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:

image

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]


13 responses to “Airtel launches 4Mbps plans with absurd FUP limits”

  1. 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

  2. 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.

  3. 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

  4. 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!

  5. I'm using their 4mbps plan (allows 25GB downloads before the FUP kicks in) and I don see a difference between the 2mbps and 4 mbps plans. The max download speed that i get is still around 250kbps on torrents. IS anyone else facing the same problem?

    • That shouldn't be the case. I am also using the 4Mbps 50GB FUP plan and I get upwards of 500KBPS.

      Check you speed on speed.airtelbroadband.in. If it shows 2Mbps, they might have given you a wrong plan. If that's the case, log a complaint with the customer care.

      However, if it does show 4 Mbps, then the port which your torrent client uses might not be forwarded on your router. If you are using uTorrent, go to Options -> Speed Guide and click on "Check if port is forwarded correctly". This will open a page in your browser which will tell you if the port is open or closed. If it isn't, you need to forward it.

  6. I was a happy customer of Airtel… I am really unhappy with Airtel… now…’cause of their FUP plan… 1 mbps…25GB… It will finish in 10 days…rest of the days… I gotta be with 512 Kbps..Are they gonna reduce the money for it… No… I need to pay entire amount…I would have been taken their 4 Mbps plan… but their is no use… after the FUP limit it will be 256 Kbps… Are we living in 20th Century… 25 GB & 50 GB and 256 Kbps are not enough for this 21st Century…

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