed to call customer cell which I did almost19 times
and I was promptly given 19 complain nos.!!! but no action was taken.The local network provider is being blamed for using jointed cable.
Can somebody suggest a reliable broad band and oblige
GOD BLESS
July 16th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
well…i am using sify from past 7 months..and i didn’t find any problem with it…. Well its a Network connection…so there must be a fault in the connection or down connection problem once in a week…but its best in my area…what i can say about sify is….
Sify rocks…