Airtel Introduces 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps unlimited plans

[our_broadband_sucks]

I think the U in ARPU means Unit, which means Customer, not speeds. In other words, it's the average return per customer and not ARPkbps!!

And I really don't know which hole you pulled out your claim that profit margins are larger for ISPs here than in other countries.

OT: could you please please make your username shorter, as well as your signature. It really messes up the flow of the threads.

lol, looks like you just have to blab without even trying to undertstand what the other person is saying...i fukking well know what ARPU is, ok?

looks like i'll have to explain it to u in detail so u can understand something before typing something useless in your customary "i am superior than you" tone...

i just said that the average revenue per unit is less in India as we dont have the kind of plans which developed countries have.

Lets take an average user in India. He pays 999 for 256 Kbps. While an average user in America/Japan pays around 2000 for a 2-4Mbps plan.
People in developed countries earn more than us, spend more than us, and hence, generate more revenue per person than us.

ARPU can only be used to compare areas with equal economic/financial conditions.

Coz if we compare everything by ARPU, then we have the lowest ARPU for everything under the sun, coz we just cant compete with the purchasing power of the developed countries.

 

[Amuthan]

I mean this in a very polite way: If you are not getting what you paid for, then call Customer care. They will fix it.

When??? IS the question my friend!!

As for network down - I am sure a few people can have a bad experience, but by far and large, most people I know (as well as people on this forum AFAIK) have had an excellent experience as regards uptime with Airtel. (My own connection has maybe dropped 2 or 3 times in the last 3+ years I have at them.... and from what some people report here about Sify / Reliance / Tata, that is the average for one week for some ISPs).

Agreed - QoS has considerably increased during the last 2 - 3 years irrespective of the ISP...

While we are at it, let me also point out another trend that is slightly disturbing - people who will start threads, or at least submit posts without having called Customer Care first!! If you are getting 64kbps speeds on a 256kbps line, they will fix it. All you have to do is to call them on a 3 digit number, and hold on for a little bit.

That little bit, my friend doesn't happen in any other country... Either your given extra usage or cash benefits... Does that happen in India? Do you see that happening in India? Let's ask people in this Forum (I assume have the knowledge of Consumer Forum and Court) where their area/city/state consumer forum or consumer court is??? I am pretty sure more than 50% of them would say... " I dunno!! I got no time for that! and etc.." We have Basic Right to Information Act... but don't we see how many people the act has killed so far???

How are they supposed to imagine you have a problem if you don't tell them about it?

I guess that's why Airtel installed NetExpert in my system! :huh:

Anyway, I am no Airtel fanboy, as unfortunately this thread must be making me out to be. My loyality to them exists while they give me good service at a (relatively) good price. I think they are doing that for me.

I'm glad that you specified the word relatively... And yeah... everyone is satisfied if their tummies are full....

What I want to point out is the futility, or rather the naivety, of rhetoric like "Sweden gets 2Gbps connections for $2 a month - why doesn't Airtel wake up?" Airtel isn't in Sweden, neither are we. Airtel (and all other Indian ISPs) cannot price it's product according to costs and infrastructure in Sweden. They have to do so with regard to India. Are they making a profit on it? Sure, that is the point of a company.


Its not futile and we are not so naive to contemplate that 2 Gbps for $2 thingy... What we are asking is person in US pays $50 for 8Mbps connection. A person in Japan pays the same amount. Now Japan is in Asia and Chinese have their own broadband laid out same is the case with Korea, Singapore, Malaysia etc... When all these South Asian countries have peered so well to provide Broadband to their citizens then why can't India peer with as many ISP's as possible. I heard that 90% of International Bandwidth Fiber entering India in Dark! Imagine if the remaining 90% was bright!! Its that point, a person in South Asian country pays an equivalent amount as a person in US. Now if that is standard then why can't we have 8Mbps broadband for Rs.2000 or Rs.2500 with sensible download limits like 40 - 60 GB per month and thereafter throttle the bandwidth to 256 or 512kbps...? Anything is possible if ISP's be 60% profit oriented and 40% service minded!! Now its like 99.99% profit minded and 0.01% service minded!

 

[joyceanblue]

very good reply amuthan...id just like to make few points here as long as we are talking abt the quality of service we are receiving in india..1- we talk how great it is to get an isp like airtel that provides us a service without any breakdowns unlike tata or sify...but do you guys see our mental condition here?? the customers are pushed so far here that they are just happy to get anything as long as they get it...we arent supposed to complain since atleast airtel is giving us a service atleast unlike sify or tata....only this mentality of ours is enough to show the pathetic condition of broadband in our country.2- another bad situation is with the consumer forums and the lawsuits against big firms like airtel.....i dont know much abt this process and maybe i am wrong abt what i am about to say but still id make this point...its such a lenghty and tedious process to go through all the legal procedure against a big firm and to eventually win that lawsuit...and the reward in the end is not worth it...big firms hardly get any fine that can push them into changing their attitude towards customers...i see in US the amount of fine imposed on any firm or person is huge...it makes them change their ways but its so small in india that firms hardly bother abt it...even if some person goes through all the trouble and wins the lawsuit, and even if he gets a good amount of money by his standards, is that amount enough to make those firms think twice about their attitude and exploitation of customers?3- many ppl make point that in US or in korea or whatever country they get speed in mbps for the same amount and ppl always give counter argument that we lack infrastructure or isps dont make enough money or bandwidth is expensive in india...ok im willing to give this benefit of doubts to the isp since i dont have those statistics to prove that the cost is same in us korea and india...but what id like to say is that its impossible that infrastructure has gone worse in india in last few years or cost of broadband has got more expensive for isps...infrastructure has only become better, cost is only reduced...so what right do they have to increase the price of broadband?? nowhere in the world i think youll see a thing like this, prices in the field of technology only go down not up...(rarely they do go up) but broadband has got only cheaper in last few year and airtel has the nerve to increase their prices...i was getting double speed in night for free now i have to pay extra money to get that speed.

 

[vebk]

ARPU can only be used to compare areas with equal economic/financial conditions.
Which is my point exactly - India, Japan, Sweden, U.S.A. etc. etc. are all in different economic/financial conditions - so STOP comparing broadband speeds / prices between these countries for #$%#$ sake!!

And Amuthan, Airtel is very good at repairing problems in a decent amount of time. If you call before lunch time, it will be fixed the same day, and if you call afterwards, by the next day if not the same day. DON'T e-mail them - that's useless. And if anyone thinks that companies in the U.S. etc. answer calls quicker than that they are living in a fool's paradise. And get rid of Airtel Netexpert - it's really shitt.

And going by "our_broadband_scene_sucks" posts, this discussion is fast turning into a personal argument, and I don't care for his jabs or his immense understanding of the world. So I am not participating in this thread any more. If the purpose of this thread has been extinguished, then the moderator may please close it.

 

[joyceanblue]

Which is my point exactly - India, Japan, Sweden, U.S.A. etc. etc. are all in different economic/financial conditions - so STOP comparing broadband speeds / prices between these countries for #$%#$ sake!!

we dont have to...we can find countries better than our financial condition with better broadband and at the same time eastern european countries with far worse financial condition with better broadband.

 

[our_broadband_sucks]

Which is my point exactly - India, Japan, Sweden, U.S.A. etc. etc. are all in different economic/financial conditions - so STOP comparing broadband speeds / prices between these countries for #$%#$ sake!!

And Amuthan, Airtel is very good at repairing problems in a decent amount of time. If you call before lunch time, it will be fixed the same day, and if you call afterwards, by the next day if not the same day. DON'T e-mail them - that's useless. And if anyone thinks that companies in the U.S. etc. answer calls quicker than that they are living in a fool's paradise. And get rid of Airtel Netexpert - it's really shitt.

And going by "our_broadband_scene_sucks" posts, this discussion is fast turning into a personal argument, and I don't care for his jabs or his immense understanding of the world. So I am not participating in this thread any more. If the purpose of this thread has been extinguished, then the moderator may please close it.


firstly, i was not the one to start the debate on ARPU...

secondly, as joyceanblue rightly said, countries with far worse infrastructure and economic condition have 100x faster and better broadband than us...

thirdly, as long as there are people who are happy with our internet service (like one gentleman here), nothing will change, as they themselves are satisfied with getting looted by ISPs, and on top of that, try to discourage other people who demand better service...

and just because some people have nothing (more) to say, doesnt mean that the thread should be closed.

 

---

[slash84]

La la la la la........ **ignores the growing tension**

 

[Amuthan]

very good reply amuthan...id just like to make few points here as long as we are talking abt the quality of service we are receiving in india..
1- we talk how great it is to get an isp like airtel that provides us a service without any breakdowns unlike tata or sify...but do you guys see our mental condition here?? the customers are pushed so far here that they are just happy to get anything as long as they get it...we arent supposed to complain since atleast airtel is giving us a service atleast unlike sify or tata....only this mentality of ours is enough to show the pathetic condition of broadband in our country.

Exactly.... That's my point... Santhusht!!!!! Don't be santhusht with ur Broadband.... "Thoda Wish karo yaar!!!" :thumbsup:

2- another bad situation is with the consumer forums and the lawsuits against big firms like airtel.....i dont know much abt this process and maybe i am wrong abt what i am about to say but still id make this point...its such a lenghty and tedious process to go through all the legal procedure against a big firm and to eventually win that lawsuit...and the reward in the end is not worth it...big firms hardly get any fine that can push them into changing their attitude towards customers...i see in US the amount of fine imposed on any firm or person is huge...it makes them change their ways but its so small in india that firms hardly bother abt it...even if some person goes through all the trouble and wins the lawsuit, and even if he gets a good amount of money by his standards, is that amount enough to make those firms think twice about their attitude and exploitation of customers?

Agreed - This is true... The fines imposed in India are counterbalanced by sending 1% of the actual fine to be imposed to the fine issuing authority's house... So if TRAI official was to impose a $1 Million on any ISP... The TRAI official would get a brand new expensive car/ beach house/ Rs.1 Million in Black.... Its this negligent attitude of Govt. officials that has caused this deterioration in service...!! :madness:

3- many ppl make point that in US or in korea or whatever country they get speed in mbps for the same amount and ppl always give counter argument that we lack infrastructure or isps dont make enough money or bandwidth is expensive in india...ok im willing to give this benefit of doubts to the isp since i dont have those statistics to prove that the cost is same in us korea and india...but what id like to say is that its impossible that infrastructure has gone worse in india in last few years or cost of broadband has got more expensive for isps...infrastructure has only become better, cost is only reduced...so what right do they have to increase the price of broadband?? nowhere in the world i think youll see a thing like this, prices in the field of technology only go down not up...(rarely they do go up) but broadband has got only cheaper in last few year and airtel has the nerve to increase their prices...i was getting double speed in night for free now i have to pay extra money to get that speed.

That is a good point... Earlier when cellphones were introduced we used to pay like Rs.10 for outgoing calls and Rs.5 for incoming calls... No Pre-paid services... Calling a person in US/Other country before used to be around Rs.20/min and quality of line wouldn't be that good too... But nowadays you can call to US/Canada @ Rs.2/min with excellent line quality and fewer disconnections! Technical service prices have and should always go down not increase with advancements.... :wall:

Nice debate though... Its not whether we need or have to go with what the company offers... We are not committed to them... its the other way around... Customer is the BOSS!! Unfortunately, in India Customers are always in LOSS!! Its this scenario that we need to change and discussions could bring some solutions to problems we face... Its not only a select few of us who'd benefit if Airtel offered 1Mbps Unlimited for Rs.999. We are talking for u, me and the rest of us who think broadband should be actually broadband ...