Cherrinet - 200 Mbps - 2 TB - Chennai (Review)

Edit: No longer using the connection.

Cherrinet Fiber Broadband Review

Website: Cherrinet

Plans:

My Plan: Basic 200 Mbps (symmetric) 2 TB. It is prepaid and the rental is Rs. 1768 per month including taxes. They also offer 6 months+1 free and 12 months+2 free if you're looking for longer validity. Static IP is available at Rs. 5000 a year.

Got my connection up and running on the same day I paid. The fiber cable terminates at your premises on a ZTE ONU. Connection is reliable and the speeds are consistent.

Speedtest:

Singapore:

Netherlands:

NYC (USA):

DSL Reports:

Fast.com:

Torrent:

Browser download speed:

Steam (in Megabits):

Conclusion:
I'm very satisfied with my Cherrinet connection. I highly recommend them if you are thinking about getting a connection. I don't suggest going for the longer validity plans given they update them frequently. You won't be able to change it till the subscription ends. Also make sure they put you on Airtel Transit. My speeds were all over the place when I was on Tata.

Pros:

• Great speeds.
• Less Downtimes.

Cons:

• Overhead cabling.
• You don't have the option to change your plan till it's validity expires.
• Their Tata transit sucks to the core.

Let me know in the comments if you want me to test anything.

Edit: Updated on 30/12/16
Edit 2 (12/02/17): Not a single downtime since my last edit. Added fast.com speedtest result.
Edit 3 (07/04/17): Didn't face any downtime since Vardah.
Edit 4 (04/05/17): Added DSLReport speedtest. Yet to face any downtime.
Edit 5 (19/08/17): Cherri upgraded my plan to unlimited and the connection is still going strong. Added updated plans.
Edit 6 (11/03/18): Faced two downtimes which were quickly resolved. Updated speed test results.
Edit 7 (04/05/18): They don't offer unlimited anymore.
Final Edit (28/05/19): Cancelled the connection.

 

[mr_grump5]

Update: Probably my last update in this thread. Thanks all for the support.. Finally, ditched cherrinet and moved to LCO fiber. Plan details 100mbps for 1tb @ 899.. Its simply rockin..

Seriously underestimated LCO. New knew US server could give full speed. Everything is cool.. Once again, Thank you all!!

are they using Airtel routing? 😉

 

[warpspeed]

Update: Probably my last update in this thread. Thanks all for the support.. Finally, ditched cherrinet and moved to LCO fiber. Plan details 100mbps for 1tb @ 899.. Its simply rockin..

Seriously underestimated LCO. New knew US server could give full speed. Everything is cool.. Once again, Thank you all!!

I'm glad it worked out for you. I'm also planning to change if they pulled the same shit again. My LCO doesn't offer broadband anymore and from what I hear, ACT and Hathway are even worse in my area. I hope it wont come to that 😀

 

[trammat]

are they using Airtel routing? 😉

Ya. Backend routing is Airtel. But, LCO said that he might migrate to Tata + Airtel. I told him what I experienced with cherri. He promised that such an issue ll not occur and if it happens, I ll be given Airtel routin exclusively.. Hope, everythin ll go good. 🙂

To add a point, LCO also said that routing vendor ll never be an issue provided that enough bandwidth and capacity are ther. So, not sure whether cherr's tata routing setup is bad or tata, in general, is bad..

 

[trammat]

I'm glad it worked out for you. I'm also planning to change if they pulled the same shit again. My LCO doesn't offer broadband anymore and from what I hear, ACT and Hathway are even worse in my area. I hope it wont come to that 😀

Thanks! I actually asked my LCO for speedtest and downloads in various servers thru a remote conn before gettin in. When I opted for disconnection from cherri, those guys again tried to sell their same shitty explanations. One of the backend guys argued, that I ll get the same low speeds in international servers in every ISP. Just told them to stop and told about my new connection and speeds. Finally, they took the cancel request. Think they were brainwashed with one explanation for all issues, instead of lookin into the core problem. A support engineer, who visited my home earlier conceded that the top-level technical team in backend is very reluctant when it comes to speed issues and they are forcing field engineer to use local speedtest servers to show as proof. If the connection jumps beyond their level or India, it the routing at fault and cherri is not responsible. uff.. Give me a break man.... He also said not many cares about foreign server speeds and I was one of the few asking for it. God should save ppl, who gotta argue with these people..

 

[Raj]

@trammat Is speed to US servers consistent during all the time?

Also any idea how are international speeds with ACT and Hathway?

 

[trammat]

Yup! Its consistent. Checked with major servers in major cities. Holds good.. Did one just now..

Only down as of now is that ping to chennai servers is at 20-40 ms(I got 2-6 ms in cherri). ISP is located in Pondi, my LCO(North chennai) is a franchise.. Not sure, whether this had to do anything with ping. Rest is great!

Not sure about ACT and Hathway for international speeds. But read somewhere, ACT gives in the range of 40-60 mbps for US servers in 100mbps conn. Cant say whether, this represents ACT as a whole. As we know, it depends on other factors too..

 

---

[mr_grump5]

^^ do they run cache for streaming services? Could you post fast.com and cloudping.info results?

 

[trammat]

Not sure about that cache streaming services. But, I didnt see much of problem in streaming sites. Only twitch oscillates between 720p n 1080p.

Here are the results. Netflix is around 65-80mbps.

 

[warpspeed]

^ Pings are on the higher side but you don't have to worry about it if you're not gaming. 20 - 40 ms latency for chennai servers are surprising. Can you post a traceroute to 223.224.130.196 (airtel chennai speedtest server)?

Not sure about ACT and Hathway for international speeds. But read somewhere, ACT gives in the range of 40-60 mbps for US servers in 100mbps conn. Cant say whether, this represents ACT as a whole. As we know, it depends on other factors too..

Yep. A friend of mine with ACT gets only about 60 - 70 Mbps to US servers on his 150 Mbps plan.

 

[trammat]

^Ya. Gaming is not my area.. Here are details.

Can see multiple inter-transfers.. Maybe that's the downside of not takin a direct connection from an ISP..

Yup. Can confirm the same. Even, if I do a speedtest with ISP's server(located in pondi), it reaches as low as 15ms.. So, guess, delay happens between LCO and ISP transfers..

 

[warpspeed]

It does looks like all the routing is done in Pondi. Wonder how much the bandwidth costs these days, an ISP from Pondi is franchising its bandwidth in Chennai 😀

And then there is ACT & Airtel with ancient plans and FUP.

 

[warpspeed]

Not unlimited anymore. Wonder why they are calling it unlimited still. I hope Jio changes things around.

 

[Raj]

For now there is not much difference between ACT and Cherrinet plans. Act provides 1.5 TB FUP, Cherrinet provides 2. Earlier no FUP was a unique selling point of Cherrinet, not sure how they will differentiate themselves from others.

 

[kryptocodes]

how is there customer service?? compared to airtel @manojrk

 

[warpspeed]

@Raj I average at 600 - 700 Gigs a month. 2 TB is alot but still I am not sure If they continue offering it or downgrade further. I might even shift to Airtel fibre since upload speeds to International servers are crap on Cherri and Airtel on the other hand is offering 300 Mbps. Very tempting.

@kryptocodes IMO both are not what It used to be. I used to get quick replies if I email Airtel support, lately they don't even bother to reply. Cherri doesn't like to make any routing changes if you ever get Tata routing. I've been through hell and back just to get back my old Airtel routing.