Sonic.net

Hi all-

I am trying to learn what my options will be if/when I get kicked off my Sonic Fusion service. I have a fixed IP address now, one of the biggest selling points for that service for me in 2011-12 when I signed up.

I have been told that Sonic fiber service --does not-- offer --any-- fixed/static IP option, with apparently one reason being that they think it might encourage people to use their "consumer-level" but ostensibly 10-gigabit service for high-data-rate commercial purposes.

So my question to existing customers that pay attention to their IP addresses on Sonic fiber (real Sonic, not any of the re-sold AT&T services) is, how often does your IP address actually change? And, do or can events such as rebooting your Sonic fiber adapter box/modem ("ONT") or any associated router, cause you to get a new/different IP address, or does the same one always come back again?

For comparison/reference, many (or most/all?) cable-Internet or traditional ADSL Internet customers would definitely get a different IP address each time they rebooted their DSL modem/router/gateway box, but AT&T U-verse lines (including the re-sold Sonic ones) typically keep the same IP until/if their AT&T box itself is replaced with a new one. (And that is indeed how my AT&T U-verse worked in 2009-11.)

Thank you!

I'm a week into 10GbE service and have used 4 different pfSense routers with the same (spoofed) MAC address on the WAN interface and received the same IP each time, plus my IPsec tunnels recovered quite soon after each swap.

Thank you for the quick reply, tarzxf. If my IP address was "stable, but subject to change in the future", that would be a whole lot easier to live with compared to "it will be random each day".

In about a year I think my IPv4 address changed just once. IPv6 definitely changed only once, during the overnight maintenance window when Sonic switched from /64 delegated prefixes to /56.

One thing to watch out for is that some DHCP clients send a RELEASE on shutdown. The ISC DHCP client in Debian behaves this way, and it means you'll get a new IP on every reboot. You can prevent this by configuring systemd to skip downing the public network interface on shutdown. Then as long as you send a new DHCP request before the previous lease expires, you'll get the same IP.

msiegen wrote:In about a year I think my IPv4 address changed just once. IPv6 definitely changed only once, during the overnight maintenance window when Sonic switched from /64 delegated prefixes to /56.

Thank you for the detailed notes, msiegen. This is much better than I thought it might be.

Regarding DHCP release, I would expect that the Sonic-provided hardware would control the DHCP settings, and my router would not affect that. But if/when I do get to that point, I will look at how it works and get it set for ongoing lease renewals as appropriate. I appreciate your comments.

rcoaster wrote:

msiegen wrote:In about a year I think my IPv4 address changed just once. IPv6 definitely changed only once, during the overnight maintenance window when Sonic switched from /64 delegated prefixes to /56.

Thank you for the detailed notes, msiegen. This is much better than I thought it might be.

Regarding DHCP release, I would expect that the Sonic-provided hardware would control the DHCP settings, and my router would not affect that. But if/when I do get to that point, I will look at how it works and get it set for ongoing lease renewals as appropriate. I appreciate your comments.

There's no modem involved, you get an ethernet connection (1/2.5/5/10gigabit capable) from the ONT (converts fiber to ethernet) to plug into a router of your choosing, or an eero router rented from Sonic. DHCP is handled on the far end within Sonic, like at an office where you plug into a port and carry on.

I personally use a small PC with 2.5GbE ports running pfSense software for a router, and will replace it with something that handles 10GbE speeds in the future as pricing aligns with budget.

Thanks, tarxzf. The ONT has "intelligence" and does the DHCP client function itself likely, so I may have no choice or control over it.

rcoaster wrote:Thanks, tarxzf. The ONT has "intelligence" and does the DHCP client function itself likely, so I may have no choice or control over it.

The ONT is just a media converter, the DHCP client is what you connect to it: router, desktop, etc.

tarzxf wrote:The ONT is just a media converter, the DHCP client is what you connect to it: router, desktop, etc.

A comment in another discussion I started in the Voice forum said the ONT has a built-in RJ-11 jack for Sonic's phone service. That is why I anticipated that it was also a DHCP client. Another comment said it was possible to change your Sonic service to include or omit the telephone line option, so I took that to mean that they do not use different ONT models for those options.

Unless perhaps the ONT uses a DHCP client -only- for the phone line while passing through an Ethernet signal that still needs a client of its own (and that will get a different IP address)? Some parts of TCP/IP are still beyond my full comprehension/skill set.

rcoaster wrote:

tarzxf wrote:The ONT is just a media converter, the DHCP client is what you connect to it: router, desktop, etc.

A comment in another discussion I started in the Voice forum said the ONT has a built-in RJ-11 jack for Sonic's phone service. That is why I anticipated that it was also a DHCP client. Another comment said it was possible to change your Sonic service to include or omit the telephone line option, so I took that to mean that they do not use different ONT models for those options.

Unless perhaps the ONT uses a DHCP client -only- for the phone line while passing through an Ethernet signal that still needs a client of its own (and that will get a different IP address)? Some parts of TCP/IP are still beyond my full comprehension/skill set.

I'd have to defer to Sonic themselves for how that's handled, as I didn't get phone service.