Wifi Router For 3Bb

[QED]

Hi All,

I have 3bb wired internet in my house, and want to switch to wireless so I can use multiple laptops and my new tab around the house. Can I just buy a wireless router off the shelf and plug it in, or does it need to be a specific brand/ model/ spec?

Also what details will I need when setting it up? I don't know my router password or anything like that which I guess I will need? How do I get this info?

Many thanks for any advice, and please be patient with this self confessed techno-idiot.

[lopburi3]

Most will come with a setup CD and just follow instructions. For your current unit password is likely admin/admin as most seem to use that from factory but you do not have to access that unless you want to check settings.

About the only setting that may change between providers is the VPI/VCI numbers but setup disk should do it and perhaps someone can post what 3bb uses (TRUE is 0-100 but most do not use that). Your name and password for service will have to be entered. And your wireless settings (for good security set WPA2-PSK on new units) and a good phrase key.

I have and recommend TP-Link W8960N. They are easily available most places now and have very good wi-fi coverage. The "N" standard is a big improvement for wireless.

[Tywais]

About the only setting that may change between providers is the VPI/VCI numbers but setup disk should do it and perhaps someone can post what 3bb uses (TRUE is 0-100 but most do not use that). Your name and password for service will have to be entered.

There should have been a letter given to you along with the contract you signed up. It will have the necessary 3BB DSL information. Some specifics shown on my form for my 3BB: Obviously the xxxx portion will be user specific.

Username: xxxxxxxxxx@3bbnex

Initial Password: xxxxxxxx

Encapsulation: PPoE LLC

VPI: 0

VCI: 33

[QED]

Thanks guys for the advice. Heading in to Pattaya today to buy one, I will try and find the recommended one, TP Link is the brand name?

@Tywais, it was several years ago when I signed the contract and don't have any paperwork I can find now.

[lopburi3]

Yes TP-Link is the brand - very fast growing firm from China. I have used Cisco Linksys and D-link and SMC and for me it is better both in operation and English. But I am one user and not have any knowledge of how reliable in commercial service.

[manarak]

D-Link 2640BT

800 baht at Tukcom.

[lopburi3]

D-Link 2640BT

800 baht at Tukcom.

But that does not support 802.11n. Why turn back time to 1/10th the speed?

[manarak]

D-Link 2640BT

800 baht at Tukcom.

But that does not support 802.11n. Why turn back time to 1/10th the speed?

54 Mbps are more than enough for internet - what is the best internet speed you can get in the LOS? 12 MB?

OP writes he's a techno-idiot, I would be very surprised if he had setup some NAS or other server on his network serving high-bandwidth content.

Plus, such contents are better served wired anyway, over gigabit LAN.

[CMSteve]

2 years ago the best speed you could get around here was 2Mb/down and .5Mb/Up. Now you can get 100Mb/down 10Mb/up. Better to go ahead and get the 802.11N standard.

D-Link 2640BT

800 baht at Tukcom.

But that does not support 802.11n. Why turn back time to 1/10th the speed?

54 Mbps are more than enough for internet - what is the best internet speed you can get in the LOS? 12 MB?

OP writes he's a techno-idiot, I would be very surprised if he had setup some NAS or other server on his network serving high-bandwidth content.

Plus, such contents are better served wired anyway, over gigabit LAN.

[BB1950]

D-Link 2640BT

800 baht at Tukcom.

Better to get a TP-Link modem. The TP-Link products have a life time warranty! I used to buy those cheap routers years ago and after a year or so they would crap out. I've since been using TP-Link and had it fail once. It was exchanged for a new router on the spot, for free!

[manarak]

2 years ago the best speed you could get around here was 2Mb/down and .5Mb/Up. Now you can get 100Mb/down 10Mb/up. Better to go ahead and get the 802.11N standard.

Let's see how much speed can be gotten on foreign downloads that are not cached.

I'm a webmaster, my server is connected with over 5 GB total bandwidth to the euro backbone.

Downloading from Switzerland, I get speeds of about 500 to 1000KB/s (which is 4 to 8Mbps), and downloading a file from my server to Thailand, I always peak at about 60KB/s (that's 0.48Mbs).

I very rarely hit content that has been cached by the ISP.

If the main use of the wireless connection is thai Youtube and mainstream US/international Youtube, then yeah, higher speed on the wireless router may be useful, but only if OP has the corresponding high speed internet service (or if he's got a NAS serving movies with a quality higher than DivX with DVD resolution).

I checked the price of my recent purchase of the 2640BT, and it was 690 baht.

Lifetime warranty... I have yet to come across a router that failed after the initial 12 month warranty.

I had plenty of disk crashes, power supply fries, network cards failures, etc. but never a router.

[CMSteve]

I get torrent dloads of upto ~1200Kbs. on a 12Mbs/down line. Assuming that in the coming years, I may upgrade to a faster line(~100Mbs) I would expect to have dloads at approx 12000Kbs/down. I would then have to upgrade again. If I had purchased a 2640T for 690B, I would minimally have to pay the same for the N standard, or whatever is avail at the time. Why? I can get the newer one for about 200B more now.

The OP clearly states that he will have at least 2 laptops and a wireless device. Wouldn't it be prudent to provide infrastructure to allow for all three to run at full speed?

BTW, I spend most of my time on Thai servers(or at least S.E Asia) and some larger sites that have their own international bandwidth. No need to assume that we will be making downloads to international sites.

Its simple planning. Spend the extra 200B now and save yourslef from paying double next year.

2 years ago the best speed you could get around here was 2Mb/down and .5Mb/Up. Now you can get 100Mb/down 10Mb/up. Better to go ahead and get the 802.11N standard.

Let's see how much speed can be gotten on foreign downloads that are not cached.

I'm a webmaster, my server is connected with over 5 GB total bandwidth to the euro backbone.

Downloading from Switzerland, I get speeds of about 500 to 1000KB/s (which is 4 to 8Mbps), and downloading a file from my server to Thailand, I always peak at about 60KB/s (that's 0.48Mbs).

I very rarely hit content that has been cached by the ISP.

If the main use of the wireless connection is thai Youtube and mainstream US/international Youtube, then yeah, higher speed on the wireless router may be useful, but only if OP has the corresponding high speed internet service (or if he's got a NAS serving movies with a quality higher than DivX with DVD resolution).

I checked the price of my recent purchase of the 2640BT, and it was 690 baht.

Lifetime warranty... I have yet to come across a router that failed after the initial 12 month warranty.

I had plenty of disk crashes, power supply fries, network cards failures, etc. but never a router.

Edited August 6, 2011 by CMSteve

[manarak]

I get torrent dloads of upto ~1200Kbs. on a 12Mbs/down line. Assuming that in the coming years, I may upgrade to a faster line(~100Mbs) I would expect to have dloads at approx 12000Kbs/down. I would then have to upgrade again. If I had purchased a 2640T for 690B, I would minimally have to pay the same for the N standard, or whatever is avail at the time. Why? I can get the newer one for about 200B more now.

The OP clearly states that he will have at least 2 laptops and a wireless device. Wouldn't it be prudent to provide infrastructure to allow for all three to run at full speed?

BTW, I spend most of my time on Thai servers(or at least S.E Asia) and some larger sites that have their own international bandwidth. No need to assume that we will be making downloads to international sites.

Its simple planning. Spend the extra 200B now and save yourslef from paying double next year.

2 years ago the best speed you could get around here was 2Mb/down and .5Mb/Up. Now you can get 100Mb/down 10Mb/up. Better to go ahead and get the 802.11N standard.

Let's see how much speed can be gotten on foreign downloads that are not cached.

I'm a webmaster, my server is connected with over 5 GB total bandwidth to the euro backbone.

Downloading from Switzerland, I get speeds of about 500 to 1000KB/s (which is 4 to 8Mbps), and downloading a file from my server to Thailand, I always peak at about 60KB/s (that's 0.48Mbs).

I very rarely hit content that has been cached by the ISP.

If the main use of the wireless connection is thai Youtube and mainstream US/international Youtube, then yeah, higher speed on the wireless router may be useful, but only if OP has the corresponding high speed internet service (or if he's got a NAS serving movies with a quality higher than DivX with DVD resolution).

I checked the price of my recent purchase of the 2640BT, and it was 690 baht.

Lifetime warranty... I have yet to come across a router that failed after the initial 12 month warranty.

I had plenty of disk crashes, power supply fries, network cards failures, etc. but never a router.

You've got a point about the torrentz.

But that's something I would do wired, the reason being stability, disk size and 24h ops.

Do you really go wireless for torrents?

[sfokevin]

Dear self confessed techno-idiot...

You could also just go to a 3BB sales office and ask for one of their wifi routers... about 1,000 baht and they will configure it right there in the store so all you have to do is take it home and plug it in....

(Just make sure they tell you the routers wifi name and password)

There will be a few flames posted by "power users" after this saying 3bb routers suck but if you are not used to setting up a wifi router and trouble shooting any glitches (That will pop up) - this would be the easiest solution...

If you choose a store bought router and can't get it to work 3bb or I bet the store you bought the 3rd party router from will not help you make it work...

Edited August 6, 2011 by sfokevin

[lopburi3]

But that's something I would do wired,

And that is what 'N' effectively provides you - without the wire. It is an advancement over 'G' and worth the extra cost in my opinion. Your WiFi will be like a land line and no fade outs/lost connections/data in normal use. Much more reliable.

As for D-link have had three units and all have overheated (even in air conditioned room) if driven hard. But I would buy 'N' versions of any for the improvement in WiFi operation.

[BB1950]

As for D-link have had three units and all have overheated (even in air conditioned room) if driven hard.

And that is precisely why mine have failed after time! Go TP-Link, they run MUCH cooler.

Edited August 7, 2011 by BB1950

[BB1950]

If you choose a store bought router and can't get it to work 3bb or I bet the store you bought the 3rd party router from will not help you make it work...

Wrong! Many shops will even set the router up for you. Just give them your 3BB username and password.

[sfokevin]

If you choose a store bought router and can't get it to work 3bb or I bet the store you bought the 3rd party router from will not help you make it work...

Wrong! Many shops will even set the router up for you. Just give them your 3BB username and password.

And what if he gets it home and it doesn't work properly - What do you suggest the OP should do?... Maybe you can PM the OP your phone number to field any problems

Edited August 7, 2011 by sfokevin

[BB1950]

If you choose a store bought router and can't get it to work 3bb or I bet the store you bought the 3rd party router from will not help you make it work...

Wrong! Many shops will even set the router up for you. Just give them your 3BB username and password.

And what if he gets it home and it doesn't work properly - What do you suggest the OP should do?... Maybe you can PM the OP your phone number to field any problems

Actually if it doesn't work when he takes it home, it's probably a 3BB problem and they will work on it. They do support 3rd party routers! They will even check the settings of the router and tell you if the router has a problem or not when they come out. No different than if you bought the 3BB router.

Edited August 7, 2011 by BB1950

[sfokevin]

Actually if it doesn't work when he takes it home, it's probably a 3BB problem and they will work on it. They do support 3rd party routers! They will even check the settings of the router and tell you if the router has a problem or not when they come out. No different than if you bought the 3BB router.

You have obviously made much merrit in a previous life :jap:

[chris2004]

QED

I'm thinking of doing the same as you and i am another dummy at tech. I would be most grateful if you could give a step by step guide after you have set up your wireless router (I am with 3bb too).

Did you buy the router at 3bb as some suggested or at Tukcom? Do you still get the same download speeds?

Thanks

[QED]

Thanks for all the advice. I didn't make it to Pattaya last weekend but am going this weekend, will buy the TP Link suggested at Tukcom and update on here afterwards.

[QED]

QED

I'm thinking of doing the same as you and i am another dummy at tech. I would be most grateful if you could give a step by step guide after you have set up your wireless router (I am with 3bb too).

Did you buy the router at 3bb as some suggested or at Tukcom? Do you still get the same download speeds?

Thanks

I bought the TP-Link W8961N from Tukcom, not as easy to find as I thought it would be, got it on the 4th floor eventually.

Took it home and set up the cabling as per the instructions, then inserted the set-up CD and followed it step by step. A quick call to 3BB (1530) to get my user name, password and other settings (these are all on the same set-up page, so I just read them out and they answered - PPPoE, VCI etc), then entered my own secure password to stop the neighbours logging in, and it was all finished in about 10 minutes.

I was kind of dreading it as I expected to run into several problems, but it was sooooo easy!

Thanks again to all for the advice :jap:

[QED]

Hi All,

The router worked great for 2 days, then become intermittent, now doesn't work at all. It now only has a power light - no ADSL etc lights come on.

If I take the incoming line and connect to my old 3BB wired router it works fine.

I suspect this is a faulty router, due to the fact it worked perfectly for 2 days then gradually deteriorated, and plan to take it back to the shop. Is there anything I could have messed up in the set up to cause this?

[QED]

No replies so I will take it back to the shop today - will update later