in Tech

Don’t Buy a ftth router Before reading this!

by Akshat Swarup 26 May 2021, 1:10 pm 1.8k Views

In this article, we won’t be giving you the prices and links of routers you need to buy. We will try to make you understand the whole concept of routers and wifi. Because if the concept is clear then the buying decision will automatically pop into your mind. What type of router and ONU will you need to experience the best internet speeds for each ISP?

Best WiFi Router For BSNL FTTH and Broadband: The Buying Guide — Credits- bpedia.co.in

We have been receiving many emails and DMs from you guys telling us that BSNL is providing routers at a very high cost with their FTTH service. That too from an unknown brand which does not hold any reputation in the market. Obviously, these routers are not worth what you pay for them. What should you do in this scenario? That is what you will read in the following article.

Table of Contents

EPON AND GPON?

GPON vs EPON, what is the difference? | Optcore.net — Credits- optcore.net

The first thing that holds importance is EPON and GPON. It is the first thing you need to decide before buying a router. EPON and GPON are basically 2 technologies used in fiber networks which the ISP has to decide before deploying it. ISP’s can choose only one of the two technologies to deploy their network. The difference between them is that more people can attach to GPON in comparison to EPON. The range and speed of GPON are more than that of EPON.

Now if the ISP chooses GPON network, then all the parts and machinery used in deploying the network should be made using GPON compatible parts including the router. Vice versa goes with the EPON network. As a customer, if we go to buy a router then the first thing we should know is whether we need a GPON router or an EPON router.

You could ask your ISP provider about the type of technology they are providing and then you could purchase the router accordingly.

Now the first battle for buying a router ends here. Most people buy the router before confirming the technology and then make a really big mistake. The router of the opposite technology network won’t work properly and you will get fed up with your ISP at the end. All these issues only come when you purchase something without confirming the actual technology used.

Renowned Brands

There are 4 brands which are available mostly everywhere and provide good quality routers. These 4 brands are as follows–

SYROTECH
OPTILINK
NETLINK
REVO

These are the only brands that deal in this category of routers. You must be missing TP-Link and Tenda in this list? Yes, they aren’t present here because they are not able to sell this category of routers in India. Maybe because of their demand in other countries or because of the global chip shortage.

You could choose routers from any of these four brands. Now you know the technology required and the companies to buy from. What’s next?

Their are two options in front of you now.

Buy a cheap ONU with a separate router
Buy a full-fledged router

Cheap ONU with a separate router

The first category you could choose is a cheap ONU and a separate router combo

The device shown below is called an ONU and this is basically a converter. Which converts the fiber line to an ethernet cable.

Now, you have an ethernet cable. This ethernet cable can be connected easily with the router of your choice to use it as a WIFI.’

Benefits of this setup-

There are 3 major benefits of using this setup as your WIFI.

Low Investment

In this kind of setup, the initial investment is very low. You can also use an old router which will save your cost and makes the overall setup cheap.

Stable Performance

Another benefit of this setup is Stable performance. You internet performance in this setup is much more stable than the combined router which are sometimes very unstable.

Full fledged routers sometimes have a login page or internet drop issues. This setup will easily surpass all these issues.

Reuse of Routers as extender

You could use the router as an extender in the future if you change your ISP. In the future, these services will get cheaper and companies will provide a full-fledged router with their FTTH service. In this case, your router can be used as a range extender in contrast to an old full-fledged router which eventually becomes a waste of money.

Disadvantages of this setup + Pricing

Pricing

The approximate cost of a SYROTECH ONU on amazon is Rs1200 to Rs1300. Also, a decent router will cost you around 2k to 3k bucks

Disadvantages

There are some disadvantages also of this method. You won be able to use the free landline service which the fiber companies usually provide. So this setup Is suitable for people who don’t worry about voice calls and only want higher internet speeds.

Full-fledged router.

Let’s move on to the next setup of a Full-fledged router. Firstly, The cost of the complete full router which consists of landline port, ethernet, and ONU combined will be around 3000 to 4000 rupees and It will have all the necessary features. But the brands which are offering this type of router are not much reliable. Lastly, they don’t have service centers and may be a risk to our investment.

Advantage of full-fledged Routers

An advantage which you can get is that you can easily use the landline service with this device. This is the only advantage in the case of a Full-fledged router in comparison to a combo pack. Everything else is pretty much the same.

Now all the fiber ISP services are not well saturated in India. This threatens the availability of these routers in India. Because of this, the distributors buy routers and ONU in bulk from the manufacturers and then they sell these combos at a very high cost to the needful customers who don’t have a way around except to purchase them.

What do we think?

If you look closely at the situation, the prices of all these equipment are very high on online shopping sites. We could have easily given you some affiliated links to buy this stuff but we thrive to tell you the facts in our articles.

The prices on Amazon are higher, but the prices on IndiaMART are much cheaper for the same product. An ONU which is listed for 2000 rupees will be available for only 800 rupees on indiamart.com which is much much cheaper. There is so much difference between amazon and IndiaMART. Although we trust more on Amazon rather than IndiaMARTwhich again becomes a plus point for amazon.

Use India mart only at your risk though the prices on that site are very much cheap.

We hope that you must be clear with the type of router which you will buy for any kind of situation. After reading this article, your buying decision will be much better than ever before.

In the end, we will list links for some very value-for-money routers and ONU which you should definitely have a look upon.