[TriLUG] Spectrum vs AT&T

[Mauricio Tavares via TriLUG]

On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 9:21 AM David Both via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>
> So after requesting your input, I thought I would let you know what
> happened.
>
> I did decide to switch to AT&T residential Gb fiber. The migration to
> AT&T fiber is now complete and everything went very well. Of course that
> is not to say it was problem-free.
>
> I have never been a fan of AT&T but Spectrum has been unable to resolve
> issues with the network just dropping out and the modem/router rebooting
> at frequent and inopportune times. But the speed of fiber and the fact
> that it is symmetric with upload and download speeds at 1Gb rather than
> uploads being so much slower as wih my old provider, and the fact that
> it is significantly less expensive, I decided to switch.
>
> I wanted to go with residential service which is much less expensive but
> I had some concerns about needing static IP addresses and with issues I
> have seen with blocked ports like 25 for email. I run my own web and
> email servers so that was important to me. After a chat session with a
> fairly knowledgeable rep and talking with a sales person on the phone,
> they both said that the static IP addresses were not a problem and that
> the installation tech could help set that up as well as deal with
> blocked ports.
>
> They were right. Which was a surprise to me.
>
> Scott, the installation tech called me the morning of the installation
> to let me know he was on the way and he was delayed only slightly due to
> traffic. We discussed my needs for a few minutes and he assured me that
> we could do exactly what I needed. As a gamer, he was very knowledgeable
> and understood what I wanted and why.
>
> After doing the physical installation of running the fiber from the
> street to my home office, we worked together to install the modem/router
> in my desired location and get it and the ONT plugged into a UPS, cabled
> together, and connected to the fiber. I would not let him into the
> narrow space available to do that so we worked together on it.
>
> He installed updates to the Arris modem/router and we were ready to go.
> He showed my on his hand-held tester that the rates were both within a
> decimal point of 1Gb. We easily got the static IP addresses configured
> on the router and Scott placed it in passthrough mode.
>
> I then reconfigured my own internal router. We did have some issues with
> blocked ports. Although I could browse the web and SSH to remote hosts,
> nothing was able to initiate connections to my router/firewall. After
> calling around to various support systems inside AT&T, Scott and I
> figured out how to unblock the needed ports and everything was working
> fine. The secret here is that the blocks are in the modem/router. Access
> the router using the web interface on the gateway IP and set the "Allow
> incoming connections" to on or enabled. I don't remember which. We
> figured this out while talking to the AT&T fee service which "unblocks"
> ports. They needed access to my computer but being Linux and paranoid
> there was no way. We discussed it and the guy on the other end said he
> could talk me thought it which means it must be in the router. So I
> accessed the router looked around and made the change. I now have no
> ports blocked in either direction. The router PIN for admin access is on
> the bottom of the device. We also made some other changes in the router
> to meet my needs.
>
> I did have some issues with speeds, but those problems were with my own
> older Linux computer that I was using for my router/firewall. I moved
> the hard drive from that machine to a newer one, installed the needed
> network adapters, made a few configuration changes and all is now well.
>
> It just took longer than I expected but everything seems to be working
> very well now. I am getting very high speeds but I did notice that my
> CLI speedtest.py is very inaccurate at these speeds.
>
      You lost me with knowledgeable AT&T technician. I still have not
recovered from that.

Glad to hear you have happy connection. I wish where I lived AT&T was
an option; I guess it and Spectrum had a "gentlemen's agreement."
>
> On 1/16/20 1:20 PM, David Both via TriLUG wrote:
> > I have spectrum at 300Mb but am currently having lots of problems with
> > dropouts at all times of day. 1st level support just replaced
> > connectors and checked signal levels. Part of the problem is that,
> > even though I have business class service, it uses the same coax that
> > the neighbor kids stream videos and play games. Most of my problems
> > are during times that this would be taking place but not all.
> >
> > I need to know your thoughts about switching to AT&T fiber and
> > possibly U-verse for TV . Please help! ;-)
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> --
>
>
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> David P. Both, RHCE
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