Airtel wifi modem - should I go for it?

J

jaganm

Disciple
My wifi router is giving up after around 5 years of service and I need to replace it with a new one. I was considering a few options

1) Go for Airtel wifi modem offered at 1500 rupees (non-refundable)
2) Buy a standalone router (1.5-2K)
3) Buy a router + modem (4-5K)

I'm disinclined to go for #2, as having a single device will save a lot of space on the power strip. I understand #3 will give more flexibility, but is more expensive. My needs are fairly straightforward (on 24x7 but actual usage 2-3 hours a day, mainly surfing, no torrents or heavy downloading), so #3 may be a little overkill.

So, I am thinking of going for the Airtel router. But I have a couple of questions that I wasn't able to get a definitive answer for

- Does it have additional LAN port to hook up my laptops over a wired connection?
- How good is the reception? The farthest point in my house is around 25 ft away with 3 solid walls in between. Would this be suitable?
- What about stability? Does it crash often? Can it sustain 24x7 operation?
 
Does it have additional LAN port to hook up my laptops over a wired connection? - Yes it has a LAN port
How good is the reception? The farthest point in my house is around 25 ft away with 3 solid walls in between. Would this be suitable? - The max. distance i have used it is ~18 feet with a wall between the lappy and router. Got 3-4 bars out of 5.
What about stability? Does it crash often? Can it sustain 24x7 operation? - Yes it can. I had let it on for 4-5 days and the connection was stable.
 
Don't go for Airtel's Wifi modem for the very reason that even after paying Rs.1500 it doesn't become yours. You can easily get a good wifi modem for less with some ebay coupons.
 
as major 9 said the ownership is not made clear by airtel unlike BSNL . It is one solid device for 1500k but still i would recommend buying some other model from the market
 
Don't go for Airtel's Beetel WiFi router. Instead get yourself a NETGEAR WGR614 from the market. This is the best VFM WiFi router with excellent range. It satisfies all your requirements. It has 4 LAN ports + WiFi. As I said reception/signal strength is excellent and it runs 24*7 without a problem. I've been running it 24*7 since last 6 months! :)
 
If you buy airtel wi-fi modem you have warranty till you disconnect ISP. For ex. if you are going to be an airtel customer for another 2 or 3 yrs you get warranty for the device throughout that period. But if you show least concern for warranty, and you bother much for signal range, features, etc (i dont know what features it lacks but for me , it serves the purpose and it has 4 ethernet ports...), then you can go with 3rd party routers...

The choice is yours... But for 1.5k its the best bang for buck....
 
Netgear might be better but i chose Airtel for the warranty.

The signal on the beetel modem is also pretty decent.

And yup i use it 24/7 most of the time.

rest is your choice.
 
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