In the first month of my India trip I bought a CDMA2000 1x mobile phone from Reliance India and an USB datacable. In theory, with the NetConnect service I am able to surf the net comfortably in my room at a rate only slightly higher than in an internet cafe.

But the service quality varies massively between different places. In most cities the connection has about the same bandwidth as the good old analog 56k modem, which is tolerable for email and lightweight web browsing (the technology of the network would allow 144kB/s under ideal conditions). But in some places the Reliance network seems to be helplessly congested.

I am since about 3 weeks in Varanasi, and unfortunately this is one place where the NetConnect service quality is intolerable. While I can get at times an acceptable connection in the morning, after the early afternoon becomes absolutely unusable:

what else can I say besides *AAAARGH*