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Airtel 4G LTE Review | Delhi

Read my Airtel 4G LTE review for New Delhi. Also learn how to get a 4G enabled SIM at your doorstep for free and configure it to enjoy 4G at 3G prices!

Harpreet Singh Jatin Kumar Malik First published on BitSnapper

Bharti Airtel recently launched the 4G services in Delhi. It has already launched 4G services in many cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Mysore and Pune. The trials in Delhi started on 19th June’15 and the everything looks great right now. Although it’s still in beta phase, still there are no major issues with the network.

Airtel already provides the best 3G network coverage and speeds in Delhi. Another interesting thing is that, as of now in the roll out phase, 4G services can be availed at 3G prices! This means all the devices which support 4G LTE can get 4G data at same price as 3G.

What is 4G?

For those who are unfamiliar with 4G LTE, it stands for Fourth generation Long term evolution GSM network technology. It is the successor to 3G mobile service, which is available all across India. Interestingly, 4G is much more advanced than 3G and provides 5x more speed than 3G with download speeds approaching ~50 Mbps. Crazy fast eh?

Airtel’s 4G services are the first in India to leverage an integrated FD and TD network which will deliver the fastest 4G experience and superior network coverage.

How do I get it?

Well you do need a new 4G enabled SIM card, but don’t worry, the best part is that Airtel is delivering the 4G SIM at our doorsteps without any charges.

how to get airtel 4G sim at your doorstep
Get Airtel 4G sim at your doorstep!

Just register here and they will send a representative to deliver a 4G enabled SIM right at your doorstep. I myself ordered a 4G enabled SIM and got it within hours. After receiving the 4G sim, procedure to switch to the same is fairly easy.

Airtel has also partnered with Flipkart and Samsung for promotion of their network. They are providing free 4G sims with Mi devices and other 4G enabled devices.

Follow the steps below to migrate to Airtel 4G sim from your old sim card:

  • Locate the 20 digit SIM number is available at the back of your new 4G SIM card
  • SMS SIM <20 digit SIM number> from your existing airtel connection to 121
  • Reply with 1 to confirm your request
  • Wait for the phone to get disconnected from the network. Then switch your old SIM with the new one and switch on your device to get connected again.
  • Your new 4G airtel SIM will be active within 5 minutes and you will receive various APN settings, so make sure to save them.
  • You are good to go! Experience the unfathomable (not really) speeds*
  • *Provided you have an existing 3g plan enabled on your connection.

So, how’s the network and speed?

Now, talking about the network, 4G is working very well in mostly all regions of Delhi. I’ve used 4G on my Oneplus one, and it’s working fabulous. I’ve been getting speed up to 25 Mbps download speed constantly without any downtime. I only lost the network for 15 minutes in the evening, but since then has been doing very consistent. Also, sometimes it may take a few minutes to switch from 3G to 4G depending upon the signal strength. Occasionally it may even require a reboot, but it’s a rare case.

Here is the Ookla Speedtest results for Airtel 4G LTE in Delhi:

Airtel 4G speed - Airtel 4G LTE Review
~25mbps feels like a new breeze!

Verdict:

Airtel has done very well till now in providing 4G services across many cities in India and now they have entered the Capital too. As of now, it’s a sole 4G provider in Delhi but Reliance is also getting serious to invade the telecom market and especially 4G business. Reliance will be launching Reliance Jio by 2015 end. The price war between these two will surely be there. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, is now the largest holder of 4G spectrum in India and it’s the first operator to hold a pan-India licence. This will surely disrupt India’s telecom market. Airtel will surely receive a tough competition from Reliance. It will be interesting to see who emerges at the top, but at the end, it’s customer(us) who wins! :)

Do try Airtel 4G LTE services if you own a supported handset and enjoy 4G at 3G prices till it lasts. Share your speedtest result below and see if you can break the 25mbps barrier! ;)

63 commentsfrom BitSnapper

Carried over from the original post and read-only. Add a new comment below.

  1. Vaibhav Sharma

    Reliance telecom has nothing to do with reliance jio. You might wanna rephrase that :P

    1. Jatin Author

      Done. Thanks for the tip!

  2. aman

    I live in delhi (kashmere gate) and I am getting speed of 10mbps download and 1 mbps upload in airtel 4g,
    Obviously u are living in some different world, or maybe you are from airtel just posting a fake preview
    airtel is just looting money of people in the name of 4g, I will buy reliance jio

    1. Jatin Author

      Wow Aman! The "fake preview" comment hurted me and my ego. Just go through this blog. Do you seriously feel this can be something owned by airtel? I am not an Airtel fanboy either but your comment above, oh boy! you surely are misguided!

      Airtel is first telecom to provide 4G LTE in Delhi. The introductory offer they are running is offering 4G at price of 3G plans. 10mbps is still pretty good compared to 3G standards and they are expanding the 4G towers and coverage as we speak. So, I guess may be you should be a little more appreciative and base your comment on some solid grounds. Cheers!

  3. Suransh

    I have a 4g ready airtel sim, living in pitampura, delhi. But I am only able to get 3g speeds with H+ written on top, when i switch on my mobile data. What should I do to get LTE ?

    1. Harpreet Singh

      You should check your mobile network settings and choose LTE in the preferred network type. If you have already done that you should get your SIM checked from any Airtel store.

    2. Jatin Author

      Hello Suransh! If you got the 4G SIM from Airtel, it should be automatically connecting to LTE network if you selected 4G from the Mobile network menu. But for that you should have a 4G LTE enabled smartphone. So which phone do you have?

  4. Anil Kumar

    Hi,

    I am the 4g SIM and i got a message that you sim has been activated with your existing SIM No.
    And when i plug the new SIM in my Phone then it's not detected yet and in my phone setting i chose the 4g network .
    so please let me know what to do.

    1. Jatin Author

      Hello Anil,

      Which phone do you have? Also, you said new SIM is not getting detected in your Phone, so did the old SIM stopped working before you replaced it with the new one?

      1. Anil

        Model: -- Meizu M1 Note
        and yes my previous 3g sim has stop working.

        so please let me know.

        1. Jatin Author

          Sure. So, with the new SIM, you are not even able to get the signal on 2G?

        2. Anil

          Yes... Nothing event Slot 1 not Detecting SIm...message---No sim in Slot 1

          1. Jatin Author

            I got it. On researching about the Mediatek SoC you have in your Meizu M1 Note I got to know that It supports only 1800 MHz band and 2300 MHz band is not supported so 4G in India will not work.
            Although, Airtel has announced that it plans to provide 4G based on FDD-LTE on 1800 MHz in near future.

            So you should call the customer care and get a 2G/3G SIM reissued and ask them to notify you when they release 4G on 1800 Mhz band. Cheers :)

  5. Vajender

    hii, I recently replaced my 3G Sim with 4G LTE & it successfully activated. But when I checked my mobile number on http://www.airtel.in/4g/index?icid=4g_home_takeover (ARE YOU 4G Ready?). It shows my sim is not 4g ready.

    1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

      4G is working for you right? It may take some time for Airtel to update their database. :)

    2. ɿſɐןɐq

      sorry for a late rejoinder. but i switched to airtel 4g from its 3g on a blue win hd lte. the link you put throws the same "not 4g ready" for me too. recently, i experienced blazingly 4g speeds on airtel's coverage in chennai, coimbatore, and other places in andhra pradesh, maharashtra and madhya pradesh. their services are yet to improve in delhi.

  6. Harsh

    I recently purchase airtel 4g Sim. 4g network is worse than even 2g. Its not even giving 3g network. Ilive in sarojni nagar and the network is pathetic. I have to switch back to Vodafone network to surf now. Not a single day I could enjoy the airtel internet. Airtel 4g is just a promotion. But the reality is diff. Its a embarasment and we are duped. They dont have adequate towers. Telecom sector in our country really sucks.

    1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

      Hi Harsh! That's unfortunate man. Which phone do you have anyway? Does it support 4G?

      1. Harsh

        Hi jatin i am using Redmi 2 prime. And it does support dual LTE Sim. It connects 4g often but the signals are poor. Where I put up Vodafone has a strong network. Most of the time airtel is showing 3g signals only. Even the 3g connectivity is very poor. I have good and seamless 3g connectivity with Voda 3g. I think the continuous sealing of the unauthorized towers is also the main reasons for call drops and poor network.

        1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

          Oh. Poor network it is then. I agree about connectivity issue. I myself don't keep my Airtel SIM on 4G LTE mode always because most of the times my iPhone keeps struggling to find a decent 4G signal and keeps falling back to 3G and 2G when I am commuting.

          I think it will take some time to cover the whole city properly for Airtel's 4G network.

          Also, very well point made. Sealing of unauthorized towers is the key reason. Network coverage used to be way better few years back.

          You can wait for Reliance Jio too. As far as I remember, the original plan was to launch in September 2015 only, if not delayed. :)

      2. ɿſɐןɐq

        hmm, very decent reply for harsh i just noticed, but harsh words for me? if you're an engineer, hope you must have realized way back that 4g sim won't work in a 3g phone as it isn't backwards compatible as told by the airtel customer service representative. or is it not so. i'd request you to comment on it.

        1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

          Read the post. You need to have a handset supporting 4G TD-LTE for 4G sim to work.

          And what? So you mean if you get a 4G sim, it is not backward compatible with 2G/3G?

          Bravo.

  7. Deepanshu

    Hey I am having nexus 5 which does support 4g LTE but am no where getting a 4g symbol when data is on that LTE one nor the speed !! Can I get to know what may be the problem

    1. Harpreet Singh

      The Indian version of Nexus 5 doesn't support 4g. Have you imported your device ?

      1. Deepanshu

        Yes I have bought it from Chicago in America

        1. Harpreet Singh

          I'm sorry but 4g won't be working on it in India because Airtel has license in 2300 mHz frequency band which isn't supported by your device.

        2. Deepanshu

          Ohh no!! Shit man!! I was really excited to experience 4g speed ahh!! What the use of this such a phn which cost 30k and can't support 4g it just sucks !! You have any idea that Airtel will launch that version of 4g that supports nexus 5

          1. Harpreet Singh

            I don't think so, mate. But let's hope they do.

        3. Deepanshu

          Well nexus supports 1800Mhz FDD LTE which may be further introduced by reliance jio is that correct?

  8. PC Chowdhry

    Dear Harpreet, My Samsung Galaxy 5 DUOS 2 is on 3G. I have obtained a 4G SIM.
    1) Can I use the old 3G SIM as well as the new 4G SIM by using dual sim facility of the phone?
    2) If not then by inserting new SIM will i loose my stored phone book data/ photos/ documents and other misc.data?
    3) I have a 8GB SD Card also installed but have not been able to activate the same.
    4)I have been told that my mobile contact number will not change. Is that correct?
    5) If I do not use the 4G SIM Card then will airtel play dirty and deactivate my existing 2/3G SIM card.
    I need these answers urgently. How many days can i take to decide for the change or finally discard the 4G idea.
    pcchowdhry

    1. Harpreet Singh

      Firstly, you won't be able to use both the SIM. When you'll get a 4G SIM, your 3G SIM will get deactivated. You should make a backup of your contacts to be safe. Also, your mobile number won't be changing.

      1. PC Chowdhry

        Dear Harpreet,
        Many thanks for the prompt reply.
        I have to make the back-up and that will take a few days. Till then I will hold the migration to 4G. i have not inserted the 4G SIM in my mobile so far nor have I sent the 20 digit sim card no. by SMS to 121.
        (1) Is there any time limit set for this migration process?
        (2) If I continue with 3G then do I have to return or destroy the 4G SIM card?
        Request educate me on the a/m two points.
        With best wishes,
        pcchowdhry

        1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

          Hello PC,
          To answer your questions.

          (1) There is no time limit as such.
          (2) You can use 2G/3G/4G LTE on the 4G SIM, so nothing to worry about. It's a reverse compatible process. :)

          I am myself using Airtel 4G from ~4 months and it has been a pleasant experience. It's just that 4G coverage is poor in Delhi NCR so it jumps back to 2G/3G automatically.

          Hope it answer your questions. Feel free to ask more. :cool:

  9. Arjun

    I was getting only 10Mbps in 4G and now that i had complaint about it to the customer care , I am now getting upto 14Mbps....still not good enough. Also am I the only one that doesn't have a 3G signal at all??!! I get 4G signal and 2G signal but no 3G signal at all.....

    1. Navin

      Buddy you are lucky...with the kind of service I guess you are the most fortunate. I am getting a speed of 0.06 Mbps...can you beat that...;-))

      1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

        Hahaha. 0.06? Are you sure you see 4G LTE sign on top? Looks more like a 2G speed test to me. :D

    2. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

      Hi Arjun, Well I do get 2G and 3G everywhere but 4G coverage is very limited. :P
      Idk, it's good anyway. You can use 2G normally and switch to 4G for that speed boost ;)

    3. Swati

      Hey Arjun

      Me too facing the same problem with airtel.
      There is no 3G...its only 4g(seldom visible) and 2g.
      What Can be done !!!
      I hate Airtel for this

    4. Arjun

      Airtel solved my problem...got upto 38mbps
      That is upto 3.5MBps...but having to bear the slow 2G if no 4G coverage is tooo much....

      1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

        Wow. What did you do for that? Enlighten us.

  10. ɿſɐןɐq

    @aman, @jatin:

    i live in gole market area of new delhi. i got a blu win hd lte (dual sim) last friday. on saturday, i promptly exchanged my airtel gsm sim for a 4g one at my gole market airtel store.

    the first day, for the first few hours after my 4g sim got activated, i got a bleak lte on the display. soon, this bleak started to alternate between lte, h+, h.

    the next day (sunday), the lte vanished like horns from giraffe. i've not been able to get lte after that. now, the airtel network doesn't even show h+. it simply alternates between h and e.

    in gole market area, which is at stone's throw away from paharganj, my airtel sim is still to show lte. at central secretariat where i work, it doesn't even show h+.

    sealing of towers is a lame excuse for the "leading" 4g operator. it's common knowledge that 4g antennas are different. and only the gsm transponders were shut off. either way, i haven't heard one complaint at chandigarh, amritsar, chennai or bangalore where my acquaintances live and use airtel 4g.

    it's delhi/ncr where the biggest problem lies! i don't blame airtel wholly, but they should stop advertising fastest 4g network in delhi or would pay your bills for lifetime at a time when the infant has just started breathing. airtel hasn't even seen the delhi 4g scenario before talking loud.

    feel sorry to write sharply, but why are people not getting 4g despite airtel's loudspeaker announcements. the reason is airtel and 4g mobile hardware manufacturers have a tie up with one another. if one uses a 4g mobile phone advertised by airtel, they get lte on their displays. i know some officer who uses iphone 6 and another one using note 4. they're the faithful slaves to the airtel master.

    whereas, i, the lonely commoner, having bought a cheap windows mobile, have yet to taste something which, in my opinion, isn't being served to me solely for the reason that i haven't bought the hardware that airtel has "suggested".

    we should all understand aman's position and appreciate his bad experience with airtel. i do, at least, howsoever bad i may seem. despite all this, i haven't even complained to the zone manager i know just because of jatin's assurance that it's expanding towers and coverage.

    so, anxiously awaiting my airtel sim to display LTE on my windows phone screen.

    1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

      Hello ɿſɐןɐq (is that even a name, inverted or what!),

      Guess what, I started reading your comment and felt you are actually going to write something sensible, but alas! The vibe broke down pretty quickly. First of all, let me clear that, whatever I wrote above are my own views and its not a sponsored post. :) Don't go my "assurance" because honestly it's just a "speculation"!

      I am a Software Engineer who commutes daily from Rohini to Noida for his job. I use Internet extensively on my phone and I agree on every bit that Airtel's 2G connectivity itself doesn't cover my whole route let alone 4G LTE. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      As per Airtel's claim for fastest 4G network or lifetime free bill. Ha! It's common sense. They are the only 4G provider in Delhi as of now, so there is no competition in this space. It's like if I create a car with 11 wheels and say mine is The Fastest 11 wheel car. So, that's technically correct but logically plausible. Hope you are getting what I mean!

      And you blame game on mobile phone manufacturer's *tie-up* with Airtel? That's plain stupid. Actually the most idiotic thing I have read today. Buddy! Trust me, I am an Engineer. That's not how everything works. :) You do realize that we use Internationally branded phones which are sold across the globe. You seriously think a phone manufacturer will specially do some voodoo magic in their handsets so they can fake Airtel's 4G network. NOPE! :) Will suggest you to read how things are done. Sorry to disappoint you.

      I have a Nokia Lumia 1520 (best WP till date, atleast till 950/XL comes) and I used to get full 4G LTE signal but now on my iPhone 6, I only get 3 bars. Well, alot of factors could be reason for that, Locality being the first one.

      Hope you don't take it too offensively.

      Cheers mate.

      1. ɿſɐןɐq

        the way you proceeded to dissect my statements and reach to a blazingly rapid conclusion of them being "idiotic", "stupid" and "vibe broke down" seemed to have beaten airtel's 4g claims! ookla should take note of that! honestly, i didn't expect such brazenly stone age retorts from a qualified engineer as you claim to be! anyway, no offense taken as i never get angry having already tasted much more at other forums as well.

        you seem to find some kind of favor in airtel's eyes or is it the other way? you know, you could start endorsements for airtel's forthcoming 5g PoC! or did you hear of it?

        you simply didn't get the service provider's plea and ploy in promoting certain handset makes to promote its 4g venture. and you being an engineer, your comment that "we use Internationally branded phones which are sold across the globe" can almost pass for a nursery rhyme. hope you're conversant with td-lte and fd-lte. that's coming from a layman like me.

        the fact: i've been an airtel user all along my life. i won't change to reliance or any other just because i do have faith in airtel improving its QoS. the only grudge, at present, i have with airtel (that's till it gives TCO for its service) is of its reach in central delhi where the density of 4g users is very high just as it is in other parts.

        you didn't disappoint me. rather, i'm disappointed with airtel. however, if you insist on playing their most-favored agent, how can i be blamed for that? anyway, i only tried to bring your attention to the fact that you fail to appreciate the third person's point of view before firing your adrenaline-filled quick-shots.

        1. ɿſɐןɐq

          by the way, i smelled total unappreciativeness in your comment about my pseudonym being "a name, inverted or what". i find it strange that a qualified engineer such as you has failed to notice what millions of other lay users like me spot so quickly in the pseudonym. again, don't take this too seriously. it's just a screen name.

        2. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

          Bro. Do you even Science? You quickly changed from being an ignorant guy to a guy who did quick google searches.

          The 4g service currently provided by Airtel is TD-LTE, which will work on any device that supports 2300Mhz band 40. Below are some of the phones that currently support this:

          Apple iPhone 6
          Apple iPhone 6 Plus
          Apple iPhone 5S
          Apple iPhone 5C
          Asus Zenfone 2 (ZE550ML)
          Gionee Elife S7
          HTC One M8
          HTC Desire 820
          HTC Desire 820S
          HTC Desire 826
          Huawei Honor 4X
          Huawei Honor 6 Plus
          Intex Aqua Trend
          lenovo A2010
          Lenovo A6000
          Lenovo A6000+
          Lenovo A7000
          Lenovo K3 Note
          Lenovo Vibe X2
          LG F60
          LG F70
          LG G2
          LG G3
          LG G3 Beat
          Micromax Canvas Sliver 5
          Microsoft Lumia 638
          Motorola Moto E 2nd Gen 4G
          Motorola Moto G 3rd Gen
          Motorola Moto X Play
          OnePlus One
          OnePlus 2
          Oppo Find 7
          Oppo Find 7a
          Samsung Galaxy A5
          Samsung Galaxy A7
          Samsung Galaxy Note 4
          Samsung Galaxy Alpha
          Samsung Galaxy J5
          Samsung Galaxy J7
          Samsung Galaxy S5 4G
          Samsung Galaxy S6
          Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
          Samsung Galaxy Note Edge N915G
          Sony Xperia Z3
          Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
          Xiaomi Mi 4i
          Xiaomi Redmi 2
          Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G
          Xolo LT900
          Yureka YU

          Apart from the 2300 MHz spectrum, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (“RJIL”) announced that it had acquired the right to use spectrum in 14 key circles across India in the 1800 MHz band. The 14 circles included Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, North East and Orissa. 4G services would be using FDD-LTE on 1800 MHz, and this frequency range is supported on a much wider range of devices that support 4g (Most of the western countries use this range).

          Furthermore, Vodafone India has touted its 4G services which will be launched in Mumbai by December 2015. They will also deploy the FDD-LTE standard for this, by using the 1800 MHz band.

          If you are buying a new phone, you could check the phone specifications for the network technology and the frequency bands it supports. As simple as that.

          p.s: Yes! I will the Airtel's Poster boy for 5G PoC :)

      2. ɿſɐןɐq

        now you've crossed all lines buddy! your comment about me from being an ignorant guy to one googling on the internet seems to bask in airtel's newfound glory in you - i'm dead sure about that now. you need not teach me about td-lte and fd-lte. though i may not understand the technicalities as a layman, i'm probably more conversant with how to differentiate between the two to decide upon which hardware to buy, especially, currently in india.

        the "some of the phones" supporting td-lte 2300mhz band in india are exactly the ones airtel is marketing thru its website. so i'm now dead sure you're an airtel agent. no doubt about that! even as a few others have remarked similarly.

        by the way, your approach toward me has been too liberal as if you and i are acquaintances for long. my advise to you: don't be complacent.

        1. Jatin Kumar Malik Author

          Okay. :)

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