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A Deloitte employee Karan Kothari, 33, was midway through his (work from home) shift at 1 am on October 14 when a tree fell on the Hathway internet line near his house. He switched to his Vodafone Idea (Vi) mobile data service, which worked till 4.30 in the morning, and then stopped as there was no signal.
“Next day, I tried using Jio mobile internet for work, it was terribly slow, and I was out of options,” Kothari recalled. “I had to take a leave that day, as it was not possible to work with such slow internet connection,” he added.
Residents of Hyderabad have managed to stay connected with the world outside despite the heavy rains which have been lashing the city from past 15 days. While some struggled and resorted to slower alternatives, others have been more fortunate to get stable internet connectivity, barring a few minor glitches.
Srikar Raghavendra, 24, who is preparing for competitive exams after completing his graduation, generally spends a lot of time on the internet reading about various issues. “When the heavy rains started pounding the city, I was worried that broadband will get disconnected. But, except for a few interruptions, the internet worked fine,” he said. He is thankful to his local internet service provider as it helped him stay connected.
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Several city residents took to Twitter to vent their ire about internet connectivity issues, flooding handles of broadband and mobile internet service providers like Hathway broadband, ACT Fibernet, Vodafone Idea, Airtel, and Jio, with tweets demanding immediate repair.
Vineesh Reddy, 23, a Master’s student at a U.S.-based university who is remotely connecting from Hyderabad said, “I only get Jio signal in my apartment and my online classes are held mostly late in the night or early in the mornings.”
He relies on a local internet service provider which ensures broadband connection for all the 60 flats in his apartment. However, since the rains began, service has been erratic. So, he had to use his Jio mobile internet, which was also not working properly. “Earlier, I used to watch HD movies using mobile data, now even WhatsApp images are taking time to open,” he added.
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The Hindu tried contacting ACT Fibernet, Hathway and Jio, but could not get any response.
Vodafone Idea in an emailed response said, its network engineers worked round the clock to get the network up and running post the heavy rains and floods in the city.
There have been several lucky ones who did not face any major issue with their broadband connections. Two residents, Sandhya Rani and Akshita Teegalapally, residing in two ends of the city, in Bollarum and in Vidya Nagar near the OU campus, said they had some minor issues, which were promptly fixed by their internet service providers.
