{"id":13150,"date":"2025-11-21T11:46:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T11:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/?p=13150"},"modified":"2026-08-02T16:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T16:49:07","slug":"my-experience-with-the-airtel-zlt-x17m-out-door-unit-odu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/my-experience-with-the-airtel-zlt-x17m-out-door-unit-odu\/","title":{"rendered":"My Experience With The Airtel ZLT X17M Out-Door Unit (ODU)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’d been on the Airtel Unlimited 20 plan, which came with a free ZLT X25 router. The plan costs \u20a630,000, is valid for 30 days, and offers unlimited data capped at 20 Mbps speed, but I needed an alternative. It got so low that it made no sense to continue the subscription. I had to fallback to other Service Providers on several occasions during my active Airtel subscription. I had tried multiple locations, so it wasn’t really a location thing. The plan was probably congested, and I wasn’t ready to upgrade to the 60 Mbps at \u20a650,000 only to have the same experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the Airtel HBB plans as of the time of this post:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price (\u20a6)<\/strong><\/td>Speed (Mbps)<\/strong><\/td>Validity (Days)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
30,000<\/td>20<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr>
50,000<\/td>60<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr>
80,000<\/td>20<\/td>90<\/td><\/tr>
135,000<\/td>60<\/td>90<\/td><\/tr>
150,000<\/td>20<\/td>180<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It sometimes took several restarts to get a stable connection or regain a lost signal. I hit the 2-2.5 Mbps region on good days, but 50-100 kbps region on bad days (which got more frequent). This couldn’t have been fair usage (I’ve heard rumours that one exists) because I was below 200GB consumption, and the speed fluctuated widely. It was time for a change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MTN FibreX?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I learnt about MTN’s FibreX (which uses Fibre optic), truly unlimited and no Fair Usage Policy (FUP). Here are the prices as of the time of this post:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price (\u20a6)<\/strong><\/td>Speed (Mbps)<\/strong><\/td>Validity (Days)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
25,000<\/td>50<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr>
45,000<\/td>100<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr>
100,000<\/td>300<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was interested, but couldn’t get it because my location wasn’t on the coverage map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airtel 5G SmartConnect Outdoor Unit (ODU)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I came across this, and my train of thought was along the lines of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Another Router<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. An Out Door Unit to boost signal<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. 150% faster speed for 16% less cost<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. I fall within the coverage area<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I’d come across some negative reviews about the Airtel ODU, but I was going to give it a shot anyway because there seems to be 3 generations of the Airtel ODU (maybe I’ll be lucky); besides, I’ve learnt not to take online reviews too seriously because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Some are completely vague, purchased with the wrong information\/unrealistic expectation or might have used the product incorrectly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. There’s often an agenda (spite, sponsored, traffic)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Paper specs can be quite different from real-world experience<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      5G SmartConnect Long Duration Plans (Unlimited)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      Bundle Offer<\/strong><\/td>Price (\u20a6)<\/strong><\/td>Speed (Mbps)<\/strong><\/td>Validity (Days)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
      Unlimited 50<\/td>67,500<\/td>Up to 50<\/td>90<\/td><\/tr>
      Unlimited 100<\/td>121,500<\/td>Up to 100<\/td>90<\/td><\/tr>
      Unlimited 50<\/td>125,000<\/td>Up to 50<\/td>180<\/td><\/tr>
      Unlimited 100<\/td>225,000<\/td>Up to 100<\/td>180<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      5G SmartConnect Monthly Plans (Unlimited)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      Bundle Offer<\/strong><\/td>Price (\u20a6)<\/strong><\/td>Speed (Mbps)<\/strong><\/td>Validity (Days)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
      Unlimited 50<\/td>25,000<\/td>Up to 50<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr>
      Unlimited 100<\/td>45,000<\/td>Up to 100<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Purchasing & Registration<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      I visited a nearby Airtel distributor with my NIN, provided my information, and he took my photograph. The NIN server was down that day, so the NIN Verification step failed. I had to go back before 9 am the next day, and it went through. This was on the 6th of November. I paid \u20a625,000 (which comes with the 50 Mbps plan) and was told that an installer would contact me within 48 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The installer reached out on the 8th. and we fixed the 10th. for the installation. The installation was free<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Speed Test<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      I’m quite impressed so far. 10 days in and I’ve clocked 353.32 GB<\/strong>. I’ve been too busy to really download, by the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"Airtel<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      Here’s are some other speed tests I recorded<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
      \n
      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
      Speedtest by speedtest.net<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
      \n
      \n
      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
      Speedtest by google.com<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
      \n
      \n
      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
      Speedtest by google.com<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

      Verdict<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      It’s still too early to tell whether or not this is a good buy, but I’m very impressed by its consistency and speed so far. I regularly do 5.2-6 MBps<\/strong> during downloads and around 3.6-5.2 MBps<\/strong> during uploads. I hope to give an update after over a month of usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Update: Speed Test During Heavy Rains (July 2026)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      The internet speed was quite bad during heavy rains. Sometimes, it would be unusable, and I would have to restart several times to get an internet connection (I’ll do a speed test in the middle of a heavy downpour and shortly after). Normal browsing and some YouTube were very OK during such heavy. Downloading and streaming were out of the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"
      Speed test after a heavy rain (speedtest.net)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"
      Speed test after a heavy rain (google.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I’d been on the Airtel Unlimited 20 plan, which came with a free ZLT X25 router. The plan costs \u20a630,000, is valid for 30 days, and offers unlimited data capped at 20 Mbps speed, but I needed an alternative. It got so low that it made no sense to continue the subscription. I had to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[918],"tags":[238,909,910,912,515,906,908,907],"class_list":["post-13150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-airtel","tag-browsing","tag-fibrex","tag-home-broadband","tag-mtn","tag-odu","tag-unlimited","tag-zlt-x17m"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13150"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13240,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150\/revisions\/13240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}