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78 Messages
Why won't AT&T give me a BGW320?
Hello all! I was wondering if anyone could explain to me why AT&T will not give me a BGW320 gateway device. I specifically requested this be installed when my AT&T Fiber service was set up a couple of weeks ago. My house is brand new and they installed some old piece of equipment that was clearly used and had someone else's config still on it.
I have contacted support about 3 times, each time the story changing. The first was the tech telling me they were low on stock so he would create a ticket to get it for me. I've heard nothing back from the tech and no ticket number. It of course sounded like an empty promise right off the bat. Then I started contacting the chat support. They would tell me that I can't get it then disconnect from the chat. Then next person told me that soon EVERYONE would get one and not to worry. That sounded like another lie. That person also forcefully disconnected the chat with a "have a nice day."
Who do I need to talk to to get this device? I'm already fed up with AT&T as the first experience with them almost 20 years ago resulted in their total failure to even provide a service that stayed online. Now I'm forced to go with them because they are the only option where I live now. Any info on how you went about getting this device would be great.
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Official Solution
my thoughts
Former Employee
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22.4K Messages
2 years ago
Has nothing to do with how new the neighborhood but with what splitter is installed in the PFP supplying the neighborhood.
The common splitter is 1:32 GPON, this uses the 010 (white) ONT and ideally the BGW 210 gateway. Since the massive fiber expansion started in 2016 this is the primary setup however the BGW 210 was not released till late 2017 meaning at least 1.5 years the gateway would have been the 599 or 5268 both released late 2015 right before the fiber expansion began.
The BGW 320 was released in 4th quarter 2020, or about 1.5 years ago… about the time XGPON splitters we’re becoming available to select areas. The separate ONT for XGPON is the 020 (black). There are customers who have this with the 210 or 5268 gateway.
With a stated goal of adding 3 million residential addresses availability each year and goal of activation of 1 million new accounts per year places the current situation at 18 million addresses available with 6 million actual fiber residential customers. This is expected to continue till at least 2026 when 30 million addresses (50% of hardwired footprint) will have fiber option with 10+ million actual customers and another 2+ million to be signed up after fiber expansion…. Or (my) expected take rate is 40% of deployment…. 30 million addresses should have 12 million fiber accounts which is twice current base.
As the 320 has both Wi-Fi 6 and more importantly a single 5G Ethernet port this would be the assigned gateway for accounts ordering 2000!/ 5000 internet which requires the XGPON splitter. With equipment in short supply the 210 with 010 ONT would be expected install for GPON splitters… what is installed at local PFP is different and could be a mix of splitters. Example would be first (4) are GPON (4x32=128 connections) as those are assigned a XGPON (64 connection) might be installed at a later date.
Inventory of GPONs need to be used.
For upgrade to 320 requires a separate service call to rewire the fiber jack, remove existing ONT -and gateway- installing and activation of the 320 with internal ONT and all testing. With not only current equipment shortage, but tech shortage ($10,000 hiring bonus) adding 1 million new fiber year accounts per year is about 3300 new fiber installs every day Monday to Saturday.
Eventually (by 2030) everybody should have 320 or newer unit when released as the 599/ 5268 should reach EOL by 2024 and the 210 by 2027. Just a question of when …
Just my thoughts…,
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tonydi
ACE - Guru
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9.9K Messages
2 years ago
Yeah, none of those things you were told was true except that there's a shortage on BGW320s. There's this virus thing going around, maybe you've heard about it? It's causing huge shortages of chips and other components. And right now AT&T is in the midst of a massive national ad campaign to attract fiber customers.
So, few BGW320s + big influx of new customers = someone isn't getting one.
Also, if your area is the conventional GPON fiber rather than the newer XGS-PON then it's not advantageous to "waste" a BGW320 on your area when it could be used in an area that support the faster speeds that the BGW320 can serve.
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trongod05
Mentor
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78 Messages
2 years ago
In a brand new neighborhood, what are the odds that it is conventional GPON? Also, since I have neighbors that have them, this doesn't sound like the case. The shortage I can see. But if they are sitting up to be bought on eBay for 40 bucks, how much of a shortage could there be?
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tonydi
ACE - Guru
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9.9K Messages
2 years ago
Yeah, you'd think it would be the newer service but who knows.
What time was your appointment? Another possibility is that trucks leave the shop with a certain number of BGW320s and maybe your tech used up his supply before he got to you. Or maybe your area is just short of them right now. Again, lots of speculation here but all are valid possibilities.
The eBay/Amazon units are obviously not AT&T-supplied gateways. No one has a good idea of where these come from but these are used ones just like the "refurb" gateway you got from AT&T.
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skeeterintexas
ACE - Expert
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27.8K Messages
2 years ago
You could always roll the dice and buy one off of Amazon and/or Ebay. Whether or not AT&T will provision it is a separate issue.
It's a gamble but you sound desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures.
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browndk26
ACE - Professor
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5.8K Messages
2 years ago
@trongod05 What model gateway and ONT did you get? What speed plan? If it’s available, upgrade to the 2 gig plan. Then you’ll get a 320. The only difference from the other units is the 320 has AX Wi-Fi. If you don’t have many wireless devices in the house, or they only use 2.4 ghz, you won’t benefit from a bgw320.
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trongod05
Mentor
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78 Messages
2 years ago
@my thoughts Thanks for all of that information. I do have a question though. During installation, the tech determined that the fiber that was installed during my home build was not good. However, there was a backup Cat6. He ran new fiber from the outside wall to the jack on the inside wall in my front room. From there he connected the Cat6 running to the OnQ box located centrally in my house, plugging into the ONT port on the gateway. He was not able to use the existing conduit which the old fiber was ran through as the cable itself and the pull string are apparently stuck. I blame the builder for that mess. I'm not sure you can even access that conduit anymore either.
My question is, if I was to get a BGW320 gateway, would they still be able to utilize that same config? Or would the gateway have to be in that room where the Jack is currently? If they utilized the same config the BGW320 does have an ONT port on the back, so they should be able to use it. If not and the gateway has to live in that front room, I guess I would have to go that route and then the cable running from an Ethernet port on the BGW320 could connect to a distribution switch in the OnQ.
Sorry if I'm rambling, I'm just trying to make sure it would be possible to do either of these configurations for future upgradeability. Cat6 would probably be my bottleneck, if it is not capable of 10G due to length.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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232.1K Messages
2 years ago
Hi trongod05, we'd be glad to address your inquiry about the BGW320 gateway and your current configuration.
As our Aces stated earlier, there are several factors that come into play when technicians decide what gateway model to install. We can't guarantee that a customer will get the gateway they want, but we'll be sure to provide the best one available.
When it comes to your configuration, we recommend having a technician come take a look at your setup to determine what kind of work would need to be done if you choose to upgrade your speed tier in the future.
If you'd like for us to schedule that for you, let us know.
Aminah, AT&T Community Specialist
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browndk26
ACE - Professor
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5.8K Messages
2 years ago
@trongod05 Are you sure the builder installed fiber? Unless you paid to have it installed, I don’t know if any builders install fiber as part of a build. Usually cat5e or cat6 if you are lucky.
If the house is brand new, call the builder and have them fix the conduit problem. You should have a warranty of some kind on the home. I would suggest they remove the fiber they installed, if it’s fiber. Let the att tech pull att fiber through the conduit. Cat6 should be able to handle 10 gig up to 50 meters. I don’t see a need for 10 gig in a home anyway.
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trongod05
Mentor
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78 Messages
2 years ago
@browndk26 It was definitely pre-ran with fiber. Little yellow fiber optic cable. I knew it was there from before drywall went up. But again, there's something wrong with the conduit. I'm just not sure if it can be fixed if it's no longer accessible via attic. The tech went up there and said he couldn't find it. That said I am definitely trying to get the home builder and the company that did the low voltage wiring, Precision-AV to try to fix the problem. They are not very responsive, but I will remain persistent.
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