Subj : Weekly nodelist report on noteworthy changes (148)
To   : Michiel van der Vlist
From : Matthias Hertzog
Date : Tue Jun 15 2021 12:07:03

Hello Michiel!

 MH>> For example: Imagine a grandpa calling the ISP helpdesk about not
 MH>> having internet. His grandchild installed a router. Helpdesk
 MH>> would not even be able to tell the grandpa how the device looks
 MH>> and how to restart it.
 MH>> Just a very basic but not uncommon case.
 MV> Yet, it does not seem to be a serious problem in Germany and Italy
 MV> where they had free modem/router choice for several years now.

Not surprising in a country where customer support by ISPs is nonexistant
anyway.

I had three providers in germany, none of them has support that comes
near what we have in switzerland. Switches Fritz!Box 3 times (ISP's box)
until they finally agreed to my initial diagnose about a defective ONT.

In my company we even visited cusomers for free to get our lines working,
in germany they don't even answer tickets. "Geiz ist geil" pays it's tribute.

 MH>> And: If the ISP does not know what's connected to his network, he
 MH>> can have a really hard time changing (improving) things on the
 MH>> network. He risks to disconnect clients with every small change,
 MH>> sometime even down to things like changing the TTL on the DHCP
 MH>> server.

 MV> If the modem/router adheres to DOCSIS standards, as laid down and
 MV> certified by CableLabs or its European deputy, that should be no
 MV> problem.

Right, it should not be. But it is not always. I once was part of an
emergency rollout after a tiny network change. No happy times.

 MV> Here Ziggo offers to set the modem/router in bridge mode so that the
 MV> customer can connect his own router at the ethernet port. But that is
 MV> not satisfatory for all. The device is not really in bridge only. Some
 MV> problems with the Puma chipset remain. Plus that bridghe mode only
 MV> support IPv4. No IPv6...

O-ohh.

 MH>> ISP wifi is usually crap ... no wonder with devices that are
 MH>> cheaper than the cheapest bottle of wine.
 MV> Indeed. The ISPs - well most of them to be fair - go for the cheapest
 MV> crap. Cheaper than the cheapest bottle of wine is a bit of an
 MV> exageration, but it is estimated that they do not pay more that EUR 20
 MV> for their modem/router.

Wine prices in switzerland are high :-D

Matthias
--- GoldED+/W64-MSVC 1.1.5-b20180707
 * Origin: MHS Systems (2:301/1)

.