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I am taking the plunge.

Later today, somebody from AT&T is going to appear at the abode, and install AT&T Fiber(1 GB) service. Yes, for all my previous posts here on the AskWoody blog, I have been vanuevering a v.92 (52 kb) connection.

I read other technical fora here on the W-WW. I also know what is being attempted by most third-party connections when I surf to a particular W-WW site. But what accerns me here & how is how will this gigabit fiber installion occur.

From reading more technical fora {message me for the URLs, but they’re probably on my bookmark page}, I have an idea of which router I should request (Michael Horowitz will dispute.), likely the BGW320-505 – 2.2, and I will be configuring the installation on-line on the Windows 7- x64 system here. It will be an aerial drop (because AT&T would have cought flack if it did not enable gigabit connectivity from ‘poor’ neighborhoods). But beyond this, what should I expect?

Needless(?!) to scribe, if something with the installation goes wrong, I will maintain a v.92 backup to report back to here (& elsewhere). But I think this will go OK.

Wish me success.

Important links you can use, without the monetization pitch = https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html

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I have Verizon fiber optic connection for everything: Internet, TV, telephone (landline). The fiber cable comes into the house, or apartment and ends in a special box placed during the installation and screwed to a wall in some out of the way place, in my case in a closet. From this box copper wires come out to a terminal near the TV, where one can connect it and also connect a router for the local home network. The telephone has another copper wire connection to the same box.

One thing that is not entirely clear to me is where you mention that your connection is going to be of “one gigabit.” Am I correct in understanding that as “one gigabit per second”? That is quite fast: the top Verizon speeds are not that fast. I have, not the top Verizon speed, but a more modest 75 megabits per second download and 45 megabits per second upload, which is often enough if one does not have several devices connected at the same time, for example.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Alex5723

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My ISP told me I would get 1Gb/sec speed also, but the fine print says that speed is through the fiber lines only and that since the line going from the special box to the router is copper the actual speed would be significantly less than 1Gb/sec. Also any wifi connections would slow it down even more so that realistically my top speed through wireless would be about 300Mb/sec. And to be clear my lower case ‘b’ is short for ‘bit’, not ‘byte’.

The “last mile” (from the special box to router) really slows things down and takes the shine off of fiber IMHO.

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Roughly what should happen is this: An installer technician will attach some sort of interface box to the outside of your house (could also install it somewhere inside, but around here it’s typically outside), then drop a line to it. Then the tech will run another line into the house roughly to where you want the router; the line could go through a basement or crawl space or an attic and up/down a wall. He/she will connect the line to the router and make sure you’re connecting to AT&T. If the tech is in a good mood they might offer assistance in connecting your devices to the router and perhaps some basic router configuration.

Then again if AT&T is like my ISP you will end up with no fiber at all! When a tech came out to install fiber to my place I was told there was no way that could happen even though my ISP invited me to upgrade to fiber at no expense as it required a 150 yard long line. The length was apparently a problem as was the fact that in my neighborhood the line had to run underground which meant a trench and there was no way that was going to happen either. So I still have regular old copper line. I did, however, get a brand new router for free that retails for between $200 and $250.

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DrBonzo wrote:

My ISP told me I would get 1Gb/sec speed also

1Gb/s Fiber. Upload speed 100Mbs.

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I’m just reporting what my ISP told me and what the fine print they provided said. Since I don’t have fiber I can neither confirm nor refute my ISP’s statements.

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Fiber is fast, 2Gbps isn’t uncommon, costs a lot.  The dismal upload speeds of connections in general is my pet peeve, takes forever to upload something large.  Symmetrical connections are really expensive.

As noted, a fiber connection may not come to your home, it may only go to a local node, then drop with wire. Installation, from your standpoint, is the same for any new service.  If you’re sufficiently technically inclined and it can be done with AT&T, just get a modem and buy your own wireless router. Your modem can stay put while the router, connected with an ethernet cable can be positioned wherever you need it for a good signal throughout your residence. Separate routers of much higher quality are easy to find.

Not sure what speeds you’re paying for, you may need a router with 10Gbps ports and Cat 6 or higher cables to see full speed.  Currently, even wireless AX has problems maintaining speeds above 1Gbps.  See here, pick one for the charts:

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/wifi-router/bar/248-6-ghz-profile-dn/44?see=AVG

What you should expect?  Compared to your current 1990’s speed, almost instant everything.  You will like!

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OscarCP wrote:

the top Verizon speeds are not that fast.

Why not? mine are but only via local verizon net, for DSL reports for areas across the country 250 mb/s seems to be the top.

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Alex: Interesting. I wrote my comment based on recent numbers about Verizon Fios, and yours agree with those I saw and are what I meant by “not as fast”, because Steve kicked off this thread by, among other things, writing that he’s got “one gigabit.” (I am guessing that he meant “one gigabit per second.” (*))

(*) To be more pretentious: 1 Gb/s = 1 Bd, where Bd stands for “baud” (low case), a unit of transmission of information (symbols) rate.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Oops! 1 Gb/s = 1000,000,000 Bd !!! But those are all zeroes, anyway.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Mine’s almost that fast. How’s 1 gigabit per 25 seconds down, 1 gigabit per 500 seconds up?

May not be quite as fast, but at least I get to pay as much!

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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OscarCP

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Oops. I did not get back to this rubric in a while.

I dare scribe that the installer will remember this installation. Not that it was tremendously difficult. Vines growing on the east side of the edifice had to be cut (where the drill was made to make the connection). But that he had to walk through the clutter of the abode to get to the room where I have this Windows® 7 x64 computer. Yipe. (I’m not apologizing. I will not spend thousands of dollars to throw things away. Mom’s and dad’s clothes really should go to somewhere they can be worn. Boxes of my stuff are in the living and dining rooms because their clothes are all in the closets, including mine. The inside back porch adjacent to my room had a roof leak a few years which necessitated boxes being evacuated from there.)

I was designated a BGW320-505 router. I haven’t checked recently, but its firmware was 2.13.4. I changed the SSID network name to something pronouncible. I set up the Guest Network, but then disabled it to not appear on the list of networks available here. (Neighbors’ wifi networks appear when searched.) It would broadcast on both 2.4 and 4 networks.

So it is doing very well. The situation which has totally flipped is that I used to have to go out to the Chicago Public Library branch, or a pub or restaurant to download browser updates and security patches on its broadband wifi network via a 32GB flash drive to my Windows® 8.1 x64 laptop. Now it is the other way. I download the above to the 32GB flash drive here, and later install the 8.1 updates and patches onto it. Likely the next time I go out anywhere.

Here’s a screen shot of a Speedtest result showing just how swiftly I now traverse.

Important links you can use, without the monetization pitch = https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html

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