International routing...

June 24, 2014 10:26 AM

I'm looking to purchase a router in the U.S. that will work in Russia. What do I need to buy?

I'm going to Russia on Sunday and my mother told me that my grandparents need wifi, and when I get there I need to figure it out + set it up for them. It seems like it will be a lot easier and cheaper to buy in the U.S. and bring it over to Russia than trying to figure out where and how to buy this in Moscow. I know they have internet but I have no details at all beyond that, nor is it likely that I will be able to get any additional details.

What kind of wireless router (+ accessories) can I buy on Amazon Prime today that will work with whatever system they may have?

posted by aaanastasia to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

For this kind of use, routers are routers, more or less: if they have internet, they presumably have kind of box with an ethernet out, and you plug that into the ethernet in on the router. Most common firmware packages have multilingual interfaces if that's an issue for your grandparents; most have power bricks rather than internal power supplies, so you'd want one that's compatible with 240V.
posted by holgate at 10:42 AM on June 24, 2014

I bring routers with me to all sorts of former Soviet Republics. The only issue may be that their DSL router doesn't have an ethernet port for you to attach the router. This rarely seems to be the case though and worst case, once you get there you could buy a DSL WiFi router. We don't tend to have them in the u.s. Though.
posted by k8t at 11:11 AM on June 24, 2014

I doubt you'll find any wireless products here that are licensed to transmit in Russia. It's probably illegal to import US wireless stuff for use in Russia. I don't know how much this is enforced in practice (likely not much).

If you want to do it anyway, I suppose the main thing you will want to check is if the channel frequencies are the same. I believe the Russian 2.4 GHz wifi channels are a superset of the US ones (Russians get an additional ch 12 and 13). Hopefully the Russian channels are centered on the same frequencies as the US channels. I have no idea about 5 GHz though.
posted by ryanrs at 11:14 AM on June 24, 2014

Presumably you also need a socket adaptor as the power plugs are a different shape. Btw if you'll be in Moscow and not some backwater village, it might be easier though not cheaper to buy it there.
posted by pyro979 at 11:17 AM on June 24, 2014

Response by poster: I was able to find out that what they currently have has a 10mb ethernet port. Would something like this work for this?
posted by aaanastasia at 1:13 PM on June 24, 2014

I would be careful to ensure that the external power supply for whatever you're buying will work with 220V. Otherwise, you'll hear a "pop" and it'll be time to head out to the electronics store.
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 1:25 PM on June 24, 2014

That tp link should be fine.
posted by k8t at 2:57 AM on June 26, 2014