Airtel Xstream Fiber Experience (Direct Cities)

[Ssreek]

Threaten to quit the network? That may work.

Surprising you're having outages so regularly, though. Airtel Fiber normally is rock solid when it comes to reliability. I face an outage once every few months, for no more than 30 mins.

I heard such good feedback and moved from airtel to bsnl. Bsnl had rare outage like monthly once or once in two months mostly due to cable damage issues.

While with airtel it was at least once in a month and they take 1 day to resolve, that too after multiple calls to their assigned "engineers". Now since a month, there is outage every week and it takes 1 day for them. This week it's already 2nd day now and still not resolved. I'm guessing their local airtel engineers or managers are negligent.

Problem is, jio is the only alternative and I don't want such restrictions and high pings. Airtel ping iss fine.

Check your distribution box. Sometime some sales guy sells a connection to someone in your area who's line is connected to same box as yours.
The thing is that box has a limit of 10 (20 when extended by them) connections. In greed of incentives for selling new connections they don't disclose this and disconnect someone else's connection in the box to allow the new customer to use their connection.

They know you'll complain and it'll get resolved for you (in the same manner) but then the other person will complain as well and it keeps going on. They get incentives per complain as well... so it's beneficial for both the teams... Sales and linemen.
Next time check on your own when they fix how many ports are occupied/free on that connection distribution box.

This happens for fiber as well??

 

[sauravghosh]

A full day or two's outage sounds absurd man. Which city/town is this? I've shifted to them about couple of months ago and so far that longest outage was of 2 to 3 hours. Even that was annoying for me. Also 3 to 4 times the connection went away for a min or two (red led blinking gpon), that's unacceptable too, it kills my gaming sessions.
I keep checking the distribution box. Don't see any additional connections but they always have the lid open!

 

[enthusiast29]

This happens for fiber as well??

Does it have to do anything with connection type? Not in my knowledge. Any wired connection is brought to a common point in your locality/block and then distributed to homes from the distribution boxes. They are small boxes installed near your house from where your dedicated cable comes to your home. It's plugged into an empty port inside the box and the other end is plugged in your ONT unit.

They remove your or someone's port and plug someone else's.

 

[Ssreek]

A full day or two's outage sounds absurd man. Which city/town is this? I've shifted to them about couple of months ago and so far that longest outage was of 2 to 3 hours. Even that was annoying for me. Also 3 to 4 times the connection went away for a min or two (red led blinking gpon), that's unacceptable too, it kills my gaming sessions.
I keep checking the distribution box. Don't see any additional connections but they always have the lid open!

This is Hyderabad and my area is also one of the prime locations in the city now.
Their assigned engineers don't even answer the call when I call them from the number given on sms. They come on next day mostly and are super lazy.

Does it have to do anything with connection type? Not in my knowledge. Any wired connection is brought to a common point in your locality/block and then distributed to homes from the distribution boxes. They are small boxes installed near your house from where your dedicated cable comes to your home. It's plugged into an empty port inside the box and the other end is plugged in your ONT unit.

They remove your or someone's port and plug someone else's.

Usually in non-fiber legacy connections, there used to be distribution box installed in each building and all wires are placed from there. But in fiber I believe it is slightly different.
As far as what I've heard, there is no distribution box installed in my apartment, there is a pole nearby and the box exists there, from there wires are given to two apartment buildings. This is what airtel guy told me.

Besides the connections are far less compared to jiofiber in these 2 buildings. In my apartment alone 90% of the connections are jio. I was once pressurized by other residents to shift to jio.

Here is an update: Airtel technician called and said he will only speak in Hindi, when I asked English or Telugu, he said no and cut the call wtf

 

[enthusiast29]

As far as what I've heard, there is no distribution box installed in my apartment, there is a pole nearby and the box exists there, from there wires are given to two apartment buildings. This is what airtel guy told me.

Bro that box is the distribution box... and why would it be installed in your apartment? A fiber cable will come from that box to your house.

I'm just letting you know about the malpractice they do sometimes. If you know there aren't many connections to that box then it's probably something else but it makes me wonder why does it get fixed when they come at your house? Something in the line is faulty...

 

[Ssreek]

Bro that box is the distribution box... and why would it be installed in your apartment? A fiber cable will come from that box to your house.

I'm just letting you know about the malpractice they do sometimes. If you know there aren't many connections to that box then it's probably something else but it makes me wonder why does it get fixed when they come at your house? Something in the line is faulty...

Earlier act had these non fiber connections and distribution boxes are installed in both of these apartment buildings. When it comes to airtel fiber, box is somewhere nereby and not in these apartments. That is what I am saying.

but it makes me wonder why does it get fixed when they come at your house? Something in the line is faulty...

They come, they check that yellow cable first, then go out near the box for few minutes and come back, then internet works.

 

[rsaeon]

Has anyone had problems with airtel causing delay in resolving internet outage issues?

Same city as you, outages are usually resolved within a day. I raise the issue through the airtel app, not by call.

The lineman assigned either comes the same day or next day, regardless of time/day slot selected. A few times they fixed it a day after the time/day slot selected, presumably because of other complaints they had to attend to.

They're not paid much so I don't bother them much. This is difficult to put into words, but I've noticed they're not intellectually gifted? They're competent enough to work with according what they've been trained but they all lack the capability to think critically or act decisively without calling and speaking with their supervisor.

For example, they'll start by checking optical continuity but almost always will insert the test equipment in the wrong cable (the one going to the modem instead of the one going to the pole). Or they might just break their optical tester, trying to force the connector. Or they'll drop their fiber splicing machine off the edge of the balcony because they were trying to balance it with a fiber cutter in the other hand. Or they'll think it's perfectly acceptable to run the cable through a dense tree and then end up being surprised that the fiber broke inside the cable because of how much they pulled on the cable while forcing it through the branches.

I find it best to observe silently and watch them stumble through their setbacks because any help offered ends up complicating their workflow. Eventually they'll get it done, even if it took 3 cable runs and 11 splices. My favourite is fixing one connection by breaking another.

I have multiple connections so it's rare that I'm completely without connectivity. They also don't close service requests for some strange reason, these are all in the last 3 months:



One incident took four days to resolve, I emailed net@airtel.com on day 3 and they reverted by phone call two weeks later asking if I still needed assistance.

So not ideal, but I still prefer Airtel.

 

[PunkX 75]

This is Hyderabad and my area is also one of the prime locations in the city now.

Is ACT not an option?

Hyderabad is the go-to city for getting an ACT connection

 

[Ssreek]

Is ACT not an option?

Hyderabad is the go-to city for getting an ACT connection

It was a long long time ago I guess. Not anymore.

Same city as you, outages are usually resolved within a day. I raise the issue through the airtel app, not by call.

The lineman assigned either comes the same day or next day, regardless of time/day slot selected. A few times they fixed it a day after the time/day slot selected, presumably because of other complaints they had to attend to.

They're not paid much so I don't bother them much. This is difficult to put into words, but I've noticed they're not intellectually gifted? They're competent enough to work with according what they've been trained but they all lack the capability to think critically or act decisively without calling and speaking with their supervisor.

For example, they'll start by checking optical continuity but almost always will insert the test equipment in the wrong cable (the one going to the modem instead of the one going to the pole). Or they might just break their optical tester, trying to force the connector. Or they'll drop their fiber splicing machine off the edge of the balcony because they were trying to balance it with a fiber cutter in the other hand. Or

Looks like our city is neglected or our areas are neglected.
Same thing happens regarding what you said about linemen/service technicians.

they'll think it's perfectly acceptable to run the cable through a dense tree and then end up being surprised that the fiber broke inside the cable because of how much they pulled on the cable while forcing it through the branches.

Either this happens everywhere, or we live in same area. In the tree where airtel box is fixed in my area, the clutter is so much that it might have resembled noodles if the color is yellow. And airtel guy says it's fine.

I find it best to observe silently and watch them stumble through their setbacks because any help offered ends up complicating their workflow. Eventually they'll get it done, even if it took 3 cable runs and 11 splices. My favourite is fixing one connection by breaking another.

I have multiple connections so it's rare that I'm completely without connectivity. They also don't close service requests for some strange reason, these are all in the last 3 months:


One incident took four days to resolve, I emailed net@airtel.com on day 3 and they reverted by phone call two weeks later asking if I still needed assistance.

So not ideal, but I still prefer Airtel.

I feel the same. I heard bad feedback about jio in this website, regarding ping and website restrictions, packet snooping.
Airtel is quite good, but these outages and service delays are a big concern.
How are you managing? Do you have multiple ISPs?

 

[napstersquest]

Is your fiber overhead or underground? Makes a lot of difference. In Aurangabad, my Airtel Fiber was overhead, running over some people's houses, telephone poles and whatnot. Used to get frequent disconnects due to fiber being cut.

Since I moved to Pune and since the fiber is underground, laid out already through cable channels inside walls from the top floor, I don't think there has been an outage (almost 2 years now) ever. Some planned maintenance (with prior texts) once or twice overall but that's it.

 

[calvin1719]

I'm in Delhi, never faced problems with Airtel where I had to call them for a technician visit, in the approx 10-12 years I've been using it in my present area.

 

[Ssreek]

Is your fiber overhead or underground? Makes a lot of difference. In Aurangabad, my Airtel Fiber was overhead, running over some people's houses, telephone poles and whatnot. Used to get frequent disconnects due to fiber being cut.

Since I moved to Pune and since the fiber is underground, laid out already through cable channels inside walls from the top floor, I don't think there has been an outage (almost 2 years now) ever. Some planned maintenance (with prior texts) once or twice overall but that's it.

You mean that box? There is a nearby big tree where the box is fixed and wires are dragged from there. Airtel probably has least interest in our area/city.

 

[napstersquest]

You mean that box? There is a nearby big tree where the box is fixed and wires are dragged from there. Airtel probably has least interest in our area/city.

What about fiber that comes into the box? Is it laid out underground or over buildings/poles?

 

[enthusiast29]

or over buildings/poles?

God forbid...

 

[Ssreek]

What about fiber that comes into the box? Is it laid out underground or over buildings/poles?

God forbid...

Probably poles. I've taken a walk sometime ago to see this and those wires were there in the whole street on poles, atleast for half kms.

 

[enthusiast29]

Probably poles. I've taken a walk sometime ago to see this and those wires were there in the whole street on poles, atleast for half kms.

Well it's no good than ADSL/Local cable etc. then. Underground is safest.

 

[sauravghosh]

This is Hyderabad and my area is also one of the prime locations in the city now.
Their assigned engineers don't even answer the call when I call them from the number given on sms. They come on next day mostly and are super lazy.

You could try emailing the Nodal officer mentioning that. Next day, jeez. Even my previous provider hathway didn't go that far!

 

[Ssreek]

You could try emailing the Nodal officer mentioning that. Next day, jeez. Even my previous provider hathway didn't go that far!

Those entities are least bothered about such complaints. I lodged nch grievance, it doesn't solve anything but whatever works, I got to try.

 

[rsaeon]

In the tree where airtel box is fixed in my area, the clutter is so much that it might have resembled noodles if the color is yellow. And airtel guy says it's fine.

That's how it was up until around July. Then they came in, ripped everything out, redid the cable management to where now it's not a complete mess:



Though the cover still doesn't close or lock.

Do you have multiple ISPs?

I'm somewhat lucky that my immediate neighbours are wealthy people (one of them had dedicated weekend roadtrip cars back in the 90s, separate from their daily drivers) even though I live very close to a graveyard, a slum area and an open nala.

One of them commissioned Airtel to set up that pole in the photo some years ago at the corner of their house, so on one side I have that. One of the other neighbours has an Excitel distribution box on their property so I have the main home internet connection from there for the last couple of decades (our first plan with Excitel was 64kbps for Rs 500 a month in 2003).

For backup, I have Jio's 4G dongle, this is used for home automation during power cuts so that nothing breaks. (I was in the process of transitioning away from eWeLink to a purely self-hosted setup but a reddit post caused to me to stop and rethink it all and I still haven't figured it out — who would maintain the home automation system if I were to die? I need a solution that would work just as reliably as the physical switch so that if it were to go bad and I'm not around, it's only a matter of replacing the smart switch with a regular switch to get things working again. But that's an entirely different discussion).

 

[BullettuPaandi]

Wait, so the thick black fiber cable is not individually run to houses? This box is setup in a public place and only the yellow patch cord is run into houses from there?

I'm using BSNL FTTH, and here they've run the black cable into my house and have split to the yellow one from there. As far as I know, this is what they've done to every connection nearby.

I don't know where this hub-of-sorts thing is, so haven't seen it. But must be using only the more rugged black cable. I'm not from a city (it's an ooraatchi/panchayat) so may be for individual houses this approach is better; and I'm assuming they're doing as in the image for apartments. But I think they need to design the box better, in this case. There doesn't seem to be enough room. You can see exposed fibers, spliced joints in multiple places inside the box - top left, bottom left, mid-right, ...