[sf-lug] tcptraceroute, traceroute, Westell, ... Got router? / Where *is* that ("other") router? (linuxmafia.com)

[Justin Noor]

Thank you. Very interesting and informative.

On Thu, Oct 25, 2018 at 9:21 PM Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:

> Quoting Justin Noor (justinnoor.io at gmail.com):
>
> > I meet a lot of people who’ve had issues with AT&T modems. Of course
> there
> > are too many variables to name, but could there ever be an open source
> DSL
> > modem for AT&T?
>
> To clarify again, these are usually described as 'ADSL modems', but
> are only vaguely similar to traditional modems.  On a network
> level, they are merely network bridges as deployed by me and Michael.
> Which is to say, the two models discussed upthread are capable of
> operating in a non-bridge mode where they have various router
> & related capabilities, but are being used in this context _just_
> in bridged mode, with that other stuff deliberately disabled.
>
> The device modulates high-frequency tones for transmission to a digital
> subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), and receives and demodulates
> them from the DSLAM.  (Which is the way in which they're kinda-sorta the
> same as old-school modems.)
>
> IIRC, one of these boxen consists of:
>
> o  PSU, connector hardware widgets, chassis, and like that
> o  a digital data pump chip
> o  an analog chip, and a line driver
> o  a bitty little microcontroller
> o  a line filter
>
> All of this is doubtless initialised and run by custom firmware.
>
> Could someone write replacement open-source firmware?  Sure, could
> happen.  Not likely, though.  Nobody wrote open-source firmware for your
> modem back in the 1980s and 1990s, either.
>
>
> I'll also mention -- reiterate -- that neither Michael nor I uses AT&T.
> We use Raw Bandwidth Communications, which is a CLEC, a competitive
> local exchange carrier.  AT&T's role is an unfortunately unavoidable but
> incidental one, of being the ILEC, the incumbent local exchange carrier
> -- the asshats who own (in my case) the local exchange 'central office'
> (CO) in downtown Menlo Park and the ~2 miles of copper twisted pair
> wiring underneath Menlo Park streets connecting the CO westwards to my
> house in University Heights, unincorporated San Mateo County.  The
> ILEC's job, by law, in this connection, is to stay out of way of the
> various CLECs, serve as a neutral connection point for them to connect
> to their customers (sharing the ILEC's copper cable), and avoid shooting
> the CLEC and the CLEC's customers in the foot.
>
> In the latter area, staying out of the way and not shooting a
> competitive carrier in the foot, AT&T screwed up and didn't bother to
> fix its problem (whatever that problem was) for about 2 days and 7
> hours.
>
> Remember, when you decide whom to do business with, that this is a firm
> that behaves that way.  I certainly will.
>
>
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