Ok, so after years and years of waiting, I finally have my appointment to get the real-deal Sonic fiber installed. In preparations, I wanted to understand what to expect, what I need to have ready, and how this will all be setup in the end. Unfortunately between multiple versions of the product and confusion between AT&T and Sonic's offering - wanted to clear up some assumptions and questions:
So, as I understand a Sonic's fiber setup includes:
* Fiber run into the house
* A Device to convert fiber to copper ethernet (ONT?)
* A standard ethernet router/firewall/etc (ROUTER) - (unlike the typical DSL/Cable Routers, this does not need any modem stuff, just pure router)
* An VOIP phone line to copper adapter (ATA?)
So the questions are:
* Does fiber get terminated at the nearest entry point into the house, or would Sonic run it to a garage or some other more convenient location (In my case I think it would be about extra 20-30 feet) Since I am much more comfortable running copper, I would not mind much not running the fiber all the way, but I suspect ONT would need power, so this can get complicated...
* Does ONT need power?
* Can I just use my own router? I have a mesh wifi setup already, so do not need any router and all the double-nat/unsupported bridging configurations I am using now (I HATE the PACE nightmare of a router I get with Sonic DSL today (5268AC), the only way it is "functional" is because I had to rig up a microcontroller to reboot it every time it locks up - which happens multiple times a week)
* Where does ATA fit into all of this, is it a standalone device or something built into ONT (or, god-forbid, into a router???) And if it worst case scenario - can I buy my own ATA (I might actually have one sitting around somewhere) and/or use the Sonic router behind my own router just for ATA?
* What else am I missing?
Thanks
So, as I understand a Sonic's fiber setup includes:
* Fiber run into the house
* A Device to convert fiber to copper ethernet (ONT?)
* A standard ethernet router/firewall/etc (ROUTER) - (unlike the typical DSL/Cable Routers, this does not need any modem stuff, just pure router)
* An VOIP phone line to copper adapter (ATA?)
So the questions are:
* Does fiber get terminated at the nearest entry point into the house, or would Sonic run it to a garage or some other more convenient location (In my case I think it would be about extra 20-30 feet) Since I am much more comfortable running copper, I would not mind much not running the fiber all the way, but I suspect ONT would need power, so this can get complicated...
* Does ONT need power?
* Can I just use my own router? I have a mesh wifi setup already, so do not need any router and all the double-nat/unsupported bridging configurations I am using now (I HATE the PACE nightmare of a router I get with Sonic DSL today (5268AC), the only way it is "functional" is because I had to rig up a microcontroller to reboot it every time it locks up - which happens multiple times a week)
* Where does ATA fit into all of this, is it a standalone device or something built into ONT (or, god-forbid, into a router???) And if it worst case scenario - can I buy my own ATA (I might actually have one sitting around somewhere) and/or use the Sonic router behind my own router just for ATA?
* What else am I missing?
Thanks