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How to use your own router with AT&T U-verse or AT&T Fiber

Dave Farquhar ISPs July 26, 2018March 13, 2021

AT&T provides a residential gateway when you subscribe to U-Verse or AT&T Fiber. It’s pretty easy to use, but lacks a lot of features we expect in routers these days. So you may be wondering: Can I use my own router with AT&T U-Verse? Yes. Yes you can. Here’s how to use your own router with AT&T U-Verse or AT&T Fiber.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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How to change an AT&T U-Verse wifi password

Dave Farquhar ISPs July 24, 2018July 27, 2018

AT&T’s default wi-fi passwords aren’t the worst I’ve seen, but they aren’t super-secure either. So here’s how to change an AT&T U-Verse wifi password. The same trick works with AT&T Fiber, since it uses the same residential gateways.

Dave Farquhar

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What is Spectrum, or Charter Spectrum?

Dave Farquhar ISPs May 8, 2017February 10, 20251990s, AT&T, AT&T U-verse, cable tv, comcast, Missouri, New York, Paul Allen, phone service, time warner, verizon

What is Spectrum? Charter Spectrum, or simply Spectrum, is a new name to many parts of the country. Spectrum is the brand name for cable, Internet and phone service from Charter Communications.

Although Charter started using the Spectrum name prior to its merger, the name Spectrum gained prominence as a result of the second, fourth, and sixth-largest cable operators in the United States merging in 2016. Post-merger Charter is now a Fortune 100 company.

Dave Farquhar

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Spectrum bought by AT&T? Not quite.

Dave Farquhar ISPs November 24, 2016January 10, 2025AOL, AT&T, cable tv, comcast, nbc, phone service, time warner, verizon

Was Time Warner Cable or Charter Spectrum bought by AT&T? No it wasn’t, but I understand why some people are thinking that right now. It now turns out that both Charter Communications and AT&T have a history with Time Warner, but it’s complicated.

That said, there was a rumor that AT&T’s arch rival Verizon is considering buying Charter Communications, the company behind Spectrum. Meanwhile, AT&T did buy Time Warner. Time Warner differs from Time Warner Cable.

Dave Farquhar

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Does a POTS phone use the same wiring as U-Verse VOIP?

Dave Farquhar ISPs September 1, 2015February 8, 20181950s, AT&T, old school, VOIP

A friend asked me a good question: Does a POTS phone use the same wiring as U-Verse VOIP? The answer is, it depends. Outside your house, no it doesn’t. But that’s not your problem. Outside, that’s AT&T’s problem.

Dave Farquhar

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Does AT&T U-Verse drop connections like DSL?

Dave Farquhar ISPs June 5, 2015August 3, 20171960s, AT&T, AT&T U-verse, phone wiring, Southwestern Bell

I got this question anonymously, but it’s a fair question: Does AT&T U-Verse drop connections like DSL?

In my experience, over the 3½ years I’ve had it, sometimes. But not nearly as often.

Dave Farquhar

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How to size your Internet connection

Dave Farquhar ISPs, Servers and Networking May 4, 2015August 3, 2017AT&T, AT&T U-verse, netflix, Roku

So I understand ISPs are upselling connection speeds saying it’ll make Netflix work better. That’s a nice theory. But if you’re already over 10 megabits, there’s a decent chance your connection speed won’t do much for Netflix at all. Here’s how to size your Internet connection. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Google’s plan for fiber seems to be working

Dave Farquhar ISPs April 26, 2013February 10, 2025AOL, Kansas City

I saw this on Slashdot today: In Lawrence, Kan., about 40 miles west of Kansas City, Kan., a local ISP is building an affordable fiber network. Pricing is a little higher than Google Fiber, at $70/month for 100 megabit and $100/month for gigabit, but that’s still better than what you typically see from the local cable/phone duopoly.

The cable/phone duopoly won’t build this, so it’s going to have to be upstarts who do it. Meet the new revolution: Same as the old revolution. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Hey, AT&T! Don’t send clumsy oafs to bury my cable!

Dave Farquhar ISPs November 18, 2011August 3, 2017AT&T, cissp

Late Thursday morning, AT&T sent a subcontractor out to bury the cable strung across my yard for U-Verse. He buried the cable, but tore it up in the process. He knocked on the door and asked my wife to see if anything worked. It didn’t. Then he told her to contact AT&T and left.

That’s customer service. Poor customer service. But customer service, nonetheless, right?
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Things I wish I’d known about AT&T U-Verse before I signed up

Dave Farquhar ISPs November 14, 2011February 8, 2018antenna, AT&T, AT&T U-verse, caller id, phone service, VOIP, western electric

As I wrote earlier this week, I’m a new AT&T U-Verse customer. Prior to that, I was using old-school POTS with a DSL connection. Between the phone service, DSL, and long-distance calls, I was spending around $75 a month. So it looked like I could switch to U-Verse with the 250-minute voice plan and 3-megabit Internet, save some money, and get a bit of an upgrade in connection speed.

I was mostly correct.

Dave Farquhar

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