Vi (Vodafone Idea) Issues (Horrible Routing, DNS & More)

[unnecessary]

Being my favourite telco, I wanna rant about something which I hate it the most about Vi which is affecting me and every user of it. Vi has the most horrible routing when compared to Jio & Airtel. Literally ping queries to Google & Cloudflare DNS are going out from my city Jaipur to Delhi (where their servers are and all providers route) then it goes to Mumbai with multiple hops then again come back to Delhi and end. Other ISP's provide 6 ms latency to these while Vi provides 35+ ms.

Don't get me started with my (cannot name) DNS provider which has servers in Delhi, Mumbai & Banglore etc. Every ISP routes to Delhi whereas Vi goes to Banglore, such a stupid ISP Vi has become.

 

[x86_64]

Why would you not want to name your DNS provider?

If you are talking about Quad9 then they are facing major outages since beginning of Oct in most of India.

Queries are being rerouted to different locations like BLR, SIN, FRA.

 

[unnecessary]

Legal reasons bro (don't wanna cause revenue loss to this forum)

No, Quad9 has been fine. It's another provider.

Also, I previously used the green shield (refrence) logo DNS provider and after the Red Sea cable cut the upload speeds went south. That one has Singapore servers closest to India.

 

[phoenix10386]

Okay, I am going to go ahead and say it - the referred DNS provider is Adguard DNS. I am reasonably sure that there are several people who are using ad blockers in one way or another. It is as much a personal choice of the blocker as it is of the ad server. So, no harm done.

If you were talking about another DNS provider, naming which could cause revenue loss to this forum and is illegal, I would like to have some more light shed on the matter instead of it being cloaked in secrecy, so that people are aware and can avoid said illegality.

My take on ads is simple - if you make visibility so disastrous that I feel like lost in a jungle of ads, I will use a blocker. If you keep it civil, serve ads respecting the user who will see/ click them, then that feels right and nobody ought to have any issue with it. In fact, I might just go ahead and click some, as my few cents worth of contribution.

- -

I like Vodafone; rather an underdog. However, speeds need improvement and so do convenience offerings. By convenience offerings I simply mean better and more complete integration with Apple devices.

Jio has the most complete integration - we can see usage inside Settings, and now with iOS 26/ 26.1 we have the ability to convert to eSIM within Settings app.

Airtel does not offer the ability to see usage, but allows conversion to eSIM within Settings app.

Vodafone? This network does NEITHER. Instead, it still allows you to choose/ change/ set your APN settings for iPhone. Clearly, this is not a sign of deep/ proper integration (with Apple devices).

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

@x86_64, can you cite your references for Quad9 outages in India?

@unnecessary, don't use Adguard. Since their servers are not based in India, the CDN servers fetched to you (except youtube) would be local to Singapore. You can try Control D if all you need is a DNS based adblock service.

 

[x86_64]

@Lolita_Magnum

https://www.reddit.com/r/Quad9/comments/1nx4u7o/comment/nhowp24/

RIPE Atlas - RIPE Network Coordination Centre

RIPE Atlas is the RIPE NCC's main Internet data measurement system.

beta-ui.atlas.ripe.net

RIPE Atlas - RIPE Network Coordination Centre

RIPE Atlas is the RIPE NCC's main Internet data measurement system.

beta-ui.atlas.ripe.net

RIPE Atlas - RIPE Network Coordination Centre

RIPE Atlas is the RIPE NCC's main Internet data measurement system.

beta-ui.atlas.ripe.net

 

[Sushubh]

just to be clear, i do not care if people use adblocker here. people should definitely use adblocker or similar products while using the web these days.

personally i do not even see ads here (i keep ad blocker disabled here). it could be some configuration issue that i have failed to resolve. and i am tempted to just remove it because revenue is basically just not worth it. do tell if you do see ads here with ad-blocker disabled lol.

 

[phoenix10386]

I remember you saying this forum has been a hobby/ passion project of yours that takes more than it yields. That said, it holds immense value for people who want to come together for knowledge/ information exchange.

 

[unnecessary]

@x86_64 Because of the same reason but as @Sushubh has cleared it now, I still don't think I should specifically name it. I only use AdGuard on Windows for one and only reason that is upload speeds on GDrive And Youtube is on Par with Google DNS and CF DNS. This is a whole deep rabbit hole which I will share someday on : Excitel Broadband Issues
The DNS provider I use has many servers in India including Delhi, Mumbai & Banglore etc.

I have a YouTube video where I have shown the upload speed issue, if there is any I could message you guys privately... I will share it as my DM feature has not been enabled yet.

@Lolita_Magnum Thanks, I use it on my secondary router as using it on primary excitel router makes upload speeds slow, I also can't use it on my laptop because of the same upload speed issue. This is another rabbit hole. If there is a way, I would be happy to share my video discussing about the issue with you. In short : Using any other DNS Provider with excitel except Google & CF (AdGuard as well until the red sea cable cut), the upload speed drops from 300-400 Mbps to like 5-170 Mbps. (the video would do justice explaning it). I have tried all DNS providers having servers in India including Q9 and ControlD but it's the same story except as I said Google, CF and AdGuard.

@x86_64 thanks for the site, any way I can add custom DNS there and test stuff there?

I have spent hours daily since May digging deep into this and have realised the sad state of ISP's in India.

Also, congrats @Lolita_Magnum for moving to Ireland, seeing your reviews and stuff, I am happy you went away from all this janky network in this country, looks like they have much better infra and everything there. Would be happy to see some Gig+ speed tests from your side someday

Also guys let's keep this one to Vi routing and DNS issues and move further replies about excitel issues to Excitel Broadband Issues

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

Thanks @unnecessary, however appearances can be deceiving. Personally, I feel India was better in terms of people and life, no matter what.

And poor upload speeds to what?