“Broadband is an always-on data connection that is able to support interactive services including internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kbps to an individual subscriber from the POP of the service provider. The interactive services exclude any services for which a separate license is specifically required, for example, real-time voice transmission, except to the extent that it is presently permitted under ISP license with Internet Telephony.”(As per Broadband Policy 2004)

Details	Dial-up	Broadband	Key benefit
Speed	Limited speeds of upto 58 Kbps	High speeds of upto 1 Mbps.	Enhances  experience
Talk n Surf	Telephone line required to use the internet	No need to engage your telephone line to use the internet.	Talk while you surf
Connectivity	To use the internet you have to dial and wait for connectivity	Instant connectivity when you need it.	Saves time and increases productivity
Availability	During peak hours you get disconnected and have to dial again. At times the telephone lines are blocked so you are not able to dial.	No such hassles of line dropping or blocked telephone lines.	Easy to connect
Cost	Rs. 10-15 per hour (including telephone pulse)	Rs. 15 per hour onwards. Also MB based usage available	Superior experience at same cost
Applications	E-mail, chat, browsing, but not suitable for high-speed applications	With high speeds you can download heavy data files at superspeeds. Download movies, songs, feature-rich games, video messages and more.	Faster downloads, saves time and money

Reliance has introduced High bandwidth consumer plans with download speed upto 20 Mbps, 40 Mbps and 50 Mbps. These plans are the highest bandwidth plans available in Indian market till date.

However, for high bandwidth plans say 50 Mbps plan, User will get bandwidth of 50 Mbps (upto ISP node) but he may not achieve 50 Mbps* speed for files download due to some factors which effect download speed. Same is applicable for all other High bandwidth plans.

Difference between Internet Bandwidth and Download speed

Internet Bandwidth and Downloading speed are two different things.

High Bandwidth Does not guarantee that data will arrive/download fast from internet.

Bandwidth is the capacity of the connection whereas download speed is the actual rate of downloading which will always be lower since a proportion of packets going over the connection are not part of the data as such - there will be packets for maintaining the connection, resent packets because some arrived corrupted and so on.

In simple words, Bandwidth is the size of the Highway and Speed of data download is the speed of Car. Size of Highway ensures the number of cars passing through it (number of simultaneous downloads) but it does not ensures Speed of Car passing through it (Download speed).

Let us understand in detail what factors affect the download speed and customer experience

Terms:

• Throughput: Throughput is the number of messages successfully delivered per unit time. Throughput is controlled by available bandwidth, as well as the available signal-to-noise ratio and hardware limitations.
  
  
• Latency: Latency is the delay between the initiation of a network transmission by a sender and the receipt of that transmission by a receiver. In two-way communication, it may be measured as the time from the transmission of a request for a message, to the time when the message is successfully received.

 

• The Bandwidth provided by the Internet Service Provider: Users Download speed can be only upto the bandwidth provided by the Service provider and it cannot exceed that.

E.g. If Service provider is providing bandwidth of 1 Mbps, then you can download content from internet with speed upto 1 Mbps only and not more than that.

• Traffic at the web server: Web servers configure a download bandwidth at their end. They only allow download from their website upto certain bandwidth which has to be shared between the users logged on to that web server. If too many users are glued to the website, download may go slow due to this limitation. This also put limitation on maximum download/upload speed

E.g. If a web Server say Yahoo.com has Configured 100 Mbps bandwidth on its server and millions of people have logged into yahoo and downloading content, Yahoo server may get slow and may not be able to provide you enough download speed even if you are on a 50 Mbps plan.

It is similar to a Traffic jam when too many people are trying to pass through a Road, even if you are riding Ferrari, your speed depends on Traffic, not on the road or Car you are driving.

This is why when Exam Results are declared, Result website gets slow and takes too much time in opening while other sites may open comparatively faster.

• Download bandwidth Configured at Web server per User: A web servers also Configures the download bandwidth per user limiting maximum speed at which user can download content from that website. It means a website may have configured download bandwidth of 100 Mbps but if some user with 50 Mbps plan Connects to it and starts downloading, he will not get the 100 Mbps or 50 Mbps download speed but the maximum download bandwidth Configured per user at the web server.

For E.g.
Yahoo may allow Download bandwidth of 100 Mbps but if it has configured maximum 1 Mbps bandwidth for each user logged on to its web server then the user will get a maximum download bandwidth of upto 1 Mbps despite being on a Higher bandwidth Connection (even if the user is the only user glued to that web server at that time)

However if user starts multiple downloads, user may get download bandwidth upto 1 Mbps for each download happening at the same time, resulting in higher aggregate bandwidth.

• Location of Web Server: If user is downloading from a Web Server located at distant location, Latency will increase resulting in slower download speed.

That is why, Data is downloaded faster in a LAN due to Local location of server.

• Hardware Limitations at the users end: A standard PC/Laptop allows aggregate Download only upto 15-20 Mbps a time. So, User may be on a higher bandwidth plan but he may get aggregate download speed upto 15-20 Mbps only.

Also, TCP/IP Protocols configured in PC for Communication also puts a limitation on following

• Number of Simultaneous Downloads on a PC

• Maximum Download speed for every Download
• Limitations of Home Wi-Fi: If you are using a Wi-Fi network, the bandwidth will be subject to change depending upon Following
  

Typically people use 802.11g Wi-Fi standard. Following are limitations for that standard: **



Op. Frequency	Throughput (typ.)	Net bit rate (max.)	Gross bit rate (max.)	Gross bit rate (max.)
2.4 GHz	~22 Mbit/s	54 Mbit/s	128 Mbit/s	~up to 100 m

Other Wi-Fi limitations affecting the bandwidth are:

• Signal Strength: If Signal strength of Wi-Fi is weak, then bandwidth will further dip

• Number of Clients on Wi-Fi network: Bandwidth received per client will decrease as the number of Clients on a Wi-Fi network increase and vice versa.

Internet solutions

• Faster access/surfing of information
• Faster download of email and huge files

Audio solutions – Audio on Demand (AoD)

• Request and listen to any type of songs, information
• Listen to various radio channels

Video solutions – Video on Demand (VOD)

• Watch movies at own convenience
• Record multiple channels / programmes and view at your convenience
• View wide variety of television content  - single view, multiple view

Communication solutions

• Video conferencing 
• E-mail on PC
• Chat on PC

Reliance BroadNet tariff plans empower you to control your speeds and spends. Click here to view all our tariff plans.

Reliance BroadNet offers direct connectivity to the internet and it is recommended that you secure your PC.

Yes, Reliance is the only ISP in India to bundle an anti-virus pack with every connection – offered in conjunction with F-secure, India’s leading PC security solutions provider.

The advanced version of Reliance PC Protect comes with a parental control feature – at an additional cost of only Rs 70 per month.

PC - Protect

Reliance PC Protect comes in two plans fro security protection, so you can choose the security packages to suit your needs. Mentioned are the plans and prices.

Please uninstall any other anti-virus pack before installing PC-Protect as this anti-virus will not work with any other anti-virus.

Reliance PC Protect	Features	Monthly Rental (Rs.)	Minimum System Requirements
Basic Pack	Antivirus Anti Spyware Firewall	Zero	Operating Systems- Windows XP SP2 32 bit only Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit For Win XP Memory- 512 MB RAM For Windows Vista and Windows 7- 1GB RAM Harddisk Space - 600MB
Advance Pack	Antivirus Firewall Anti Spyware Spam Control Parental Control	70	Operating Systems- Windows XP SP2 32 bit only Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit For Win XP Memory- 512 MB or more For Windows Vista and Windows 7- 1GB RAM Harddisk Space - 800MB

To subscribe to Reliance PC Protect, contact Reliance, Customer Care.

Currently this service is available only for Reliance Broadnet postpaid customers.

Minimum service contract duration is 1 month.

Please refer the Acceptable User Policy (AUP) for more details. Click here for details

Shifting of service location will be subject to availability of service at new location – at shifting charges of Rs. 500/- per service per shift.

• Bonus bandwidth - You get an additional bandwidth with every Reliance BroadNet plan i.e. 300 Kbps VS 256 Kbps.
• Bundled anti-virus - We are the only ISP in India to bundle an Anti-Virus with every connection. In addition, this pack has anti-spam and firewall.
• No Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) rental.