General Information about Modem/ Router for BSNL Broadband

Hi All,

I am new to this forum and have got couple of general questions which I think somebody of you can answer pretty quickly.

I am located in US and to be honest, I don't know anything about the BSNL broadband or types of broad band available there. But I am thinking of getting a modem and a wireless router from here(US) so that I can hook it up to the phone jack once I get there. Currently in India, they have BSNL broadband(some combo plan) with a modem made by a company called Iball. That modem doesn't has built in wireless and it's just a standalone modem only device.

At first I thought of getting the latest Motorola Docsis modem which I'm using here, but later realized that it won't work with bsnl. Then in some online forum I found that the below listed modem is used by somebody for BSNL broadband.

TP-LINK TD-8817 ADSL2/2+ Ethernet/USB Modem Router 24Mbps Downstream, 3.5Mbps Upstream USB and Ethernet 10/100Base-T

I can get this same modem here and am wondering whether that will make any difference with the one you get there in India. I know it needs a 220 to 110v adapter, but am fine with that. Is there any other factor which will make this modem NOT to work there?


And for the router, I am getting a Concurrent Dual Band( 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz operation at the same time) one with the following security options;

IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u
Wi-Fi Protected Access: (WPA-PSK(TKIP)/WPA2-PSK(AES)/WPA-PSK(TKIP)+WPA2-PSK(AES)) and WEP
Port Scan and Denial-of-service (DoS) attack prevention
NAT Filtering protection

So if somebody can comment whether these devices will work there or not, that would be of great help.

Thanks..

The modem which you mentioned. . . is that an ADSL modem? If it is, it will work with any ISP. If its a cable modem, it wont work. The TP-LINK TD-8817 ADSL2/2+ Ethernet/USB Modem Router is ADSL Modem + Router. So this will work as both modem and router. But of course if in case you need the dual band, use the second one you mentioned. Why dont you buy Linksys?

Originally Posted by nevinjohn

The modem which you mentioned. . . is that an ADSL modem?

Thanks for the reply.

The modem has got ADSL, ADSL 2 and ADSL2+ Standards.

Originally Posted by nevinjohn

The TP-LINK TD-8817 ADSL2/2+ Ethernet/USB Modem Router is ADSL Modem + Router. So this will work as both modem and router.

No this one doesn't come up with built in wireless even though the product name sounds like that.

Originally Posted by nevinjohn

Why dont you buy Linksys?

I've personally used different models of Linksys, Netgear, Trendnet and D-link routers over the past 6-7 years. But all those brands turned out to be unreliable and loosing speed when going out of range. I would say Netgear is the worst among all these.

Now am getting a Router made by Rosewill which am using for the last one year. Has got terrific range and it's been running day and night all this year and never dropped a connection, can stream HD movies from netflix even sitting 100 meters away . To me, this is one of the finest routers out there in the market with high performance.

If its ADSL supported, it will work with BSNL. I suggested Linksys because they have excellent tech support here in India. The modem you mentioned doesnt have any tech support here, so configuring the modem is the question. If you are able to configure it by yourself go ahead. Dont expect BSNL guys to configure your modem. In the case of Linksys or any other brands, you can call them up and tell em that you have BSNL and need to configure it. So, its up to you.

^^
Gotcha, that makes sense. But I just had a quick look at the TP-Link website and they have telephonic product support for Indian users.


What all companies have good product support there? How about Belkin, D-Link, Asus, Motorola and Netgear?

Well, if TP-Link has support here, you can consider that as well. As for the rest of the companies, all except Motorola have support here.

Originally Posted by nevinjohn

Well, if TP-Link has support here, you can consider that as well. As for the rest of the companies, all except Motorola have support here.

Okay great. I'm going to get the TP Link modem.

And for the wireless router, I'm going for that specific brand which is not available there. I guess the router will start working without any hassle if the modem can be configured properly with the BSNL, should be just a plug 'n play thing. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes. You are free to choose your router once the modem is configured.

I would suggest that you get the normal modem (whichever) BSNL gives you since you are planning to have your own specific router. Just plug the LAN cable from the modem to the router. And the good thing is, when BSNL themselves gives you the modem, they will configure the modem for you!