[186583] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Broadband Router Comparisons
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Frank Bulk)
Thu Dec 24 14:01:56 2015
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: "Frank Bulk" <frnkblk@iname.com>
To: "'Justin Wilson'" <lists@mtin.net>,
<nanog@nanog.org>
In-Reply-To: <80B5A72F-29E8-4D40-9F0A-D5A32237B581@mtin.net>
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 13:01:45 -0600
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
+1.
Here's one managed option that non-Calix customers, such as WISPs, have =
found interesting: =
https://www.calix.com/systems/gigafamily-overview/GigaCenters.html
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-bounces@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Justin Wilson
Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2015 9:40 AM
To: nanog@nanog.org
Subject: Re: Broadband Router Comparisons
The trend is a managed router service. This way the ISP can control the =
customer experience a little better. It also gives the ISP a DMARC =
point to test from, which is not as reliant on getting the customer =
involved.=20
Mikrotik makes the hAP lite, which has a retail of $21.95. =
http://www.balticnetworks.com/mikrotik-hap-lite-tc-2-4ghz-indoor-access-p=
oint-tower-case-built-in-1-5dbi-antenna.html =
<http://www.balticnetworks.com/mikrotik-hap-lite-tc-2-4ghz-indoor-access-=
point-tower-case-built-in-1-5dbi-antenna.html> . This is *nix based =
router you can cheaply deploy even if a customer doesn=E2=80=99t want a =
managed router. I have clients who deploy this as a =
=E2=80=9Cmodem=E2=80=9D if the customer chooses their own router. By =
doing this the ISP can run pings, traceroutes, see usage, and other =
useful tools from the customer side.
Once you figure on your average support call on troubleshooting a =
customer router $21.95 is a drop in the bucket. Having a place to test =
from the customer side is invaluable. Tons of tricks you can do too. =
Turn on the wireless and have the customer connect to it. Block out all =
traffic except what the customer is using for tests (i.e. wireless) so =
you can see if there are devices hogging the pipe. You can do =
frequency scans to see how bad 2.4 is. You can get a dual band hAP =
router with AC. It is more expensive so deploying one of those at every =
customer might not be feasible.=20
Justin Wilson
j2sw@mtin.net
---
http://www.mtin.net Owner/CEO
xISP Solutions- Consulting =E2=80=93 Data Centers - Bandwidth
http://www.midwest-ix.com COO/Chairman
> On Dec 24, 2015, at 10:05 AM, Baldur Norddahl =
<baldur.norddahl@gmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> I have reasonable success with simply lending the customer a router. =
In
> most cases they will then buy it afterwards, because it turns out that
> their old router was indeed bad.
>=20
> But you can not win them all. Sometimes it is the other equipment that =
is
> bad, or the customer is clueless. They might even be lying because =
everyone
> knows you have to pretend it is worse than it actually is to get the =
doctor
> to take you seriously. Also who here can honestly say you never =
pretended
> to power cycle your Windows 95 when asked by the support bot on the =
phone,
> while actually running Linux, because that is the only way to get =
passed on
> to second tier support?
>=20
> Just last week I had a customer complaining his router was bad. I went =
out
> there and found it in the basement, on the floor, under a bed with a =
ton of
> crap on top. He said it was so much worse than his old internet, where =
he
> had the router in the center of the house in his living room. Not too
> surprisingly? He claimed the routers were located the same place until =
I
> turned up at his house and asked to see it...
>=20
> I do not think you will have much success at pointing to a list of
> supposedly bad routers. The world is just too complex. A bad =
experience can
> be due to anything really. Most likely they are on 2,4 GHz and the =
spectrum
> is crowded. Combine with an old computer (or even brand new!) that has =
crap
> 2,4 GHz wifi - nothing a router can do about that. I demonstrate that =
it
> can work with my own computer and then advise the customer on what to =
buy.
>=20
> Regards,
>=20
> Baldur
>=20
