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Re: [OM] Question for Ken

Subject: Re: [OM] Question for Ken
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:48:41 -0500
> Thanks, Ken.  I had not realized that the cables and plugs were so common
> that this could occur.  Thanks for the education on the subject.

This varies a lot depending on the network interface device. A lot of
set top boxes have a fiber connection or a CATV style connection for
the provider side. On the home side of the box you have connections
for your TV, telephone and computer network. The computer network
connection is bog standard.

What the majority of households have now is a wireless router
providing connectivity to computers, smartphones and tablet devices.
These usually have a couple of little antennas and five ports on the
back. One of the five will be a different color and is intended to be
hooked up to the set top box (or DSL modem). This is usually called
the "WAN" port. (Wide Area Network). The other four ports are the
"LAN" ports. (Local Area Network). Inside the box are three main
components: Router, Switch, WiFi adapter. The four ports and the WiFi
adapter are hooked up to the switch, which feeds to the router. Some
of your better units skip the switch and really are multi-port
routers, but those aren't what you can buy at Wal-Mart for $39.99. The
router itself is really pretty lame in these things too and provide a
very bare-bones set of features and performance specs.

But, let's say you have your computer directly hooked up to the set
top box or dsl modem and you check what your IP address is. Then
program the brand new router with that subnet in the LAN settings.
Now, plug one of the LAN ports into the set top box or dsl modem. In
SOME circumstances, (not all, by any means), your router will now
start to compete with the ISP's router. Anybody who has established
their Ethernet connection prior to this point will remain OK for a
while, but anybody else logging on won't be able to get to the
Internet.

The majority of broadband providers protect against this type of
problem. The old style copper DSL systems, if ATM based, are almost
always immune to this problem, but a switched network where users are
hid from each other, but not isolated from each other can be affected.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, we've been moving away from ATM to
straight Ethernet, but that type of "progress" has brought with it a
whole slew of new challenges. FTTH is pure Ethernet and everything is
kept straight through VLANs. That's fine, but every few years we get a
new group of people that have no desire to know history and will
deploy the new/shiny in a way that makes the old-timers cringe because
we've already been-there-done-that and have the scars to prove it.

On a semi-related note, I got a bunch of emails here at work talking
about how we're migrating a system to a piece of software that we used
for this same task FOUR systems ago. I asked if several specific
issues have been fixed yet. Answer was "no" but it doesn't matter
because that's an "easy fix". Right. It was a fix that took us three
years to try and do without success.

I'm glad I don't have to deal with the consumer side of the house. I
just have to deal with adding ungodly amounts of fiber-optic capacity
between cities because some people can't figure out how to deploy
their networks. Instead of fixing the dragging parking brake, they're
adding a bigger motor.

--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
-- 
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