Questions about Airtel Xstream Broadband

[hallow2087]

Airtel has started offering their Xstream fiber in my town, Hind Motor in West Bengal. But it's prepaid, so it must be LCO. I asked them, but they are saying direct connection. If I input my address on their app/ site they come back to me with a SMS saying connection is not feasible in my area. So it's confirmed it's a LCO connection, right?

What's the advantage of having direct connection over LCO? Is there any chance in future airtel will provide direct connection in smaller towns like mine?

 

[nishantt6969]

No difference in quality of connection.

 

[iwantfreeinternet]

Airtel has started offering their Xstream fiber in my town, Hind Motor in West Bengal. But it's prepaid, so it must be LCO. I asked them, but they are saying direct connection. If I input my address on their app/ site they come back to me with a SMS saying connection is not feasible in my area. So it's confirmed it's a LCO connection, right?

What's the advantage of having direct connection over LCO? Is there any chance in future airtel will provide direct connection in smaller towns like mine?

No landline most probably

 

[chaz_009]

@Abhi_VNS bro what are your initial impressions regarding the connection? how are the pings? I also reside in Varanasi and will be changing my ISP from GTPL to Airtel(200mbps).

 

[hallow2087]

No landline most probably

They told me landline is included with some free calling. I'm not at all interested in landline etc but just a quality broadband service. I'm interested in low pings/ latency. I'm not sure whether LCO provided service can be on par with direct type. I have had terrible experience with LCO provided broadband before.

I need more data to go on, how are the pings, stability etc. If anyone is here who has taken the new LCO type connection please share your experience.

 

[nishantt6969]

Airtel Fiber Varanasi users are requested to post their ping to 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8

 

[sng_shivang]

For Airtel it isn't much different with LCO as Airtel controls most of the things and LCO is only responsible for last mile connectivity. The only difference aside from being Prepaid is the probability of no landline service.

You will get a landline number of your local city STD code but you won't be able to make of receive calls other than 121 or 198. Airtel says that it's temporary and would get fixed soon.

Stability is rock solid even in my LCO city. Only one 3 hour outage in last 8 months due to cable snapping. Pings are not much impressive if you are a gamer due to subpar routing. As I don't play online games, it doesn't bother much.

 

[sng_shivang]

Airtel Fiber Varanasi users are requested to post their ping to 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8

I am 140 KM away from Varanasi in Ballia District and here are my ping results

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=118

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 21ms, Maximum = 26ms, Average = 23ms
PS C:\Users\Shivang> ping 1.1.1.1

Pinging 1.1.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=49ms TTL=59
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=59
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=59
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=59

Ping statistics for 1.1.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 49ms, Maximum = 52ms, Average = 51ms

 

[nishantt6969]

@imdarkray they also have messed up pings like patna. Seems like only lucknow side users are able to enjoy better pings.

 

[imdarkray]

@hallow2087 I can see your location as Kolkata. Airtel has its own server in Kolkata and their ping is quite good there. There is no considerable difference between Airtel direct and LCO based connections. Unlike BSNL/Railwire or other ISPs, LCOs are only responsible for providing fiber connectivity i.e. the line cable. If there would be any fiber cut in the future, LCO will be responsible to resolve that. You do not need to contact LCO directly, even the Airtel team asks not to contact LCOs directly. You can raise a service request through the Airtel app and they will take the proper action. My suggestion is that you can opt for Airtel Xstream as they are better than Hathway/Siti/Alliance.

@nishantt6969 I believe this for all customers who are routed through Lucknow. It's just- Patna is farther than the rest and hence more affected.