Even though the DIAS broadband was never implemented in Manipur for which I was very critical, Subject: Imphal - Only place in India where DIAS was not implemented !
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Manipur-Diaspora/message/2305

I will reciprocate that by praising BSNL for not forgetting this time that the NE too have people with EQUAL needs and RIGHTS as the rest of the country, and launching DataOne broadband internet in the NE at the same time as the rest of india.

http://www.e-pao.net/epPageSelector.asp?src=BSNL_brings_Internet_High_speed_service_2005&ch=announcements

You can apply online here…
http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/dataoneform.php

but I would duplicate that by submitting a paper one to the Manipur office too by printing the form from this site – http://www.bsnl.co.in/newsdetailed.php?news_id=170

The tariffs are the lowest (500 Rs for the Home 256 kbps connection).
http://www.bsnl.co.in/newsdetailed.php?news_id=185

I hope many will move on to this faster speed from their dialup accounts. I don’t know about DataOne, but DIAS was launched for a trial period after which they could cancel it if they did not have a sufficient customer base. But there is plenty of benefit in opting for a broadband faster internet than just for the sake of providing volume to retain DataOne in the state.

All local/ISD/STD phone calls can be made free using a cheap microphone and headphone (speaker is better if you want others to hear the conversation too) connected to the computer, provided the other person too is on a computer with a similar setup. This free phone call is still possible using a dialup internet, though the audio breaks up and lags making it incomprehensible sometimes, because of the lower speeds. So with the faster broadband connection, the audio quality is better than a normal phone, though there could be some lag depending on the network traffic, which depends on how many users the manipur BSNL intends to squeeze in the available bandwidth.

You can also use the internet and the computer setup to call people on their normal phones including mobile phones, but for that you have to pay money to someone called a VOIP provider (which is a much cheaper rate, like those familiar to phone cards). This is useless for local phone calls since I don’t think there is a VOIP provider for Manipur and I don’t think you can save much on a local phone call ! However for ISD/STD calls these VOIP accounts can be setup/purchased by anyone including overseas, and all that a user than needs to access that is the login id/number and password. So the cost saved on this alone will recoup the DataOne charges easily for those that make many such STD/ISD calls.

Besides voice only phone calls, you can use a web video camera that is a few thousand Rs, and transmit video while you are talking effectively having a video conference. This too is possible on a dialup connection but the slow speed makes the pictures almost unusable, but on broadband, video is transmitted in an acceptable quality. Beware of exceeding the 1GB traffic capping (explained below) though if you use this too much.

Also with ‘always connected’ broadband you can keep your telephone line free while on the internet and also pay no dialup telephone charge as there is no dialup required. The second telephone line that people purchased for internet use can be cancelled now.

The catch in the pricing to be wary of is that it has no maximum cost capping. For most moderate internet users, the 1 GB (1000 MB) limit traffic volume should be sufficient, but in case you exceed that, the additional charge of 2 Rs / MB could lead to an additional Rs 4000 if you exceed the 1GB limit by another 2 GB. This excess may not be that improbably as it looks at first. Many families in manipur have had to cut off STD facility at home because the employees working at the telephone exchange would connect phone calls from other people to their phone line leading to huge phone bills sent to innocent families. And this could easily happen to the internet connection bills too ! There is also the very probable case of family members unsuspectingly downloading too much pictures and videos which require heavy traffic as opposed to simply sending text emails. To prevent such shocking internet usage bills most ‘conscientious’ internet providers reduce the broadband connection speed to a dialup speed once the monthly traffic limit is exceeded, and do not charge any more than the fixed monthly rate. This requires a little more hardware and software and processing investment and cost with the Internet Provider, so as an alternative, some just publish the running monthly usage traffic info on a web page that you may constantly monitor and not exceed. We must pressure BSNL to provide that price capping as many users are not very IT literate and ours is a very price sensitive market. BSNL should be a conscientious internet provider offering the DataOne service to the people and not trying to prey on unsuspecting customers with an accidental high usage bill. Since this will be a decision taken at the BSNL central office, I request all to send emails requesting that.

Though computers are only affordable to the richer families, I hope that the leikai association and MLAs will sponsor a communal computer.

Expanding knowledge pool of policy makers – Improving Education
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Manipur-Diaspora/message/2719

Once that is possible, we can have any generous person residing anywhere in the world, giving the whole of Manipur free education. Now that broadband is available, we must set up a general public access education web site portal where people can freely glean for knowledge. The current MD mailing group with all its political and frequent emails is not the right platform for this. How wonderful would it be if we have the knowledge, intellectual pool and patriotic sentiment of our educated and successful population disseminated to every NE person. We are then no longer prevented by the current restriction and censorship of print and broadcast media by vested interest groups, to inform, educate, empower and shape public opinion of our entire population. Every moment, many of our brightest students fail to achieve their potential in life because they do not have the right guidance and knowledge from their family and friends. We can prevent this invaluable and critical loss of our future intellectual pool by ensuring that our brightest, successful generous members of our community, whereever they may be resident, can reach these bright students and nurture and mentor them using the internet, to be our future leaders.

I have gone at great lengths to type this up, because the internet is the key to our future as ALL the world’s knowledge is freely and democratically available equitably as any developed country. Dialup internet is very slow when downloading big files like teaching videos.

However, there is a caveat. The internet too has plenty of pornographic sites and we must inform the parents about this so they can safely monitor their childrens' usage. It would be a shame if parents rejected the internet because of the myopic fear of the pornographic content, as there is much, much, much more invaluable knowledge on the internet. There is a strong likelihood that most of the communal computers could end up being used for pornography too, and though that is not something we can completely eradicate, we have to come up with some solutions to try and prevent that.

The isolation of the RAP has dumbed us down for over half a century ! With the arrival of the internet, let us ride this paradigm shift to deliver knowledge and break out of the intellectual isolation imposed by the RAP.