[afnog] XLAT646 deployment

[Philip Paeps]

On 2021-07-06 02:45:21 (+0800), Mark Tinka wrote:
> On 7/5/21 18:25, Philip Paeps wrote:
>> I wonder if I should feel inadequate for having only seven VLANs in 
>> my two-bedroom apartment. :-)
>
> So I've got only one VLAN for my entire house, but spread across 61 
> Gig-E switch ports in 5 separate rooms. Not a major drama :-).

That's outrageous!  Surely nobody allows their rice cooker and their 
toothbrush in the same broadcast domain?  I am shocked!  I am also a 
terrible troll and not at all serious. :-)

>> So this is already happening. Or at least it's happening in Hong 
>> Kong.
>>
>> The Wi-Fi scan list in my living room shows a roughly equal number of 
>> "FOOBAR" and "FOOBAR-GUEST" ESSIDs. There are several different 
>> spellings of FOOBAR but they all translate to "cheap ISP CPE, 
>> settings not touched by customer".
>>
>> The CPE my ISP tried to install for me has a friendly "guest Wi-Fi" 
>> QR code sticker in the box.
>
> So this is pretty typical of all "plug-and-pray" wi-fi routers that 
> are shipping now. I make a habit of always manually configuring mine 
> (switching them into AP-only mode and what-not), and the guest bits 
> tend to mirror whatever you do for the main SSID. I shut those down, 
> but as you rightly point out, most users won't even care.

Most users will just let the ISP technician connect the CPE then scan 
the little barcode and never think about it again.

> It's not uncommon to walk into someone's home and see some odd combo 
> of numbers and letters as an SSID ending on its own or as "-5G". For 
> anyone I've helped clean up their home network, I simply run the same 
> SSID on both bands, as modern devices nowadays will default to 5GHz if 
> the RSSI is within thresholds. Has not been an issue so far.

An unscientific study of the Cheap Chinesium broadcasting beacons in 
this building suggests that the -5G convention may slowly be on its way 
out.  I actually see more -2.4G suffixes than -5G.

Amusingly, one of my neighbours has a LinksysXXXX_5GHz network broadcast 
by an AP that's using ASUSTeK BSSID.  Looking at a Wi-Fi scan list 
always raises more questions than it answers.

>> I wouldn't be surprised to see a (probably small) decrease in fixed 
>> line broadband services in some parts of the world.
>
> In Uganda, for example, the local telco has been recording fewer and 
> fewer landline customers for the past decade. It's shocking but it's 
> not shocking.
>
> I can't imagine other PTT's on the continent are doing any better.
>
> In South Africa, the PTT is getting rid of ADSL. Fair point, they are 
> rolling out fibre, but not as fast as there is copper. So areas that 
> don't have fibre will have to move to 4G/LTE, even though copper is 
> available. A bit odd, but okay...

In some ways, it's easier to roll out a mobile network than a fixed line 
network.  I would not be shocked if fibre to the last mile ends up not 
happening.  Especially if the company laying the fibre also operates a 
mobile network.

>> People who don't have own huge televisions or smart hair dryers or 
>> toasters or whatever have no need for fixed line broadband. They 
>> watch YouTube on their phablet on 5G.
>
> This.
>
> One would do well to appeal to this market, rather than try to get 
> them to abide by "global standards".

Also spare a thought for the people who have fixed line broadband for 
their television but never bother to scan the little Wi-Fi barcode with 
their phone... :)

Philip

-- 
Philip Paeps
Senior Reality Engineer
Alternative Enterprises