How to select Internet Service Provider & ISP in India - Internet & World Wide Web, E-Commerce | E-Commerce - B Com PDF Download

HOW TO SELECT INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER

Before choosing an ISP, it is important to assess your company's business and marketing goals. In other words, you should determine what your organization will be using the Internet for. Once you've determined this, you can contact ISPs that serve your geographic area and ask them about their services.

Here are some questions that user may wish to ask when choosing an ISP for Internet  connection:

General

• What types of connections are available in your geographic area? (dial-up, ADSL, cable, etc...)
• What equipment (hardware) is necessary to establish a connection? (dial-up modem, cable modem, etc...)
• Does the ISP provide installation software?
• What kind of technical support can you expect?
• What additional perks are offered with each package? (Web space, additional email accounts, etc.)

Connection

• Is the dial-up number billed as a local call?
• Does the ISP provide alternate local dial-up numbers? How many?
• Is remote service available? (regional, national, international)
• What type of connection speed can you expect?
• How often can you expect busy signals?
• What is the service's expected uptime?

Cost

• What payment options are available?
• Is there an initial connection fee?
• Can the type of connection be changed without penalty?
• How will your connection time be charged? 
• metered
• flat rate
• bandwidth use
• combination of the above

Are annual subscriptions offered at discounted prices? (as opposed to monthly charges)

Are there any other possible charges?

Many of these questions can only be answered while trying for the services. You may want to request a trial period from an ISP so that you can evaluate its performance before signing on with them.

Web Hosting

Most companies that offer Web hosting services will offer basic packages which can be modified to accommodate your specific needs. Requesting and comparing this information is a good place to start when looking for Web hosting services. The following list outlines some important questions that should be answered before you make a decision:

General

• How much bandwidth is available for upload and download? (data transfer)
• How much storage space is available? Can additional space be added at a later date? (data storage)
• Does the ISP allow for commercial Web sites?
• What is the site's expected uptime? What is the company's policy with regards to this?
• Which operating systems do they support? (Microsoft, Unix, Linux...)

Services

• Does the ISP provide shopping cart and other e-commerce technologies and services?
• Are Web-based tools available for site maintenance and configuration?
• Which Web technologies are supported? (databases, programming environments, etc...)
• What kind of technical support can you expect?
• How many e-mail addresses (aliases) are provided per account?
• Are mailing list services available?

Costs

• What is the cost for domain name registration?
• What will be the total monthly cost of your company's desired Web hosting solution?
• Is there a service fee for adding or removing features?
• What is the cost of each additional feature? (databases, additional e-mail addresses, etc...)

Be wary of relatively low advertised prices when choosing a company to host your Web site. These low prices are usually offset by additional costs for basic services, or are indicative of poor performance. You may also want to visit some sites that are hosted by the company to see how they perform.

ISP IN INDIA

The current ISP scene is witnessing a roller coaster ride. The beginning of the year saw the presence of 25 brands and license for about 256 ISPs granted. The market was crowded, with not enough room for all of them to survive. It was also found that lavish advertising spends with everybody wanting to gain the early mover advantage. Every one focusing on price war, brand building took a pillion seat. Brands that did not build strong brand equity began to find the going tough. As a result, many leading brands too folded up. The market finally settled with 3 to 5 players, with the future becoming a limited game.

Government issues three kinds of licenses to set up business:

• ISPs that want to operate at a national level will have to apply for category ‘A’ license. Bank guarantee of Rs.20 million.
• Category ‘B’ license will cover the four major cities and metros of the country in addition to 20 telecom circles. Bank guarantee of Rs.2 million.
• Category 'C' for smaller areas. Bank guarantee of Rs. 3 lakhs.

There is no limit on the number of players in an area and a company can apply for as many licenses as he/she wishes to apply. Private ISPs can establish their own gateways after obtaining security clearances. They have the option to use Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNLs) gateways. ISPs can also interconnect among themselves and provide services to V-SAT substations. With the mushrooming of ISPs, the differentiator would be service standards, bandwidth to the Internet, uptime, customer education, training and support.

It is essential in India, that ISPs have to provide not only access and make money from that, but also:

• Provide additional businesses like hosting,
• Creating homepages and websites,
• Marketing the necessary equipment and
• Software the customer needs to set up business like modems, PCs, web browsers and authoring packages.

It is very unlikely that process would fall below the current levels. When the number of players are less, the price would stabilize Price cuts have not worked and when the  market matures, the discerning users will increase, according to few experts. Some of the ISPs have already formed a castle in the north to arrest further price fall. This would happen even at other places. Free ISPs (FISPs) also made their presence last year. They however, have a price not just in terms of the overall viewing area, that will be taken up by advertising banners, but in the type and extent of personnel information required to be provided. Before getting free access, most ISPs require demographic information at the time of sign-up. During the beginning of the year, the free ISPs did affect the market. Today, with most of the FISPs shutting shop, the market is growing. Free service providers will not be able to provide quality surfing experience, according to some people. The free ISPs target revenue out of sponsorships and advertisements. Many a times, customers know that using FISP is not economical enough as the download is supposed to be slower than a paid ISR resulting in longer time taken to browse and with added telephone cost.

While choosing a FISR it is imperative to consider:

(i) Whether the service is available in the area (local dial-up number)
(ii) The ISP has sufficient resources,
(iii) The size of the banners
(iv) Extent of personal information needed and
(v) Case of software set up.

The ISP business is a long-term business and has no short-term returns. With the growth of Internet business, allied services like intranet business will be the real opportunity. There are about 1.2 million ISP users in India as against a figure of 120 million in the US. Hence, this industry is poised for growth. Going by the present indications, the Internet industry will continue to boom by itself and also because of the technologies like WAP enabling browsing the net for information on a mobile phone or a palm top.