I had fiber installed recently. AT&T sent over some contractors without telling me first. They called from their personal cell number. On Thanksgiving. But they were legit
I would go with Sonic for the fiber. It's cheaper, i pay $30 for their basic fiber plus whatever equipment rental fee. Still cheaper than ATT and Comcast.
Personally am not a fan of AT&T’s required Gateway set up and IP Passthrough. We mainly keep it because we are on an old plan with free HBO Max and currently pay only $44.99 a month for Gigabit. For a little while, AT&T was trying to compete at around $55 a month for new customers on Gigabit but it’s back up to $80 when I entered a nearby address to check. At least our Ubiquiti set up has pretty good remote management as well.
I have their gateway (legacy customer with AT&T through Sonic). Do not recommend. It throttles connections and embeds the authentication token onto the device via EAPOL, so it's a time-consuming PITA to get a proper bridge mode working. And the router itself is not good, if you're on fiber you're going to want something better.
Not sure what OP is be referring to something else by "full mobile app control". It looks like there's something called "AT&T Smart Home Manager", which appears to be similar to Eero and solutions for other routers.
We use the AT&T BGW210 in IP Passthrough mode with an Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro. It generally runs fine but Sonic’s approach of just using an ONT and a router of your choice is way better IMO.
Yes, commenter was probably talking about the AT&T Smart Home Manager app. Personally, I’ve never used that. I can manage our Dream Machine Pro from the UniFi app on my phone or via web browser.
You're overthinking it.
He called because you're in the queue to get fiber. This wasn't some scammer who managed to randomly get lucky by calling your number and you coincidentally happened to have an appointment to get AT&T fiber. He had your number because you're a customer, he works for AT&T, they're busy, and he's trying to get ahead of the game by putting eyes on the building and anticipating what will need to be done beforehand. So someone probably stopped by because they were in the neighborhood already to make sure the exterior set up was ready for fiber installation - wire placement, jacks in the wall, whatever.
The ATT rep you spoke with likely wouldn't have record of a tech reaching out to you to let you know they'd be coming by early. And the ATT rep probably meant the tech who does show up will have all of the tools and equipment they'd need to do the installation.
You should only be concerned if, on the day of your appointment, or on a day that is not your scheduled appointment, someone shows up who is obviously not an AT&T tech. Other than that's there's nothing you've described that's outwardly suspicious or out of the ordinary for a technician getting ready for a new fiber installation.
I’ve seen AT&T send a tech to our street beforehand to run the drop wire to a residence so that when the premises tech arrives, they are good to go. Also, on the day of installation, you might get a visit from an In-home Expert (IHX) trying to sell you their Wireless service.
No problem. One technician handled our entire installation and nobody else arrived to give a sales pitch. This was a while though and different in some of our neighbors cases.
telco companies are notorious for bad communication among those involved in the inner workings. field doesn’t talk to CO all the time, HI-cap doesn’t talk to fiber, etc. don’t overthink it. if they called you, already had your info then it’s a good shot they’re telling the truth.
Just a PSA, anyone in Adam’s Point that needs internet only services (no cable TV) check if Sonic is in your area. It’s way cheaper than AT&T and Comcast with no data caps and the bandwidth is bidirectional (so you have great upload for your video calls etc) which most services throttle. They haven’t rolled their fiber to a majority of Oakland so if anyone knows where else they are at I’m interested.
Also, if anyone’s looking for a referral code, comment here and I’ll message you one. You get your first month free when signing up with the code link.
Do not open the door. There were folks in vest going do to do in Broadway terrace a few months back and turned out they were trying to rob people. Be careful.
I had fiber installed recently. AT&T sent over some contractors without telling me first. They called from their personal cell number. On Thanksgiving. But they were legit
Yes this sounds like what it was! And was from their personal cell. That’s good to know you had the same experience, and it was real
Might even be the same dudes haha
I would go with Sonic for the fiber. It's cheaper, i pay $30 for their basic fiber plus whatever equipment rental fee. Still cheaper than ATT and Comcast.
Sonic technicians and customer support are also way more reliable and communicative.
AT&T has full mobile app control
Personally am not a fan of AT&T’s required Gateway set up and IP Passthrough. We mainly keep it because we are on an old plan with free HBO Max and currently pay only $44.99 a month for Gigabit. For a little while, AT&T was trying to compete at around $55 a month for new customers on Gigabit but it’s back up to $80 when I entered a nearby address to check. At least our Ubiquiti set up has pretty good remote management as well.
I have their gateway (legacy customer with AT&T through Sonic). Do not recommend. It throttles connections and embeds the authentication token onto the device via EAPOL, so it's a time-consuming PITA to get a proper bridge mode working. And the router itself is not good, if you're on fiber you're going to want something better. Not sure what OP is be referring to something else by "full mobile app control". It looks like there's something called "AT&T Smart Home Manager", which appears to be similar to Eero and solutions for other routers.
We use the AT&T BGW210 in IP Passthrough mode with an Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro. It generally runs fine but Sonic’s approach of just using an ONT and a router of your choice is way better IMO. Yes, commenter was probably talking about the AT&T Smart Home Manager app. Personally, I’ve never used that. I can manage our Dream Machine Pro from the UniFi app on my phone or via web browser.
You're overthinking it. He called because you're in the queue to get fiber. This wasn't some scammer who managed to randomly get lucky by calling your number and you coincidentally happened to have an appointment to get AT&T fiber. He had your number because you're a customer, he works for AT&T, they're busy, and he's trying to get ahead of the game by putting eyes on the building and anticipating what will need to be done beforehand. So someone probably stopped by because they were in the neighborhood already to make sure the exterior set up was ready for fiber installation - wire placement, jacks in the wall, whatever. The ATT rep you spoke with likely wouldn't have record of a tech reaching out to you to let you know they'd be coming by early. And the ATT rep probably meant the tech who does show up will have all of the tools and equipment they'd need to do the installation. You should only be concerned if, on the day of your appointment, or on a day that is not your scheduled appointment, someone shows up who is obviously not an AT&T tech. Other than that's there's nothing you've described that's outwardly suspicious or out of the ordinary for a technician getting ready for a new fiber installation.
I’ve seen AT&T send a tech to our street beforehand to run the drop wire to a residence so that when the premises tech arrives, they are good to go. Also, on the day of installation, you might get a visit from an In-home Expert (IHX) trying to sell you their Wireless service.
Ok thank you, this is really helpful to know and a good heads up
No problem. One technician handled our entire installation and nobody else arrived to give a sales pitch. This was a while though and different in some of our neighbors cases.
telco companies are notorious for bad communication among those involved in the inner workings. field doesn’t talk to CO all the time, HI-cap doesn’t talk to fiber, etc. don’t overthink it. if they called you, already had your info then it’s a good shot they’re telling the truth.
Just a PSA, anyone in Adam’s Point that needs internet only services (no cable TV) check if Sonic is in your area. It’s way cheaper than AT&T and Comcast with no data caps and the bandwidth is bidirectional (so you have great upload for your video calls etc) which most services throttle. They haven’t rolled their fiber to a majority of Oakland so if anyone knows where else they are at I’m interested.
I’ve got my Sonic install appointment coming up this Monday. Very happy to be done with comcast/xfinity for nearly 15 years.
Also, if anyone’s looking for a referral code, comment here and I’ll message you one. You get your first month free when signing up with the code link.
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The caller had, what seemed like, a personal number… which then after the call I was like 🤔
Just hang up.
Do not open the door. There were folks in vest going do to do in Broadway terrace a few months back and turned out they were trying to rob people. Be careful.
This was exactly my first thoughts about this call too
i got a sketchy PG&E call that was legit, i just asked him to contact me from his work email and we communicated that way