Airtel expands its Wi-Fi service across India

[Rushil]

Well there are 2 reasons for that.

1) Air fiber can be installed practically anywhere in a city or town where 5G network is available, it doesn't depend on whether the operator gets right of way to lay the underground fiber in a particular locality or the permission to wire a building in a society. Similar to the benefit of DTH over local cable lines.

2) Operators have plenty of 5G spectrum with no developed use case for monetization. Mobile subscribers wouldn't pay a higher price for the same quota of 5G data over 4G since mobile use cases are serviceable by 4G speed just fine. Other use cases which need low latency connectivity like smart homes or smart automobiles are in nascent stage. So the only high bandwidth use case which can be used to monetize the 5G network is the Fixed wireless (Air fiber) connection.

But they should advertise it separately and clearly distinguish between Airfiber and traditional fiber broadband. One of my friends recently got Jio Airfiber, replacing his BSNL FTTH. The salesperson duped him into believing it was better than FTTH, and since my friend is not that technically savvy, he installed it based on the salesperson's recommendation. Guess what? Half of the time, he doesn't even get 5 Mbps speed. These Airfiber sales guys are selling Airfiber in the name of fiber or even claiming it is better than fiber.

 

[Bapun]

The salesperson duped him into believing it was better than FTTH, and since my friend is not that technically savvy, he installed it based on the salesperson's recommendation.

Lately this is an issue happening nationwide.

Another scam going on too. It's about Jio AirFiber online booking. Jio should shut the online booking of JioFiber/AirFiber since the connection won't be installed by the local team unless they get their chunk of commission which is only possible when you book via their lead. So almost every online lead goes into 'on hold' state. X (Twitter) is full of complaints on it.

What more troublesome is, you can not get the Rs. 1000 booking refunded because Jio either won't cancel the lead after 15 days (that they claim to auto cancel for 'on hold' orders), or even if they cancel no refund will be initiated from their end.

 

[Esmail]

These Airfiber sales guys are selling Airfiber in the name of fiber or even claiming it is better than fiber.

Sadly this may remain the case in the foreseeable future, new retail leads will be serviced with Air fiber whereas traditional fiber connection may be provided only for enterprise segment customers who pay for leased lines with dedicated bandwidth.

 

[Bapun]

traditional fiber connection may be provided only for enterprise segment customers who pay for leased lines with dedicated bandwidth.

That would be LCOs (Local Cable Operators) rejoice because whoever need fiber would need to opt for them and they can price their plans as high as they wish to since they won't have any fear of competition from those Telecom companies.

 

[Esmail]

That would be LCOs (Local Cable Operators) rejoice because whoever need fiber would need to opt for them and they can price their plans as high as they wish to since they won't have any fear of competition from those Telecom companies.

That's the same Mobile operator vs MVNO competition. Coz just like MVNOs lease services in bulk from mobile operators and retail it, even LCOs buy bandwidth from these telcos in bulk and retail it.
So even if the Telcos lose some retail customers, ultimately the LCOs will have to lease higher bandwidth from them to be able to service those new customers so the Telcos won't be at a complete loss there.
It's like catching the nose with the arm going around the head instead of catching it straight.

 

[piinku1]

Actually they have enough 5G spectrum and towers. Why they will invest on optical fibre to remote places?
I also feel it is a win win situation for customers.just install on rooftop and no chance service problem. 1000 GB is sufficient for home users in 30/100 mbps speed.

 

[Ashok Varma]

Actually they have enough 5G spectrum and towers. Why they will invest on optical fibre to remote places?
I also feel it is a win win situation for customers.just install on rooftop and no chance service problem. 1000 GB is sufficient for home users in 30/100 mbps speed.

Telcos can power rural 5G towers with satellite internet in future, so they don't need laying fiber each and every corner of the country

 

[honey95]

No 5G towers installed in rural till date in most of states, Satellite Internet will be expensive with major feature on Android based Google, Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S Series, This will not benefits for most of 4G, 5G users.

Fiber is good for internet connectivity in rural, towns as most of vendors companies didn't want availability due to low income people's. In that case, BSNL Fiber still in top priority, However people don't trust much, it's their fault, depending on private telco and giving more money.

Disadvantages of Air Fiber, It based on radio transmission through towers to towers, As i spoken about availability of network sometimes most of areas didn't work as like Fiber connectivity, Rainy days will suffer speed. Telecom only want to more users in Air Fiber coz they want earn more and get addicted with Air Fiber as mobile network and air fiber based both are their benefits.

 

[Ashok Varma]

No 5G towers installed in rural till date in most of states, Satellite Internet will be expensive with major feature on Android based Google, Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S Series, This will not benefits for most of 4G, 5G users.

Fiber is good for internet connectivity in rural, towns as most of vendors companies didn't want availability due to low income people's. In that case, BSNL Fiber still in top priority, However people don't trust much, it's their fault, depending on private telco and giving more money.

Disadvantages of Air Fiber, It based on radio transmission through towers to towers, As i spoken about availability of network sometimes most of areas didn't work as like Fiber connectivity, Rainy days will suffer speed. Telecom only want to more users in Air Fiber coz they want earn more and get addicted with Air Fiber as mobile network and air fiber based both are their benefits.

If 5G towers not feasible, then Telcos can provide Air fiber with 4G towers at 10 mbps & 20 mbps speeds (500 GB & 1 TB FUP) in Rural areas, so they can enjoy some relief in absence of costly satellite and 5G internet.

 

[Bapun]

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