• ISP takeover - remote modem access

    From faeychild@2:250/1 to All on Tue Nov 26 20:42:55 2019
    I have been informed that my old ISP has been acquired by another
    probably due to the impending changeover to fibre.

    The new ISP tells me that the process will be painless and does not
    require my input - they will reconfigure it all.
    I figure that I will have to enable "Remote Access" on my modem for them
    to be able to do this.
    Not entirely sure when, or for how, long to enable this. I suppose it is
    a small risk for a small window in time
    They have given me changeover date. I assume that it is reasonably
    accurate.

    I could enable it for a week or two around that date and keep tabs on my
    ISP identity

    The modem is a Billion 7800NXL


    regards


    --
    faeychild
    Running plasmashell 5.15.4 on 5.3.7-desktop-4.mga7 kernel.
    Mageia release 7 (Official) for x86_64 installed via Mageia-7-x86_64-DVD.iso


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    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Tue Nov 26 22:17:11 2019
    On Wed, 27 Nov 2019 07:42:55 +1100, faeychild wrote:
    I have been informed that my old ISP has been acquired by another
    probably due to the impending changeover to fibre.

    The new ISP tells me that the process will be painless and does not
    require my input - they will reconfigure it all.
    I figure that I will have to enable "Remote Access" on my modem for them
    to be able to do this.

    If it were me, I would not enable it.

    Not entirely sure when, or for how, long to enable this. I suppose it is
    a small risk for a small window in time
    They have given me changeover date. I assume that it is reasonably accurate.

    Your modem is set to fetch its ip via dhcp. New ISP could get your network info, plug it into their DHCP server, and when your current WAN lease
    gets past renew lease date/time, broadcasts a lease request, and you are
    on new ISP ip.

    I could enable it for a week or two around that date and keep tabs on my
    ISP identity

    Yup, You could create a script to check if your ip changed and have your Desktop Environment auto start the script when you log in.

    If your script can not ping yahoo.com or ip has changed, give you a
    pop up about the change.

    You would then try a power cycle to see if you can get internet access
    again. Hopefully that will work. I assume you have already written down
    the new ISP help telephone number. :)

    Here is a down and dirty quick kludge to play with. Just run it as is.

    - ---8<---8<---8<---8<-cut below this line --8<---8<---8<---8<
    #!/bin/bash
    #*********************************************************
    #* network_ck - Script to check network connection
    #*
    #* Install: chmod +x network_ck
    #* place somewhere in your $PATH environment
    #*
    #* Assumes xmessage is installed
    #*
    #*********************************************************

    set -u # Show usage of unset variables as an error to help catch typos.

    _app=${0##*/} # script name
    _current_ip="w.x.y.z"
    _new_ip=""
    _exe=$0 # /wherever/script_name


    ping -c 1 -w 3 yahoo.com > /dev/null 2>&1
    if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
    nohup xmessage -display :0 -bg red -fg white \
    "
    ping -c 1 -w 3 yahoo.com
    failure from $_app.
    Suggest Modem Power reset, and run $_app again
    " \
    > /dev/null 2>&1 &
    exit 1
    fi

    _new_ip=$(wget -qO - http://ident.me/)
    if [ "$_new_ip" != "$_current_ip" ] ; then
    nohup xmessage -display :0 -bg yellow -fg black \
    "
    Your Internet/WAN ip has changed
    from $_current_ip
    to $_new_ip
    You might want to power reset modem just to make
    sure all is well prior to the next power outage.
    " \
    > /dev/null 2>&1 &
    fi

    #*********** end of network_ck ****************************

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    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From faeychild@2:250/1 to All on Wed Nov 27 00:06:57 2019
    On 27/11/19 9:17 am, Bit Twister wrote:


    If it were me, I would not enable it.

    I am in both camps here. I would prefer to leave it off. I have no idea
    how they implement the changeover and I am not terribly keen to
    interrogate the hell desk if it falls over


    Your modem is set to fetch its ip via dhcp. New ISP could get your network info, plug it into their DHCP server, and when your current WAN lease
    gets past renew lease date/time, broadcasts a lease request, and you are
    on new ISP ip.

    So that's how it works. OK I'll check my modem settings and confirm.



    ---8<---8<---8<---8<-cut below this line --8<---8<---8<---8<
    #!/bin/bash
    #*********************************************************
    < snipped >



    You're slipping, Bits, I can actually follow that script. :-)

    Regards

    --
    faeychild
    Running plasmashell 5.15.4 on 5.3.11-desktop-1.mga7 kernel.
    Mageia release 7 (Official) for x86_64 installed via Mageia-7-x86_64-DVD.iso


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From William Unruh@2:250/1 to All on Wed Nov 27 05:13:23 2019
    On 2019-11-26, faeychild <faeychild@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
    I have been informed that my old ISP has been acquired by another
    probably due to the impending changeover to fibre.

    The new ISP tells me that the process will be painless and does not
    require my input - they will reconfigure it all.
    I figure that I will have to enable "Remote Access" on my modem for them
    to be able to do this.

    Why? Have they asked you to? If not, assume you do not need to do this.

    Not entirely sure when, or for how, long to enable this. I suppose it is
    a small risk for a small window in time
    They have given me changeover date. I assume that it is reasonably accurate.

    I could enable it for a week or two around that date and keep tabs on my
    ISP identity

    The modem is a Billion 7800NXL


    regards



    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Wed Nov 27 05:36:46 2019
    On Wed, 27 Nov 2019 11:06:57 +1100, faeychild wrote:
    On 27/11/19 9:17 am, Bit Twister wrote:

    ---8<---8<---8<---8<-cut below this line --8<---8<---8<---8<
    #!/bin/bash
    #*********************************************************
    < snipped >



    You're slipping, Bits, I can actually follow that script. :-)

    I forgot to add
    Be sure to update /etc/hosts with new wangate, routerwan values.
    when you get switched over to new ISP.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Herman@2:250/1 to All on Wed Nov 27 09:25:52 2019
    On Wed, 27 Nov 2019 07:42:55 +1100, faeychild wrote:

    I have been informed that my old ISP has been acquired by another
    probably due to the impending changeover to fibre.

    The new ISP tells me that the process will be painless and does not
    require my input - they will reconfigure it all.

    That is what happened here on several occasions. The new ISP takes over
    all addresses of the old ISP and routes these to their own servers. No intervention needed at the client equipment.
    It may - and probably will - be another story whenever the new ISP brings fibre to the home, in that case you will or might need another router,
    and that one has to be configured correctly then.
    But if the changeover to fibre only concerns the "longer-range"
    connection and your home connection remains on copper, then again no intervention would be needed at your side.

    Regards

    Herman Viaene


    I figure that I will have to enable "Remote Access" on my modem for them
    to be able to do this.
    Not entirely sure when, or for how, long to enable this. I suppose it is
    a small risk for a small window in time
    They have given me changeover date. I assume that it is reasonably accurate.

    I could enable it for a week or two around that date and keep tabs on my
    ISP identity

    The modem is a Billion 7800NXL


    regards


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: Aioe.org NNTP Server (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From TJ@2:250/1 to All on Wed Nov 27 15:48:10 2019
    On 11/26/19 3:42 PM, faeychild wrote:
    I have been informed that my old ISP has been acquired by another
    probably due to the impending changeover to fibre.

    The new ISP tells me that the process will be painless and does not
    require my input - they will reconfigure it all.

    I changed ISPs in September, because after twelve years of reasonably
    good service my old ISP had become unreliable. My old ISP was a "fixed wireless" system, and the ISP provided a modem-like device to connect to
    his system for free. While my new ISP said they would also "rent" a
    modem for free, I decided I would prefer to own my own, so I bought a
    used one on eBay, one on the new ISP's list of compatible modems.

    The technician that installed the service couldn't get it to work. He
    tried several things, but it just would not operate. So, he went out to
    the truck and brought in a new modem from the ISP, which connected with
    no problem whatsoever. Fortunately, the seller on eBay refunded my
    money, even though the refund window had passed.

    The point of the story is this: I had speculated about what I should do,
    and I was completely wrong.

    Learn from my mistake. Were I in your situation, I would be sure that
    I'm not the only customer affected by this change, and that the new ISP
    has things in hand. I wouldn't do anything, unless they tell me to.
    Going off on your own is far more likely to muck things up.

    TJ

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  • From Doug Laidlaw@2:250/1 to All on Wed Nov 27 16:19:07 2019
    On 27/11/19 7:42 am, faeychild wrote:
    I have been informed that my old ISP has been acquired by another
    probably due to the impending changeover to fibre.

    The new ISP tells me that the process will be painless and does not
    require my input - they will reconfigure it all.
    I figure that I will have to enable "Remote Access" on my modem for them
    to be able to do this.
    Not entirely sure when, or for how, long to enable this. I suppose it is
    a small risk for a small window in time
     They have given me changeover date. I assume that it is reasonably accurate.

    I could enable it for a week or two around that date and keep tabs on my
    ISP identity

    The modem is a Billion 7800NXL


    regards


    When you say "fibre" do you mean the NBN? For that, they will give you
    a new modem. Your old landline telephone system will no longer work; it
    will be replaced by VOIP through the new modem. [Incidentally, that
    means that if you have a power failure and your modem goes off, you
    won't have a working phone. For those situations, you need to have a
    mobile phone available.]

    Who told you that you need to enable "remote modem" access? I agree
    with Bits: follow any instructions from the ISP, and otherwise, do
    nothing; you may mess up their simple changeover.

    My ISP was Hotkey, reselling from iPrimus. When the NBN arrived, Hotkey dropped out of the picture; the only thing that remains is the mail
    server address. iPrimus supplied a new Huawei modem that replaced my
    previous ADSL modem. It had its own WEP password, and I had to use that
    in my home network, but otherwise everything "just worked."

    It seems that the Billion 7800NXL is capable of being your NBN modem and
    is the one that comes with Internode: see https://www.internode.on.net/support/guides/internet_access/nbn/fttp/billion_78 00nxl/

    HTH.

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  • From faeychild@2:250/1 to All on Wed Nov 27 19:40:27 2019
    On 27/11/19 7:42 am, faeychild wrote:
    I have been informed that my old ISP has been acquired by another
    probably due to the impending changeover to fibre.



    OK I will leave the modem as it is.
    Thanks


    --
    faeychild
    Running plasmashell 5.15.4 on 5.3.11-desktop-1.mga7 kernel.
    Mageia release 7 (Official) for x86_64 installed via Mageia-7-x86_64-DVD.iso


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)