Cherrinet - 200 Mbps - 2 TB - Chennai (Review)

Edit: No longer using the connection.

Cherrinet Fiber Broadband Review

Website: Cherrinet

Plans:

My Plan: Basic 200 Mbps (symmetric) 2 TB. It is prepaid and the rental is Rs. 1768 per month including taxes. They also offer 6 months+1 free and 12 months+2 free if you're looking for longer validity. Static IP is available at Rs. 5000 a year.

Got my connection up and running on the same day I paid. The fiber cable terminates at your premises on a ZTE ONU. Connection is reliable and the speeds are consistent.

Speedtest:

Singapore:

Netherlands:

NYC (USA):

DSL Reports:

Fast.com:

Torrent:

Browser download speed:

Steam (in Megabits):

Conclusion:
I'm very satisfied with my Cherrinet connection. I highly recommend them if you are thinking about getting a connection. I don't suggest going for the longer validity plans given they update them frequently. You won't be able to change it till the subscription ends. Also make sure they put you on Airtel Transit. My speeds were all over the place when I was on Tata.

Pros:

• Great speeds.
• Less Downtimes.

Cons:

• Overhead cabling.
• You don't have the option to change your plan till it's validity expires.
• Their Tata transit sucks to the core.

Let me know in the comments if you want me to test anything.

Edit: Updated on 30/12/16
Edit 2 (12/02/17): Not a single downtime since my last edit. Added fast.com speedtest result.
Edit 3 (07/04/17): Didn't face any downtime since Vardah.
Edit 4 (04/05/17): Added DSLReport speedtest. Yet to face any downtime.
Edit 5 (19/08/17): Cherri upgraded my plan to unlimited and the connection is still going strong. Added updated plans.
Edit 6 (11/03/18): Faced two downtimes which were quickly resolved. Updated speed test results.
Edit 7 (04/05/18): They don't offer unlimited anymore.
Final Edit (28/05/19): Cancelled the connection.

 

[warpspeed]

IMO both are good. I have Hathway FTTH as Primary, Airtel VDSL as backup and I find Hathway better in terms of speeds to International servers but not as good as Airtel's when it comes to customer care.

 

[usrlocal]

Recently the download speed from international servers seems to have gone terrible. Getting anywhere between 8 & 12 Mbps for download but upload seems to be fine. Trying to download anything from Github releases takes forever as the speeds drop below 1Mbps.

It looks like they are using Airtel for outbound traffic and Tata for inbound. Hence, why we are seeing good upload speeds but not for download

In the last day or two, they seemed to have changed something on their end so you no longer see the full trace route path.

HOST: Desktop Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev
1.|-- 192.168.1.1 0.0% 10 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.7 0.1
2.|-- 10.2.30.137 0.0% 10 2.2 2.5 1.9 3.4 0.4
3.|-- 192.168.100.49 20.0% 10 2.4 2.9 2.4 3.6 0.4
4.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
5.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
6.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
7.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
8.|-- 151.101.193.140 0.0% 10 35.4 35.6 35.0 36.1 0.4

Reading the thread, it appears the only way to get good speeds is to switch to another provider with good international bandwidth.
Does any have any experience with Act in Chennai? Do they provide good international bandwidth?

 

[warpspeed]

Not ACT but I am on Hathway. I primarily use servers located in Singapore/Europe and I get full speeds. Strangely Hathway blocks ICMP echo in their gateway as well.

 

[usrlocal]

I did enquire Hathway, but they don't cover my area yet, but they said that they have plans to expand to my area in the coming months. This is what they have been saying for over 2 years, so I will believe them when I see it.

There is Jio fiber coverage in my area but their upload speeds capped at 10% of Download and no bridge mode is a deal breaker for me. Especially the no bridge mode will end up with triple NAT (CGNAT + Jio Router NAT + Own router NAT) when using my own router.

It seems strange that they block ICMP unless they don't want people probing to see which backend the traffic goes out via. General recommendation is you don't, at least as an ISP. Some reasons on why you shouldn't block ICMP - Should I block ICMP?

Cherrinet seems to have an Akamai cache server on their network but it appears to have some sort of bandwidth cap where video streams are capped at 2Mbps max. As a result HD video streams from Hotstar, Sony liv end up looking like 480p streams as there isn't enough bandwidth. Not sure if it is Cherrinet or Akamai that is capping the bandwidth. Akamai's servers on Airtel's network don't suffer the same problem and have seen them bursting all the way up to 18Mbps for FHD video streams.

For me it is servers in Europe & America and download speeds via Tata are atrocious. Download speed drops below 1Mbps for international servers during peak times. Going to try my luck by raising and case asking them to put me on Airtel only backend.

 

[igloo]

You can avoid own router NAT by using your router as access point. So all local ip/dhcp will be allocated by jio router only.

 

[usrlocal]

I am aware of it but prefer not to do that as I will lose all the routing features on my router. I run openwrt on my router and use some features that won't be available on Jio router

 

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[hemanathanvicky]

Friends, Could you please guide on what to choose between Cherrinet and Hathway. I am user of Cherrinet and subscription expires this week. Contacted customer care and they are ready to provide offer mentioned by @mr_grump5 except the option for extra free months. Had a positive reviews about Hathway from my friends and planning to change if feasible in terms of plans and price. Is Hathway reliable on their speeds and Service commitments?

 

[vignesh_venkatesan]

Hathway is leaps and bounds better than cherrinet atleast in Chennai.
I have heard pretty bad things about Hathway in other cities but it's pretty good in Chennai.

 

[hemanathanvicky]

@vignesh_venkatesan : Thanks Mate!!

 

[mr_grump5]

no brainer really, if want quality international bandwidth Hathway>>>>>>Cherrinet. if you looking to munch data on torrents/youtube, CHerrinet is the way to go. Haven't experienced major downtimes with Hathway so haven't had to use their infamous customer service yet. @hemanathanvicky