Have you used the premium dial-up internet service?

You may have known by now that Bangladesh Tar and Telephone Board (BTTB) has changed its name to Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd. (BTCL). Moreover, it has started to offer a new range of communication services. Its Premium Dial-Up Service is perhaps the first of its kind in Bangladesh.

Premium Dial-Up service has a number of cool features that enable an internet user to browse more freely. One doesn’t need to register with any ISP by purchasing (1) a registration card and (2) a recharge card. All one needs is to have a land phone line and a modem.

According to BTCL, any of its telephone user can avail internet service by dialing the access code 0101234 (Multimetering) through his/her computer. The username is "bttb" and the password is "bttb".

The pricing is a bit ambiguous to me. According to BTCL’s website, “The internet usage charge will be automatically added with the telephone bill. The tariff for the internet use through this service is equivalent to the local telephone call charge.”

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An user of this service blogged:

Their download speed is average 5 Kilobyte/sec, I noticed this speed in Dhaka. For each 150 seconds or it's fractional usage you will be charged Tk 1.50. Simply I explain, the premium bill is 1 paisa per second, 60 paisa per minute and 36 Tk per hour. This is very expensive comparing rates of private ISPs. Because they offer 5 paisa to 30 paisa per minute usage depending on various plans. I know dialup internet is free in Italy for landline phone subscribers. But we in Bangladesh pay more and more to our service providers. In returns they give us dissatisfactory service in most cases.

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Nevertheless, it’s really good to see that the Government has started to rollover many of its policies these days. Let’s support them in their endeavours.