I recently wrote a post about Airtel doubling the speed of some of its customers. I was initially very happy about this move from Airtel. However, things started to clear when yesterday morning I received a notification from Airtel stating that I have used up 80 % of my transfer limit (Fair Usage Policy). I was shocked to see that message on my computer screen as it was practically impossible for me to download data in excess of 80bg (Limit is 100gb for 512kbps connection or that’s what I thought) within 17 days (Data usage is reset monthly).
I then logged into my account on Airtel’s portal to check my usage stats, which showed my usage to be mere 3.5gb. Then, I checked Airtel’s Fair Usage Policy to see any amendments made by them (They do so without notifying users). I found a pdf which clearly mentioned that 100gb was the transfer cap of 512kbps broadband plan. Then, to get a clear idea of what was going on, I called their customer care. Upon explaining the entire scenario, I was told that new transfer limit is applicable for those whose plans have been upgraded by Airtel. Upon asking for the new limit, I was told that for 512kbps connection, a transfer cap of 5gb has been set (What The Fu** was my initial reaction) and that once that download limit has been achieved the broadband speed will be downgraded to 256kbps (halved).
In short this means that Airtel’s move to double the speed was just a sham to just show on papers that minimum speed offered by Airtel is 512kbps. Though, we cant really do much about it but can certainly show our (as Airtel’s users) disappointment. So, if you are one of those who feel that there is a need to lift the transfer limit and for Airtel to me more transparent in its operations then DO LEAVE A COMMENT below.
UPDATE: Upon enquiring regarding the usage limit for those whose speed has been doubled, the Airtel representative told that all those whose speed has been upgraded to 512 kbps are allowed a data transfer limit of 5 gb after which the speed will be halved. So, if you are one of those whose speed has been doubled by Airtel then call customer care (121) and know your data transfer limit. Following is the redirection page you will get once you exceed the data transfer limit :
UPDATE 2: It looks as if Airtel has made some changes to its FUP. This is evident from the fact that i have till now (in 25 days) downloaded approximately 11 GB of data and still haven’t seen any degradation of speed (from 512kbps to 2560kbps). I will keep on updating this post as and when i have more information.
UPDATE 3: It has been confirmed by Airtel that under Fair Usage policy, all the users of whom the speed has been doubled from 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps will be able to download first 5 GB at 512 Kbps and after that the speed will be reduced to 256 Kbps.
Call Airtel customer care and ask them if your broadband plan has been upgraded. They’ll let you know if your plan was covered in the scheme.
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MTNL is as bad as a broadband connection provider can get. The customer service is non-existent. I will advice you to contact the area manager directly putting up your wish to get rid of MTNL connection and convey your problem of not being able to get any assistance from Sanchaar hut.
Guyzz..u know sumthin…mtnl is the one of the most f****d off service this world has to offer…i had done the same thing….swtiched to mtnl from airtel after getting pissed off from FUP…they did installed the modem but within 3 days my line was down and from past 3 months its still down..they says the company they have outsourced has to fix the underground lines..and there line man simply refuses to take complaint in out area(Dwarka delhi)…and they are continously sending the moonthly bill to me instead off applying to shut my connection down..they have two offices..one is sanchar haat and one is the area manager’s office…the area manager says if want to shut down the connection u’ll need to get yr bills wave off or pay the whole amount and get the bills waved off from sanchar haat..the sanchar haat says they’ll not wave off the bill since ther has been traffice on my connection acc. to there data..the traffice they refers to is the basic query which goes from my pc to there modem and there gateway returns the request saying no internet connection…and the person to sort out these complaints is some computer illeterate lady..who works on a picture tube type monitor…now i have kept my connection in safe custody so that further bill does not gets charged up..i had to almost beg her up..for some sollution..SOOoo..in the last…i returned to airtel believing that i can atleast have reliably surfable internet…..since its important for my work..and yaa..those MTNL guys have still not done nything..morones….this rganisation has qualified every bit to get closed up…
Couldn’t agree with you more. What’s even more irritating is that they randomly and consistently redirect url’s. I understand that warning is essential but they could just show it 2 or maybe 3 times at max.
And TRAI needs to interfere and do something about FUP.
This Usage limit redirection is irritating because u lost the actual url u want to visit in the address bar.
e.g if the urls are opened in a new tab and the old window is closed, now when airtel redirects us to a notification page we have to open the original page and open the links again, we cannot press the Browser’s back button to go back ;((
government needs to intervene,
Ha ha ha… Personally. i think MTNL has the money, govt backing to make it big. But poor infrastructure, corruption, lack of customer support are taking them into the other direction. Airtel on the other hand needs to relax FUP and make its price a bit more competitive. I’ll be more than happy to use Airtel if they increase their current FUP to something more logical.
You can check the latest 3 month result of MTNL, -16%, I think -100% will not take more then 6 months, the main reason of this is BRIBE and their OLD MAN TEAM 😀
You seem to be a MTNL sufferer.
After using MTNL, Reliance, Airtel, i have only one thing to say. NO OPERATOR IS WORTH IT 🙁
TRAI has failed to implement TOS on service providers. Customer service has no importance for broadband providers. And yet again, because of ‘their’ fault customers suffer + pay more than what is required + get sucky speeds.
MTNL is a sister concern company of BSNL and comes under Central Govt… The customer base of MTNL is nearly 5.92 million. And from past few years the graph is going down even if the Indian Govt. is spending too much of huge amount to uplift the customer base, but still the graph is going down and the main reason is their “GREAT SERVICES”. The MTNL lineman don’t have enough idea to configure even a modem and to solve a single complaint they take nearly 1 month or more because the don’t have enough workforce and the coverage area is very big. And when you see the MTNL exchange you become shocked to see their exchange, made of HUWIA equipments, and when you see the AIRTEL exchange you will find Ericson equipments just because the cost of HUWAI equipments are nearly half then Ericson.
Basically they have two type of exchange one is for 256 Kbps and one for above 256Kbps, if you buy plan for above 256 then you may get good response because for that only they use Ericson exchange.
I raised my voice at Consumer Court and submitted a online complaint and found that I am not one who is facing the problems with MTNL http://www.consumercourt.in/broadband/1-mtnl-broadband.html here you can check the details of complaints.
I don’t know why the Govt. change the plan to get more customer and spend a huge amount in ads, the salary of lineman is nearly 15000/-, I think this is a total waste. Customers are very much frustrated from MTNL. If you visit the MTNL exchange you will find many customers shouting on the Area Manager. MY personal experience with MTNL was pathetic and now I switched to another services provider and now I am very much satisfied.
I am one who doest believe big name I dont think airtel is some big company because its ploicy of milking customers money is like a cheap retailer.
Rightly said. BUT people dont rush for “expensive” plans just for fun, ISP’s like Airtel do provide quality service. Its just a matter personal opinion, you have had a bad experience with Airtel and i had a horrendous time with MTNL. In fact the service depends from region to region.
first of all i believe people with slightest knowledge about computers can configure their net connection easily..so i did not face any problem on that front
i’ve been using mtnl for the last 5 years now and i am totally satisfied with it ,what i really find confusing is the gullibility of indian consumers ..i won’t advocate mtnl here(there sarkari babus can be headache at times)but its the cheapest and fastest …simple economics guys…but people rush to the most expensive of them all – airtel..why ? their aggressive campaigns..can’t u guys do a little research before buying a product or service…n yeah those who talk about customer services of airtel ..i used to be a postpaid plan holder of airtel and they totally harassed me ,so much so that i fear using postpaid ever after and of any company for that matter
first of all i believe people with slightest knowledge about computers can configure their net connection easily..so i did not face any problem on that front
i’ve been using mtnl for the last 5 years now and i am totally satisfied with it ,what i really find confusing is the gullibility of indian consumers ..i won’t advocate mtnl here(there sarkari babus can be headache at times)but its the cheapest and fastest …simple economics guys…but people rush to the most expensive of them all – airtel..why ? their aggressive campaigns..can’t u guys do a little research before buying a product or service…n yeah those who talk about customer services of airtel ..i used to be a postpaid plan holder of airtel and they totally harassed me
Airtel ADSL clients cannot change their ADSL password since over 2 years. The password will be reset by their ‘engineers’ to the phone number itself. This is the password used to generate and maintain the GMail webmail accounts (AirTel ‘sold’ their users mail service to GMail about a year ago!).
Tata, Reliance and now AirTel have Fair Usage Policy (FUP) on their so called ‘unlimited’ plans. BSNL doesn’t. BSNL is slowly gearing up to acquire all the smart customers (those who can look after their own connection and service intalls). Only their last mile wiring has to beefed up….
“when the MTNL guy came in to install broadband at my home back in 1997”
I apologize for the year 1997: actually it was 2007. The mundane matters of the world have overtaken my life and how I am caught a time warp!
Rightly said, 5gb cap is just ridiculous. I have a 2gb cap on my mobile broadband connection… LOL….
Your experience reminds me of a quarrel i had with the so called “Engineers” at MTNL. I, too planned to get an MTNL connection for another computer at my home, first of all the engineer came 6 days after the committed date and when he did, after seeing my OS (windows 7) he straight away said “Sir, humare modem ke drivers Windows hi support karte hain. Aap ko windows install karna padega agar MTNL broadband chalana hai”. After that incident i told him windows 7 was actually WINDOWS OS and declined their connection & applied for Airtel. MTNL has the least professional lot when compared to other broadband providers in India.
i am too shifting to mtnl 599 plan,as there is no fair usage policy,
airtel r pure cheats and recent upgrade to 512 plan is nothing but a highly laughable and ridiculous move on the part of airtel as the capping is just at 5gb!lol!It is not that as if mtnl is all that inefficient,there r thousands of satisfied customers as well,(read forums on internet).guys shift to mtnl and teach airtel a lesson!
What is good for the corporate is good for you! Welcome to the world of Corporate Brinkmanship. But the trouble is, the MTNL/BSNL can be equally disgusting. I clearly remember when the MTNL guy came in to install broadband at my home back in 1997, he was flummoxed to see the Firefox instead of the ubiquitous IE for which he had certain instructions written and xeroxed on a crumpled sheet. “Aap ka computer kharaab hai” (Your computer is out of order) is all he would offer. Luckily, I checked the sheet and figured what was needed to be done and managed to kickstart the damn thing. Now, I didn’t expect any medal or a letter of appreciation from the fabled ‘Nava Ratna’ but at least they could have just kept silent rather than slapping a whopping installation charge the next month! The things were fine for a few months when they suddenly they went berserk and started charging nearly 400% of the usual bill while my usage had actually plummeted. I rang up the literal who-is-who in the Mumbai MTNL directory but to no avail. All my pleas of checking out my account were stonewalled by the standard reply, “Aap itna chalaate honge!”” ( You must be running it up that much!)
So, between the Devil and the Deep Sea? Or, to put it rather simply, it turns out to be a case of selecting between the WTF and the WTS, after all!
But MTNL does not have a reliable service. Airtel at-least delivers what it says.
Yea, I also got the same message right now, and you have no idea how much pissed off I am. Gonna switch to MTNL 599 plan, atleast they dont have any crappy FUP 😐