FreedomVerse

Well… I didn’t follow up my previous post as quickly as I promised, but I can blame that on U-verse itself. One component of U-verse is the Residential Gateway device, which serves as a DSL modem, router, etc. With previous routers, it was easy to map internal IP addresses to external ports, but not so on the RG. As a consequence, FreedomMind has been down since the U-verse installation. But now it’s back: FreedomVerse!

I’ll admit that I haven’t been too worried about it and that’s why it has taken me so long to do the necessary troubleshooting and implement the required solution: configuring the firewall to “DMZplus mode” for the machine hosting the site. Fortunately, I have only one machine to expose to the internet because this mode is only available for one.

Other technical observations:

  • The default 192.168.0.x address range is a challenge to modify. It can be done, but requires all the devices, including the set-top boxes, to be restarted. Even then, they don’t want to release previous addresses. Maybe if I knew more, I could take care of this, but it was easier to just accept the default range.
  • The Max 18 plan to which I subscribe seems very fast. I suppose it’s not as fast as the 20Mb plan I had with Charter, but I can’t tell the difference.
  • The VoIP telephone service works fine. Since it is IP-based, there are some benefits such as logging, dialing from a computer interface, and more. The plan also includes many features that I may have had available even with my POTS line such as voicemail, call filtering, and many more - all configurable through a nice web interface.
  • The RG has four ethernet ports on the back. That’s probably enough for most folks, but one is required for the primary set top box, leaving only three more. When I mentioned to the installer that I needed more (TV, Blu-Ray, XBox, and NAS drive), he happily gave me an 8-port Netgear gigabit switch worth about $60: technical limitation overcome by excellent customer service!

I will document some of my TV-specific observations in another posting.

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