New ISP. I must use windows?

**chris4585** · June 4th, 2008

I have DSL from AT&T no problems, works great.

**eriqjaffe** · June 5th, 2008

I set up my AT&T DSL without putting the CD in at all. In fact, I never even took the CD out of the little cardboard envelope it came in.

I just hooked the modem up and navigated to 192.168.0.1 and set it up direclty on the modem. IIRC, AT&T even provided instructions for doing it.

**stream303** · June 6th, 2008

Unless your ISP's TOS, terms-of-service prohibit using Linux there should be no problem - BUT as we've seen, they only officially support Windows and in some cases Apple OSX if problems during setup or operations happen, otherwise you are on your own.

There is good networking support here in the forums, and you may also want to visit other sites like dslreports.com for further information.

**mivo** · June 6th, 2008

Originally Posted by whitefang5412

True. Like I said. I will just let them do their thing with windows, and I assume you somehow got my I.P. write there, that is mine right?

No, that is one of the common IPs of DSL routers, If you use it in a web browser, it is likely to bring up the configuration of the router (in the browser). That is not dependent on the operating system. You don't need Windows for DSL.

192.xxx.xxx.xxx is always a local IP address (or within a local network), it's not "real" internet address. (It is, but not in the way most people understand it.)

**CREEPING DEATH** · June 6th, 2008

Do NOT use AT&T!!!!!
You're in Houston, here are two very good locally owned alternatives:
http://www.oplink.net/
http://www.aldridge.com/
I use Aldridge but I've worked for them before, they're mainly commercial and don't provide any support or email. Oplink has a great reputation among those that use it, the computer store I worked at referred a lot of people there (from Comcrap/TWC and SBC/AT&T) and they all had really good luck with it.

CD

**ChameleonDave** · June 6th, 2008

Just tell them to run you through what they would tell someone who has Windows. You can then translate that into Linux practice. It's just a matter of the correct numbers to input.

I'm with AAPT in Australia. They send out Windows CDs etc, but they're not necessary.

**Barriehie** · June 6th, 2008

Here in Las Vegas COX pretty much is the only broadband supplier and they get all flustered if not windows. I was fortunate enough on my last tech support call to get a tech that also uses Ubuntu and my issue wasn't OS related. My cable modem was fried! With windows I had to use the install CD but with Ubuntu I didn't have to load any drivers. It worked right out of the box with all of the installed hardware. Also, won't whatismyipaddress.com work for finding your IP???

Barrie

**3rdalbum** · June 6th, 2008

Originally Posted by Barriehie

Also, won't whatismyipaddress.com work for finding your IP???

Yes, it will find the IP address of the router *as seen from the Internet*. What the person needs is the IP address of the router as seen from the local network. It's always in the router's manual, or if that fails just do a Google search online.

**ch_123** · June 6th, 2008

Perhaps they meant that you need Windows to use a USB connection. In reality, most modems are stand alone devices that send out a connection over the LAN. It doesn't matter whats connected to them or what OS they are running as long as they can support LAN.

**DigitalDuality** · June 6th, 2008

Originally Posted by whitefang5412

Anyone in the united states use AT&T? I'm switching because comcast wont fix a 2 month old problem. The lady at AT&T told me I must have windows. I don't know if thats for them to install the internet or what. I went ahead and re-installed it for now, and when they leave my house tuesday from hooking up my new internet, I guess I will run a live disk of fedora and see if my internet works. Funny how people don't know about other OS's and tell you its required that you use windows.

Comcast operates slightly different in various locations. Where i'm at they require windows as well. You have to run some win or os x proprietary software to connect your pc directly to the modem on initial setup. After that it's cake.

This is what i did:
Ran Windows in a VM, ran their crappy software while connected directly to the modem.

Hooked my router to the modem, cloned the IP from the VM Windows Machine.

Voila.

I was told the reason they do this is because they want you to pay extra to hook up a router, about $5 a month more called a networking fee or some crap like that. Screw em. I haven't had a win box on my network for over a year and i'm running 10 machines on a 24 port switch, including hosting my own email and webserver.