Anybody here use Airtel fiber with your own gear instead of the device they provide? How was the connection process & what gear do you use? Did the airtel people give you any trouble?

In my hometown they gave their own box with custom cable which also could work as WiFi router. I connected that box to my router via LAN cable and disabled router on Airtel Box. They didn't give me any trouble. Even when they came to diagnose issues at my place later they just checked their box and nothing else. Basically didn't blame it on my setup.

Is their router sufficient? Can we optin for a non router and cheaper option?

Their router has both 2.4 and 5Ghz channel, with decent security options. I think it is very good for home use. But depends on your need. I had my own router from BLR that was with higher device capacity so I just plugged mine.

I have heard that they don’t allow for non-router fiber drops. They only have ONT+Router combo devices which they force you to take. If I can use my own ONT, that’s even better. But at this point, that’s a lost cause. At least, for the router, I’m trying to see if they’ll allow use of my own router (in bridging mode).

I think their device is needed. The cable they got to my place was not a standard LAN cable but a optical fiber cable. My router wouldn't be able to accept that input.

Yes. So, the device they give does 2 functions. One is the ONT (Optical network terminal). The other is our normal router function. My question is specifically regarding using their device as the ONT but using my device exclusively as the router.

Yes, I was able to do that with no fuss. Just connected LAN cable from their device to my TP Link router, and I made WiFi networks of Airtel router hidden.

Same here. Disabled the wifi on their box and using it primarily as the ONT which feeds into my TP Link Mesh router setup via a LAN cable. You can choose to leave DHCP on their box or move to your own gear. (If you leave it on their box your gear is just a glorified extender).

^ Perfect. Let me try that.

To be able to properly use your own router, the Airtel box should support bridge mode. If it does, you can utilise that. You'll avoid double NAT this way.

Yes. That’s the plan. Will keep that in mind 🙂