SOLDIERX.COM Nobody Can Stop Information Insemination

FYI... This is only a tutorial because I stated I would give information on the topic. However, I'm giving a for warning now that although there is information, this very well may seem like me bitching and it kind of is.

Well let me first start off by stating that my upgrade from ATT DSL to ATT Uverse was supposed to be a no brainer.
From ATT DSL having a static ip address with 3mbps down and 765k up bandwidth to Uverse's having 6 static ip addressees and speeds of 10mbps down and 3mbps up! This clearly seems like an awesome choice! Well... there's some heart ache and pain to follow.

Let me explain my previous setup...
I own a Cisco 877 SOHO router which completely takes the dsl modem out of the loop!
This means it has an RJ11 jack on the back of the router and can be configured to work with the DSL service by use of a command line setup that is similar to an ISDN line using dialer profiles and pap/chap call-ins.
It was VERY reliable! I never had dropped packets, I could configure access-list at the very edge of where traffic hits my network without having to worry about someone trying to muck with my dsl modem or just plain having it crap out on me.

The "new" setup......
My cisco router was replaced with ATT's 2wire router under the basis of two things.

#1) ATT would not tell me nor do I know what my pvc is coming from the LEC (telco talk for Local End Carrier, it's whom ever owns the last mile leading from the CO (Central Office) to my hosting environment. For those of you who don't know there are big pipes (circuits) that go into a LEC and then they get divided up into small pipes and then branch out to home users, companies, etc.
Each of these circuits have different names such as OC48, OC12, OC3, T3, T1, and so forth. Each of these circuits have their own circuit identifiers, an example may look like this:
DHE5983452 for a T3 line which may break down into two T1's looking like AREC59834521 and AREC59834522.
I'm not saying the numbers coordinate like this but just giving an example.
When the T1 line gets broken down into smaller, oh lets say, DSL lines, there is a pvc number which is linked to the one going to my location which is also needed in the cisco configuration or in this "new" case the 2wire configuration.
Previously I was able to look in the configuration settings of my old DSL modem and pull the number but here I have been unable to do so with my 2wire router.

#2) Even if I had this number it would do me no good because of the way the Uverse service works.
The advertising says you get fiber which is only half true. With Verizon you get fiber going from the main location to the CO to your location. With Uverse you get fiber from the main location to the CO and then the signal goes over whatever you have in your existing area; yes it can go over telephone line (I think the technical term is WF-16, but I could be wrong, it's basicly just speaker wire as it only uses 2 pair normally) or it can go across coaxial cable. Cheap for ISP shoddy for you regarding speed.
The main problem however is their "FAKE" NAT (Network Address Translation" they have going on. With the way they have things setup it is easier for the to snoop on you, for them to control your router, or do whatever they wish.
ISP's have always owned ranges of static ip addresses and then sold them out to customers; which is why when you do a reverse lookup you get the ISP's name. (unless you are a company and own a large amount or buy directly)
The difference with the Uverse setup is previously they gave you your static ip you purchased and the traffic from the internet more or less routed straight to you, as in this was not NAT'd by the ISP; with Uverse it is. The 2wire router you buy does not NAT to ATT they NAT on their end once your traffic leaves them, making you directly connected to their network.
I would say technically this leaves them vulnerable on an internal side, but they pretty much are able to lead all traces back to you unless you can spoof off of another customer which I have not attempted.
The Uverse setup, for ease of understanding is like a big DHCP server that lease out addresses. Even if you purchase static they more so just bind it to your mac. Because of the way they do their subnetting, which is unlike the norm. in my eyes, it makes you unable to assign the addresses in the format you may want.
Example:
Lets pretend that 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 is a publicly routable subnet.
Lets pretend that you have the entire subnet at your disposal.
It is considered common practice for the default gateway to be the first routable address which would 192.168.1.1
Uverse pre-staticly defines that your default gateway will be the last ip address instead of the first so that it will be 192.168.1.254
This can not be changed. If you change it on your router it will not work!
When you look at your router you will notice that you not only have the static publicly routable ip addresses you purchased, but you also have an entire "other network" that is theirs that you are connecting to! Complete with it's own static ip address and subnet that is completely different from yours! This is ATT's way of having all of your ip addresses routed through their private network and translated on their side. So essentially it's not even like you're static ip's are really public, it's more like ATT Uverse has them on their internal network and THEY map them out and THEY route them out however THEY want to!
This in my mind is not right!<---insert a few swear words here.
So instead of having one DHCP server think of it has them having 2 and defining multiple networks on their side which monitors and routes traffic accordingly.
This may have some understanding when you look at the aspects of the router being able to handle cable/satellite television and voip phone service included with the internet service, but doesn't make a bit of sense if nothing other than internet service is being used.

I may add more later or decrease if they come knocking on my door, but this is how things stand as of now, feel free to comment.

-cisc0ninja