TPF v/s Airtel - Long term review and comparison (Pick your poison)

[Kaiju404]

FR Airtel service wise is a nightmare and removing it also one ordeal

 

[Chip]

@jehunix bro Hathway is owned by Jio.

For TPF and Airtel you jsut tell them you want their ONTs in bridge mode it gets done on the spot when the visiting engineer is at your residence. This is for non-LCO connections. Most of the issues you read about are from LCO connections a majority of them in T2 and T3 cities.

 

[theOne235]

Next month I am thinking to switch to Airtel Broadband from my current TPF connection, just for the bundled IPTV services (as parents need to watch TV) for a similar price. (100 mbps plan)

Shall I drop this plan? Would switching to airtel be a roller coaster ride for the future?

 

[Chip]

@theOne235 No there's no issue with Airtel's service. Though I dont use IPTV but DTH. It costs just Rs 100 extra p.m.

Try and get a direct connection from Airtel not via a LCO

 

[Kaiju404]

@theOne235 remember you will get an airfiber connection 1000gb fup POSTPAID, if u want fiber just confirm firmly from the airtel store or the customer care guy who will call u once u book from website.
also why not trying Alliance? it has got IPTV pack too. Ask for welcome 150 Mbps , 100 Mbps or Utsav packs.

Try and get a direct connection from Airtel not via a LCO

in kolkata , even the store direct persons are no better than LCO @Chip that's why I shifted to ZiTA

 

[_rajat]

can't even imagine that with TPF or Airtel ahaha

Airtel and TPF have very centralised and SOP based operations. Their staff just sticks to the books making sure that the internet stays up and promised speeds are delivered, mostly catering to the masses given their scale of operations. This is the reason why Airtel is integrating so much AI into their workflows. Tata on the other hand is still relying on real humans for chatbot, hope they continue this level of service and not turn into trash like Airtel in terms of customer support.
If I were to run a nationwide ISP, I'd do the same, just try to keep the general public happy by bundling OTT.

Talking of support, Tata Play Fiber has now given an option to purchase static IP from the app itself under Quick Actions->Buy Products.

 

[jehunix]

@Chip hathway is owned by Jio now but they existed since forever. Also I'm happy for the fact that even for home connection they are providing SFP modules where one can directly connect fiber to their firewall router. Never seen anyone else with this level of service..

Plus I like the fact that its prepaid personally. its been great backup so far. hope it continues to be great!!

 

[jehunix]

Also strangely I've not never gotten any DTH or IPTV or OTT service. Nobody watches traditional TV at home kinda. For movies and TV shows everyone sails high seas xD

 

[Chip]

@jehunix yes Hathway is a very old player in cable TV IIRC going back to the 2000s. Except Hathway nobody has given out SFP modules yet and dont think they will given most home connections are 100-300 Mbps range which can be easily handled by CAT5E cable.

But agreed its a good step forward though I dont see Airtel or TPF doing this for the foreseeable future. My TPF connection is prepaid and Airtel (Black/One) is postpaid. Once upon a time Airtel was primary and TPF was backup now I've configured it the other way around.

@_rajat yes, that's how I got my TPF static IP within minutes of applying through the app. Only thing is you continue with PPPoE and get a public IP with a CIDR of /32 while for Airtel you need to input the static IP with gateway and CIDR /24 into the router. The Airtel process though is far more painfurl and requires a little bit of coordination with teh techs or they assign it to your ONT which is connected through a separately configured PPPoE. Actually you get 2 connections from Airtel one from the bridge mode connection to your personal router and one the Nokia ONT in which you can switch on the wifi and browse happily. Use it for a guest wifi if required.

 

[_rajat]

It's been a couple of days since Tata Play Fiber as my only connection. Got the rewiring and re-splicing done, optical power is now stable at -23dBm. Earlier it was touching -27 dBm.
Browsing and streaming feel snappy and no sluggishness is observed even before the rewiring happened. Initially I thought it might be a placebo effect so tested the connection for 3 days before drawing any conclusions.

Browsing feels sluggish compared to airtel. What makes it even worse is that some websites won't load on TPF at all.

This seems to be fixed now. I didn't notice any slowdowns or blocking while browsing. Youtube loads 4K videos instantly and there is no buffering at all, just like how it should be.
Honestly I was not expecting this to be fixed, but to my surprise everything seems to be working fine as of now.
As usual TPF support has been amazing, they were very prompt with my rewiring request after I explained them why it is needed. It took them an extra day to get it done but customer care was quick in escalating it to the ground team.