Airtel broadband modem trouble

I recently shifted to airtel broadband. Their customer care and link are undoubtedly far better than my the other two providers I’ve tried (bsnl and tata indicom).

However, I started facing a strange issue for which I received even stranger response from the customer care :-).

I usually keep my PC and modem powered on because I access it from outside. I noticed that the modem (Beetel 220BX1) usually hangs after 2-3 days of continuous operation. The only way out at that point is to “restart” (the microsoft bug 🙂 ) the modem.

When I told customer care about this, the lady at the other end told me not to use the modem continuously like this as it was an electronic item ! ( Sounded like my granny was on the other side of the call ! ). After I persisted she relucantly took the complaint. The field engineer told me that the modems provided by Airtel could not handle this kind of loads. They needed to be restarted every 48-72 hours.

Given the fact that I have an unlimited broadband connection which I need to be up 24×7, I’ve finally decided to return the beetel modem and buy a linksys router/modem.

So for those of you planning to take an airtel broadband, and are desirous of continuous uptime, I would recommend you not take the modem provided by airtel.