[186584] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Broadband Router Comparisons
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jason Baugher)
Thu Dec 24 14:05:44 2015
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
In-Reply-To: <80B5A72F-29E8-4D40-9F0A-D5A32237B581@mtin.net>
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 13:02:49 -0600
From: Jason Baugher <jason@thebaughers.com>
To: Justin Wilson <lists@mtin.net>
Cc: "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
Providing a managed service is the direction we're going. In our case,
since we're a Calix shop, we're using their GigaCenters, but I'm sure there
are other vendor options out there.
Early indications are that 95+% of our residential customers would rather
pay a nominal "maintenance" fee and use our managed router than purchase
their own. From our end, we get a little more revenue, we ensure our
customers aren't blaming us for problems caused by junk routers, and we
provide a level of service and support that the big guys can't even come
close to matching.
On Thu, Dec 24, 2015 at 9:40 AM, Justin Wilson <lists@mtin.net> wrote:
> 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.
>
> 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-p=
oint-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 custome=
r
> 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 exce=
pt
> 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 h=
ow
> 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 feasib=
le.
>
>
> 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.co=
m>
> wrote:
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > 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 pretend=
ed
> > 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 passe=
d
> on
> > to second tier support?
> >
> > 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 to=
n
> 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...
> >
> > 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 i=
t
> > can work with my own computer and then advise the customer on what to
> buy.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Baldur
> >
>
>
