March
21, 2017 Minor edit:
MAR 22 to
correct typos. APR 1 added new Static IP price. APR 4 added
footnote. June 15, 2018 AT&T Completes Acquisition of Time Warner Inc. (TWX)
Keeping you apprised, furnishing business strategies and
tech digest.
This memo focuses on data network IT aspect. TV, voice (VoIP)
and SIP are beyond the scope. Those are covered in separate documents.
I
view this merger as VERY POSITIVE*, for both fiber and coax customers.
-SCC
Background
- Time Warner
Cable,
Inc. (NYSE:TWC) was acquired by Charter
Communications
in April 2016, after Comcast's
bid was rejected.
- The merged company is operating under the brand
Spectrum, by Charter.
- The on-going development of AT&T/Time
Warner, Inc. (NYSE:TWX) merger is
completely unrelated, as
TWC was spun off from TWX back in 2009.
- TWX is a content provider. TWC was a content
distributor and ISP.
What and When?
Each regional market executes the transition
independently, according to different rules and schedules. In
the greater Rochester region, there had been
behind-the-scene infrastructural and operational changes
for months, culminating in public announcement in February. As
events are still unfolding, we must react as warranted. STATUS: Currently in
flux... Stay tuned! Reach out as needed.
Changes to
Email Service
For the average
user,
this is the only
section of concern.
The rest is tech brief for management/DIFA
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- areas affected:
- SMTP/POP3/IMAP
server names
- SMTP
authentication (newly required)
- TLS/SSL
(certificates-related issues)
- SPAM policy & false
positive characteristics
- per-message size limits
- per-mailbox traffic & storage quota
- potentially changing email
address in the future
- IF you have been using the free ISP
mailboxes
provided by
TWC
- you should have received
notifications from Spectrum
- and you must make adjustments accordingly
- Symptoms:
send/receive unreliable or fail entirely, others can't reply to you,
etc.
- IF you have commercially
hosted (@xyz.com) mailboxes,
they should be
fine
- unless you've been using TWC's SMTP server
for sending in the past
- In any case, it's time to
re-evaluate strategies & schemes:
- which SMTP on which device, which user
account
- what identity, TLS/SSL, ports,
- IMAP vs POP3, etc.
- IF you have self-hosted
on-premises Exchange Server,
you're 100% fine
- you're using local
server via EAS protocol, not POP/IMAP
- not dependent on your ISP, not subject to
their policies
- as ISP transition does not pertain your
Exchange Server
- OWA (Outlook Web
Access) works as before
- all your mobile devices can still talk
to your server
- free 3rd-party (non-ISP) mailboxes also would
likely be unaffected
- all webmail
access via http/https will not be affected, regardless of
type of account or provider
Overall Changes to ISP Access Line
- consumer grade coaxial service
(residential and
business)
- no discernible change
in web surfing & most outbound traffic
- TCP port filtration is comparable
- DHCP pool changes are transparent
to the average user
- might have implications on policy re:
bridging, static NAT
- changes to DNS servers at ISP (static entries
for SWX/pfSense, etc.)
- dynamic DNS services (DDNS) continue
seamlessly
- $$$ static IP address option
is now $20, down from
$35 (business account only)
- well worth considering, if you have a public presence, or
- staff/partners heavily rely on inbound access
- will make your existing VPN more robust, less service calls
for RDP
- consolidated plan price tiers, eliminated modem rental
fee (parity with Frontier)
- equipment compatibility—a review
of your plan + device is in order
- your existing TWC modem (or modem+router combo) should work
- if you already have DOCSIS 3.1 (2013 standard), you're all set
- with DOCSIS 3.0 (2006), high speed plans are not supported
- DOCSIS 2.0 (2001)... dinosaur sighted! Must be replaced! e.g. Cisco DPC2100
- enterprise grade fiber service (TWC Ethernet
DIA/P2P fiber
optic)
- DIA: now under Spectrum
Enterprise Fiber
Internet Access
- P2P (point-to-point): now
under Ethernet
Private Line (EPL)
- could see restructuring of IP blocks in the future
- SLA basically remains
comparable
- minor TOS differences
- new routing table
& peering points:
advanced admins should re-tweak accordingly
- $$$ much better fiber offerings from Charter
- can realize significant cost savings or bandwidth increase
in many cases
- highly recommend looking
into re-negotiating contract (details upon
request)
*
In the near term, it's a big win for
you as a consumer. You gain features & performance at better prices.
Long term societal implications on macroeconomics, of yet more
consolidation, is of course, a much more complicated matter.
SEE ALSO
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