Suggestion for Router | Office use | Airtel Xtreme

honest1

honest1

Skilled
I currently have Airtel Xtreme in my office, which provides a 300 Mbps internet speed. However, the existing router isn't very powerful, resulting in occasional drops in connection and a limited range. This is problematic because there are typically 15-20 devices connected to the network at any given time, including laptops, smartphones, and other office equipment.

What I'm looking for is not a high-end router, but rather something that is easy to set up and maintain while providing exceptional stability. Stability is particularly crucial as most employees use significant bandwidth for video calls, which are essential for our daily operations. During these calls, a stable and reliable network connection is a must to ensure smooth communication.

The office area spans approximately 300 square feet, but it’s important that the network extends beyond this space to cover the immediate vicinity as well. This will ensure that everyone, whether inside the office or just outside, has a strong and stable internet connection.

Therefore, I need a router solution that can handle multiple connections efficiently, provide consistent performance without frequent drops, and offer a good range to cover the entire area and its surroundings.
 
First things first:

If you want to use your own router with airtel then only 2 options are:

1. Setup the airtel router in bridge mode & setup your own router to manage the connection. This requires contacting airtel support as well as someone knowledgeable enough on your side to take care of the own router's handling. This will likely involve spending at least a few hours watching youtube videos & reading online guides.

2. Leave the airtel router as it is & just log into its settings & enable dmz zone & add your own router's ip to dmz zone after giving your own router a static ip in its settings after connecting your own router via ethernet wire from its wan port to one of the lan port on airtel router. This can be done within 5 mins after watching some 10-15 min youtube video or reading some online guides. If all the devices in office connect via wifi then no need to do even the earlier mentioned steps. Simply connect lan port of airtel router to wan port of your own router & after setting up own router (any decent router will detect wan port connection & setup wizard will set up the router in less than a min after clicking next in 2-3 steps) just connect any device to own router wifi. You can disable airtel router wifi for reducing signal interference but keep in mind once wifi is disabled on airtel router only way to access its settings is via ethernet connected device to one of its lan port.

Once the above is done the next thing is range. There is simply no budget router (& not even sure about a costly router) which can guarantee covering entire 300 sq feet of area with good signal strength. Your best bet is using a mesh system with at least two nodes/units or two routers connected via ethernet wire with second router acting as a wired access point.
 
@guest_999 Or you could get an ONT on your own, and use that. I've been running that way for a while now. Just need to clone the GPON serial to the new ONT and it usually starts working. After that you can use your own router without any restrictions.
 
MrGordon said:
@guest_999 Or you could get an ONT on your own, and use that. I've been running that way for a while now. Just need to clone the GPON serial to the new ONT and it usually starts working. After that you can use your own router without any restrictions.
Click to expand...
Can you please explain this in terms of how the connections are done and which ont to purchase etc. it will be helpful.
 
@zoozoo I personally prefer a basic ONT without wifi and other bells/whistles, and use my own router + AP as needed. Coming to the ONT, I've personally used Huawei HG8120C and Digisol DG-GR6011. The Digisol is basically a VSOL rebrand, so you can find the same unit from other brands as well. There is TP-Link ONT as well, but the success rate with their currently available variant/model isn't that great. The HG8120C, you can find on IndiaMart. All these are in the ~ Rs 1000 range.

Netlink HG322G
Syrotech SY-GPON-1010-DONT
DBC HGU-V110
Digisol DG-GR6011
Click to expand...

Once you have the ONT, you just need to clone the GPON serial, you will get this from the back of the Airtel ONT/Router or the management UI. On the target ONT, some will allow you to do this from the UI (example Huawei), others from telnet.
Once the serial is cloned, the the new ONT should come online with a stable PON light.

Please ensure you match the colour of the fiber connectors, Airtel normally uses the green connector (SC/APC) so if the ONT uses blue (SC/UPC), then you would also need to get green to blue cable. If the connectors are not matched, there would be signal loss.

After this you should be able to use the ONT in bridge mode and use your own primary router.
 
@guest_999 It works for BSNL too, I mentioned Airtel specifically as this thread was related to Airtel. BSNL cannot be generalised too, as the equipment used would vary all over the country due to it being managed mostly by a local cable operator. Eitherway, I have used my own ONT with BSNL from the very beginning.

I've seen reports of it working for Tata Play, and most FTTH based ISPs. Jio yes, would need tweaks due to customisation in their deployment process.
 
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