Airtel V-Fiber (VDSL2) 40 Mbps - Chennai - Review

[warpspeed]

I'm seeing a lot of questions about Airtel's V-Fiber and I hope this post might be of help if you're considering to get a new connection or upgrading your existing one.

Keep in mind that your distance from the nearest exchange plays a bigger role on speeds you can get. From what I've heard you can get 40 Mbps if the loop length is lesser than 700-800 Meters. Since I live in Chennai (International gateway) I always get good international speeds. The same applies if you're from Mumbai. It may vary for you because it has to get past the terrestrial network, which sometimes may be congested.

I've been using this connection for almost five years. Speeds are consistent and the connection has always been highly reliable.

My Plan: 40 Mbps Down/ 5 Mbps Up and FUP is 600GB. Rental is Rs. 2799 plus taxes. Includes unlimited (local and STD) calls as well.

Speedtest to local server:

Singapore:

Netherlands:

L.A, USA:

Fast.com:

IDM:

Torrent:

Steam (in Mbps):

Game server latency (Insurgency):

It doesn't matter if you're upgrading or getting a new connection. Do not accept the Beetel modem that Airtel is giving out right now. I've heard the connection is highly unstable when used with Beetel. They are charging Rs. 1000 plus taxes for the VDSL modem so ask them to give Huawei HG630a instead. I got the same and my connection is very stable. If it's out of stock then I would recommend to stay in ADSL until it is available again.

Pros:

• Legendary uptime. In my case it rarely goes down for few hours if there is any upgrade/maintenance or a day or two max because of storm or cyclone.
• Consistent speeds and low latency.
• Congestion free Unlimited calls.

Cons:

• Smart Bytes.
  
• 512 Kbps Post FUP speeds even on plans costing as much as Rs. 5K a month. Unless you're the lucky citizen from Hyderabad of course.
  
• Maybe it's only me but their CC is getting worse lately.

Feel free to ask or request anything for me to test in the comments.

Edit: I'm no longer using Airtel broadband.

 

[Aakash Malhotra]

wow you actually get close to your plan speed on international servers like usa and europe . damn here with excitel in speedtest speeds get reduced to like half for usa and other further regions also fast.com never goes above 2 Mbps :/

 

[warpspeed]

Maybe because I live close to international gateway 🙂

 

[igloo]

Yep chennai got half a dozen cable landing stations. I get 8-12mbps on fast.com 16mbps plan.

I think you got ideal vdsl stats so your posting review is sort of advertisement for Airtel becoz most people won't be able to achieve figures of something even nearby.
Take my example my sync rate is 25-32mbps and most time i wan't able to achieve more than 30mbps down and 5mbps up. That too deteriorates over time unless I reboot the modem.
So didn't bother upgrading to 40mbps plan. hardly to note any diff on vfiber on 16mbps vs 40mbps.

 

[warpspeed]

^ Thanks for pointing that out. I have updated the post.

 

[warpspeed]

Finally upgraded my plan to 40 Mbps 600GB 🙂

 

---

[warpspeed]

I've finally dumped my Airtel connection. Five years of dealing with Smartbytes and 512 Kbps has come to an end 😀

Switching to my LCO's broadband service. 20 Mbps truly unlimited @ 1500 per month.

 

[mr_grump5]

TIC? you could have opted for 700gb/125mbps connection for 300rs more.

 

[warpspeed]

Yeah but I will be holding on to my Cherrinet, need those sweet 200 Mbps upload speeds. I'll change my plan to basic 200 Mbps from next month so I don't really need another 100+ Mbps line.

I'm just thrilled to have a broadband without FUP after several years 😀

 

[ShanksZ]

@manojrk my loop length is 800 meter can i get at least 30 -35 mbps ?

 

[warpspeed]

^ Yes, you should be able to get those speeds. However the loop length in your modem status page is not accurate. Only the field engineer can tell you that.