Note: If you are not in India or if you are not currently using either BSNL or Tata broadband connection, then you can save a couple of minutes by ignoring this post. 😉
Before I moved to Bangalore, I was having a BSNL broadband connection at Chennai. I bought the wa3002g4 WIFI router from BSNL. Now after moving to Bangalore, I took Tata wimax broadband connection.
Tata wimax doesn’t come with a wifi router and my old BSNL router was lying around. So I thought of using my BSNL router as a switch to convert my wired connection to a wireless connection. After some struggle I succeeded and thought of documenting it here so that it will be helpful for someone who is looking to do the same thing and I can also refer to it in future, if I need to do it again.
Multi-functional device
First thing to know is that, the wifi router (wa3002g4) provided by BSNL is a multi-functional device. It can act as an ADSL modem, a wifi router and also as a switch.
Connecting the wires
First, you need to remove the ADSL cable from the BSNL router and then connect the output cable from Tata wimax modem into any of the four slots of BSNL router. If you need to share the connection with a desktop without wifi card, then you can connect the cable from the desktop network card to one of the other slots in BSNL router. Like wise you connect up to three other computers.
Configuring the router
Now login to your router admin console and disable DHCP. Enter a SSID for your connection and password protect it using WEP or WPA. (WPA is recommended)
Now switch on everything and enable wifi in your laptop. Connect to the router using the password you created. After the connection is established log on to the Tata wimax admin console and enter your username and password. Now you should be able to browse the internet using wifi.
I guess the router can also be used as a switch with other broadband providers, but I am not sure. If you have tried to setup connection with other providers, then do let me know about it in the comments. 🙂
Update: If you are not able to log into the Tata Indicom web dialer page simultaneously in both the computers, then call up Tata Indicom customer care and ask them to enable "NAT" for your connection. Once enabled, you can use connect using multiple computers, without individually logging in each of them separately.
Update 2: I have since moved on from Tata Indicom connection. I currently use this router to share WiFi signal across floors in my home.