Hi, Today I will share with you guys how I ended up with 2 ISPs at my home and how I finally got bridge mode enabled on Hathway.
Back Story: I have had Hathway since 2015 when they had copper wires and then they shifted to Fibre around 2019 in my area. In October 2021, Airtel arrived in my area, and around this time I discovered Bridge mode. I requested Hathway to enable Bridge mode [ I have Asus RT-AC59U V2 router and was using it in AP mode to avoid double NAT ] and the CC [they had no idea what bridge mode was] arranged a call from the technical team. The technical team asked me to send a mail to their Bangalore helpdesk to get a separate router as my existing ZTE F660 did not support bridge mode, so I sent a mail and waited patiently. Weeks passed and no response from Hathway, then I read on several IBF forums how people with Airtel Broadband got Bridge mode enabled on their Huawei & Nokia routers. So believing Hathway is a lost cause, I took Airtel connection and to my horror, they provided me with ZTE F670L which does not support bridge mode - Spoke on length with Airtel technical team who tried their best but could not enable it, they said I needed a Huawei or Nokia router which was out of stock and will not be available. After a couple of engineer visits who gave up on bridge mode, I decided to disconnect my Hathway connection as Airtel had stable and better speeds, and the Hathway person visited and took away the F660 router.
I then come across a used Airtel Huawei router on OLX and I purchased it, connected it to my fiber, entered PPPoE details but the internet did not work. Apparently, Airtel has to configure from the backend to allow me to use this router. Contacted Airtel, they arranged the engineer to visit, but as it was the same engineer for my area he assumed I needed Bridge mode [ which he tried twice in past and failed ] and decided to ignore my multiple complaints and never visited my house. Despite repeated complaints to Airtel all they did was reschedule my appointment and the engineer never visited. Pathetic service by Airtel.
Hathway Bridge Mode: Then to my surprise, I receive a call from Hathway and they said they were able to arrange ZTE F601 for me which supports Bridge mode. They said since I had paid till Feb 2022 my plan was still active and an engineer will visit and install it. 1 hr after the call, the engineer visits my house and installs the ZTE F601 modem, enter PPPoE details on my Asus router and I finally have bridge mode. The airtel engineer who visited explained to me how lucky I was as this is a true bridge mode modem and it is rarely in Stock and they only provide this to businesses and very rarely to individuals unless there is confirmation from top management. After the bridge mode was enabled, I was surprised to find how stable the Hathway internet was - consistent and no more connection drops. I have a 150 Mbps plan and was getting consistent 190 Mbps speeds. After this, I have mailed Airtel to cancel their connection and waiting for them to come and take away their useless router.
When I came across many Bridge mode threads, I noticed how they did not contain full information or full steps, hence my post has been detailed so far to help whoever comes across this thread. Attaching below are a few screenshots and the steps to enable Bridge Mode on Hathway are:
1. Get a bridge mode supporting modem/router such as ZTE F601 by requesting Hathway
2. Connect the ISP modem from LAN port to WAN/Internet port of your personal router
3. Open the router page of your personal router [ it is usually 192.168.1.1, for my Asus default was 192.168.50.1]
4. Choose PPPoE mode and enter your username & password [ this will be provided by your ISP ]
5. Now you have Internet access in BRIDGE mode!!
IMAGES:
Asus after bridge mode , PPPoE settings , ZTE F601 Modem, Speedtest after Bridge mode
Back Story: I have had Hathway since 2015 when they had copper wires and then they shifted to Fibre around 2019 in my area. In October 2021, Airtel arrived in my area, and around this time I discovered Bridge mode. I requested Hathway to enable Bridge mode [ I have Asus RT-AC59U V2 router and was using it in AP mode to avoid double NAT ] and the CC [they had no idea what bridge mode was] arranged a call from the technical team. The technical team asked me to send a mail to their Bangalore helpdesk to get a separate router as my existing ZTE F660 did not support bridge mode, so I sent a mail and waited patiently. Weeks passed and no response from Hathway, then I read on several IBF forums how people with Airtel Broadband got Bridge mode enabled on their Huawei & Nokia routers. So believing Hathway is a lost cause, I took Airtel connection and to my horror, they provided me with ZTE F670L which does not support bridge mode - Spoke on length with Airtel technical team who tried their best but could not enable it, they said I needed a Huawei or Nokia router which was out of stock and will not be available. After a couple of engineer visits who gave up on bridge mode, I decided to disconnect my Hathway connection as Airtel had stable and better speeds, and the Hathway person visited and took away the F660 router.
I then come across a used Airtel Huawei router on OLX and I purchased it, connected it to my fiber, entered PPPoE details but the internet did not work. Apparently, Airtel has to configure from the backend to allow me to use this router. Contacted Airtel, they arranged the engineer to visit, but as it was the same engineer for my area he assumed I needed Bridge mode [ which he tried twice in past and failed ] and decided to ignore my multiple complaints and never visited my house. Despite repeated complaints to Airtel all they did was reschedule my appointment and the engineer never visited. Pathetic service by Airtel.
Hathway Bridge Mode: Then to my surprise, I receive a call from Hathway and they said they were able to arrange ZTE F601 for me which supports Bridge mode. They said since I had paid till Feb 2022 my plan was still active and an engineer will visit and install it. 1 hr after the call, the engineer visits my house and installs the ZTE F601 modem, enter PPPoE details on my Asus router and I finally have bridge mode. The airtel engineer who visited explained to me how lucky I was as this is a true bridge mode modem and it is rarely in Stock and they only provide this to businesses and very rarely to individuals unless there is confirmation from top management. After the bridge mode was enabled, I was surprised to find how stable the Hathway internet was - consistent and no more connection drops. I have a 150 Mbps plan and was getting consistent 190 Mbps speeds. After this, I have mailed Airtel to cancel their connection and waiting for them to come and take away their useless router.
When I came across many Bridge mode threads, I noticed how they did not contain full information or full steps, hence my post has been detailed so far to help whoever comes across this thread. Attaching below are a few screenshots and the steps to enable Bridge Mode on Hathway are:
1. Get a bridge mode supporting modem/router such as ZTE F601 by requesting Hathway
2. Connect the ISP modem from LAN port to WAN/Internet port of your personal router
3. Open the router page of your personal router [ it is usually 192.168.1.1, for my Asus default was 192.168.50.1]
4. Choose PPPoE mode and enter your username & password [ this will be provided by your ISP ]
5. Now you have Internet access in BRIDGE mode!!
IMAGES:
Asus after bridge mode , PPPoE settings , ZTE F601 Modem, Speedtest after Bridge mode
