New AT&T Fiber customers are receiving an upgraded modem specifically for Fiber services

The BGW has been available for about 9 months... limited quantity with hardware backorder issues likely due to continuing effects of COVID upon the global markets... ATT does not manufacture the gateways, only buys them from a source.

With a projection of adding 1 million new fiber subscribers per year, the short fall of new released equipment will likely last for 2 years (my estimate).

The model is for 1st gen users, that is new fiber accounts, not second gen users (upgrades).

If desire the newest, recommend cancelling your service, returning your equipment, wait 30+ days before ordering new service with new account, new equipment install. 

ATT has been pretty specific to the techs not to use 320s as upgrades due to the expected shortage of units this year. In future years as the 599 and 5268 reach EOL (end of life) the equipment will be 210s and 320s...

Note that equipment is generally kept in service for min of 8 years before EOL stage. As the 589 (released 2013) is still an active gateway with the 2015 releases of the 599, 5269 likely not EOL till 2024. The 2017 released 210 will be around till 2026. (EDIT... all releases are late 3rd Q or early 4th Q with most being Sept/Oct releases)

The equipment belongs to ATT, they are free to provide working equipment not necessarily newest model. As stated if desire the latest tech either purchase 3rd party equipment that you own and can upgrade when you desire... or cancel the service. 

As the 320 is an all in one ONT/RG have one location... for many customers the desire is to have the ONT is one area with the gateway in another area... especially true of MDU with fiber in front hall closet or laundry area, customer desiring the gateway in living room or office area resulting in 210 or older models being installed when the order calls for a 320. If tech fails to install 320 on new install has to answer as to why the unit was not installed in closing process. 

Note cannot close job with separate ONT and the 320 active on the same account. Either ONT with older gateway or the all in one 320 with no separate ONT in place. 

The two major differences between a BGW210 and a BGW320 are:

1) The BGW320 has 802.11ax

2) The BGW320 has a built-in ONT and a socket for an SFP to terminate the fiber so that the built-in ONT can be used.

The BGW320 is available in limited quantities and is the only gateway that can be used in some new Fiber installs, so they have to use the stock for that purpose.

The BGW320 requires that the ONT be removed, and fiber run to the Gateway's location, and the tech must authorize the built-in ONT.  This requires AT&T to roll a truck for your preference of Gateway.

If 802.11ax is your issue, you can obtain a much better 802.11ax Access Point or Router from BestBuy, Amazon, etc. and use it with your BGW210.

I'm not sure what benefit you perceive from having an internal ONT.  AT&T doesn't offer service faster than 1000baseT, which is how the ONT connects with the BGW210.

because I am a paying customer, I want the latest equipment offered only to new customers who are buying the same exact thing ive been paying for for over a year. I don’t remember mentioning money for install, but isnt a technicians job to install/uninstall AT&T products or am I missing something?

I don’t want to go buy a $200+ Router from a 3rd party company because I have to run pass through to AT&T modem and continue paying the rental fee. If I could trash AT&T’s and run my own router, that’s a different story.

if I’m paying for the service, if I have the service plan needed, and if the monthly fee is the same for the new & the old hardware- am I wrong for not wanting the upgraded tech to maximize my internet, reduce clutter and wire build up? Oh, AND PAY THE SAME AMOUNT EACH MONTH!? I don’t think so, they shouldn’t be rolling out new equipment if it isn’t readily available to existing customers with all the plan needed. 

Since your BGW210 is perfectly adequate and acceptable, AT&T will charge you to replace it with a BGW320.  Just because you want a newer device doesn't mean they have to provide one at your whim.

Again, I don’t ever remember saying anything about paying to have it installed in my home.

and yes, (Edited per community guidelines), their job is to have products people want to buy & have. If a customer wants something that’s new, their job is to meet the needs of the customer.

You’re telling me if I just bought an iPhone 12 Pro Max from AT&T and when the new iPhone comes out in September if I, on a whim of course, wanted to buy the new iPhone, they wouldn’t sell me that new tech? If I knew about the fees associated and all that, they wouldn’t supply me with upgraded tech because I, a selfish customer, on a whim, wanted it?

AT&T doesn't own the iPhone, they just provide it if you want one with a plan they offer. They do own the gateways that are configured for the services they provide.

I had exactly this same thing happen to me today when my 24mbs service was upgraded to 1gb fiber, EXCEPT after verifying that I was getting close to 1gb at the modem, I could only get 50mbs at my device.

My question is : Who exactly determined the router on the BWG210 could handle 1gb speeds? before declaring that upgrade customers would have to make do with the BWG210?

I just want something faster than 50mbs while paying for ~1gbs.

For reference, while I had 24mbs service for 4years I consistently got 24.7mbs at my devices with my -210 modem, but now with 1gbs at the gateway, I only get 47-50mbs at my device.

Can tell you that many customers have gotten speeds near 1000 Mbps on a BGW 210.  I have Internet 300 and I get speeds in excess of 300 Mbps through the BGW 210, so the BGW210 is clearly capable of more than 50 Mbps.

How is your device connected to the BGW210?  Via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable?  Can you connect via Ethernet cable and do a speed test?

Hi and Thanks for the reply. At this moment I am chatting with tech service.

Clearly there is a good functioning connection at the gate way 970mbs. (gateway speed test)

But it's as if the ont and modem are working fine, but the router (ether and wifi) is being throttled to 50mbs.

I think the only solution (for me) is to get a service tech back with his own laptop and see the device speed test results for himself.

Actually for me there is no problem with the external ont, and I really don't need 1gbs throughput, but something like 200mbs would be nice.

Until this gets figured out, I can live with 50mbs.

I just wasted hours dealing with this exact same thing. At 1st the agent said I was eligible for new modem.

"RIYA] : Thanks for the confirmation, Please stay connected.

[RIYA] : You are eligible for Router/Modem replacement via DIRECT TO YOUR HOME SHIPPING!"

--I even confirmed later with her that it was going to to be the new one. 

"[RIYA] : Please Let me know, if any clarifications.

[Me] : No, that all sounds great. I just want to confirm it is the BGW-320 modem. I was just reading a review about at&t sending the same old modem.

[RIYA] : Yes, It is advanced model . No worries:)

[Me] : Thank you again good news.

[RIYA] :  I have already taken ownership to make sure your services are restored as earliest as possible."

(SAVE these chat people, cause they are liars!)

I had already done all their troubleshooting steps with little improvement. So I was excited that this was going to be a quick fix. Nope! Email saying equipment was on the way said it was going to be the BGW210. The app said it was the 210. So I tried to get help and after being passed around 5 different 'agents' and wasting hours of my time. It basically boiled down to "you are (Edited per community guidelines)."...

Truly. Just miserable experience. They don't look that expensive on Amazon and the reviews indicate they work great. I would buy one, but mixed bag or people saying they will stop charging you for equipment fees and some say they won't... Plus current customers are getting them for free. Where is the loyalty to their customers!!