Sad News Airtel Xstream Broadband has now hard-capped it's plan speeds

[TheAndroidFreak]

@TheAndroidFreak Vi is doing all that because people are leaving them. Airtel don't care much. I know how you feel, but they are all about money right now. They know that in many places, especially small cities, Vi has started falling. Small cities were once their biggest strongholds, since they used to offer the best signal reception. Now, Jio is here. You will be travelling to small cities or villages and will be having great 5G signal in Jio, meanwhile Vi will show 2G. At least, that's how it is here.

People don't trust BSNL either. So, only Jio and Airtel is there to choose from. That's why you don't see anything innovative, because they don't think they need to. All they need to do is catch with Jio about anything they offer.

And about FTTH, if there is Airtel and Jio option anywhere, many people will prefer Airtel over Jio because people believe Airtel is more trustworthy. You are talking about Mumbai and similar metro/tier 1 cities, but there are more people living in tier 2 and tier 3 cities who mostly just have to choose between these two or some local ISP. Airtel cannot compete with local ISPs, so they don't care about them and just focussing on Jio's pricing model.

Airtel lost lot of subscribers after tariff hike in 4G/5G(close to 20L I believe, I am not sure, I am talking about August data) and they would have lost more by now. Let's see what they do. Also, in FTTH, they would have grabbed much more market share by now if they would have launched the service at killer pricing. Just like Jio did and slowly slowly increase the tariffs. Vi lost most subscribers during Jio 4G was free and they were integrating two networks, Vodafone and Idea, again due to Reliance was offering 5G unlimited. So why will anyone will recharge Vi 4G pack. It was bound to happen. In my experience, both Vodafone/Idea 3G was better than Airtel 3G. Even Tata Docomo/Reliance 3G was better. Right now, Airtel has lost due to tariff hikes.

About lower tier Cities, BSNL and local players are trustworthy. Not these. Airtel can compete with them on pricing basis which will help them in long run.

Also, cities like Mumbai have lots of options. So where is return on investment of deploying fiber? You cannot ask for 999 for 200Mbps where Excitel and other giving 400Mbps under 499 and 1000Mbps at 1999-2499. ACT has done same and gathered few customers from Airtel+Jio+Tata+Local ISP players in Pune. It's going to affect Airtel, not Jio. So better Airtel should wake up and reduce prices.

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

act and others are offering a wide spectrum of plans airtel is still stuck with the same plans rigid structure i feel they need to give more options and make ftth cheaper and gain more market share.

That's what I am trying to say. Airtel lost big chance to dent Jio which wasn't good enough in FTTH. Airtel had good plans in Airtel black back in the days. 1799, 200Mbps fiber+landline phone+2-3 mobile postpaid with 200GB data distributed across three sims+Airtel DTH. I don't know current pricing but it went to 2599 by December 2022 and I switched to local ISP which is lot cheaper.

 

[Ashok Varma]

That's what I am trying to say. Airtel lost big chance to dent Jio which wasn't good enough in FTTH. Airtel had good plans in Airtel black back in the days. 1799, 200Mbps fiber+landline phone+2-3 mobile postpaid with 200GB data distributed across three sims+Airtel DTH. I don't know current pricing but it went to 2599 by December 2022 and I switched to local ISP which is lot cheaper.

Jios Pros and Airtel Cons in FTTH is OTT bundling & Live TV. We can login with Sony or Zee or Sun apps in multiple devices with Jio fiber, where as Airtel only allowed in xstream app. and Rs.350/- worth of DTH channels (approx.15 HD channels on a la carte basis) are low comparing to Jiotv+ 50+HD and some 4k channels.

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

Jios Pros and Airtel Cons in FTTH is OTT bundling & Live TV. We can login with Sony or Zee or Sun apps in multiple devices with Jio fiber, where as Airtel only allowed in xstream app. and Rs.350/- worth of DTH channels are low comparing to Jiotv+ 50HD and some 4k channels.

I think Jio will charge for OTT bundling and Live TV one day.

 

[Ashok Varma]

I think Jio will charge for OTT bundling and Live TV one day.

Already bundled with all postpaid plans ex. basic plan 399+200=599+GST.

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

OTT bundle or Live TV?

Already bundled with all postpaid plans ex. basic plan 399+200=599+GST.

 

[Ashok Varma]

OTT bundle or Live TV?

both in Rs.200/-

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

both in Rs.200/-

What about prepaid?

 

[Zuke]

In my experience, both Vodafone/Idea 3G was better than Airtel 3G. Even Tata Docomo/Reliance 3G was better. Right now, Airtel has lost due to tariff hikes.

Hmm, the experience differ quite a lot. I remember my gaming friends from Mumbai praising Vodafone all the time in 2016-18. I used to feel sad, not having Vodafone 3G in my city. We had Airtel and Idea 3G but signal were poor where I lived. I was quite thankful to Jio that I could game on it. Idea and Airtel only focused in the main areas of the city, let alone the nearby villages and towns.

Later, Airtel improved their signal significantly, but Idea did not. And soon we got both Airtel and Vi 4G together. Both using same towers but Airtel 4G had better signal (maybe due to spectrums? Idk). From call quality to internet quality, Airtel has been superior to Idea (Vi) since then.

About lower tier Cities, BSNL and local players are trustworthy. Not these. Airtel can compete with them on pricing basis which will help them in long run.

BSNL is not trustworthy here at least. People hate them due to the horrible service they provide. All the govt. offices suffered so much that they switched to RailWire and then to JioFiber (probably sponsored, but RailWire is also horrible here).

Local broadbands are surely trustworthy in most places. People care more about price than quality of service, which many local ISPs take advantage of.

And Airtel can definitely increase their number of subscribers, but I doubt they really care. It does not even feel like they are trying to get more subscribers where I live.

Also, since they are relying on LCOs on many small cities, the service quality varies a lot.

Also, cities like Mumbai have lots of options. So where is return on investment of deploying fiber? You cannot ask for 999 for 200Mbps where Excitel and other giving 400Mbps under 499 and 1000Mbps at 1999-2499. ACT has done same and gathered few customers from Airtel+Jio+Tata+Local ISP players in Pune. It's going to affect Airtel, not Jio. So better Airtel should wake up and reduce prices.

I think they take advantage of T2-T3 cities more than tier 1 and metro cities. Same for JioFiber. Here, even local ISPs have similar pricing as Airtel and Jio, so it is not like they have to make much changes. Check local ISPs in Raipur, Chhattisgarh (my state's capital, not my city though) and their plans, you will understand that.

 

[TheAndroidFreak]

Later, Airtel improved their signal significantly, but Idea did not. And soon we got both Airtel and Vi 4G together. Both using same towers but Airtel 4G had better signal (maybe due to spectrums? Idk). From call quality to internet quality, Airtel has been superior to Idea (Vi) since then.

Because Vodafone and Idea were planning for network merger and that was seen from their bidding to band 41 and band 1(whenever it happened, I don't remember to exactly). Is it same situation still? Depends on circle to circle. Idea 3G was present even in my circle in rural areas, but Airtel 2G was not even present. Now situation has improved, but Vi 4G is present. Jio 4G is not.

Half of Vodafone-Idea lost because there was no support for band 41 between 2016-2018. So there was no use of deployment. Vodafone-Idea delayed everything because in 2017 revenues dropped considerably due to free Jio 4G. People stopped recharging. Recharges were 599-699 for 10GB data. Just data. People who used postpaid ported into prepaid.

BSNL is not trustworthy here at least. People hate them due to the horrible service they provide. All the govt. offices suffered so much that they switched to RailWire and then to JioFiber (probably sponsored, but RailWire is also horrible here).

My hometown all banks, both PSUs and private still uses BSNL broadband since long time. No change whatsoever. Jiofiber is not present. Local fiber two players are available and Airtel FTTH is available too(Airtel is using Tata Fiber actually according to local people who are managing). Nobody is shifting to Airtel. People shifted to Airtel on mobile for outdoor speeds due to band 3 20Mhz but came back to Jio and Vi due to strong indoor signals. So Airtel is losing here. The FTTH tieup with Tata cables is just wastage of money and it's been three years. BSNL FTTH is doing wonders in some of the southern states. Hopefully things will improve in next five years, because FTTH will save us. Telecom industry needs deep pockets and only Jio have that. Airtel simply cannot compete with Jio in terms of investments. Now Vi improving Airtel will lose everything they have earned through hard phases of 2017-2019.

Check local ISPs in Raipur, Chhattisgarh (my state's capital, not my city though) and their plans, you will understand that.

I have no idea. I will check.