Failtel Strikes again

prabs

Skilled
So Failtel has recently started advertising Upto 100 mbps for broadband all over the place.

So I get a flier in the newspaper and finally decided to go for it. Called up Failtel and the first thing they tell me is - "Sorry only 40 mbps" is available at your place and I thought that is better than what I am currently getting and asked them to do the needful. They then informed me that the router has to be replaced because the ADSL+ routers are not compatible with their V-Fiber technology. They have 2 port routers and 4 port routers so I mentioned that I am using all 4 ports of my existing router (TP-Link W8968) as I have 2 headless machines connected to it, 1 connected to a repeater and 1 to my PC.

This was on 29th Sep 2017. The engineer comes over with the 2 port router so I send him away. He said they will restock 4 port routers and then come with 1 that has 4 ports. A few days later he calls up and again it is the 2 port router. I suggested that he connect the 2 port router and I can use w8968 as secondary but he'll have to replace it with 4 port routers but not charge me Rs.500 a second time because no inventory is not my issue but Failtel's. He said it is not upto him to charge and I will be charged. So I refused to take the 4 port router. He told me that he needs to close the issue at earliest so I asked him to restock and deliver at earliest.

A few follow ups from Failtel's end or me called them up and the response was always.that they don't have 4 port routers in stock. The request was to be closed within 10 days so I called up on Monday evening and surprise surprise - They tell me someone in the backend team has mentioned in their notes that only 16 mbps is available.

This entire incident raises a few questions -
1. Why did they take 10 days to realize speed is not available?
2. Why was their technician coming with whatever router he had if the speed was not available?
3. Why advertise what you can't deliver?
4. Did they say speed is not available to close the request?

I have written to the nodal officer and also on twitter about how they wasted my time. gave me false hopes, gave me inaccurate information and status updates. All they can do is apologize which really is not acceptable because I am sure they get a few people to signup for them by advertising 100 mbps despite the fact that local isps provide higher speeds and also caching. Not to mention higher upload speeds.
 
Actually, Failtel enterprise team is useless, so I guess they carry that over to the home segment as well. To get fiber in my office - 6 months at the very least.
 
I had a similar issue, where there were fliers all over my building about getting 40mbps with their vDSL, but when I called to upgrade their CS was like sorry sir 'not available', so I contacted the number on the flier and the engineer was like, yes sir its available, then I said but I already have a connection and they wont upgrade, he said yes they are preferring new customers, that when I had it, and wrote to their nodal and appellate team, it took a couple weeks and my up gradation to vDSL was sanctioned. I had to pay Rs.1000 for the new modem, has trouble with their Beetel modem, made some noise and got Huawei, apparently their networks have been optimised since then, in Chennai I got a different Beetel modem for the vDSL upgrade and its working fine.

Additionally, the recently updated their FUP on all plans across, I was paying more less FUP pm, it wasnt till the broadband thread that I was alerted about it, I called their CC and had my planes revised for both locations and gave them a earful in the unscrupulous practices, they dont care. Bottom line, they have unethical and shady business practices, only holding on to the because of reliability. ACT is now available at my location, contemplating giving them a try.
 
If your ADSL connection is stable, don't migrate. When they say up to 40Mbps, it means they haven't extended fiber in your area, which means slim chance of higher speeds and more frequent disconnections.

Actually, Failtel enterprise team is useless, so I guess they carry that over to the home segment as well.
That's sad. I was trying to figure out if it was just the linesmen being lazy or if this lack of direction runs up the chain.
 
If your ADSL connection is stable, don't migrate. When they say up to 40Mbps, it means they haven't extended fiber in your area, which means slim chance of higher speeds and more frequent disconnections.


That's sad. I was trying to figure out if it was just the linesmen being lazy or if this lack of direction runs up the chain.

Its not the linesmen, just poor service from the channel partners.
 
Today dsl makes zero sense. Even fiber with an ethernet last-mile is way better.
 
Today dsl makes zero sense. Even fiber with an ethernet last-mile is way better.
It all depends on feasibility and reliability. The last mile fiber optic network in India is laid on trees and poles, it is simply not reliable enough, I took You broadband in Chennai like over 1.5 years and I have had several disconnections, due to 'fiber cut'. Its been a pain, not sure if this is specific in my case, but the last mile infra is poor, unless companies invested in laying them underground.
 
If your ADSL connection is stable, don't migrate. When they say up to 40Mbps, it means they haven't extended fiber in your area, which means slim chance of higher speeds and more frequent disconnections.


That's sad. I was trying to figure out if it was just the linesmen being lazy or if this lack of direction runs up the chain.


The connection is rock solid but I can use the faster speed. I bought Wolfenstein the new order on Steam but didn't download it because it is huge, it's the same story with Shadow of Mordor, Mad Max, Killer Instinct etc., The file sizes are getting larger and hoarding on HDD makes no sense. With even 40 mbps if I feel like playing the game on Saturday and Sunday I can download it on Friday night,

Another thing that annoys me is - it is 1599/- whether I use 16 mbps or 100 mbps then why should I pay for the inferior speed?
 
The connection is rock solid but I can use the faster speed. I bought Wolfenstein the new order on Steam but didn't download it because it is huge, it's the same story with Shadow of Mordor, Mad Max, Killer Instinct etc., The file sizes are getting larger and hoarding on HDD makes no sense. With even 40 mbps if I feel like playing the game on Saturday and Sunday I can download it on Friday night,

Another thing that annoys me is - it is 1599/- whether I use 16 mbps or 100 mbps then why should I pay for the inferior speed?

Obviously cause you have no other option.
 
On a different note, I never get their promised speed of 40mbps. The max I get is 29-31 mbps (Speedtest, Steam downloads etc). Last time when I contacted tech support they blamed on Chennai rains and I am in Hyderabad. lol
 
On a different note, I never get their promised speed of 40mbps. The max I get is 29-31 mbps (Speedtest, Steam downloads etc). Last time when I contacted tech support they blamed on Chennai rains and I am in Hyderabad. lol

IIRC, ISPs are required to provide 80% of speed they advertise. So when they say 40Mbps, they gotta provide 32Mbps atleast. Yours is quite near to that threshold. Though you can complain, citing this rule; need to dig up further over web to find source of it.
 
It all depends on feasibility and reliability. The last mile fiber optic network in India is laid on trees and poles, it is simply not reliable enough, I took You broadband in Chennai like over 1.5 years and I have had several disconnections, due to 'fiber cut'. Its been a pain, not sure if this is specific in my case, but the last mile infra is poor, unless companies invested in laying them underground.

You're right, it's all over trees and light poles here too, but very reliable. Downtimes are few and far between. Even a fiber cut is fixed very quickly. So it comes down to the provider and how well he's able to manage his physical network.

I was trying to say ISPs need to completely ditch dsl and lay proper fiber backbones and look at FTTH. If that is not possible, a last mile ethernet link is good enough. My ISPs fiber comes to the next building and a 2-pair thin ethernet cable from there to my house. I get around 10-11mB/s on cached torrents which is phenomenal considering the link/line is only 100mbps. The reasons i haven't taken his FTTH option is a) i don't need more speed, b) i don't want to pay for the GPON box and c) i don't want yet another power brick (for the GPON box).
 
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