Is the ONU supposed to be free or purchased upfront by the customer?

[pillaicha]

I recently got BSNL Bharat Fiber connection installed at my house. The LCO is adamant that I must purchase the router, either from the market or from him. If from market, it must be a Netlink because that's what his OLT supports.

My question is: is this the state of BSNL everywhere, particularly in Kerala? Is there no complimentary CPE? Or is this LCO asking me to just buy the modem because he can't be bothered to fill out forms and apply for reimbursement for equipment from BSNL directly?

 

[thatayush]

Yeah that's incorrect and he's extorting money. The BSNL issue is that they reimburse on a rolling window, so there will be some delay between bundled router installed and activated vs when the money arrives back to the LCO, but in any case you are not paying for the router directly. It does not matter what OLT uses what router brand, all TEC certified items work with each other no problem.

Indirectly in your monthly bill an additional security deposit is charged, unless you opt for 6/12 months plan upfront.

Your assessment is correct, your local fellow cba to fill out forms and wait for reimbursement, and I personally would not suggest you to pay him extra or buy this router yourself. The better scenario is you take some other connection.

 

[pillaicha]

I was being royally scammed then. A person who claimed to be the JTO from BSNL's exchange called me. Kept persistently trying to convince me that there's no more reimbursement for LCOs for router. I doubt that's the JTO who called me. Everytime I raise a complaint, she'll call me and try to "resolve" the issue. Always took the LCO's side. I've given up my connection. She only asked me to send a letter on WhatsApp. I said I'll come to the office and terminate it properly. She insisted there's no need for that. I gave back the router and, I think, terminated the connection. Have to wait for the next bill to see.

The day they decided to handover all control to the LCO is BSNL's downfall.

 

[thatayush]

The LCO does not have any control. You're definitely being royally scammed haha! This is hilarious, I didn't know people are trying to become fake JTOs

The only thing LCO are responsible for is "provide OLT and cabling" and "fix faults ASAP otherwise money cut"

Most new customer acquisition comes from BSNL sending us lists. I'm sure if you raised a complaint in the app/one of the public portals this nonsense will be removed really quickly.

 

[pillaicha]

I did raise a complaint. The JTO or LCO was able to close the complaint without even needing my OTP. The first complaint didn't generate any closure OTPs. The second one did; yet they were still able to close it without any resolution. The third complaint was actually about the non-resolution of my problem and also how my previous complaints were being closed without me providing my closure OTP. That's the only time the complaint stayed open - long enough for them to temporarily get my connection running, but the moment the complaint was closed, they started pestering me to purchase the ONT again. At that point, I had enough. I simply returned the ONT along with its accessories and applied to close my connection.