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.

 

[warpspeed]

Yep, they have been caching popular torrents for quite some time. I was surprised to find out that Cherri has around ~ 19k customers. That could also be one of the reasons for recent slow downs.

 

[mr_grump5]

use to torrent when Torbox was active, great times.

only 19k connections? thought it would be whole lot more given they are in 8 locations.

Wonder if JIO's iptv plans would push them in that direction.

 

[dg13]

^ That could be a congestion or a problem with their load balancing setup. They don't use Airtel/TATA separately anymore. I never had any problem maxing out my line to the local/peered servers. Your line seems to struggle in local speedtest itself i.e. before even it hits Airtel/TATA. You should lodge a complaint using online CRM.

Does local in the sense mean "indian" servers ? i always keep getting 200 mbps to local pondicherry server but outside pondicherry or even within pondicherry to other isp i seem to be getting low speeds. But as you said lodged a complaint , they asked me to check for 3 days and see if there is any problem but it seems to be better now compared to past 10 days .

speed to their local server:

.


speed to their chennai server:

Dsl report to sg server :

.


I also see you mentioned some recent slowdowns , could it be connected to this? I have never faced any issue like this before august 1st but i seem to face random slowness in specific times now.

 

[warpspeed]

@dg13 It could be. I am also noticing frequent latency spikes in all of their internal hops, planning to downgrade my plan to 150 Mbps from next cycle.

only 19k connections? thought it would be whole lot more given they are in 8 locations.

I think it's because Cherri entered the game very late and alot of people in tier 2 cities will find their plans expensive and overblown. Even ACT has very less number of customers in Chennai compared to Bangalore or Hyderabad, same as Cherri, they don't offer any low rental plans like they do in other two cities.

 

[warpspeed]

Getting good speeds everywhere since I got their capacity upgradation message. Sometimes the pings to EU servers are atrocious but I sense it's Airtel's problem, beyond Cherri's reach.

Hathway seems to offer 300 Mbps for the same price. Hopefully Cherri puts the upgraded capacity to good use.

 

[Raj]

What capacity upgradation they have done?

 

---

[warpspeed]

I got it couple of weeks ago. There weren't any particulars in their message, just had a "planned network upgradation". Getting good speeds ever since. I guess they are preparing for speed upgrade to match ACT's offerings and Jio of course.

 

[Raj]

Great.

How much speeds you are getting in fast.com? I randomly used to get slow Netflix speeds in night and used to complain and they fix it within sometime. Have you face issues like this?

 

[warpspeed]

Nope. Never had any issues with Netflix. I almost max out everytime on fast.com and it feels like I am watching shows over LAN.

 

[mr_grump5]

looks like a clog has been cleared,now I could run openvpn @ router all day and not miss a beat.

@Raj , are you using 103.219.204.27 as a primary DNS, This is Cherri's quick fix for all Netflix issues.
you could this dns/google dns as static.

 

[warpspeed]

^ Do they host the open connect appliance inside their network? I run DNSCrypt in my router so can't use Cherri's DNS. My traffic is getting routed to Airtel's Chennai Netflix server lol. It could be Intended for Airtel's customers but hey as long as it works I am not complaining.

 

[Raj]

@mr_grump5

Currently I am auto fetching DNS from ISP,

So I need to use 103.219.204.27 as Primary and 8.8.8.8 as secondary? Previously I was using 8.8.8.8 as primary and 8.8.4.4 as Secondary and Cherrinet guys told to leave it to auto.

@manojrk

Is DNSCrypt faster? Also how to setup it?

 

[mr_grump5]

^yep use 103.219.204.27/8.8.8.8,
Even Amazon Prime videos works best in this DNS, especially if you're running Smart tv apps.

 

[warpspeed]

DNSCrypt is not usually faster since the connections are encrypted, which has a little overhead. I use DNS over HTTPS and luckily the servers are in Chennai so latency is only ~2ms and no noticeable difference between them and ISP DNS placed inside their network.

I have posted here on how to setup DNSCrypt proxy in your PC.

 

[Raj]

@manojrk

Can you post your ping results to 8.8.8.8

Mine is,

ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=40.6 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=104 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=40.2 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=49 time=40.9 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=49 time=40.1 ms

Not sure whether this is fine. They seems to have made some change and I am getting higher latency than before.