I am done with Airtel

[haiku]

Coming from JioFiber, which was working well until recently, when they got 24 hrs downtime. They had their ups and downs but only for max 1 hour. However, I decided to pull the plug and called airtel guy.

My primary needs are:
1. Low latency (my work includes lot of SSH'ing)
2. VOIP (not an issue if its limited to their specific app)

Called airtel guy and asked him if landline number is available (since these "support people only understands VOIP as "landline number" feature). He replied yes and I put an order. Paid 2500/- and after installation, the technician told me that you will need to purchase a sparate landline phone to get this working. I quickly googled and found ppl having success on their own, but the disaster was about to happen.

As soon as I opened the router's admin page, I realised how deep in the sh*t I am. This is the absolute garbage. What kind of crap did I just got installed. Atleast JIO Fiber had more options. I can't even setup fu*king DNS servers on this crap. Not to my surprise, I called the technician and he told me there is no way you're getting back those 2500/-. Its non-refundable.

I've raised a ticket, and tweeted:

• Tweet 1:
  Source
• Tweet 2:
  Source

All in all:

• First impression is sh*t as they don't have a "demo" period. Asking non-refundable 2500/- amount is just loot.
• Denying a technology that is already enabled and not having trained staff gives me "lala" company vibes. Although, none of the indian companies are doing any better. Didn't expected airtel to have this standards.
• Speed was sh*t has hell initially. I had to "optimise" channels to bring some improvements, yet I don't know when it will be crap again. See the Tweet 1 video for a demo.

Anyone having suggestions how to get the refund back?

 

[haiku]

UPDATE:

I had a detailed talk with the backend team and they also don't have much idea of exact credentials used for VOIP connections. Basically, its only the landline option.

I am the kind of person who doesn't want to be locked down for the price I am paying. I'd rather be on 4g than on a locked down crap. I am going to surrender the airtel connection today. Back to Jio (which also does lock down but atleast I can setup my DNS and they give a decent enough app for VOIP).

 

[pillaicha]

I'm getting entitled vibes here, smh. You're on a consumer line and you expect a SIP trunk to be handed down to you? I understand ethically you might feel like you're paying for it, so you deserve it. But just to tell you the actual logistics behind it - you're not special, in the company's eyes. Assigning a "qualified engineer" to partner with you and help you set up, or even wait on you while you query details of the SIP trunk off of them as you're setting it up yourself, is a colossal waste of resources - for a consumer connection. They've bundled freebies with a connection. They want to spend the least amount of manpower and resources to service you as a consumer. They've streamlined their process to target 99% of the consumers who need a TV+LANDLINE+INTERNET services. Their customer care also works along the same logic - try and meet 99% of their consumers complaints which mainly revolve around low speed Internet or no Internet.

 

[haiku]

@pillaicha

actual logistics behind it

What kind of logistics is needed to simply shared a baked in credentials inside the router? I never said I need a engineer, heck, I am better than their entire support team. my job involves setting up 100s of trunks with 4-5 providers daily, so I know my sh*t. The fact that they are not even bothered to listen to my question is whats making me decide this way.

They've bundled freebies with a connection

Nobody asked them to, and they are not doing me a favour here. Sure I understand that 99% of customers are aligned with this, but I am not asking them to revamp their entire logistic. Just give me the goddamn thing thats already enabled in my router. How is that so difficult? What customer base does that impact?

There was a time when adding a DNS in router was not considered luxury. But suddenly, when this is locked down and I am complaining, I am the entitled one?

 

[Sushubh]

Airtel landline on fiber works on voip right? Coz it goes through router instead of a splitting like on copper?

 

[haiku]

@Sushubh yes, it definitely works on VOIP. Engineers also confirms it. the router terminates the SIP trunk from airtel DC. Landline just subscribes to that trunk. But airtel won't let you replace landline with another subscriber (technically called "peer" in SIP terminology)

 

[tr1k0N4]

What's the ONT they installed?
Also, if you are so interested in making VoIP work in a third-party softphone or IP Phone or whatever, you'd be better off getting a third-party ONT as the stock ONT is locked asf

 

[pillaicha]

@Sushubh the ONT provides FXS ports to plug in your analog telephone sets. Same as BSNL/Tata Play Fiber. SIP/RTP is handled by the softphone daemon running on router firmware.

It's possible to disassemble the whole stack and run your own VOIP phonesets if the ONT firmware is unlocked. Airtel's SIP server allows only a single SIP device to register at a time though.

So it is possible to set up multi-ring, voicemail, etc with an IP-PBX that terminates the SIP trunk from Airtel and then peers with other VOIP phones/soft phones.

 

[phoenix10386]

I understand OP's need for venting out, but I wonder if it is fair to embroil everyone in one's personal frustration. In other words, the whole rant could have been worded differently to read in a much calmer tone, one respectful of people here rather than making them feel witness to a shouting match between oneself and Airtel.

 

[haiku]

@tr1k0N4 Well, even with other ONT, I would still need a password to access VOIP I suppose. Or do you think the other ONT would allow me to somehow decrypt the info and let me use creds?