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.

 

[Jay]

@manojrk

I explained them but still they are adamant on it... they are not ready to accept the fact , they are saying only local server you will get 90mbps or good speeds other international servers you will get around 10-16mbps which is more than fine :/

.

This is why I'm hesitant to move on to local players that offer better deals even if ISPs like ACT are sometimes a pain. You get full speeds to international servers most of the time and better routing.

 

[Raj]

Any other ISPs in Chennai who offer better routing to International servers? Anyone tried Airtel?

 

[warpspeed]

I've been using Airtel for more than six years, still have it as a backup. I always get the advertised speeds almost everywhere. Lately there are routing issues to EU causing high pings but still I have no probs maxing out my line. They have done the overhead FTTH cabling almost everywhere in Chennai, launch is also imminent. ACT has upgraded their plans yesterday so a plan update will also follow I guess.

Everything started to go downhill with cherri when they tried to load balance Airtel and TATA. They should have kept it separate or should have ditched TATA completely like they were planning to do so. Now they refuse to make any routing changes coz they somehow got the shitty load balancing setup to work and don't want to break stuff for others.

 

[warpspeed]

ACT has upped their game. Cherri got to fix their load balancing or ditch TATA completely if they want to stay competitive.

1 Gbps, 4TB @ 2999 is really tempting.

 

[Raj]

Just checked these new ACT plans, they are almost matching Cherrinet and Gigabit pricing is good. I guess they are preparing for Jio fiber launch. Maybe we can expect Cherri to change their plans in upcoming days.

 

[mr_grump5]

Doubt Cherri would update their plans just yet, they had already burnt their fingers by jumping the gun on 'unlimited',
they had customers franchising their bandwidth and had to pull the plug on it.

 

---

[warpspeed]

Couple TB's are more than reasonable and fine as long as they don't downgrade further or throttle speeds to US and EU servers. They need to do something about the competition though. ACT's new plans are really good and Jio's setting up a shop as well. Not to mention, Airtel is upgrading it's last mile copper assets to fibre. Too many choices!

 

[Idhayakani]

I am using cherrinet from sep 2017.no reduction in their plans. monthly 1178 rupees with gst high cost.they are not interested to reduce tariff.planning to switch bsnl or jio fiber. Bsnl 699 plan looks good.20 mbps

 

[warpspeed]

Well, 2TB @ 999 is a great deal considering we used to get only like 50 gigs until Jio happened. Cherri is also offering 1 month free if you pay for 3 months in advance, so that comes around 750 + taxes. Unfortunately no one except Airtel offers decent low rental plans.

 

[warpspeed]

Extreme-ix has launched their internet exchange in Chennai (RCOM IDC) recently. I see Cherri's been peering with content providers like FB, Google, M$ and Amazon directly instead of using Airtel/TATA transit. They have a 10 Gbps uplink, which would be scaled per demand I guess.

Anyway this should reduce the stress on main transit.

 

[Idhayakani]

They should introduce plans such as 500 rupees for 50mbps 400 gb fup is enough.they didn't change tariff for past 11 months is bad

 

[warpspeed]

ACT upgraded their plans last week so it's highly probable that Cherri will also update theirs if we go by past plan upgrades. Cherri also has signed peering agreements with major content providers so they definitely can match or even better ACT's gigabit plans, if they are willing to do so. Not sure about low rental plans tho, even ACT doesn't offer any < 799 plans.

 

[dg13]

Have been using this isp for past 5 months never had much problem except fiber wire cuts and used to get the full 200 Mbps almost at every site i download , but recently noticed some speed throttles after 12 pm which can last till 6 pm or 8pm . Upon reading this thread noticed that op had problems when his routing had been through tata . Do i need to ask a routing change too or its just some congestions?

Speed after 12 pm :

Speed before 12 pm :

Also could not do trace route because of archer c2 router , it just shows as timed out . So i do not know if my route is in airtel or tata .


Also adding a dsl speedtest :

 

[warpspeed]

^ 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.

 

[Raj]

Looks like Cherri also cache popular torrents on their network. I can max out easily. Also decent peering with Mega, on average I am getting 15 - 18 MB/s.