Excitel Broadband - Comprehensive Review - 5Mbps - SDSL - Unlimited - no FUP

[StickySlime]

Hi.

I'm here to put forward an honest and comprehensive review of Excitel's Broadband internet services provided in Delhi, India.

Official Website: Excitel | Hom
Pamphlet Screen-Shot: *i.imgur.com/FeKQU4g.jpg
Stamped contact number on the pamphlet I received: *i.imgur.com/s7awqZt.jpg

Back-Story

Previously, I was using an MTNL internet connection, but considering the painful 4 years I had lived with it, I thought it was time to move on. Besides, I found Excitel's pamphlet/advertisement and I decided it was definitely worth a try. Let's find out.

Switching Period

It took me 3 trips to get my MTNL connection disconnected and finally, I gave a call on the number stamped onto the advertisement, as opposed to the Excitel customer care number, since I thought, that the stamped number would be belonging to the local incharge pertaining to Excitel, and that it would speed things up a bit (since I had already disconnected the MTNL connection).

I was surprised to find out that the connection would be setup before 6 PM, the same day (and it was a Saturday). I also found out that they attend new connection requests even on Sundays.

Anyway, so they kept their promise and two people showed up to get the connection setup. They had a brand new box of good quality Cat 5e cable, which they used to connect the DP (Distribution Point?) directly to my household with 0 joints/junctions. It is to be noted, however, that their backbone is entirely FIBER cable powered. They leave their FIBER cable into your locality and a Cat 5e cable connects the DP to your household.

I was more than satisfied with the quality of the fitting and cabling procedures.

Payment

They only offer prepaid payments for now, payment via online methods is NOT possible at the moment. However, you don't need to go anywhere to pay the monthly charges. Within the first week of every month, someone from your local cable operator/local distribution partner will come over and collect the charges from your doorstep.

The information regarding plans and tariff can be checked via their official website, a link to which has been provided above.

There is a ONE TIME charge of Rs. 500/- for installation and setup. This charge isn't refundable, of course.

Present Day

I had my internet up and running before 6 PM, exactly as they had promised. It was now time to test my new internet connection and I had a lot of hopes and expectations from it.

Goes without saying that the first thing I did was a speed test.

Plan Name: "ReelTime 649"
Download Speed: 5 Mbps (640 KB/s real-time speed)
Upload Speed: 5 Mbps (640 KB/s real-time speed)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Download Speed (Youtube / Torrents): 20 Mbps (2.5 MB/s or 2560 KB/s real-time speed)
Upload Speed (Youtube / Torrents): 20 Mbps (2.5 MB/s or 2560 KB/s real-time speed)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

PROS

-- SDSL connection, NOT ADSL. Other ISPs offer things like 10 Mbps download speed and 512 Kbps upload speed. With Excitel, if you get a 5 Mbps connection, download speed = upload speed = 5 Mbps.

*www.speedtest.net/result/5053398341.png *i.gyazo.com/eb65e9e484cef12fee4a5852b0fdc2fa.png

-- EXCELLENT peering with Youtube. I seriously mean it. Like seriously. I have deleted the word "buffering" from my dictionary after choosing Excitel.

Proof

*www.speedtest.net/result/5053391388.png *i.gyazo.com/70b01883caaf7756b5a70ebb3fccb987.png

Sendvid - Instant video uploa

This is a video I recorded of myself watching a 4K video on Youtube. Just watch it to believe it. Nothing else to say.

-- 20 Mbps (2.5 MB/s or 2560 KB/s real-time speed) while using Youtube / Torbox.net. This is valid even if you're on the 5 Mbps plan (same as me).

-- Excellent peering with EU / US servers. If you're into gaming and you play on gaming servers located in Europe / North America, you'll get a lower ping using Excitel. For a comparison ... I used to get 200 - 250 ping using MTNL on some European servers. Now I get 130ms - 150ms.

-- Almost ZERO jitter. This connection is super stable and if you test the jitter to different servers, you will note that the ping value almost never fluctuates and stays a sweet low and stable. This is extremely important for gamers.

-- If you upload videos to YouTube, often, this is the connection you should get. Video uploads to YouTube are done at 2.5 MB/s (real time speed) on my connection.

CONS
-- None witnessed so far.

EDIT: Adding the cons noticed later on:

-- Customer care number starting with 80x-xxx-xxxx is useless and you won't be connected to someone almost always. Its always busy throughout the day and during the wee hours, it just asks you to leave a voice message and disconnects the call. There is a solution for this ... call this number instead, for customer support purposes: 011-3313-8963.

-- Excitel's internet is behind a double NAT. Read this post of mine for a detailed explanation: (*forum.digit.in/broadband-dth/19619...unlimited-no-fup-post2279932.html#post2279932). Although, this problem can be solved by opting for a static IP, however, that would cost an additional Rs. 1100/- per year. Still worth it, in my personal opinion, especially if you're a "power user".

 

[StickySlime]

Its been a while since I've been using Excitel's internet, so I thought I'd post an update:

Almost zero downtime so far, however, the connection DID go down at around 11:35 PM on 8th February, 2016, but it was back again after 5 minutes on its own.
Speed via downloading a speed-augmented torrent: Sendvid - Instant video uploa

Important Points I found out while using Excitel's internet:

• The rudimentary repairs are done by your local cable operator, so for connectivity issues (should they arise, which they haven't, in my case, yet) of rudimentary nature, you'd want to contact your local cable operator first, before contacting Excitel.
  
• Furthermore, if there's any issue that's beyond the scope of your cable operator (something to do with Excitel's servers or with the fiber cable), then your cable operator will (and should) escalate the issue to Excitel on their own.
  
• If you search about Excitel, you would come up against several negative reviews which have no supporting proof with them and some of them don't even bother to explain their experiences in detail.
  
  There are two probable reasons I can attribute to those negative reviews / responses:
  
  Either,
  (a) They're people who live in a locality wherein Excitel's network isn't as "set-in" as it is in other localities, such as mine, for example.
  or
  (b) Some of those reviews are left by agents of rival ISPs with the intent of discrediting and denigrating Excitel, as an attempt to impede its progress or success.
  
• The only valid point within most of the negative opinions / reviews that I came across was the fact that Excitel's customer care number is busy for a major part of the day. My only guess is that since they're a relatively new company, they're still struggling to cope up with the capacity of customers that their customer care agents can support. That's definitely something they should work hard on, which they will, I'd assume, but until then, people will have something concrete to complain about.
  
• Also, some problems can be countered, simply, if people know what to do, in case their internet isn't working properly. The first thing should be a call to your local cable operator or some other repair guy related to your cable operator. They're the fastest possible way you can probably get things sorted out, but no ... people seem to enjoy calling the customer care number, even though they're completely aware of the congestion issue regarding the same. I'm not saying that this is the customer's fault, however, I'm just trying to highlight the failure to ascertain and recognize the best possible METHOD of getting things done.

Dropping some screenshots here:
*i.imgur.com/Subh2Jk.png
*i.imgur.com/iYpqLSX.png
*i.imgur.com/gBd5RB1.png

ANOTHER UPDATE:
On 13th February, 2016, since morning, my connection speed somehow got limited to 2 Mbps instead of the usual 5 Mbps.
I called my cable operator, but he directed me to Excitel's customer care number. That's probably because speed related issues can be fixed by the ISP, not the cable operator.

*i.imgur.com/oORMgir.png
*i.imgur.com/352ziv2.png

Anyway, so I called Excitel and was connected to a customer support representative in about 2 minutes. I explained the entire issue and initially, they fiddled with the usual basic stuff such as pinging some IP address, trying to disable windows / Kaspersky's firewall etc. Then they connected to my computer via TeamViewer (remote access) and tried doing the usual basic stuff.

They claimed that the speed I was getting (2 Mbps) was in-line with the speed I should have been getting on my 5 Mbps connection, since the speed is not 5 Mbps throughout the day. I explained them how there was no fluctuation at all and that the speeds have been fixed at 2.06 Mbps since several hours and that it never goes past that value.

In between all this, they asked me to disconnect the call, but keep the remote access as is. I disconnected the call and they kept changing stuff here and there, pinging google's DNS and what not.

While they were still doing stuff on the computer, changing some network settings resulted in my computer to restart, ending the remote access and the call was already disconnected at that point of time, but they were considerate enough to call back again (of their own accord), which is something worth noting.

Most of the stuff they were fiddling with, on my computer, had nothing to do with the actual problem (firewall on/off, uninstalling IDM etc), but I let them do their thing just so that they're mentally satisfied that those aren't the issues. After about 30 minutes of fiddling, they finally did something at their end and the issue was fixed instantly. I tested and confirmed this using a speed test (speedtest.net).

This is the screenshot taken at that exact moment when it was fixed: *i.imgur.com/mrzk4p7.png
The highlighted text in that screenshot is from me, the others are from their customer support.

Overall, I'd say the experience was good enough. They could take lesser time, but they might be obliged to go through their usual protocol when it comes to diagnosing internet connections.

Information regarding augmented speeds (YouTube / TorBox):

Augmented speed is only available for YouTube / TorBox. This means that even on my 5 Mbps connection, I get 20 Mbps while using YouTube / TorBox.

It is important to note, however, that the augmented speeds are also available for other torrents (from public trackers) on the internet, which are cached by TorBox . For example, approximately, 6/10 popular torrents of TPB can be downloaded via the augmented speed (20 Mbps in my case).

Just so you have an idea, I have prepared this screenshot: *i.imgur.com/4pRe8Zl.png
All torrents with a "green play button" or a "green happy face" are speed-augmented torrents (20 Mbps), only the "red sad face" torrents will download with your regular broadband tariff speed (5 Mbps in my case).

I have noticed that during the night, you can go ABOVE and beyond your rated speed (I get 1 MB/s at night instead of 630-640 KB/s).

Updating a steam game at night (getting 1 MB/s instead of 630-640 KB/s): *i.gyazo.com/f0acdb4d9c1af3f672bacd42c9e0a862.png

Also, if this will help someone in the future, I'll drop in some ways to contact Excitel customer support:
*i.gyazo.com/be0821eaab30bcbaa9caf2c8aa3fc2db.png

 

[adityagupta]

Oh man...... This guy is in every forum.....! I smell something fishy.

 

[Vyom]

Good comprehensive review.
But my experience with Excitel was good only for 2 months. After which I had to switch.

So that's that.

 

[StickySlime]

Oh man...... This guy is in every forum.....! I smell something fishy.

So what you're saying is ... one person cannot hold an account in more than just one forum ... Riiiight. IQ below room temperature, lol.

 

[dashing.sujay]

So what you're saying is ... one person cannot hold an account in more than just one forum ... Riiiight. IQ below room temperature, lol.

Not really but one suddenly does not post the exactly same content all over the internet at the same time just for the sake praise.

 

[sling-shot]

Good comprehensive review.
But my experience with Excitel was good only for 2 months. After which I had to switch.

So that's that.

Ha ha. Like he said, you are not EXACTLY saying what the issue was and you are not giving us evidence

I am still undecided on whether this is a genuine user review or flat out advertising, but the quality of copy is beyond reproach

 

[StickySlime]

Not really but one suddenly does not post the exactly same content all over the internet at the same time just for the sake praise.

So basically, I need to modify my experiences in order to share them at different places, just to satisfy your opinion of uniqueness? One person can't share his experiences on more than 1 forum, since he would be posting the same thing? Have we lost basic sense here or something? Personal experience is what it is, its not going to be modified or changed simply because I'm posting it in another forum.

Ha ha. Like he said, you are not EXACTLY saying what the issue was and you are not giving us evidence

I am still undecided on whether this is a genuine user review or flat out advertising, but the quality of copy is beyond reproach

I see that you're trying to act smart, albeit failing miserably at it. Allow me to explain.
I also see that you're pointing towards this post of mine, wherein, I'm questioning the credibility of someone who's first post over here was a negative review without any supporting proofs.

Your idiotic comparison to that situation, however, is stupid, since the person who you quoted has 5,902 posts as of today and hence doesn't need any proofs to support his claims:
*i.gyazo.com/196a1f6daf3746227c7729f737bb4512.png

But anyway, I guess I wasted my time explaining all that to you, since anyone with more than just 1 brain cell would have been expected to be able to decipher that on his/her own self.

Thanks.

 

[sling-shot]

So basically, I need to modify my experiences in order to share them at different places, just to satisfy your opinion of uniqueness? One person can't share his experiences on more than 1 forum, since he would be posting the same thing? Have we lost basic sense here or something? Personal experience is what it is, its not going to be modified or changed simply because I'm posting it in another forum.



I see that you're trying to act smart, albeit failing miserably at it. Allow me to explain.
I also see that you're pointing towards this post of mine, wherein, I'm questioning the credibility of someone who's first post over here was a negative review without any supporting proofs.

Your idiotic comparison to that situation, however, is stupid, since the person who you quoted has 5,902 posts as of today and hence doesn't need any proofs to support his claims:
*i.gyazo.com/196a1f6daf3746227c7729f737bb4512.png

But anyway, I guess I wasted my time explaining all that to you, since anyone with more than just 1 brain cell would have been expected to be able to decipher that on his/her own self.

Thanks.

Calm down brother. Life is not that serious, only death is.

Your response proves that you may be quite an impressed fan but not an employee of that company.

And as I have already stated above, the quality of your writing is excellent. I rarely come across such good writing in these forums.

Hope you stay around

 

[adityagupta]

So basically, I need to modify my experiences in order to share them at different places, just to satisfy your opinion of uniqueness? One person can't share his experiences on more than 1 forum, since he would be posting the same thing? Have we lost basic sense here or something? Personal experience is what it is, its not going to be modified or changed simply because I'm posting it in another forum.



I see that you're trying to act smart, albeit failing miserably at it. Allow me to explain.
I also see that you're pointing towards this post of mine, wherein, I'm questioning the credibility of someone who's first post over here was a negative review without any supporting proofs.

Your idiotic comparison to that situation, however, is stupid, since the person who you quoted has 5,902 posts as of today and hence doesn't need any proofs to support his claims:
*i.gyazo.com/196a1f6daf3746227c7729f737bb4512.png

But anyway, I guess I wasted my time explaining all that to you, since anyone with more than just 1 brain cell would have been expected to be able to decipher that on his/her own self.

Thanks.

I too think that the way in which this guys write is excellent. Your English and writing skills are amazing. I feel like I'm reading an article from a good magazine or something. Very professional.
What do u do bro for living?

 

[himanshu_game]

I am using Excitel at my Office since 9th Feb. My experience with excitel is good. It disconnects for like 30 min once in a while but that's ok i guess.

 

[anirbandd]

I am using Excitel at my Office since 9th Feb. My experience with excitel is good. It disconnects for like 30 min once in a while but that's ok i guess.

assuming that you are using a lease line for your office internet, it is highly dangerous to have it go down for 30mins without any outage notifications.

i would call that unreliable.

- - - Updated - - -
[MENTION=321928]StickySlime[/MENTION] : Do you play online FPS games??

- - - Updated - - -

If so, can you do a latency test on the servers that you connect to? let me know if you need some servers to ping.

 

[StickySlime]

Calm down brother. Life is not that serious, only death is.

Your response proves that you may be quite an impressed fan but not an employee of that company.

And as I have already stated above, the quality of your writing is excellent. I rarely come across such good writing in these forums.

Hope you stay around

Well I was perfectly calm and composed until some of you started showing up here and posting baseless assumptions about me being an Excitel employee and also pointless nitpicking, I might add.

Anyway, I think people here should be less nitpicky about things and shouldn't start throwing baseless allegations against someone who posts something good about something. More so, if appropriate proofs have been supplied to support the aforementioned claims.

- - - Updated - - -
[MENTION=321928]StickySlime[/MENTION] : Do you play online FPS games??

- - - Updated - - -

If so, can you do a latency test on the servers that you connect to? let me know if you need some servers to ping.

I reckon you're referring to CS:GO, primarily? Well, no, I don't play FPS games online.

 

[anirbandd]

I reckon you're referring to CS:GO, primarily? Well, no, I don't play FPS games online.

Nope.

Battlefield.

Can you do a ping <server ip> -t and post the results?? why i am asking is local ISP have high speed, but do not ahve the backend to support load balancing during high load [when lots of users log in and use internet]. then there is packet drop which hamper sensitive applications, like FPS games.

Airtel, Idea, Tata, although low speed and high cost, have rock steady internet with almost no packet drops.

 

[StickySlime]

Nope.

Battlefield.

Can you do a ping <server ip> -t and post the results?? why i am asking is local ISP have high speed, but do not ahve the backend to support load balancing during high load [when lots of users log in and use internet]. then there is packet drop which hamper sensitive applications, like FPS games.

Airtel, Idea, Tata, although low speed and high cost, have rock steady internet with almost no packet drops.

Yeah, go ahead, post the IPs you would want checked. As far as connection stability is concerned, Excitel is rock solid. I left a ping test running for like 30 hours or so, non stop, and there was ZERO packet loss throughout.

 

[Saahib]

Verdict...
Good work and its working as now I know about Excitel Broadband.

But he is just a paid poster, but a good one, probably with a good past as a forum user

 

[Kaltrops]

I would loved to have tried this out, but I'm in Mumbai

 

[StickySlime]

Verdict...
Good work and its working as now I know about Excitel Broadband.

But he is just a paid poster, but a good one, probably with a good past as a forum user

Yet another idiot, wannabe smart-ass shows up; why am I not surprised. Are all people around here like ...

"OMG a good review about an ISP and speaks good inglis OMG OMG PAID POSTER, ISP EMPLOYEEEEE!".

Come back when you've grown your brain a bit further and your IQ increases beyond room temperature, then we'll talk.

I would loved to have tried this out, but I'm in Mumbai

Oh yeah, I can understand that, lol. A friend of mine lives in Mumbai and uses "7 Star" or something as his ISP and he says that's the only option apart from Hathway in his locality ... He doesn't wish to choose Hathway due to the FUP they implement and he's not happy with this "7 Star" ISP. Understandably, he got annoyed when I showed him a screenshot of my speed test result during a Steam chat conversation.

 

[anirbandd]

Yeah, go ahead, post the IPs you would want checked. As far as connection stability is concerned, Excitel is rock solid. I left a ping test running for like 30 hours or so, non stop, and there was ZERO packet loss throughout.

thats awesome!

here you go..

216.12.208.163, 164, 165

- - - Updated - - -

I would loved to have tried this out, but I'm in Mumbai

Use Spectranet..

 

[StickySlime]

thats awesome!

here you go..
216.12.208.163, 164, 165

01, 02, 03