Chennai - Post Report Question and Answers
Is high-speed home Internet access available? How long does it typically take to install it after arrival?
Was installed upon arrival, paid about $30 USD for 500 mb/s. Speeds and uptime were generally excellent. Maybe two issues of over-24 hour outage in two years. - Jan 2024
Good quality internet and phone service. Can be installed quickly. - Apr 2023
Internet is cheap and available but goes out frequently. Many people had two lines with two different companies in order to ensure you always have coverage. - Apr 2023
Another high point -- super cheap and relatively problem-free. You will need the assistance of the local staff to get things connected… - Aug 2021
Yes. Internet is very fast here. Actually, it is the fastest internet I have ever experienced. I think we prepaid our fiber connection for one year which gave us two months free, and it ended up being like $50 a month. About once a month somebody will cut a cable out in town or there will be some sort of outage. Usually these are addressed the same day. - Apr 2021
Internet is super fast and reliable. We used fiber-optic internet. Less than a week to install. - May 2019
Yes but frequently cuts out after a storm. After the Cyclone of 2016, I only had internet access at the office for about 2+ months. Be sure to pay your bill on-time as the internet company will not extend you credit and will cut you off right away. - Aug 2018
High-speed internet is available and affordable. However, internet lines are strung in an ad hoc way through trees, etc. It's not uncommon to lose internet for days (or in some case weeks) after heavy rains or other weather events. Some families have tried to guard against this by having two internet providers; it's unlikely for both to be down at the same time. - May 2018
It is available. Fiber Internet was good quality and highly reliable for me. I heard complaints from others. Costs were around $30 per month, but the download limits were not generous. - May 2016
Yes. We paid a few hundred dollars for a year upfront. I don't remember the cost. I'd estimate it's less than US$20 a month. Power outages cause the most Internet disruptions. The Internet goes down every few weeks, but we can reliably stream, make video calls, etc. - May 2016
Yes, costs about US$60 monthly plans. - May 2015
Available but the connection is very poor. - Mar 2015
Yes - of varying quality and cost. - Oct 2014
Yes - not expensive. It's not 100% consistant but it's ok. - Oct 2014
No, another big headache, some people are lucky, we were not. Internet was incredibly unreliable and slow, it was not too expensive, maybe US$25 per month. I hear things will change for the better but I'll believe that when I see it. - Jun 2014
Yes. Cost is low - we pay about US$120 a year for pretty good and reliable internet. - May 2014
Yes...ish. It depends where you live. We have 2 Mbps through BSNL. I know another family who has 8 Mbps through Airtel. That is about as fast as it gets right now. We pay about US$60 for home phone and internet. - Aug 2013
Yes, but ours kept going in and out so we purchased a second internet service in order to have a back-up. - Jul 2012
Yes, at a little less than you'd pay in the U.S. - Aug 2011
Yes, High-speed and wireless internet access is available. We paid about $50 a month. - Jun 2010
Yes, starting at $20/month. - Sep 2009
Highly variable by neighborhood and service provider. Difficulties getting Vonage to work. - Mar 2009
Yes, the quality varies greatly depending on where you are. The 3 companies are Airtel, BSNL, and Tata. I would check with neighbors to find the best one. They will likely have switched at least once (like me) and found the best one. Cost is around US$40/month for decent broadband. - Aug 2008
