Topic 'Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700' in forum 'AT&T U-verse' - dslreports.com

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 05:20:48 EDT

Voltron posted : Thank you for your informative reply, Anone2011. I was asking because this particular client of mine had been on 3.0 (down) POTS DSL since 2005. Recently, they migrated to "U-Verse" and were "promised" 6.0 (down). I spoke with two techs and they said the client missed the 12 Mbps (down) by 400 feet and therefore, 6 would not be a problem. However, once new lines were pulled/installed from the main line to the client's NID and attached to a new RG, at best, the client was only getting 4.5 (down)/0.8 (up). Level 2/3 techs confirmed to me that the line was provisioned at 5.01 Mbps (down) and site tech was receiving 4.9 (down) pre-NID.

At first, client was on fastpath and was getting around 4.0 (down). Another tech came out and we replaced an old wire and he switched the client to interleaved. While this changed the pings/latency from 14 ms to 26 ms (as would be expected), the client received about a 0.5 Mbps increase in download, going from around 4.0 to 4.5; I assumed this was due to the replaced wire and not the switch from fastpath to interleaved. Regardless, the RG held sync and client's experience was fine, short of not getting the "full" 6.0 Mbps.

Then, about two weeks ago, I was on-site and witnessed the RG reboot twice--after which download appeared to decrease to 4.0 Mbps from 4.4 or 4.5. Since then, I have not seen nor has the client reported any unexpected RG reboots and the download has gone back up to around 4.3 Mbps. I know this is not much in terms of transmission rate; but, with such slow speeds, every little bit makes a difference. Moreover, since the RG's stat pages show slightly different sync rates with (almost) every page refresh (something unfamiliar to me prior to this), I was curious to know what was going on and if this made sense to anyone else.

Needless to say, I really do appreciate any clarification/confirmation you and/or anyone else can provide. I would like to assure the client that things are functioning, properly--if they actually are. Once I mentioned the slight decrease in speed to them, especially after the "promise" of 6 Mbps, they started feeling that AT&T was not being honest about what their location could actually provide, in terms of download speed. Again, thank you!

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6BGW210-700

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 10:12:57 EDT

Napsterbater posted :

said by Anon2405d :

I thought they were still using PPPoE

No, Plain Ehternet with 802.1x, which is why you are forced to use thier Gateway.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6BGW210-700

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 09:18:04 EDT

anon posted :

said by Napsterbater:

No, as that applies to PPPoE, which is not used on "IPDSL"

AT&T 6rd MTU is set for 1472 (1492 IPv4 MTU - 20 6in4 overhead), to accommodate PPPoE customers.

IPv6 Native can have an MTU of 1500, just like IPv4 on IPDSL, and since no PPPoE customers will get native IPv6 no need to worry have their MTU.

I thought they were still using PPPoE. Here Bell Canada uses PPPoE even for FTTH but has implemented RFC 4638.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 21:28:48 EDT

ham3843 posted :

said by dave006:

Note the "N" Card does provide support for VDSL Profile 30a which is the next step up from 17a. The specification is VDSL2 30a (200Mpbs down, 200Mbps up).

Dave

I've always suspected that all the ILECs stock up on newer versions of replaceable items like this way before they will even need to use them in service, and if they buy in high volume the prices obviously come down, I wouldn't be surprised if they have NOS from a decade or more ago.
Perhaps they bought these "new" N cards back in 2008 - 2010 and are now just deploying them on a larger scale to replace existing F cards and K cards that are now EOL.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6BGW210-700

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 18:01:18 EDT

Napsterbater posted :

said by Anon2405d :

said by David0417:

The only other change was ... MTU from 1472 to 1500.

Is that to say that AT&T is implementing RFC 4638?

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 17:55:33 EDT

jhclce posted : Are new cards still being produced/readily available? The Uverse platform is more than a decade old now so I'm thinking that the original hardware is at or nearing EOL. The ISAM ARAM-D data sheets (and early hardware) have Alcatel branding, which was two mergers ago (alcalu then Nokia). With age, EOL, and more pair bonding to deliver higher speeds I'd think the card supply would be getting tight.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 16:47:21 EDT

dave006 posted :

said by David0417:

Not only did they install a new card the "N" but they wired it differently to the crossbox, so again seems like there is some plan here for the future but what is so special about an N card that it has to be done this way, yes I know they support vectoring but is that it, does this mean they are getting ready to roll out vectoring everywhere.

The card(s) is supposed to be removed when it reaches end of useful life. In some areas I have seen an addition of an "N" card when open slots are available. I have only see "K" or "N" cards replace a failed "F" card. Logic to this is that replacing an existing working "F" card or any card requires the tech to impact all customers served from the card. Not anyone's first choice.

Note the "N" Card does provide support for VDSL Profile 30a which is the next step up from 17a. The specification is VDSL2 30a (200Mpbs down, 200Mbps up).

Dave

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 15:26:34 EDT

Tel posted :

said by gadawg:

My guess would be cost. A new N card is probably expensive. Add one N card to add capacity for new customers and keep current customers on the other cards until they donât work anymore.

You would think they were all made of gold. Before I retired they made us pull all of our spare cards off the truck. We were allowed 5 spares plus all we could hide.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 12:31:06 EDT

anon posted : There is the ATT speed tier chart table could reference....

»www.att.net/speedtiers

At 8000 feet (ADSL2+) would expect 6/.7 or newer 5 replacing 6 down.

Longer the loop could drop to 3, 1.5 or .75

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 04:04:13 EDT

Voltron posted : I'm curious to know what sort of download/upload speeds would you expect to see for someone 8,000 - 12,000 feet out. Thank you for any information you may be able to provide.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Mon, 12 Mar 2018 00:40:01 EDT

anon posted : Would expect to see a push to higher speeds for customers within range.

As the card has 48 ports, could only support (24) bonded accounts.

The 2 existing cards had a total of 96 ports. It is possible some ports were failing, on the F card, replacing the F with N does not add any to capacity. Thus the F can remain to support lower speed tiers up to bonded 45 with N card taking the 50, 75 and 100 accounts

Also the N card ports can be configured to offer ADSL2+ to those at 5000-12000 feet expanding the potential number of accounts (addresses) that can be served.

Just my thoughts...

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 21:38:06 EDT

gadawg posted : My guess would be cost. A new N card is probably expensive. Add one N card to add capacity for new customers and keep current customers on the other cards until they don’t work anymore.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 21:13:31 EDT

David0417 posted : What I am really curious about is:

Why add a 3rd card, an "N" Card and not upgrade the F or K card that is in the VRAD?

I doubt its capacity same VRAD and neighborhood for 8 years now, why not just upgrade the F or K to an N?

Not only did they install a new card the "N" but they wired it differently to the crossbox, so again seems like there is some plan here for the future but what is so special about an N card that it has to be done this way, yes I know they support vectoring but is that it, does this mean they are getting ready to roll out vectoring everywhere.

My impression from the foreman is that this is happening to all the VRAD's in the area a new N card is being added an existing cards are not being upgraded.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6BGW210-700

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 16:38:43 EDT

anon posted :

said by David0417:

The only other change was ... MTU from 1472 to 1500.

Is that to say that AT&T is implementing RFC 4638?

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6BGW210-700

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:10:06 EDT

David0417 posted : My max rate before on each line download was around 51 to 53Mbps and now it is 55 to 56Mbps and upload max from around 18 to 19 and is now 20 to 22Mbps, so a very slight improvement, by the way I am at 2,100 feet from the VRAD.

The only other change was to native IPv6 and MTU from 1472 to 1500.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6BGW210-700

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 18:02:56 EDT

ortizdr posted : Did your stats change? I would be curious to see if your Max Attainable increased.

Re: My own N Card & Native IPv6BGW210-700

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 17:54:15 EDT

Keoway posted : Wow! It is indeed Christmas in March! Keep the port steeling Grinches away.

I used to be on a K card and then one of the non-local techs stole my pair and my service was reinstated on a lowly F card. 🤨

My own N Card & Native IPv6 BGW210-700

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 17:27:54 EDT

David0417 posted : CHRISTMAS HAS COME EARLY! I am in SC on a pair bonded 75/20 VDSL plan, I have had 6rd and an BGW 210-700 and have been on a K - Card. I posted 2 weeks ago about my line 1 dropping its sync rate very low, although line stats to line 1 and 2 were the same my overall profile rate had dropped about 10Mbps which affected my overall speed of my service.

When the first tech came 2 weeks he swore it was the modem, he didn't have a BGW-210 so I had one shipped to me, he was able to duplicate the issue and fixed by bouncing port 1 on the VRAD, Well a few days ago it started again, I still believe it was a bad port, and so did the person who I had discussed this with at the AT&T Corporate Office.

So today a tech and the foreman came out, I met them at the VRAD they told me they were gonna do a port swap, while in the cross box they noticed a new terminal connector was installed and immediately said it was an N-Card I am not sure how exactly they knew this, they both were familiar with the VRAD and other in the area, and said they did not know this card was there. I saw all the old style screw terminals and one gray plastic terminal that was different. They did confirm that the VRAD has always had one F Card and one K Card, and that I was on the K-Card, they tried to move my ports to the new N-Card but no ports on it were available.

They called into someone and got an assignment to the new N-Card. They told me no one was on the card except me, and stated that is is brand new just installed recently and interesting to note this VRAD has always had 2 cards in it. The N-Card did not replace one of the other cards, it was added as a 3rd card.

Anyway my line came right up and works again perfectly same BGW-210 gateway, they never even came to the house, When I got home and checked everything, I noticed right away I was also now on NATIVE IPV6 and not the 6rd I was on before the swap.