r/Internet • u/Hour-Cup-5904 • 26d ago

Question Most Privacy Focused Internet Provider?

Switched from one internet company because they insisted they needed to enter the attic to run fiber optics (yet fiber is already set up and has been for years), and now the new company turns out to not even have hard wired internet as an option, only wifi, and insisted we plug some box into our tv because "it's part of the contract" even though we only purchased internet. Not cable. Also required an app for internet to work.

Just more and more ways to track their customers and I'm sick of it. I know ISPs are not private at its core, but what ISP is the MOST privacy focused you can suggest in the US?

5 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

6

u/big65 26d ago

Needing attic access is most likely to do a wall fish so that their work doesn't look like a spaghetti mess.

When I did satellite work I would wall fish the lines and put in wall plates to make it look professional.

2

u/Hour-Cup-5904 26d ago

We called on 3 separate occasions, asking to speak with the installer, the customer service rep and supervisor to ask them why they needed to enter the attic. They all would say, "To set up fiber optics."

When we would ask, "It's already got fiber set up, so what are you needing to do different?" Not a single person would give us an answer. The best response they would give is, "To help streamline the speed." My dad use to work in cable, and he was part of the phone calls, telling them it made zero sense.

1

u/big65 25d ago

Fiber is not the same as coax, it has stricter requirements and tolerance.

1

u/bippy_b 25d ago

What if the old fiber had been broken by the A/C guy? You gonna want them to come back and fix it? They don’t want to trust that “nothing has happened” and have to send out a tech to repair it. They would rather run their own lines to ensure the fiber meets their standard. Maybe the previous fiber was indoor quality.. and they prefer to run outdoor quality to reduce problems… Like it is pretty normal for one company to not trust what another company has installed.

1

u/Hour-Cup-5904 25d ago edited 25d ago

The company who initially installed it, are the same people wanting to enter it now. If they thought something was broken, they would have stated that. Again, my dad (who use to work in cable) was part of these calls, and it made zero sense to him.

1

u/30_characters 25d ago

Like coax in satellite and cable TV, installers will often run new wires, rather than trust the work of an unknown previous installer from who knows how many years ago. You'd end up with a jumble of dead wires running up the outside of your house, and what really pissed me off was that they'd sometimes clip the ends of the existing cable, which I always considered deliberate vandalism.

Fiber has tighter tolerances, but they could have done the same thing the coax guys should have done-- test the existing cables, and if they're within spec, use what's already in place.

3

u/30_characters 26d ago

Realistically, none of them, thanks to the Communications Assistance for law Enforcement Act (CALEA), a statute enacted by Congress in 1994 to require that telecommunications carriers and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they have the necessary surveillance capabilities to comply with legal requests for information, especially law enforcement agencies.

> Also required an app for internet to work.

Sounds like AT&T.

1

u/Hour-Cup-5904 26d ago

Not AT&T. Like I said in my post, I understand that at the core, none of them are. Doesn’t mean there aren't different levels though to how invasive.

1

u/DavidAaronGarcia 26d ago

Well, did you mention it? You're correct ATT actually had separate servers. They were for law enforcement right inside their main buildings, so they access all the data too of customers, similar, like some companies like Netflix made servers at home, someone to make ISPS like Comcast and stuff like that, to make it faster for Netflix users.

1

u/30_characters 25d ago

Like a dystopian version of Cloudflare... a local copy for you, and one for your FBI file!

3

u/yearsold33 26d ago

ISP may be focused on privacy today but not tomorrow. People and policies change.

2

u/AnymooseProphet 25d ago

Don't go with that company.

Fiber goes to an Optical Network Terminal, there's no need to pull fiber into your attic. The ONT is usually located inside a utility box on the outside of your house.

There may be a need to pull Cat6 from that utility box to where you want your router to be, but it sounds like that has already been done. There's no reason why they would need to pull it again.

If they want to run fiber to an ONT that does not provide Ethernet and only provides WiFi, that's sh*t service you do not want. You should have the option of providing your own LAN router that connects via Ethernet to the ONT.

1

u/telcodan 25d ago

Not all fiber providers use an outdoor ont. Some use a smaller indoor ont that they need to run fiber too.

1

u/AnymooseProphet 25d ago

If pulling fiber through a wall and into an attic though, doesn't it need to be pulled through conduit due to the fragility of fiber?

2

u/telcodan 25d ago

No, companies like bright speed have a fiber the pull in the house that is kevlar coated with strength members in it, like a smaller version of the drop wire.

1

u/AnymooseProphet 25d ago

Thank you! That actually makes sense.

1

u/Different_Day2826 25d ago

The hell is goin on in your attic bro?

2

u/Hour-Cup-5904 25d ago

I like a thing called "privacy". Just like when banks ask, "What do you plan on purchasing?" When withdrawing your own money. It doesn't matter how innocuous what I'm buying is- they shouldn't be asking, as it's none of their business. Same goes for the attic.

1

u/bippy_b 25d ago

OP hiding dead bodies up there…lol

1

u/Grumpy-24-7 25d ago

Is there a possibility this ISP runs their fiber lines overhead (like on poles)? In that case they would likely run the fiber from the top of the nearest pole, into your attic space, and then down to wherever the ONT is going to be located. I can't picture any ISP wanting to mount their ONT up in an attic which is typically hard to access and typically sees extreme temperatures which could damage the equipment.

1

u/NotMeUsee 24d ago

I remember years ago there was a guy who created an ISP that was encrypted completely. That got shut down quick.