Airtel FTTH Fiber Broadband User Experience in Chennai

[krishnanramani]

@Adidam, agreed! In fact they focus on volume n not on quality. The Wifi router they supply is really the worst from ZTE. If they claim 150 Mbps, all devices should b able to get it, but in WiFi only 90 Mbps is achievable.

 

[bb127]

@Adidam, that is the problem, Airtel knows local providers aren't good enough. They think v-fiber can take speed upto 40mbps which is good enough compared to 50mbps from local providers. So if there is a decision between laying fiber at new location vs upgrading existing v-fiber, they will decide on new location as that means many new customers.
In my area, there was no other connection except BSNL fiber (and the local outsourced guys were pathetic. They wanted bribe of Rs500 to provide connection). So a year back, residents in our area requested airtel saying there are around 2000 houses so Airtel started laying fiber and provided connections finally.

 

[krishnanramani]

@bb127 This is almost similar to my case. The existing service providers are pathetic. Though ACT s better compared to others, it has its own disadvantages. The OFC s so much exposed tied in EB boxes, it will get cut even if a lorry drags its loosely connected wires. At the same time Airtel’s reluctance is making things worse. They are not ready to invest unless there are considerable No of connections. This becomes selling point for other providers. I know how in 2007-08 Airtel aggressively marketed their BB with 1Mbps speed, which was revolutionary that time. Their network in BB is undoubtedly best with least downtime.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

I think Airtel might not get a point where they will get the customers back when Jio is available or Hathway, ACT and Excitel improves their back-end.

Hathway, Excitel & ACT might have different issues which we don't face with Airtel much.

Hathway has packet loss and routing issue.

Excitel has Packet Loss and Privacy issue.

ACT has some issues which I see users facing here.

^^ You don't get all these issues in Airtel in most of the cases. Airtel's routing is best.

But Airtel is only good if you have 8 MBPS plan and okay when you have 16 mbps.

If you want 40 mbps either you live near to the exchange or you have really good lines laid out.

So yeah, Fiber cables are needed to the last node or the home directly now which Airtel isn't having for now.

 

[krishnanramani]

@Adidam The issue is, Airtel lacked foresight few years back. When the FIBERNET concept was picking up, they still were concentrating on their copper Network. Even in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi n Chennai, we don’t find much of their fully Fiber network running like ACT, Hathway n Other leading providers. It’s the similar case on how Blackberry went outside the radar for its reluctance in adapting new technology though they were pioneers in Smartphones.
Airtel is THE BEST on the Broadband n Landline, with no doubt as previously I have virtually 0 outage in the past. Even if their were any, we were well informed on the same.

 

[liverpool79]

I have a couple of questions regarding the 799 v-fiber plan for Bangalore.

1. After the 50 GB data limit is crossed,what will be the post-FUP speed?
2. For the 500 GB bonus data available for my plan,do i have to upgrade from my current broadband plan (1 Mbps unlimited) only via online purchase?

I'm asking cause the Airtel guys called me today and said they will upgrade to v-fiber for free.In this case will i get the bonus data?

They are giving me the D-Link modem (Dlink DSL 224 i think)Anyone know it's range? Will i be getting dynamic ip or static?

 

[Karan]

1. The current FUP for all plans is 1Mbps. But, this being airtel, its best you call and clarify if that is the FUP speed for the 799 plan too.
2. If it is part of the plan, it should get added, if they don't add it, simply call and have it done. It is something they are offering to all customers, old and new.

When they say free upgrade get it clarified free means no installation and no activation as well. They are know to say "free install" and slip into the first bill Rs. 1000 for activation.

DSL-224 has pretty good wifi range. The IP addresses are as per usual, dynamic.

 

[liverpool79]

So i can report that the Airtel guy came over today and installed the D-Link modem and he left.Nowadays they do the modem configuration via their mobile.he told me it will take 30 minutes for the modem/net to configure??? i'm sure that's not true cause i was connected to the net within 10 minutes.

So straight away there is a problem as speed tests showed my download speed is half of what i was supposed to get,so instead of 40 Mbps i'm getting 20 Mbps.My upload is 1.78 Mbps.

Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results

I would have posted my modem/router config but login is not accepting the password written on the modem (admin)!!!

Do i have to raise the download speed issue with CC? What specifically should i tell them?

 

[liverpool79]

ok,after getting the router pass from CC, the settings show:

DSL
Operational Status VDSL2 AnnexB
Upstream Speed 1886 kbps
Downstream Speed 23628 kbps

The CC guy said he has updated settings i should be getting 40 Mbps after modem restart and waiting for 10 minutes,but i am still getting 20 Mbps download speed.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

@Adidam The issue is, Airtel lacked foresight few years back. When the FIBERNET concept was picking up, they still were concentrating on their copper Network. Even in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi n Chennai, we don’t find much of their fully Fiber network running like ACT, Hathway n Other leading providers. It’s the similar case on how Blackberry went outside the radar for its reluctance in adapting new technology though they were pioneers in Smartphones.
Airtel is THE BEST on the Broadband n Landline, with no doubt as previously I have virtually 0 outage in the past. Even if their were any, we were well informed on the same.

Airtel is going to loose battle once Jio is available everywhere where Airtel is (Broadband).