Sri Lanka Telecom sets usage limits at your expense!

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has gone back in its tracks and has started to promote “limited broadband internet” packages in recent times. As I remember, when I signed up for a home package in 2002/2003, they delivered unlimited internet at 512 kbps download and 128 kbps upload speeds. Although crawling at snail’s pace of 512 kbps, we still had no cap limit for downloading. Now SLT is changing the game by promising 2 Mbps to 16 Mbps connections (at exorbitant rates for higher speeds in the spectrum) with a CAP LIMIT! In an age where 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps and 1 Gbps connections are available at reasonable prices for home users in other countries WITHOUT cap limits, SLT is still crawling while setting limits to usage! Either they are unable to give a facelift to the already deteriorating network infrastructure in Sri Lanka or just trying to rip the customers off to earn few more bucks.

As one of my friends updated me recently, the way SLT plans to establish this CAP LIMIT scheme is appalling. They are trying set this limit for not only new customers, but also for those customers who signed up for unlimited packages about ten years ago. How? By luring them to buy a host of new connections disguised as cheap and fast packages! More bait for unsuspecting customers? Why not? The bait comes in the form of a wireless router at 1,990 LKR, which SLT says is worth 6,990 LKR. If you are not shocked yet, here’s another one. SLT wants 500 LKR to change your perfectly unlimited package to a LIMITED package. That’s if you don’t buy their so-called wireless router. If you opt for the router, the transfer fee becomes 1,000 LKR! So you basically pay them extra to downgrade the service. I will take one of their packages as an example to show the truth behind the deal. “Abhimaana” is a package (up to 2 Mbps DL) targeting employees of the state-sector priced at 390 LKR per month. The cap limit is a mere 2 GB. In this age of youtube, video conferencing and sporadic, yet heavy downloading, 2 GB is negligible. If you exceed 2 GB, then you have to pay 25 cents per Megabyte. So, if you reach 10 GB, you are paying an extra 2,000 LKR on top of the 390 usage charge (Now customers who have unlimited packages pay only 1,690 LKR per month). Well, if you exceed 10 GB, then they slash your speed to 64 kbps, which is as good as not having a connection at all!!

From the SLT website

From the SLT website

From the SLT website

The bottom line? SLT seems to be lacking the capacity to give a true broadband experience to Sri Lankan users and they are experimenting on misleading unsuspecting users into signing up for CAP LIMITS by abandoning their unlimited packages. I hope SLT will learn from its mistakes, learn from those customer-centric providers in other countries who give FTTH, LTE and WiMAX at mind-blowing speeds and play fair for the sake of their customers.