Looks like my POTS provider (ATT) is forcing us to convert to internet or cell based "landline" service. Not sure what the benefit is but it is what it is.

I'm considering consolidating my services and bills to just ATT. POTS and cell phone already there. This would mean converting cable internet (just internet; no cable TV. I just stream content using Apple TV hardware).

What does it take to convert to ATT fiber from the current cable service? Would like to understand details and expectations before deciding.

1. Sounds like fiber needs to be run from street to the house (terminating at an ONT(?) at the exterior of the house (near the current inlet boxes for phone and cable service?).

2. From the ONT, how does the signal get to my router / modem WAN port? The cable service using coax from the exterior wall junction box through the walls to the comm box in the closet. From the closet comm box, a coax patch cable runs to the nearby modem / router and then cat cable from there to ports throughout the house.

3. Is fiber terminated at the ONT? What is the physical medium to get to the closet comm box? And how is it routed (existing conduit used for phone / coax?).

4. Once the new service is somehow connected to my existing router (I can use my existing router, right? Or will I be forced to buy something new to accommodate the fiber service?), then everything downstream is unaffected?

Anything else I should know?

ATT will run fiber from the junction box close to you, 6” underground (I would buy conduit and tell them to use it), into the house and mount an ONT where you tell them to. From the ONT they’ll Ethernet to their supplied modem/router. My fiber junction box is behind the house in the alley. Pure fiber run from there, under my driveway, side of the house, then it goes into the attic, and ultimately into my office where they mounted the ONT on the wall. Then Ethernet to their modem.

Pretty much the jist of it. If you want to use your own router, you’ll have to login to the modem and enable pass thru.

We got ATT fiber earlier this year, massive upgrade over the crappy Spectrum cable internet.

They ran the fiber to the house & through the attic to a router/modem. Maybe an hour all in & done.
Different guy came a few days later & buried the line.

Ours is fiber all the way to the modem, some are fiber to coax to the modem.

Fiber terminates at the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) the ONT essentially decodes/encodes the optical signal to electrical and from that point on it is essentially the same as a wired network.

Your existing Cat5/6 connections to your router remain in place, wired connections from router to devices and WiFi all remain in place.

Thanks. So ATT will run fiber from the street to the house and then inside the house to where the ONT will be located (comms closet). Again, just to be clear - the fiber will be brought in through the exterior wall and extended (how? using existing routing for the POTS and coax cable service?) to wherever (ie - comms closet) I want the ONT to be located?

All of this is paid for by ATT? Or will I need to pay for any of this infrastructure installation?

They just bury the fiber 6" underground? I need to provide conduit if desired? Metal conduit? Let's say that the street is about 200' from the house - that seems expensive for both materials and trenching....

Couldn't they use existing conduit from street to house that is used for the POTS or coax cable?

Do most people use conduit? Or is just burying the fiber good enough? Just be careful during landscape digging?

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Ours is fiber all the way to the modem, some are fiber to coax to the modem.

This (fiber to ONT to coax to modem) may be the easiest to route cables inside the house. Although it means the ONT is either outside or in the garage - probably not ideal since electronics and hot weather.

But if this method is chosen, what's the bandwidth limit of the coax? Can it support multiple gig speeds? (my current service is adequate at 400Mbps, just want to make sure I have some future headroom to, say, 5Gbps).

I know this is basic but I would first confirm you are getting fiber optic and not their wifi data plan.

I signed up to get metro net fiber optic owned by T Mobile as they started laying their cable in my neighborhood streets. I called them with my questions.

It’s fiber optic all the way to their “modem” that they will install in my house. I tell them where I want the modem and they’ll run the line from the street (not sure if they’ll have a box outside my house) under my house to where the modem is. Their cable doesn’t connect with the circular connector used by my internet cable. Their cable is supposedly more resilient and less prone to signal loss due to damage than coax cable that my current internet provider uses.

I get the same upload speed as my download speed. I want it for when I back up to the cloud.

Thanks. Okay, sounds like the ONT isn't limited to being outside or in the garage. We can place the ONT in the comms closet and have the fiber routed all the way from the street, through the house (concrete foundation so they will have to figure out how to use existing routes / conduit from the existing POTS / coax entry area into the house) to the comms closet.

That's the way it should. And if ISP pays, that's all the better.

ATT for cell (existing), internet phone (existing POTS to ??), internet (existing coax to fiber) - hope they have a good bundle.

Need to identify the internet speed that you are being offered.
ATT will most likely include a new router to enable faster downloads/uploads with "fiber".
1) Internet speed?
2) Wifi 6 or 7.
If your cell phone is Wifi 6--an upgrade to a Wifi 7 phone will improve cell service.
It seems all of the cell phone providers are offering Internet bundles to entice customers to switch--(paying off existing cell phone contracts, free cell phone line for a year, price lock for 5 yrs)

All good questions for AT&T.

My fiber company in MI ran the fiber from the pole at the street 900’ in conduit underground to the house. They attached a junction box outside the house and ran fiber from there into the basement where it plugs into the WiFi/router/ethernet switch/ONT all-in-one box they provided. Anything else inside the house is my responsibility, which I’m more than happy with because I was only charged the standard $100 for the install including the 900’ underground.

At our old and new house in Florida, both the cable company and the fiber company will run their wire/fiber to the house and to their all-in-one box and anything else inside is my responsibility.

If AT&T works the same way, the good news with fiber is that it is very small diameter. If you have coax in conduit that can be pulled out, you can attach the fiber to the coax to pull the fiber through the conduit. You’ll buy a prepaid cable of the proper length with the proper connectors and away you go.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Ours is fiber all the way to the modem, some are fiber to coax to the modem.

This (fiber to ONT to coax to modem) may be the easiest to route cables inside the house. Although it means the ONT is either outside or in the garage - probably not ideal since electronics and hot weather.

But if this method is chosen, what's the bandwidth limit of the coax? Can it support multiple gig speeds? (my current service is adequate at 400Mbps, just want to make sure I have some future headroom to, say, 5Gbps).

Mine is fiber all the way to the modem.
Outside line terminated at a box outside the house, then a separate fiber line run into the house. Not sure what the coax limits are.

Just ran a speedtest, on wifi from halfway across the house. 588d\402u on a 1G plan.

I've got the 5gig plan from ATT it's absolutely fantastic.

We got AT&T fiber about three months ago. 300m speed, both directions. I'm paying for 300, but speed tests show that I'm actually getting closer to 400, both upload and download.

Advertised price for the plan was $45 / month (not including taxes and junk fees); they are actually taking $45.20 on auto-pay. No idea what the twenty cents is for.

There were no installation / startup charges, just the monthly fee.

I told the installer to place the gateway device next to my battery backup power supply, and put it in bridge mode. Bridge disables all of AT&T's router / wifi capabilities; gateway is connected to my own router via ethernet.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Mine is fiber all the way to the modem.
Outside line terminated at a box outside the house, then a separate fiber line run into the house.

Same here.

I did have a discussion with my ISP prior to getting their service. In our area they typically install a wireless router/modem combo and other than basic wireless settings, they maintain strict control over the device. I wanted to make sure I had control over which ports were blocked as I work from home and often need to open up specific ports for testing. That was a no-go for them, but they did agree to disabling the wireless router on their device so it's just being used as a modem. Everything else downstream of that is my responsibility.


Fiber kicks butt over coax. I have 1G service that gets 940Mbps up and down over my wired network and my phone just tested at 764 down 974 up over wireless...

Our office is on coax - speeds really suck when I'm on the company VPN and my traffic is routed through the office.

If you go the fiber route, it's pretty straight forward as described. I had them run a 70 foot cat cable from the connection in the garage to my computer room on the outside - easiest option for them. Been working fine for 6 years now. I do not like to use Wi-Fi.

The 5g cellular option seems pretty speedy. My best friend in Calistan, had to go that route - no fibre in his hood, after they killed his DSL.

He's happy with the 5g option - very fast. He's within a mile of a cell tower. Also an apple set up.

And, YES, if you go the fibre option , conduit, or mark where they run the line to the house from the street. I had a tree removed last year, and my neighbor's line was nicked. They ran his line on my property line as it was easier than digging all his landscaping up.

Good luck.

Have ATT 1GB fiber, they will run it to the modem in the house, paid nothing to have that done.

They supply their own router/modem combo unit, as VT said you can put it in bridge mode but we left it as a router as well as it gives me another wifi access point should my router take a dive.

Seamless install, no pain, works as advertised.

Thanks guys. I'm starting to get a handle of this. It's been confusing and their website is not very good with providing sufficient info to make the right decisions.

I advise leaving their router in place.

You don't have to but when there is trouble on the line they will always blame your equipment.

I have had most of the major ISPs over the years.

Fiber is fiber. They limit the speed at their end.

I have the ISPs router plugged into the ONT and my router plugged into their router.

To trouble shoot you can always plug a laptop directly into the ONT.

This is no different than when you had coax coming in.

Their box connected to your box.

Now their box is an ONT instead of a modem/router.

I’ve had ATT fiber for about a decade. Nothing is underground for me. They ran to the side of my house and then through the crawl space and up through the floor to where I wanted it. No extra fees for install. The transition to fiber from DSL was seamless.

Depending on the length and rout from the DEMARC where they enter the house (other services location), to the comms closet. Getting them to run fiber to the closes might be no joy.

What they typically do is terminate the fiber outside at the NID (Network Interface Device), then the ONT is mounted inside on the wall or very near where the NID is, then the Gateway/Router/WiFi/MODEM is connected with a patch cable.

Some have an "all in one" that handles the ONT and Router/etc., (sometimes, everything in a single box NID/ONT/etc. function)

If you have existing Ethernet infrastructure with a port near the NID, and they use and ONT and a separate router, you could patch the ONT to that port and then patch that same run in the closet to reach the router.

Might call their customer survive and see if they have a technical sales and describe the closet, path, distance and any thing that needs to be routed through.
They might send a tech for a site survey.

Better than having the installer show and either start installing and leave you unhappy, telling they cannot do what you want, or telling "it's gonna cost you.

Often third party installers are sub-contracted, and that's like a box of choc-lits.