Surf the net at lightspeed

The Tata Photon Plus advertisements are all around, inviting those who want broadband to buy into its promise of speed. Lured by the message, I walk into a Tata Indicom outlet in Connaught Place, New Delhi.

A strapping young man in a security guard's uniform intercepts me as I enter and wants me to state the purpose of my visit. In the face of his height and strapping build, I respond meekly, "I want to buy Tata Photon."

He gestures me towards a customer service staff member, who too demands to know the purpose of my visit.

I repeat my request, which has an unusual effect on the staff member; she scurries off to consult two other colleagues. Did I ask for an illegal substance? Did I not look worthy of a Tata Photon Plus?

The lady returns and then re-directs me to her colleague, as if I am some kind of a hot potato, too hot to handle. Finally, I get to sit in front of the man who will help me procure my Tata Photon Plus device.

While I wait for the gent to start the process, I listen in to angry voices of customers around me.

Two Tata Indicom employees are trying to deal with two very irate customers. The rest of the place is full of people who seem comfortable lounging around. Customers? People at a loose end making the most of the air-conditioning? The showroom has the air of a semi-busy railway station.

As I wait, I overhear a girl asking another sales person whether Tata Photon Plus comes with an unlimited plan. Yes, is the response.

When the customer service staff member attending to me returns with the Tata Photon Plus in his hand, I ask him the same question. His answer is a surprising "no". Two contradictory responses to the same question? Even as I try and solve this conundrum, the security guard directs another customer towards my attendant.

Clearly enthusiastic, the attendant starts dealing with this new customer even as we are still in the middle of the sale. So I protest. Which is enough to reclaim his attention and once again we are locked in the process of buying a Tata Photon Plus.

He explains the features, wants to know what plan I want and tells me where I can pay my monthly bill. All settled, he hands me a bill and asks me to go to the first floor to pay.

There are two counters for payment, one which says clearly 'payments' and the other which is marked 'handset payment'. Simple. Being literate, I head for the counter marked 'payments', which has no other customer, but strangely I am directed towards the other counter.

Looking at the cashier, it would be easy to say that he may have spent a lifetime in government offices, for his manner is sullen and uncommunicative.

I pay and come back downstairs and ask the sales guy to give me a customer care number in case I need help with troubleshooting. "Koi problem nahi ayegi," he assures me. "But give me a number," I persist.

He sticks to his position that I am unlikely to encounter any issues. I too refuse to give up. Reluctantly he scribbles down a number on the bill. "What is this number?" I ask. "It's my office direct line. Just call here if you have any problem."

And I do have a problem when I try to log in well past the 48 hours that I am told it would take for the device to be activated. I turn to the small manual that comes with the device and it fails to enlighten me as to what I need to do to be able to get it working.

Frustrated at being unable to log in, I call the landline number and a sleepy voice (it is 11 in the night) at the other end tells me to call the next day. Obediently, I do so, and the sales guy answers the phone and says that it has taken longer than 48 hours for the device to be activated on account of the rakhi holiday in the middle and confirms that now my Tata Photon Plus is fully functional.

Once again, I ask for a customer care number in case I face a problem. This time he gives me his mobile number and says that he would be available even at night if I needed help.

Friday night I log in again and the device has been activated. I do some basic surfing and it works effortlessly. Sites open up within seconds and the short time that I use it, it doesn't disconnect even once.

Even if you are a technophobe, this device offers painless Internet connectivity. There isn't anything that you need to load on to your computer or wait endlessly for the device to connect.

The real test, however, as a cynical colleague points out, will be if the company can continue to provide that kind of speed even after they sell several of these devices.

Score: 5/10. The retail experience of buying the device sucks. The staff could be better trained and more professional.

Though my first brush with the broadband speed was great, there is trepidation that it may not always be that way.