Will an R7800 router from China work in NZ?

[Brian007]

I have all-but bought a R7800 router from TradeMe (NZ online shopping).  The packaging is written in Chinese.  The private seller says it was an unwanted gift from a friend who bought it within China.  Do you think this router will work in NZ?  Would the frequencies be in the correct range?  No, I don't know of what I speak.  I saw it written somewhere.  Are there any legal risks?

[michaelkenward · Accepted solution]

I wonder if the seller has much idea as to how these things work.

The R7800 is a router.It connects to a modem.

The bit where they say "you would still need the default router that provided by your ISP" is odd. ISPs don't provide "routers" in the sense that most people understand it. They provide modem/routers. The modem bit is what matters.

I could understand it if they said "you would still need the default modem that provided by your ISP".

Your first message said that your connection would be:

"Chorus Modem -> ISP's router -> This router ->"

Does that mean that your ISP supplies two boxes? A modem and a router?

The usual pattern is to supply a single modem/router. You then plug your router into that.

A daisy chain of two routers can cause a headache in its own right. (A similar discussion on that is now in progress.)

[mondenath]

it should work just switch the region in the setting to your country all should work fine once it is set to own country region. These routers are complied to contry specific and only open DFS based on the fcc approval on country wise

[michaelkenward]

Doesn't Netgear make most of its stuff in China?

[Brian007]

Hello michaelkenward.

You may be right.  Although my Chinese wife searched online and found that within China, one Chinese seller is selling two versions.  One version for China and one version for US.  We couldn't establish if the only difference is the writing on the box or not.

[Brian007]

Thank you for your response mondenath.

The seller of this R7800 now says that he can only get this router to function, if there is another modem connected between it and the ONT (modem).  It's my (limited) understanding, that it shouldn't require an additional router in this fashion.

I'm afraid that your comment about Dynamic Frequency Selection and Federal Communications Commission, has gone over my head.

I read that "The FCC mark is a certification mark employed on electronic products manufactured or sold in the United States which…"  Is this only applicable in the US, or does it apply in China and NZ also?

[Brian007]

For the sake of completeness.  The person trying to sell me this Chinese R7800 within New Zealand, has said the following.  Which in my mind indicates that it's not functioning correctly:

I'm not sure what's your network setup, if you are on fibre network, you would still need the default router that provided by your ISP, because this router cannot connect directly to the fibre modem, then you need to connect this router with your ISP's rounter on LAN port -  any 1 of 4 black ports (do not plug into the yellow internet port).

The setup would be:

Chorus Modem -> ISP's router -> This router -> devices... pc, iphone, ipad, etc.

It has been tested with above setup and it worked prefectly. The configuration menu is in English so shouldn't be a problem.

[michaelkenward · Accepted solution]

I wonder if the seller has much idea as to how these things work.

The R7800 is a router.It connects to a modem.

The bit where they say "you would still need the default router that provided by your ISP" is odd. ISPs don't provide "routers" in the sense that most people understand it. They provide modem/routers. The modem bit is what matters.

I could understand it if they said "you would still need the default modem that provided by your ISP".

Your first message said that your connection would be:

"Chorus Modem -> ISP's router -> This router ->"

Does that mean that your ISP supplies two boxes? A modem and a router?

The usual pattern is to supply a single modem/router. You then plug your router into that.

A daisy chain of two routers can cause a headache in its own right. (A similar discussion on that is now in progress.)

[Brian007]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  As you can tell, I'm new at all this.

You've confirmed my suspicions and I've cancelled my purchase (suggesting to the seller that he either disclose within his advertising, or send it back to China).