- A weblog by InetSolution
Beware of the SBC DSL Installer
By Jason Sherrill
Posted on Sep 19, 2006
One of our clients recently moved to a new office. They tried to transfer their LDMI telephone and DSL service to the new building, but LDMI missed several deadlines so our client switched to AT&T. Today, our client called seeking advice on troubleshooting some network problems after the AT&T DSL installer left. After 20 minutes of pinging, ipconfig'ing, switching SMTP server settings and numerous other troubleshooting steps, I determined that their internal LAN subnet had changed. "Hmmm," I thought.
"Mr. Client, when AT&T installer guy put in your new DSL router, did he connect it to your firewall?" I asked.
"Is that the red box?" Mr. Client asked.
"Yes. Is that red box connected to the new DSL router?" I asked.
"No, the AT&T installer said that we didn't need that red box anymore," he replied.
"So the AT&T installer determined that you no longer need your firewall, which provides web content filtering, remote VPN access, DHCP and intrusion prevention," I said, "and now you're having network issues."
"Yes," replied Mr. Client.
Friends, when your friendly telephone company installer visits your office and tells you that you no longer need the red (or blue, black, green, purple, pink, etc.) box that has been installed in your network since the day you set it up, find him a chair, ask him to sit and then call the person who knows what the little red box is and ask if it's reallyno longer needed.
Comments
this is the big secret: the techs that install your dsl are not A+ certified or have computer certification of any kind.
tip: order it, if you do not know how to install it, call the geek squad or somebody who knows.
former SBC/ATT employee
By super dave
Posted on Oct 15, 2006