Airtel launches 4Mbps plans with absurd FUP limits
Airtel is desperate to woo in new customer. The company recently launched four new broadband plans offering speed of 4Mbps. However, the Fair Usage Policy (FUP) limit on these plans is completely absurd for a speed like that. Equally absurd is the post FUP speed of 256kbps!
Here are the details:
|
Plan Name |
Impatience 899 |
Impatience 1099 |
Impatience 1399 |
Impatience 1799 |
|
Speed |
4 Mbps |
|||
|
Monthly rental (Rs.) |
899 |
1099 |
1399 |
1799 |
|
Download limit @ 4Mbps |
6 GB |
12 GB |
25 GB |
50 GB |
|
Speed post FUP |
256 kbps |
|||
|
Download limit @ 256 kbps |
Unlimited |
|||
Praise for introducing these plans aside, what Airtel has done with the FUP is certainly not welcome. If we look at the 1799 plan, what they have basically done is quadrupled the speed of their previous 1 Mbps plan and decreased the FUP quota of 100 GB by half for an extra 100 rupees. Net net, it looks like they want to keep their bandwidth utilization same. Furthermore, the reduction of speed to 256 Kbps is totally insane. Imagine that you watch too many youtube videos in the first 2 weeks and finish up the FUP quota. Then for the rest of the month, you are stuck with amazingly low speed at which you wouldn’t even want to surf the internet!
Had they offered the same FUP of 100 GB and reduced the speed to either 2 or 1 Mbps would have been acceptable. Then we could have said that they are on their way to change the definition of “broadband” in the country.
This is what is written on the promotional page on airtel.in for these plans:
As far as I know, hi-def videos and movies are GBs in size. I am not sure how a person can keep enjoying these with the absurd FUP above for the whole month. Oh yes, even they didn’t say that you can enjoy them for the whole month!
Also, with the addition if these plans, Airtel has successfully entered the list of top 10 companies which offer too many flavors of their product. However, considering that people do want some choice in speed and limits, I would say Airtel is at number two, just after Microsoft.
[via Airtel.in]
Twitter
its all rubbish apart 4rm terms and conditions they should write one more thing ie subjected to technical feasiblity……………… i m living in gurgaon and its not available in my area becoz no feasiblity there i dont understand 4 mbps needs technical feasiblity really a shame on airtel as my friend is using 8 mbps bsnl in same area……………. a suggestion 4 airtel mark every plan with subjected to technical feasiblity……….. becoz their half of the plans are not available hell
That’s too bad. It looks like they do not have a distribution box in your locality and are stalling you with stupid feasibility excuses. If you live in an apartment complex, it is possible that the RWA hasn’t given permission to Airtel for setting up a box there.
But nonetheless, it is Airtel’s responsibility to provide services everywhere.
i m using airtel 256 kbps broadband they have a box in my locality
i dont understand y the hell they r giving feasiblity excuses………………
really airtel has to improve
Then they are clearly stalling. You can talk to their senior. Or better still, try registering a request on their website.
Ha ha i guess they are doing this with everybody
some distance limit they are say
IMO #they actually dont have the bandwidth it is just a marketing gimmick provided to few users
# or they doing profiling like if your downloading is already high they will make a excuse
Ya true. I am in one of the main areas in Bangalore(BTM). I asked them to enable this 4 mbps and they say no feasibility in ur area. When asked about where else it is feasible, they didn’t know. What the hell is this? I think nobody has got the 4mbps running yet. It’s all marketing BS.
Actually, is Distance feasibility is not , BS, this actually happens due to signal attenuation, the further you are from the Telcos location, the lesser the max speeds for you connection will be for example a customer within 500 feet might be having a maximum supported speeds of 16 Mbps, whereas a customer who is more than 10,000 feet from the telcos location, then the max supported speeds on his line will be much much lesser.
Reference
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/4676
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dsl1.htm
I am in Sushant lok Gurgaon and I am getting the plan. If you are on a pvt torrent you get sppeds upto 5mbps which is awesome. of course for the average user who just has to download some amount of films or shows, this is a godsend. But 256 is beyond ridiculous! I am on the last 3 days before billing cycle and I keep checking my usuage!