I've read the FAQ and looked through a number of related threads. However, much of the information seems a bit old or posted by people who don't really understand what's going on. I'm just hoping to get some current, concrete details before switching away from my dry-loop 6Mb DSL to 12 or 18Mb U-verse IP-DSL.
I currently have a SpeedStream 4100 doing PPPoE on the modem and sharing the public IP to the LAN device (to use their words, or what most people would call "bridged"). I essentially have a plain ol' Ethernet Internet connection coming into the WAN port of my router, much as you'd expect from a simple cable modem.
I'd like to duplicate this as much as possible with the new U-verse setup. Based on »
broadband.custhelp.com/a ··· id/21989 I'd be fine with either DHCPS-dynamic (my router will be the only device plugged directly into the NVG510) or DHCPS-fixed (I can enter the router's MAC). I don't think I'd have any problems entering the info into my router if I used Manual, but I'd rather have the router just automatically get its settings via DHCP if possible (and I don't need or plan to get a static IP, if it's not included by default).
Some other postings seemed to indicate that there may be bugs with IP Passthrough and that it may not actually work correctly. »
forums.att.com/t5/Featur ··· /2890841 is one example of this. It seems to mostly work, but the proper public IP doesn't actually get passed to the connected device (the workaround is to use Manual, but it requires reconfiguring the router if the public IP ever changes (which isn't exactly unlikely for a dynamic IP)). It's also stated that Motorola said that neither the NVG510 nor the 2210 can be bridged (though it may technically not be actual bridging that we're really looking for). However, other people seem to have it working ok. There were also several statements that a firmware update in late December would fix the known bugs with IP Passthrough, but I haven't seen any specific reports of that fix either.
Also, there were some posts that VPN (PPTP specifically) connectivity didn't work through the NVG510. I work in IT, so I'm on-call regularly (and on-call for the stuff I handle even when I'm not actually on-call). I need my Cisco IPSec to "just work".
So, to you people who actually have the NVG510 and a separate router, is IP Passthrough going to allow my router to get my U-verse public IP? Is my VPN connection going to work?
A bit off-topic, but I'm also wondering if I can supply my own NVG510. I can get it significantly cheaper than AT&T's $100 price tag, but there's no option in the online ordering to NOT buy it. I've heard of others using modems "from a previous U-verse setup", which makes sense since they're making you buy the hardware outright. However, I've also seen reports that people were forced into buying new hardware even when they already had U-verse (though their previous setup may not have been IP-DSL, meaning their existing hardware wouldn't have been compatible). Is there a better option that's compatible, if I'm going to be buying my own modem anyway? I'm not totally against paying a bit more to get the proper modem right from AT&T, but I don't want to pay nearly twice as much for identical (or even inferior) hardware if I don't have to.
Hopefully you folks can give me some insight,
Bill