ABS Broadband is now installed btw.
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Now that I have been on ABS Broadband for a few days, I am in better position to jot down my views about it.
Generally speaking, I am not very happy with this service. There seems to be no peering so performance on Google, Netflix services is pretty bad even on 25mbps connection. I had better experience using Netflix on Reliance Broadband 4mbps connection that barely gave me 3.2mbps.
There is constant packet loss. There is also frequent disconnections. But since the router/modem dials up automatically, most people would not notice. I do because it create issues with OpenVPN on my Pi. It hangs and my Pi goes offline. I had to put it in a loop to keep on reconnecting after disconnections to overcome this issue.
Connection seems to be pretty hopeless during the 9pm-midnight period. Probably because of network congestion as more people are likely to be online at this time. Packet loss increases. Web browsing becomes painful. Loading a simple image on Imgur is a pain in the ass. Things get better past midnight and it remains pretty usable through the night.
Speedtest.net results during this period hover around 6-10mbps. I made the mistake of contacting ABS people with this issue. They told me to run Speedtest.net with their own local Den Networks servers. Of course, there are no issues with this server as it is similar to running a speedtest on your local network. From their tone, it seems that complaining about packet loss and crappy performance outside their own node would not be dealt with. I was even told to clear temporary files in my browser as that tends to create performance issues on the internet. I get it, people have shitty hardware that cannot handle high speed internet that is available in some areas these days. But I am not trying to achieve 100mbps+ speeds on a 100mbps only capable local network. 25mbps is easy to handle for even the basic hardware. And there is simply no excuse for packet loss on google.com on a FTTH network. It's sad really.
Would I recommend ABS Broadband to anyone in my locality? No. Prices are higher than Excitel. Excitel is more unreliable as it tends to go down more often but at least peering works and user experience on Google, Netflix type servers is pretty good. My Excitel connection is still active and I can clearly notice performance improvements if I switch to it for a while. I paid ABS for three months so I am going to use them till the subscription lasts. I have not decided if I would pay for Excitel later this month when renewal date arrives. I can only hope that Excitel would fix their packet loss and speed issues in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I would not want to pay ABS Broadband anymore of my money for this mediocre service. Excitel when it works is amazing to use. ABS at peak performance is no match to Excitel.
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Now that I have been on ABS Broadband for a few days, I am in better position to jot down my views about it.
Generally speaking, I am not very happy with this service. There seems to be no peering so performance on Google, Netflix services is pretty bad even on 25mbps connection. I had better experience using Netflix on Reliance Broadband 4mbps connection that barely gave me 3.2mbps.
There is constant packet loss. There is also frequent disconnections. But since the router/modem dials up automatically, most people would not notice. I do because it create issues with OpenVPN on my Pi. It hangs and my Pi goes offline. I had to put it in a loop to keep on reconnecting after disconnections to overcome this issue.
Connection seems to be pretty hopeless during the 9pm-midnight period. Probably because of network congestion as more people are likely to be online at this time. Packet loss increases. Web browsing becomes painful. Loading a simple image on Imgur is a pain in the ass. Things get better past midnight and it remains pretty usable through the night.
Speedtest.net results during this period hover around 6-10mbps. I made the mistake of contacting ABS people with this issue. They told me to run Speedtest.net with their own local Den Networks servers. Of course, there are no issues with this server as it is similar to running a speedtest on your local network. From their tone, it seems that complaining about packet loss and crappy performance outside their own node would not be dealt with. I was even told to clear temporary files in my browser as that tends to create performance issues on the internet. I get it, people have shitty hardware that cannot handle high speed internet that is available in some areas these days. But I am not trying to achieve 100mbps+ speeds on a 100mbps only capable local network. 25mbps is easy to handle for even the basic hardware. And there is simply no excuse for packet loss on google.com on a FTTH network. It's sad really.
Would I recommend ABS Broadband to anyone in my locality? No. Prices are higher than Excitel. Excitel is more unreliable as it tends to go down more often but at least peering works and user experience on Google, Netflix type servers is pretty good. My Excitel connection is still active and I can clearly notice performance improvements if I switch to it for a while. I paid ABS for three months so I am going to use them till the subscription lasts. I have not decided if I would pay for Excitel later this month when renewal date arrives. I can only hope that Excitel would fix their packet loss and speed issues in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I would not want to pay ABS Broadband anymore of my money for this mediocre service. Excitel when it works is amazing to use. ABS at peak performance is no match to Excitel.
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