Unable to Access devices through SKY router

Living in London has had its good times and some "scratching-my-head" times. Well, its not about the "place" really, is it. But I could see the difference in how close you are to the advent of new technologies coming in everyday, making life more.. hmm let's say "Interesting" (Complicated, really!)

Over to the topic - I've been brooding over a week on an issue (with a silly fix, obviously). The problem was, all of a sudden, I could not access my Wifi phone from my PC and vice-versa. Same problem accessing my Wireless printer as well. I was convinced that the problem was the firewall configuration on my Ubuntu laptop, tried a few things and was giving up. Didn't find anything useful on the Router as well*. Note that, in all the while, I had no problems accessing the Internet.

Brainstorm - Did some digging up on SKY broadband forums and tried a complete router-reset. Noticed that nifty little configuration called "Wireless Isolation" which was left unchecked after the reset. I remembered that I had left it checked, based on the help-instructions that say -
"If Enabled, the router will be hidden from other wireless devices. For normal situations, this setting should be left at the default value of Disabled."

What it does not say is the corollary - ie.. you will not be able to access other LAN devices!

So, this setting stays unchecked here on - silly!

Configuring both Airtel and BSNL on the same modem

I'm in a cleanup spree! Just getting all those not-working and I'll-fix-it-later issues sorted out.. I have two broadband connections, one from BSNL and another from AirTel. BSNL: cheap, not-so-reliable, poor support. AirTel: Costs double (for similar packages), reliable, good support. Basic plans in each connection give me 2MBPS, 3GB for Rs.500/- and reliability of having both connections! Best of both worlds eh..!

Ok, that's background enough... The problem: one fine day, the BSNL Huawei Mt882 modem packed up. I couldn't get it working as it had a hardware failure. If I could get the AirTel modem (Huawei MTx880) working for BSNL, then it would be great. I knew I could, but I wanted to have both configurations on the same, so that when I switch over for some time in a month, it should be a simple task.

I've used PVC-0 for AirTel configuration (which is by default) and PVC-3 for BSNL configuration.

1. Go to the modem administration page - typically http://192.168.1.1/. My modem was a Huawei MT880 from AirTel. Should be similar for other modems.
2. Navigate to Basic --> WAN Setting. You would be at PVC-0.
3. Set the following: Active: 0; Default Route: Disable
4. AirTel uses the setting: VPI/VCI: 1/32 while BSNL uses 0/35. This is set by the provided and has to be that.
5. PVC-3 has VPI/VCI value of 0/35 and setting PPPoE. Set the below values -

• Active: Yes


• Mode: Routing (not Bridge)


• Encapsulation: PPPoE


• Service Name: DataOne


• UserId: (your bsnl-userId without @dataone.in)


• Password: (your password)


• Default Route: Enabled (only of the connections can be the Default Route)

6. Save the settings. If you get the error "FAILED: Due to Duplicate VPI/VCI", then set some random VCI numbers from, say from 36 to 50 for all other default PVC configurations available on the router. By this time, your PVC3 settings wouldn't have been saved, so you may have to re-do step-5.

7. That's it! Power off the modem, connect the new BSNL phone line and power-on you should be online! The Service information on the administration page should look like this...

Whenever, you need to switch, all we need to do is to switch the Active and Default-Route settings!
If you found this useful, please comment on my blog, so that others can benefit!