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Not taking sides here but for an explanation of what is going on, you might want to look at Motive's HDM (home device management) application which works with TR69 enabled devices. I am not a Verizon customer so I don't know what the service EULA looks like but if this was a Verizon supplied device then it is likely enabled for some home device management system and such management is OKd in the service agreement. Again, I am just making some assumptions here and not saying this is kosher.

TR69 devices register with a pre-determined server when they are powered on and go through an ISP determined process to do things like password setting. If you could sniff the line side, you should see an initial HTTPS session briefly set up, pass some traffic, and then shut down.

You might want to google TR-098 which is the Internet Gateway device specification within TR-069

http://www.broadband-forum.org/technical/download/TR-098_Amendment-2.pdf

http://www.actiontec.com/products/datasheets/MI424WR%20Verizon%20FiOS%20Router%20Datasheet.pdf

Companies like Verizon and (I believe) British Telecom have gone this route to drive down help desk costs by enabling managed firmware upgrades and remote parameter setting of a subscribers device. ie Subscriber calls and complains "my internet is broken"; Tier I help desk remotely resets the subscriber's router to the original configuration and voila: the internet is unbroken!

HDM systems also gather metrics from the subscriber routers.

As far as the ISP is concerned, your FIOS/Cable/DSL router is the same as a TV set top box or satellite receiver. Cable and IP STBs are capable of sending back extremely detailed stats of anything that happens on the box, including your viewing habits.

From the ISP point of view, this gives them a powerful tool to deal with systemic failures due to firmware bugs, network attacks, and user finger problems. It also provides a method of getting network stats back from the field devices so that an overall picture of network health can be evaluated. Most subscribers will have no clue what is going on and mostly don't give a fig.

Safest approach is to assume that the access layer router is owned (in the control sense) by your provider and put your own security layer below it. Be warned that you likely can't put your IP TV STB behind your own security layer unless you make sure it can pass multicast.

Again, I am not saying this is hunky-dory but it is what I have seen.

use the coax as a wirepull to rewire the house.

If it works (no strange bends inside the walls), then yes, this is preferable — but he should use CAT6, while he is at it...

Cat5 provides many more options than coax

.

Don't discount the bandwidth of coax... A device like this, for example, promises "Up to 4 ethernet runs may be sent through the bridge over a single length of coaxial cable simultaneously"...

Plenty of other coax-to-Ethernet adapters exist too.

Interestingly, the router, that Verizon FiOS gave me, operates over coax... I was puzzled, that they bring fiber all the way to the house, and then "dumb it down" to coax inside the house to connect to the router. But it does give the 35MBps up and down, that I pay for, so I'm not complaining... Verizon's TV set-top boxes also connect to the router (and obtain their IP-addresses) over the coax as well...

http://www.actiontec.com/products/product.php?pid=189

This may be what you're looking for. Offers 10/100 WAN ethernet interface, NAT, the whole she-bang.

You can find them used on eBay for under $40 shipped. I personally used a pair to utilize a coax line in my office for hard-wiring my desktop as my wireless was being spotty. Through put is better than 802.11g and ping times are in the 3ms range.

Are you sure? Because if that is true, then Action tech could be the one responsible for the GPLed code.

A quick search of their site seems to indicate that they have a download for it.

Now, Verizon could be protected from having to distribute the code by either of two ways that I can think of. The first might be in that they don't actually sell it but lease it and keep control of it. This sounds like something Verizon might do but I have replaces My ADSL2+ modem after their got hit by lightning. Their tech support even made sure that my Netgear DG834G router was set up properly.

The other way is something that I don't think the FSF or the GPL could get around at all. Seeing how ActionTech makes the thing and distributes it, Verizon could be protected by the fact that acceptance is not required for use and the right of first sale that supersedes the ability of copyright holders to restrict protected materials past the original purchaser.

As long as verizon didn't change the code outside simple settings that the use could change without having to accept the GPL, then they could be totally separated from it.

I wonder if Verizon is the right place to be looking for the source code?

If the "infringing product" is, indeed, the Actiontec MI424WR, wouldn't the correct place to look be the manufacturer of the hardware and integrator of the firmware, Actiontec?

Looking on Actiontec's "Support: Open Source" website (http://opensource.actiontec.com/index.html), I see the following:

GPL Code Download is available for the following Actiontec products: Wireless Broadband Router Model MI424WR

The following is the portion of the Actiontec source code for the MI424WR Products.

List of modules:

busybox-0.50
Release Date Filename
11/27/2007 actiontec_opensrc_mi424wr.tar.gz

Hmmm... looks like Actiontec is at least attempting to honor the license. I haven't researched what's in the tarball, but at least it's there.

So, again, why is SFLC suing Verizon? I'm sure Verizon would argue that (A) they're just retailing and installing off-the-shelf hardware, and (B) any license liability is the hardware manufacturer's.

BTW: to the 4 anonymous cowards that I upmodded earlier in this article, sorry you lost my moderation bump. I hate wasting modpoints, but this seemed relevant and important.

When I switched from DSL to Verizon's FIOS, I got an Actiontec MI424WR router. By default, it was configured with a randomly generated SSID and WEP key. I've changed it to a WPA key, but if I do a hard-reset, it returns to the original values. Apparently, the boot ROM is 'tweaked' during the manufacturing process and a matching sticker is generated with the SSID, WEP key and MAC address -- which is attached to the bottom of the router.

The administration username and password were set to constant values. Unfortunately, you can login to the router as administrator via a wireless connection -- my older Linksys/Cisco router allows you to restrict administrative access to a wired port.

When I upgraded my Verizon FIOS service to add TV, the installer gave me a new router: an ActionTec MI424-WR.

The wireless access point was enabled, but it had 64-bit WEP enabled with a password that looked like it was randomly generated. I switched it to WPA PSK and set my own password, but I was impressed that it didn't default to a wide open access point.

I've used off-brand computer parts/equipment where it makes sense to do so, and have never had a problem. My Actiontec wireless access point is four years old and has always worked great with all brands of wireless NICs. I've used Hawking switches and hubs. StarTech is great for network cards, add-on port cards.

What you have to watch out for is the online retailers. Pay attention to the customer ratings.

In a nutshell, in my experience it matters less what brand of equipment you buy, and more who you buy it from.

I recently fired my standard VoIP provider because Skype was a better deal for me. I was paying $25/month for an unlimited VoIP plan. In some months I used 2000 minutes, other months I used 100 minutes. With Skype, I pay as I go. As I run out of minutes I pre-pay and just get credits. With the VoIP provider I am stuck with a flat rate per month. I could go down to a cheaper plan but then risk getting hit with a high per minute rate. My base charge for Skype is less than $3/month USD for the phone number and voice mail.

The two arguments I have read about people no liking skype are:

(1) I have to have a computer running all the time.
(2) I am tied to my computer.
(3) I can't use a regular phone.

First, I would bet a lot of early adopters have a machine connected to a broadband connection 24/7. Second, you are not tied to your computer if you purchase a USB adapter that allows Skype to work with your regular phone line. I use the ActionTec adapter and plug it right into my phone network so it powers ALL the jacks in the house. Finally, with the adapter you can use a regular phone.

http://www.actiontec.com/support/voip/faqs.html

As a side note, the adapter is powered from your USB connection and therefore doesn't require yet another power supply. It's tiny compared to a VoIP router and you can throw it in a laptop bag if you are traveling (along with a small cordless phone if you like).

I am a big proponent of the "pay-as-you-go" plan. I pay for minutes (about $0.02) used when I "Skype-Out" and if I don't use the phone I don't pay. It's as simple as that. The only monthly recurring fee I pay is $3/month for the phone number.

The Internet Phone Wizard, available at
http://www.actiontec.com/products/communications/i pw_usb/index.php
, works fine for skype-based calls.

You are correct, it is a slippery slope. However since I don't follow cameras the way that I follow the computer industry... Do you think Slashdot will run another story if they move this "feature" into their lower end cameras? Probably not, and if not how will anyone know? Even though I do my best to do my homework, this is the kind of thing that tends to slip in under the radar. Most people don't know enough to understand what is going on in the first place. They simply find themselves screwed later on.

I got a new DSL router/bridge from my phone company, since the old one didn't support 1.5Mb DSL. This new router comes with a CD that states that the first thing that you have to do is put in the CD. It also states in the included documentation, and on the manual on their website that it requires some version of Windows or MacOS 9 or higher. This is all patently false. Any TCP/IP aware OS can use the device in Tranparent Bridging mode (RFC 1483) without issue. In my case, I left the software unopened, disregarded the USB port, left the included RJ-45 cable unmolested and simply plugged the device into my existing setup, configured it porperly and I was up and running. The machine it's plugged into is my Slackware Linux based server. According to the documentation, this won't work. I just happen to know that pretty much any OS will work with RFC1483 bridging, because I am a network guy. I am not a photographer. I just want to take my photos and get them out of my camera.

So how are most consumers to know that they are being screwed, or that they can do something else, if it's not even in the documentation? I sincerely doubt that if Nikon were to move this into their lower end cameras that they'd put a warning label on them, or any label for that matter at all. While I like my Olympus, the supposedly "built-in" panorama support only works with their proprietary software. This isn't an issue since I can use other software, and do use another app, to create panoramas. This is annoying, but it does not stop me from doing what I want with my own pics. The Nikon "feature" does. Once again, how is the average consumer supposed to know? My take is that if they are willing to screw their professional customers, why will they be less willing to screw me? I'd rather not take that chance, thank you.

The trick is to use a dial on demand linux box. You can have a script that will automatically dial into your provider. When you get kicked, it calls back. Couple this with an ethernet card and you'll have a gateway, and even a hardware firewall to protect you from all the evils that would have their way with your box. You can also use this machine for common services such as a caching DNS server which will speed up page load times over dial-up and as a mail gateway which also speed up perceived mail send times.

That almost perfectly describes Actiontec's Dual PC Modem.

As an additional bonus the AWMP is also a mini web browser, so I've got WebTV when I need it. It can play mpeg4 streams, but I haven't had much luck with divx.

I've been looking into networked media players and the one that looks most promising to me is the Neuston Virtuoso MC-500. They have Win/Mac/Linux server support, HD Video out, and DTS capability. Unfortunately it's not for sale in the US; though support has stated that it will be available at the end of the month (presumably this month.)

A second company, Actiontec, markets this device (and sells in the US,) but they have virtually no support. No downloads. No FAQs. No Forums. Nothing.

I suppose I'll wait to purchase a Neuston, but who knows when this fabled "end of the month" will come.

My DSL router/modem IS an AP. Lucky that it has WEP, MAC filtering, and other security measures built in.

Except for the folks on dialup. And don't say you can't get a worm from dialup. The payloads are really tiny - it doesn't take that long on 56K. I have personally seen two computers infected with blaster via a dialup connection. If you're on there browsing the web for more than 30 minutes or so, the chances are quite good you'll get one, what with all the scans happening. Most ISPs are blocking the ms networking ports at their border, but within a segment, it's a free for all.

The only hardware solution is to get a 2nd PC to be the gateway and run iptables on it (not practical), or to get an Apple Airport which will do that for you (because it has a built-in modem), but that's too expensive. I haven't found any other hardware solutions for dialup users - do any exist that are reasonably priced? (read: no more expensive than a linksys home router)

3Com used to have a device it called a "LAN modem"...it was a 56K modem, router, and 4-port (?) hub all in one box. A currently-available product that would do the same thing is the Actiontec Dual PC Modem...Fry's sells these for about $70. The specs page says it has a built-in firewall, and you can combine it with a switch, wireless access point, or whatever to make it available to more than two computers.

(A quick check indicates that while 3Com has discontinued the OfficeConnect 56K LAN Modem, the OfficeConnect Dual 56K LAN Modem is a currently-available product. It'll combine two dial-up connections and make them available. At about $300, it's considerably more expensive than the Actiontec product...and if you're going to pay for two phone lines and two dial-up accounts, you might as well bite the bullet and upgrade to broadband.)

The new linksys does according to O'Reilly Net. You don't need much tho' ... and I've not had trouble finding products to help with Broadband network bridging. All manner of PPPoE, RAS, and other kinds of Cable Modem, DSL Modem, and such tools are easy enough to find.

My problem was I was on ISDN or 56K and I wanted to share my internet connection.

This Actiontec device would have been really handy to have had. As it was I ended up putting a modem and ISDN card into a Linux box and setting it up as a proxy server with Dial On Demand set to the ISDN provider.

I moved cities to get broadband though and I'm much happier now that I don't have to do such contortions anymore.

Personally, I'm more intrigued by the company's anti-kidnapping technology. I'll sleep easier once that's out of the way.

Unfortunately, he has a controllerless/software 'winmodem', so replacing it has become a priority.

Looking into it, I was surprised that there are some decient PCI hardware modems now -- not just the winmodem crap.

The one getting the most discussion on Usenet is the Actiontech Call Waiting modem. One simple reason is that they have 6 pages of documentation for Windows setup...and 6 pages of documentation for Linux setup!

They're not just putting a Linux sticker on the box, they back it up. It's cheap for a hardware modem (~$70-80 before rebates), and is available in most stores and over the Internet.

Now, having said that, they do make controlerless modems, so make sure you get the right one.

Multitech, USR, Zoom, IBM, GVC, and a few other companies make PCI hardware modems that work with Linux, but it looks like they aren't promoting or supporting the Linux compatable hardware as much. (Corrections appreciated!)

Before getting zapped on a PCI modem, take a look at the detailed Winmodems are not modems page.

Based on actiontec's faq for the cwi modem http://www.actiont ec.com/support/modems/cwifaq.html#installlinux, it looks as though the lucent chipset actually provides or emulates a uart, and that the ordinary kernel serial driver can use this device if it's configured manually with setserial. You might want to try those instructions for your modem.

Found a company that does *killer* modems, including PCI, and supports Linux. Even their flagship product: a modem that will take a voicemail msg of call waiting while yer on the net, and allow you to stay connected, is supported for Linux.
http://www.actiontec.com

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If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed...