BSNL Broadband Wireless Configuration

[SumitB]

@DerAlte: Modems provided by BSNL are by default set to work under the bridge mode. You will have to create a dial-up connection on your desktop and specify "Dial using a modem connection which requires a user name and password". To get this modem to dial for you, you need to set it up for PPPoE mode. This as I mentioned is for Dataone. It may hold true for Airtel but I don't know. For Dataone, the VPI-VCI values for the PPPoE connection will be 0-35.

Rest as you mentioned are all modem specific. All modems I have come across have DHCP enabled by default and assign the ip address in the range of 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.254 and the Subnet is 255.255.255.0.

@Carboy: I am sure that once you get hold of the WAN connection screen on your modem, you will be able to set it up for PPPoE mode. Give it a try and get back to us here for further help.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by SumitB

@Carboy: I am sure that once you get hold of the WAN connection screen on your modem, you will be able to set it up for PPPoE mode. Give it a try and get back to us here for further help.

Got it working. Tx a lot, Sumit.
Few questions

1) With DHCP, the laptop says "Limited or No Connectivity".
Then I had set the IP address, Gateway, DNS - like in your first post - to get the connectivity going. DHCP works on my Desktop, however.

2) I have enabled NAT & Firewall in the PPPoE configuration on the modem
- should I or should I not? I have the default Windows XP software firewall.

2) My uname looks like xxxxnnnn@bsnl.in
I googled & tried various ways of changing the password.
Tried to login at
BSNL Portal
But login fails

Tried at Dataone WebMail

it asks for a @dataone.in uname - I tried my xxxxnnnn uname/password
Fails again.
Tried at Home
Fails again. How do I change my password?

Where should I change my password?

I am able to login at Login - but that just lets me check
email - not change password.

Next I am going try wireless with security.
Update - Security enabled.

[SumitB]

BSNL - Broadband Account Management

That will let you change your password. You are on the new National Internet Backbone II of BSNL. You must have got a 14 digit Portal User ID from BSNL. Use that with your password to login. Then you can change your password.

DHCP is failing due to your WiFi Cards drivers. Try updating them. If problem still persists, see if you have some utility from your laptop or WiFi card's manufacturer running. Disable it. Then use Window's Zero Configuration Utility to enable DHCP and try.

If you have only 1 or 2 systems, I would suggest turning off DHCP on the modem and using static IP addresses on both, desktop and laptop. Makes things easier to troubleshoot.

Congrats on getting things to work.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by SumitB

BSNL - Broadband Account Management

That will let you change your password. You are on the new National Internet Backbone II of BSNL. You must have got a 14 digit Portal User ID from BSNL.

No - I didn't get any 14 digit Portal User ID.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by SumitB

@DerAlte: Modems provided by BSNL are by default set to work under the bridge mode...

Strange! I have the following at home:
- BSNL ADSL through a "Type 3" modem/router (Huawei, no WiFi, but that doesn't matter)
- 3Com LAN Switch
- CAT5 wiring for LAN (put in when I built the house)
- D-Link WLAN Access Point / Router (put in when I got the BSNL ADSL a couple of years ago)
- 4 desktops (incl. a Mac with OS X)
- 2 laptops (1 on Windoze, 1 on Linux, both over WLAN)
- Media Lounge Player (over WLAN)
- Couple of other mobile devices coming in and going out (LAN and WLAN)

* Never had to enable "Bridge Mode" or "create a dial-up connection on your desktop and specify "Dial using a modem connection which requires a user name and password""
* The BSNL connection worked from day-1 as the Gateway specified on the first desktop that I put on
* I had "bridged" the connection to an "isolatable" LAN segment via a second Ethernet port on a PC (was doing some experimentation; took it off after a while)
* The Wireless domain in the house is Security-enabled
* Only the first desktop has a fixed IP address
* All other participants on the LAN and WLAN are via DHCP, none of them had a problem participating in the WLAN after the security challenge was completed

Sumit-ji, perhaps you can tell me what I have done right, since everything has always worked for me the way it is supposed to. I had done the whole thing myself, and I had simply followed instructions as given in the manuals!

[SumitB]

Originally Posted by carboy

No - I didn't get any 14 digit Portal User ID.

Then you need to get hold of the people in your exchange's Dataone section and ask them for the 14 digit Portal ID. Only then will you be able to change your password, and let me guess your password...it is password
Get hold of them and do it ASAP. Even though you should be safe with the new DSLAM in place as no one will be able to use your user name to login for broadband access as it is port blocked, but your mail id will not be safe.

[SumitB]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Strange! I have the following at home:
- BSNL ADSL through a "Type 3" modem/router (Huawei, no WiFi, but that doesn't matter)
- 3Com LAN Switch
- CAT5 wiring for LAN (put in when I built the house)
- D-Link WLAN Access Point / Router (put in when I got the BSNL ADSL a couple of years ago)
- 4 desktops (incl. a Mac with OS X)
- 2 laptops (1 on Windoze, 1 on Linux, both over WLAN)
- Media Lounge Player (over WLAN)
- Couple of other mobile devices coming in and going out (LAN and WLAN)

* Never had to enable "Bridge Mode" or "create a dial-up connection on your desktop and specify "Dial using a modem connection which requires a user name and password""
* The BSNL connection worked from day-1 as the Gateway specified on the first desktop that I put on
* I had "bridged" the connection to an "isolatable" LAN segment via a second Ethernet port on a PC (was doing some experimentation; took it off after a while)
* The Wireless domain in the house is Security-enabled
* Only the first desktop has a fixed IP address
* All other participants on the LAN and WLAN are via DHCP, none of them had a problem participating in the WLAN after the security challenge was completed

Sumit-ji, perhaps you can tell me what I have done right, since everything has always worked for me the way it is supposed to. I had done the whole thing myself, and I had simply followed instructions as given in the manuals!

Did you get your modem from BSNL? Was it pre-configured? Did BSNL charge you for the installation (even though you did it on your own)? If they did charge you and you got the modem from BSNL, its possible they pre-configured it for you. I am not trying to create a controversy here.

And if it matters, I have 5 Dataone connections working behind a pFsense Load Balancing routers with about 38 systems working on Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu. No Macs. 2 modded XBOXes running XBMC and many PPC's which access modded Linksys WRT54g and Buffalo WHR-54 routers for WiFi. Also I have several roaming clients who walk in with laptops for a Nokia WiFi zone demonstration. On an average, we generate over 3.5GB of data per day for our clients on the Dataone Accounts ;-)

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by SumitB

Did you get your modem from BSNL? Was it pre-configured? Did BSNL charge you for the installation (even though you did it on your own)? If they did charge you and you got the modem from BSNL, its possible they pre-configured it for you. I am not trying to create a controversy here.

* Yes, modem was taken from BSNL
* No, it did not come pre-configured for anything - of course it has factory settings
* Don't remember whether they charged or not, nor did I care - I wanted it up and running, so went to the AE's office, collected the modem and did it myself. Called up the line man to check from the other end. A-OK!
* And no controversies, I simply wondered what I had done right, since I never faced those problems! And I always believe, as a simple engineer, that the way all things are setup to work is always simple.

Originally Posted by SumitB

And if it matters, I have 5 Dataone connections working behind a pFsense Load Balancing routers with ... On an average, we generate over 3.5GB of data per day for our clients on the Dataone Accounts ;-)

Sorry sir, I am only a poor chhota-mota DIY character, and I don't indulge in "mine is bigger than yours". Let me not even speak about what I do professionally - aap to sir badey aadmi hain!

[carboy]

Originally Posted by SumitB

And if it matters, I have 5 Dataone connections working behind a pFsense Load Balancing routers with about 38 systems working on Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu. No Macs. 2 modded XBOXes running XBMC and many PPC's which access modded Linksys WRT54g and Buffalo WHR-54 routers for WiFi. Also I have several roaming clients who walk in with laptops for a Nokia WiFi zone demonstration. On an average, we generate over 3.5GB of data per day for our clients on the Dataone Accounts ;-)

Would you mind if I asked, what is it exactly that you do?
Any link for your firm?

[SumitB]

We are into ISP services. We have a chain of stores dealing in consumer electronics. Our business does not require us to have a website. We also distribute TataSky in Meghalaya.

Bhajanlal's

The website has not been updated as we don't get any hits. We are in a backward place

[Jaggu]

Though am an absolute newbie at all this, i did something similar like Deralte mentioned to set up my Linksys wifi with BSNL modem.

Read the manual and configured it and it works lol, yeah i goofed up for first 1 or 2 hours but soon it worked. Let me admit it, i havent seen anything more than IP number before that.

Now i have BSNL fixed IP for the linksys thingie which inturn acts as DHCP for rest of LAN/WLAN and i just enabled security for WLAN access.

With this experience i managed to pop open my BSNL admin screen and now do some very minor tweaks also on it.

So download that manual and go for it, linksys had a detailed one with explanation and terminologies that really helped, and then google my bestest friend for gadget tweakings

[ram]

Originally Posted by SumitB

Modems provided by BSNL are by default set to work under the bridge mode.

@Sumit, what happens in the case where my ISP is Tata Indicom Broadband?

I have a Tata Indicom broadband connection:
It has the Infinity-256 postpaid 256 kbps tariff plan
with unlimited free monthly usage and with a fixed IP address.

For our residential area, Tata Indicom runs a CAT5 cable with RJ-45 connector into our house.

So that my family and I could access the Internet on our Wifi laptops, we bought a Linksys Wireless-G, 54 Mbps Broadband Router model: WRT54G

We are having some difficulty to get the thing to route the internet connection to the laptops on the other side.

Would you kindly advise us, on how to share the Internet connection?

Ram

[ram]

Well friends, looks like I cracked it.
First, got my laptop's Wifi to detect the Wifi network.

Then pointed my Firefox brower at http://192.168.1.1
This happens to be the default.
The browser opened a configuration page.

There I picked "StaticIP" in the Internet Connection Type selection menu.

Then keyed in my static IP address with Subnet Mask, Gateway and Pair of Static DNSes provided by Tata Indicom.

Set the Time Zone to "(GMT+05:30) Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, New Delhi"
and clicked on the "Save Settings" button

That was all there was to it.

When I pointed the browser at everyone's favorite: Google,
the Tata Indicom Broadband web login "dialler" came up.

Hope this helps our other friends.

Warm regards
Ram

[2theMax]

I have a PC hooked up to Hathway Broadband, Pls suggest what wireless router to buy to connect my laptop as well. I was quoted Netgear for 2300 and Linksys for 2500 rs. (not sure of the model numbers)

[SumitB]

Get the buffalo WHR-54G. The best value-for-money at the moment in terms of range and signal level. Available for about Rs. 2000 in here.