New Gateways

mudtoe

I got an email the other day indicating that a new gateway was going to be shipped to me and that I needed to install it by March 4th. Only problem is that I don't currently have an Altafiber gateway as I just have my own router (Ubiquity ER-12) connected directly to the ONT. I also have the static IP option, which the old Cincinnati Bell system required a gateway be included whether you used it or not, which I think is why they are trying to send me one now, thinking I currently have one. I went to one of the local stores last summer sometime when Altafiber wanted to start charging me for a gateway I didn't have, and the manager explained all this to me about why the gateway was in their system as me having one, and he added an offsetting monthly credit to cancel out the gateway fee and he put a note on my account explaining why (i.e. that I had no gateway and was using my own router).

My potential concern now, given that the email implies that if you don't install the new gateway by March 4th, that your service will quit working. The email didn't quite come out and say it that way, but it said something to the effect that you are required to install the new one by March 4th. This brings up the question of whether something is going to change in Alta Fiber's system on March 4th that could potentially render my ER-12 unable to connect, or that the static IPs would suddenly disappear on that date. I'm in Florida for the winter and won't be back until the end of April, so I won't be able to take any action if that's the case, and my security system and home servers are all using that connection even though I'm not there.

If anyone from Alta Fiber is reading this, could you comment on whether or not there is going to be some sort of network change on March 4th which alters the way routers connected to ONTs get their IP addresses (currently it's just basic DHCP), or how the static IP setup works, the setup for which appears to currently happen in Alta Fiber's network when the client router requests a dynamic DHCP address.

Wiggles45

mudtoe I didn’t get an email yet. Do you know what one they are sending out?

mudtoe

Well, it kept working although i got several phone messages asking me to do the upgrade. They mailed me a device, but as I am in Florida I couldn’t have installed it anyway, even if I wanted to. I had a friend of mine return it to the store and get a receipt for the return.

So far everything is continuing to work. I’m not sure why they are so gun-ho on having everyone replace their gateway, but I have a hunch. Here in Florida I have Xfinity, which is awful. One of the things they do is for every customer who has their gateway they use it to offer wifi services to other Xfinity customers and I think to anyone who is willing to pay. Basically the gateway puts out an open SSID that the customer can’t turn off, which allows anyone to connect. If you connect you end up on a landing page that you have login to before you can use it. One would certainly hope that this SSID is on some sort of separate VLAN versus the customer’s network.

I’m wondering if that’s Alta Fiber’s eventual intention, to turn all their customer’s gateways into public hotspots either for their customers, or on a pay as you go basis for anyone? That would explain their eagerness to get the gateways all replaced if the new ones allow for that and for them to remotely control them.

FoxMike

I just had mine installed in a new build.

It’s XGSPON using a Nokia ONT.

Hand off is 1GB RJ45 to my Asus router. I do not have a gateway just an ONT.

Wiggles45

FoxMike in order to get that ONT, did you just get 1 gig internet or did you get 3 gig?

FoxMike

Wiggles45

I got 1gig down and 600 meg up.

The RJ45 is actually a 10G port that auto negotiates.