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Comment by treesknees | Hacker News Reader

This is one of the few positives I'll give to Comcast/Xfinity. I'm able to purchase my own DOCSIS modem (as long as it's on their compatibility list) instead of renting one from them.

AT&T U-verse I couldn't bring my own modem, and I understand that they're not a DOCSIS network either.

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ATT is really weird about it. They apparently decided a few years back that they'd not allow third party devices on their network, and keep doubling down on it.

Some folks smarter than myself figured out how to mimic the ONT handshakes or some such that they could use their own devices. IIRC, they were pulling the certs from the ATT box. ATT then came in and installed new stuff at the station to not allow that anymore. I don't remember all the technical details, but that's what I found when I spent an hour or so researching how to get rid of their awful box. In short, you can't...and even if you manage to, it won't be for long.

Any chance you have more details on this? I set up wpa_supplicant on my router to do the 802.11x auth to the ONT and short of a single "your modem/router is not phoning home"-type email, it's been working great the past year. Hoping this does not break in the future.

I don't have time to re-research it all ATM, but a quick Google search, I think this is the thread -

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32839785-AT-T-Fiber-Gatewa...

Thanks for the link!

> No, it's when they port you over to a new splitter in your neighborhood's PFP cabinet seems to be what I'm following. Then you will be connected to a different OLT port at the CO(central office) that supports XGS-PON as well as standard GPON. > > Older Gateways will work on the newer OLT gear. But the 10Gbps XGS-PON will only work on the newer OLT ports. This newer port has an added management layer to support 10Gbps which needs authentication on top of the certs needed by both GPON and XGS-PON.

That's good to know. They already dragged their feet getting fiber available in my area (fiber laid 13 years before service was available). Hopefully they'll drag their feet with this "upgrade" too.

With Optimum (nee Cablevision) they pretend to be BYO accessible, but their compatibility list isn't a guarantee of compatibility (depending on region, different devices are compatible but they would never tell you that on their website), you have to wait on hold for 3 hours to activate the device, and then it still might fail for reasons their support agents can never explain.

Comcast makes you downgrade to a business account if you want to get a reverse DNS entry from them. Reverse DNS is a requirement if you want to host your own e-mail and not have your mail categorized as spam. Comcast business accounts don't allow you to use your own DOCSIS modem.

>Comcast business accounts don't allow you to use your own DOCSIS modem.

Not true. I have multiple business locations using customer owned surfboards.

Might be a requirement for static addresses but it's not for business service in general.

You only need their Comcast Business modem if you have static IP's because they route them using RIP with a password that is set inside the cable modem with their custom software.

If you don't have a static IP with Comcast Business it makes it awfully hard to run a mail server, but then you can indeed use your own cable modem.

Rogers network in Canada also permits BYO— I've used my own modem for years as a TekSavvy cable customer, and recently upgraded from one owned modem to another (both purchased second hand, though, so who knows— maybe I've been pwnt all along).

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