So I have been using Airtel fiber for the past 3 years and everything was fine and dandy until recently when Airtel decided to push some updates to my router and completely lock it down. I can’t even touch as basic setting as changing the default DNS.
I tried contacting Airtel Customer Support, but they pretty much said it’s just the way it is from now on. I don’t really agree with such policies, and I am planning to switch. But unfortunately, only Airtel, Tata and Jio are available in my society.
So I am wondering if Tata and Jio are also putting similar restrictions on their routers or is it just Airtel?
At least on mine, Jio allows you to configure most things (I think) through the Jio Centrum panel. Only problem is the interface is so slow it can take multiple minutes to make a simple change.
I can take some screenshots once I get home if you’d like.
In Tata you can config your own dns.
If you could recall your last good firmware you could flashback but afaik firmware gets auto updated in jio and airtel while in tata its all manual aka firmware is never updated and you have to get your Ont changed with the latest firmware batch.
I don’t want just the option to change DNS, I am looking for the ability change lan address, enable/disable wifi, change wifi name or credentials and if its not too much to ask configure the router in bridge mode whenever I want at my will, Basically I am looking for a unlocked router, The way it should be. This new policy of Airtel is just stupid.
I have Sercomm AOT-4221SR and after the latest update option to flash firmware is also gone. Also no tool or firmware is available for this router yet.
Yeah then Jio is a bad choice. If any of your friends have Jio and is willing to help you check the Jio Centrum site, would recommend do that before switching over.
Call Airtel support and ask them to enable bridge mode. Mostly it will be lan port 4. Connect own router to Airtel router via LAN in router mode via PPPoE login. Airtel support will give you login id and password. Always use router mode to avoid dual NAT.
Trying to get it done from a week, most of the customer care employees don’t know what bridge mode is and the ones who know claims you need static IP for bridge mode.
I am so fed up with Airtel but it seems Jio and Tata are no better.
I have a spare netlink v2801sg lying around somewhere, I will try set it up along with my tp link router and see if I can bypass Airtel’s router.
Most of the 1st like customer care person don’t know shit and these are BPO people who are first line of response. If they are not able to solve then they transfer to actual Airtel technician who are dedicated Airtel people. These Airtel technician will do it without any problem and they know it does not require static ip. You just need bridge mode and PPPoE login. With static ip there is no need of PPPoE dial up.
I threatened them to disconnect my connect if they don’t do it and then they agreed to. May be you can try the same and also drop and email. May be they will. They just try to ignore as they think the customer doesn’t know shit about networking.
You can try to bypass Airtel router if you have a GPON ONT. If your Airtel router connects to ALCL OLT you might need a VLAN scanner to find the correct VLAN ID for your area. I gave up here. May be you can give a try.
Yeah airtel has gone to shit. They locked everything in their routers. After a lot of emailing and phone calls they apparently enabled bridge mode, but now when i dial pppoe with airtel user/pass from my own router internet doesn’t connect. But it does connect if I use the auto connect feature of my router. I have no clue whether bridge mode is actually enabled or not.
Anyway, try emailing net@airtel.com, and be ready to face extreme level of moronism.
Things like changing SSID, password, guest mode, toggling WiFi etc should be available on Airtel Thanks app.
Get hold of the person who installed the connection for you. Airtel LCO. He is supposed to help you with rest of the stuff like setting up your own router, bridge mode etc. Basically, all that stuff that doesn’t require buying or upgrading the plan.
Here are some screenshots I took of my Jio Centrum console (model JCOW414) - there’s a lot of compression artifacts because of the cropping and redaction, but should still be readable. I didn’t include every single submenu, just whatever looked relevant or interesting. Also the LAN and DNS settings are mine, not factory default.
All the stuff @@dash2009 was looking for should be possible, and I can confirm they work: custom DNS, changing LAN address, and WiFi names. I see an option for bridge mode (wish I’d known about that when I was still using my mesh nodes), but I haven’t tested it.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how much control I have - it’s honestly more than my Linksys mesh setup gave me. I didn’t even bother checking it - since I assumed it would be locked down - until last year when my mesh nodes died and I had to switch to using this as an AP and router for the first time.
From the way its happening currently, Airtel is more shitty than Jio. Both service wise and router wise. Their entry level staff also think they are managers and try to upsell stuff claiming BS.
Tata - have only used TTML which was hopeless. Avoiding Tata for now.
