BSNL has blocked port 22 on its servers/routers from 1st August 2017 and hence BSNL broadband users are unable to use SSH. There is no official word about this yet.
I believe it is an important port especially for IoT devices or for home/office automation. Not sure why BSNL does this if it is permanent.
When you try to SSH, you just get a message telling “Connection Timed Out”. Please comment below if you are a BSNL broadband user and you are facing this issue
Right now You can use a free VPN like CyberGhost in order to bypass your ISP.
VPN is definitely a temporary fix, but I feel this should not be ignored. Being developers, I request all of you to Tweet about this issue asking BSNL to unblock port 22 as soon as possible.
BSNL has blocked port no 22 for security reasons all over India. You can contact your nearest BSNL exchange to unblock the port.
Solutions for BSNL Broadband without SSH port 22
Anyway, let’s talk about the alternatives or solutions to continue to use BSNL broadband irrespective of its ban over port 22.
Github Users
It’s easy to solve it by running SSH over HTTPS that is allowed by Github.
Web developers
Web developers usually do not have access to the server. One solution is to ask your server administrator to open an additional port. There are plenty of unused portsavailable. My favorites are 420 and 24. 🙂
System Administrators
There are plenty of workarounds available for system admins. As mentioned above, opening additional port is easiest to achieve, considering it helps the web developers your client may have.
Paid Solutions
Static IP
Getting a static IP will unblock port 22.
BSNL unblocks port 22 if the BB user opt for static IP that costs Rs.2000 (or Rs.1800 on certain high-end plans). Static IP is available only on plans that are above 1k. As of this writing, the least feasible plan to get static IP is BBG Combo ULD 1199.
Paid VPN
If you don’t mind spending additional money, buy a VPN service. It is the easiest way to get around the present situation with BSNL. Btw, are you aware that Apple pulled down VPN apps from its China Apps Store. And then, Russia banned VPN. So, if port 22 can be banned by an ISP now, anything can happen in India in the future!
I haven’t covered all use-cases. For example, most (managed) hosts do not open additional port for SSH / SFTP. There are workaround available for such users too. However, it isn’t easy, especially who have never used SSH. In general, if you know how to use SSH, then buy a small server (VPS servers are available as low as USD2.5 per month) and then use that server as an intermediate server to connect to all others sites / servers. If nothing works, use a free VPN. Good luck!