Help for a buying a new fiber connection.

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su_mumbai

su_mumbai

Newbie
Messages
30
Location
Mumbai
ISP
Airtel
Hi all,

I needed some help with regards to getting a new broadband connection.

I live in Mumbai and have been using MTNL ADSL broadband for the past 15 years. I've rarely faced major problems with the service since I live close to the exchange. However my current plan is only 10 Mbps with a data cap of 310 GB priced at Rs. 1000/- plus tax and so I'm thinking about upgrading to a fiber plan of 100 Mbps. MTNL offers a 100 Mbps fiber plan but unlike the newer plans of Jio and Airtel which offer (almost) unlimited data, there is a data cap of 200 GB, which is ridiculous.

After reading online about Jio and Airtel fiber, I am shifting towards Airtel. I had a few questions about Airtel fiber which I hope you can answer:

1) How is the network connectivity and speed in Mumbai? Are there disconnections or any other problems which I should be aware of?

2) I heavily use Bittorrent and I need to forward ports in my ADSL modem to get remote connections. Is it possible to forward ports in the Airtel fiber modem (Huawei or Nokia) and is it easy to do so (any tutorials online for the same)? I also read somewhere that you cannot forward ports in Jio fiber.

3) Are certain websites blocked on Airtel fiber? On MTNL, certain blocked websites can be unblocked using a combination of Google/Cloudflare DNS and GoodbyeDPI. Is there something similar on Airtel fiber in case websites are blocked by the ISP?

4) I read that a landline telephone can be connected to the Airtel modem for unlimited free calling. Does that landline have a specific phone number or is it like calling from Skype where the caller's number is some random number.

5) Is this the right time to switch to a fiber connection or should I wait some more before it becomes more commonplace?

Any other suggestions/tips for a new fiber user are welcome. Please note that I mainly use the internet for browsing, downloading, watching YouTube videos and torrenting. I'm not big on streaming services like Amazon Prime/Netflix or online gaming, but I might start to use them in the future.

Thanks.
 
I don't live in Mumbai but service / plans are pretty much same across cities

1) Connectivity is good. My colleague lives in Goregaon area and he moved from Tata Sky to Airtel 4 months ago. Zero disconnects so far.

2) I suggest to use the Nokia / Huawei Router in Bridge mode and use your own router for doing port forwarding. There are various discussions around putting them in bridge mode

3) None to my experience except government guidelines on the blocks

4) It will be regular phone with a phone number with unlimited calling within India. Not like skype

5) Yes, why not
 
I don't know. I have a Nokia at home. I moved it to bridge mode as soon as the technician left post activating my connection. Did not even try any settings. I am using Ubiquiti gear so all the advanced level stuff is being controlled on that
 
su_mumbai said:
Thank you so much for your reply.

Is it possible to forward ports within the Nokia/Huawei router itself? That'll save the need to connect another router just to forward ports.
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Yes, it is totally possible to forward ports on the modems (routers) supplied by airtel (both Huawei and Nokia). I have two connections one with Nokia and another with the Huawei modem, both can forwards ports easily. (However I prefer the Huawei one, since it has a polished UI and many more features than the Nokia one).

However do note that port 80 and 443 are blocked.
 

Good to know. The two blocked ports shouldn't be a problem because in Bittorrent, you can assign any random port to forward.
 
su_mumbai said:
No idea what Ubiquiti gear is. Sounds expensive. I hope my current TP-Link ADSL Wi-Fi router will do the job.😛
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Although I'd warn you that the WiFi (and even plain routing) performance is quite poor on both Huawei and Nokia routers. I highly recommend buying something like atleast an Archer C1200 / C7 / A7 for anything above 40 Mbps, and put the original Airtel router in bridge mode.

If you are comfortable with pfSense, that will be your best bet since it also has plugins for VPN and Ad Blocking.
 
4) I read that a landline telephone can be connected to the Airtel modem for unlimited free calling. Does that landline have a specific phone number or is it like calling from Skype where the caller's number is some random number.
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Yes. Airtel provides a proper static landline number (+91STDXXXXXXX) that can be called from any landline/cellular phone from anywhere in the world.

You can also use a VoIP softphone to receive calls from this number on a desktop or your phone.

STD = 3 DIGIT STD CODE
 
Thanks again. I'll look into the Wi-Fi routers when I decide to get the new connection.

I have contacted them on the website to get an idea of the charges and other details. It shows they either have a 799 plan with one month payment option plus installation charges or a 6 month payment option without installation charges. There is no 3 month payment option without installation charges as I've been reading on some other posts in this forum. Will get further details when they contact me. Fingers crossed🤞.
 
There is no 3 month payment option without installation charges as I've been reading on some other posts in this forum
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Depends upon the area I guess. In Bangalore that's what I went for.
 

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