Airtel Broadband Fair Usage Policy

[Sushubh]

if you have missed it... i have no love for airtel when it comes to Fair Usage Policy and broadband packages... and i already am seeing psychological pressure related to that. heh.

 

[rj27]

I am having Bsnl Broadband for last 1 year now & had alomst 98 % uptime with max. 3-4 days of downtime in the past full year !Airtel has an Edge in CS but they too are now trying to match Bsnl CC standards these days. Bsnl is lacking at same becoz most of their staff, handling broadband at Tel.Exchs. are aged with less knowledge & understanding of internet. Secondly, being a govt. employee they don't have any pressure of performance rather they love their jobs just bcoz they don't have to do any job in reality. Also their CC are not that much of debbuger types who can find out the error easily if some complaining is also a newbie to internet.But their are +ve also with BSNL.- they do provide broadband at such villages also where there are only 1 or 2 mobile towers( even all the biggies don't have their 2G). Villages are only served by BSNL & i don't think even airtel or any other pvt. operator are going to come there in near future. - At least BSNL don't practice Unfair Trade Practices by giving different users, different usage limits for same prices under same plan subscription. If they are publishing their Plans on thier website than they are applicable equally on all customers who subscribes to them reading/knowing from there only. In this very forum, there are many who get 100 Gb data or more at better speeds while most other user suffer those 256kbps FUPs just after 25 gb or 50 gb. Whats their crime? Bsnl atleast treats every customer as same, they don't differ b/w various customers who are paying same amount ( for e.g. say 1299 or so), they all get similar treatment, similar speeds/usage limits. I haven't hard any such discrimination from BSNL.- Also In my experience registering a complaint on 1504 for bsnl broadband has always worked for me & my problems were always been solved in less than 24 hrs.But these are my experiences and experiences differ from person to person!

 

[Sushubh]

- they do provide broadband at such villages also where there are only 1 or 2 mobile towers( even all the biggies don't have their 2G). Villages are only served by BSNL & i don't think even airtel or any other pvt. operator are going to come there in near future.


hehe. they are not doing it for charity. government pays them tons of money for the same. and i think there is a form of tax that private operators have to pay because they do not serve the rural india. and that money is delivered to BSNL. if private operators are given similar incentives for expanding to rural india, i bet they would do a much better job of it. so this point is sort of irrelevant.

 

[rj27]

hehe. they are not doing it for charity. government pays them tons of money for the same. and i think there is a form of tax that private operators have to pay because they do not serve the rural india. and that money is delivered to BSNL. if private operators are given similar incentives for expanding to rural india, i bet they would do a much better job of it. so this point is sort of irrelevant.

point taken.

But We will see how much better job will they do, as the govt. is going to provide 1 pvt. operator along with BSNL, funds from the USOF for rolling out of BWA services in the rural areas where even bsnl landline is not there. I believe they are in process to make provision for that and it will be started from this year itself AFAIK.

We will see which pvt. operators Installs its LTE/Wimax BTS in those villages where 3G will reach in 2-3 years or more. Or those pvt. operators go shopping in other countries from the funds they recieve from USOF. I guess its worth Wait'n'Watch and I'll be more than happy if they beats BSNL in that.

 

[Sushubh]

not defending airtel here seriously.

 

[naveen_reloaded]

ya you should def put those words in ur siggy ... coz of the way u respond to those who bash airtel ... LOL ... (just for fun though.... ) and regarding the link u gave about the psychological stress... i cant understand..may be will go thru it tom morning .....

 

[shashank983]

say bye bye to airtel go with other player


I have emailed the d following to [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Is it a FAIR USAGE POLICY??????????

Sir,
I’ve been using Airtel Broadband connection for over 4 years with the following details…
Name : Anupam Anand
No: 011430xxxxxx
A/C No : 118xxxxxx
Alt Number: 995xxxxxxx


Im using the impatient plan of 1399 Rs .. for the last 2-3 months… first two month went nice as Airtel given me relaxation upto 50GB or more per month , next month they gave me 40GB then they reduced my speed to 256 kbps… I accepted it.. and when my billing cycle renewed on 23 Dec 2010 …. After I used exactly 25GB within 4-5 days they reduced my speed to 256… I used it thinkin u would give away 40GB+ again like u did earlier ….

My ques is why did u relaxed it upto 40GB earlier if u weren’t goin to continue … u can check my records…..

And why the hell you people don’t inform us when our usage is near 80-90% ….. I have been complaining it since I activated this plan, that there is no message informing me of 80-90% usage already… alerting us.

And now its just 27th Dec, 2010 already and all of sudden, my speed is reduced to 256… and that’s too without even any alert or message…. Sir the last 15 days of my billing cycle were also went with 256 kbps speed bec I though u ppl would inform me when I reach 80-90% of usage… but no message on browser or phone or email or by any means showed up… that’s why I haven’t paid the last bill and nor I paid the current and I’m planning to move to the other operator……

Sir whts the use of 1399 plan if I’m going to use it for 256kbps for almost whole month…. Without even informed of the data usage… If u wanna go with ur Fair Usage Policy, at tell us before reducing our speeds…. At least an intimation via email/sms/browser etc… keep us informed….

Now since I have a balance of 3348 pending to this account ……… I have no other option that to move other operators like MTNL for my landline…… n move to other provider for internet need


Anupam Anand

 

[kalpik]

EXACTLY! Why the fcuk would anyone pay 1399 bucks for a frigging 256 kbps connection?!

 

[iChaitanya]

Here's the Fair Usage Policy scoop first: Airtel recently changed it's billing cycle, from the like 23rd to 24th (not sure) to 10th to 11th of the month -atleast in Delhi.

It's still the same i.e. 23rd to 24th here in Pune.

I became an Airtel customer back in March 2010 when they didn't have clearly called out Fair Usage Policy limits - I got myself the 512k day/1 Mbps night plan. After a couple of months they introduced Fair Usage Policy throttling which I noticed with a reduction in speed, and in my case it was after reaching 100GB a month. The limit was also confirmed with someone from customer care at that time. Also, at some point in Oct/Nov - they made my plan 1 Mbps full day with no change in Fair Usage Policy or prices - atleast I wasn't told of Fair Usage Policy limits but this is where it get's murkier and more rotten - read on.

In October 2010, I noticed that I was being throttled much earlier in the month. So I called up customer care and complained because they told me my limit is still at 100 GB. I logged a ticket and their new local "good-for-nothing-ticket-bounty-hunters" called me and said that this is because I have reached my download limit of 25 GB. I said CC told me 100 and u tell me 25 - I want to believe CC.

Guess what? We're in the same boat! I became an airtel broadband subscriber in Jan 2009. All was well till May 2010. I got Fair Usage Policy'ed in June 2010. Since then, I have to email/call their nodal team almost every month to get back the original tariff plan that I was promised.

Original tariff plan that I was promised (after speed upgrade):
Day: 1 Mbps till 20GB; 512 Kbps Unlimited thereafter.
Night: 1 Mbps Unlimited (NO Fair Usage Policy).

I made them confirm the above tariff plan in an Email. Each month (sine June 2010) they're change my Fair Usage Policy. Sometimes I get Fair Usage Policy'ed at 20GB, sometimes at 25GB, 50GB, 100GB and sometimes not at all. It's like I'm on a dynamic Fair Usage Policy that keeps on changing every month. So, almost each month, I end up shouting at them. They have no shame.
Today, airtel Fair Usage Policy'ed my broadband connection (yet again) and now, I'm getting 512 Kbps during the day as well as night. Within a few days, it'll further drop to 256 Kbps if I don't start shouting at their nodal team right now. :isleep:

Now on purpose I made a diff call to the CC 3 diff days to ask the same question because I knew with experience that the answer everytime is going to be different - and it was. One version was that my speed would get reduced to 512kbps (but no further reduction even if I hit 200GB) and the other version was that my speed would get reduced to 256kbps - all from the same CC department. What I observed in my speed however was this: after 25GB, I was reduced to 512kbps and now for the last 3-4 days, my speed has reduced to 256 kbps - possibly because I hit another speed limit or something.

Exactly! Each time you call CC, you'll get a different answer. Each person you talk to will tell you a different Fair Usage Policy limit. Like I said earlier, it's a dynamic Fair Usage Policy! You have also mentioned that your speed dropped to 512 Kbps and further down to 256 Kbps. I have myself experienced this. I've to regularly shout at their nodal team to get it fixed.

[*]Their Fair Usage Policy as an idea was a disaster against everything that the India growth story has to offer, it's execution was an even worse disastor, cataclysmic for me and this would scar their brand for a long time to come.

I'm not against "Fair Usage Policy", I never was. The Fair Usage Policy has to be FAIR. In case of airtel, it's totally unfair. I mean 20GB? 25GB? 40GB? WTF? - Who knows? This year, airtel might start offering broadband tariff plans with FUPs like 20MB, 25MB, 40MB, etc.

[*]They simply DO NOT care about their customers - not a single CC or "Senior" person I spoke to was even remotely interested in solving my problems instead sending me to departments after departments to just rid their hands of any problem.

Don't waste your time with CC and "senior" people. Get in touch with your state's nodal team if you haven't. Threaten them with disconnection and demand what YOU want. This is the only way we'll get what we want.

[*]Airtel is completely out of tune with the demands of internet usage of current times - they think a 25GB cap is required for a 4Mbps connection in today's world of streaming FU*KING LEGAL HD content available all around the web - both paid and free - YouTube HD, TED HD - install Miro and your list is endless.

I had mentioned this in an Email that I had sent to airtel's head office. I did get a call back from a senior person and she said she'll definitely forward my suggestions to their marketing team. It's the marketing team that composes all these BS tariff plans. airtel picks up MBA types and these are people who devise the broadband tariff plans that people like you and me use. These people don't give a **** whether you'll be able to watch YouTube in HD or not. All they care about is profits. Milk the customer as much as possible by any means necessary - that's airtel's formula for soaring profits.

I had to write this to share (and vent) my frustration with a community who is also going through hell like this every day dealing with Airtel. Some of us are geeks and we ask questions to demand what we rightfully believe is ours - because Airtel and the trust led us to believe so.

I think only the geeks/heavy users are affected by this so called Fair Usage Policy. The reason I'm saying this is that uncle-aunty types are more than satisfied with 20GB-25GB Fair Usage Policy.

For people who are not on the Airtel Broadband yet - I very sincerely and strongly urge you to read the above in full and then make a conscious decision about your broadband provider. After all, in such cases we have to believe that we vote with our wallets - so choose wisely who gets your vote.

Stay the hell away from airtel broadband until they modify the current Fair Usage Policy limits.

About the sad ending - I am working on it including the number portability of my Airtel mobile to another provider so I can remove Airtel from my life.

Again, we're in the same boat. I'm sick of this piece of shit thing called airtel mobile. Every other incoming/outgoing call drops and I can't hear a thing when I'm at my residence. Don't even get me started on their retarded CC. I'm gonna be the first person in Pune to migrate away from airtel to some other operator (most probably Uninor).

---------- Post added at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 PM ----------

the thing i say again. your experience in your area with your local bsnl folks has been good.

that does not mean shit for someone else. it's bsnl. user experience would differ from one colony/sector to another. one house to another. one customer to another.

Exactly! Until Dec 2008, I was a BSNL broadband customer. This damn thing used to go down every other day. The management including JTO, STO at our local exchange was terrible. It's still the same. On the other hand, a friend of mine who lives in a different area in Pune has faced negligible downtime in the last few years. So, it totally depends on how efficient the people working in the local telephone exchange are.

---------- Post added at 09:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 PM ----------

- At least BSNL don't practice Unfair Trade Practices by giving different users, different usage limits for same prices under same plan subscription. If they are publishing their Plans on thier website than they are applicable equally on all customers who subscribes to them reading/knowing from there only. In this very forum, there are many who get 100 Gb data or more at better speeds while most other user suffer those 256kbps FUPs just after 25 gb or 50 gb. Whats their crime?
Bsnl atleast treats every customer as same, they don't differ b/w various customers who are paying same amount ( for e.g. say 1299 or so), they all get similar treatment, similar speeds/usage limits. I haven't hard any such discrimination from BSNL.

Yup, this is one thing I like about BSNL. Airtel is infamous for partiality.

 

[jatin2009]

TO hell with Airtel, dump it for Reliance wireline broadband or BSNL, or even MTNL. They dont have any FUPs even in 1mbps or 2mbps plans. I have decided to finally get rid of my everyday stress of having to deal with Airtel's ****ing FUP.