BharatFibre OFC Charges

Hello,

I have been a loyal BSNL user for ages. Used Dial-up, and then ADSL for 10 years. Changed plan as new exciting plans came up. But considering the availability of BharatFibre, I am planning on upgrading the broadband connection.

I live almost 900m (by-road, less than 200m direct; tea gardens) from the nearest BSNL exchange. When I applied for connection at the office, they are asking me to bear the cost of optical fiber cable(OFC) for 900m at ₹ 10/meter, i.e. 9000 ₹ just for fiber. Upon surveying, I found that the nearest FTTH user is about 500m from my place and they didn't have to pay any extras for OFC.

There are ADSL users in my locality and BSNL has served well in my area. But I don't understand why they are asking me to pay for the entire OFC. This isn't a leased line. More users will come up soon as there is the availability of FTTH.

I have used fiber connection from two different ISP when I stayed outside (in Guwahati, Assam) for three years and none of them asked for an additional amount, and I am sure that they had to run a new OFC to the requested location (400-500m).

I need a suggestion. Please comment.

Thanks.

BSNL FTTH is run with an LCO partnership. LCOs are required to pay OFC charges from BSNL exchange to their offices. LCOs then distribute that connection to subscribers as per their own will. However, most ISPs pay for the installation and maintenance of OFC up to LCO from their hubs. So, they are considering your connection similarly as there is no LCO in between.

Depends on where they are pulling the fiber from. They can't just split a fiber cable anywhere they want. My connection is from a splitter box at least 300 m away. I had to pay about ₹ 2k for fiber cable. On paper it says 100 m but there is a loop on the street and another inside the gate which will add up to possibly 400 m or more. There is/was another user who lives nearby got connection on the same day as me so they (LCO) may have split the costs or something idk.

If you can find some users who want FTTH and then may be you can negotiate a better deal. Also, they can't just pull cable through someone else's property even if the distance is shorter.

Thanks for your comments. @royalroy @sloj

I will try to talk to two of the nearby ADSL users regarding fibre upgrade.
This should distribute the cost.

While negotiating with BSNL employee, one mentioned that I could get partial refunds as new users in my area apply for FTTH.
Is this possible? How do I ensure they refund me the extra OFC I paid for.

I would prefer the latter method over convincing the ADSL users to upgrade to FTTH, I don't want blame in the future if there's OFC cut/fault or whatever.

Don't ever think of getting a refund from BSNL. They can't pay salaries to their own employees. They don't have money. If you pay anything to them, just give up the hope of getting a refund later. Many ADSL subscribers in my area not getting a refund of their security deposits. They just keep procrastinating.

FTTH is much better than ADSL which run on copper lines. They will like the speed and higher FUP. As for OFC cut/fault, it happens on copper lines too but there is much less chance of interruptions in fiber unless someone cuts the fiber line out of spite.

About partial refunds idk. It's all based on trust. You have to trust that they will return you the money if and when a new user signs up. What are the chances of a new user signing up in the immediate future.

I paid 3500, for GPON, connection etc. The box is in front of my house. He just had to draw few meters line. BSNL have given the contract to a private company to do this. He said its flat 3,500 for everyone. Otherwise, someone have to bare too much cost, and some, too little. Hence they fixed a flat price.

I live 450m from a BSNL exchange i paid 2500 + one month deposit for a FTTH connection

sloj said:

What are the chances of a new user signing up in the immediate future.

Click to expand...

I know three neighbors who still use ADSL, and that's in my lane. There are more ADSL users I suppose and since its high time for broadband, users will definitely come up. I live in rent here in an apartment in Guwahati (will leave this place in a month), and after this lockdown and the shift to online classes, I saw growth in railwire users in the apartment. I frequently see the railwire fibre team working with their splicing machine.

Railwire and Mnet are available but everyone would definitely choose railwire over mnet.

I have been in contact with railwire provider in my area and asked them a quote for OFC to my home. Yet to hear from them, if it's less than what BSNL quoted, I am definitely going for Railwire.

Yeah, Mnet's plans aren't much to look at. Only advantage is truly unlimited plans but the pricing fails can't be ignored. Railwire has CGNAT which means you get a private IP address instead of public IP address. If you don't have need of public IP address then Railwire will do fine and if you ever need one then you can apply for it although it will cost you.

@sloj MNet also uses CGNAT, assigning IP address in 10.0.0.0 private block.

Being assigned a public IP, as BSNL does, has both its benefits and downsides.

Really, never got to use it. A friend recently got Mnet fiber installed after the first lockdown. Plans have changed though. Now it's 15 mbps symmetric for the lowest plan. The website hasn't been updated with the plans.

And well everything has it's upsides and downsides.

Ideally, there are no cable charges involved but since LCO has taken the contract from BSNL they ask for the extra amount. I myself paid a total of 6k (plan security extra) for the connection (distance about 600m).

Going with Railwire. LCO proposed ~2500 installation charges (excludes ont/onu). A neighbour paid around 16K to have fibre installed at their home three months back.

LCO has options for BSNL, Railwire, and Airtel. Hence, changing ISP should be easier.