• Increase the total subscribers per TalkTalk LTS
• Increase of the throughput capacity per chassis
• Assist with load balancing
• Increase network resilience"

In other words, they have been working on a new network for some time which should see the end of the various minor congestion issues that we've been seeing and will mean the have ample capacity for the future.

Before we migrate all our customers over we are asking for some customers to test this new network. Testing simply means us making some changes and the customer changing their PPP username slightly. Everything else works the same.

If you would like to test, please send an email with your login to: trial@aa.net.uk and we'll get back to you with further instructions.

We are one of the first ISPs that will be using the new network and we expect to move all our customers over before the end of November but we have not set a date yet.

Our Home::1 tariff has always had a fixed single IPv4 address and a block of IPv6 addresses, however, we are pleased to announce that we will allocate a /30 or a /29 block of IPv4 addresses to anyone who needs them for free.

A /30 will give you two usable addresses and a /29 will give you 6 usable addresses. (The block of IPv6 addresses gives you around 18 million trillion usable addresses!)

Contact sales@aa.net.uk if you require a block.

We are pleased to announce new installation prices, selectable contract lengths and a new router option which has dual band WiFi.

When ordering, you can choose 1, 6 or 12 month minimum terms for ADSL and FTTC services. If you choose 6 months then the install cost is free, if you choose 12 months then the install cost and a router with 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi are both free.

These new options and prices are separate to the "copper pair" which has no minimum term.

These options are live on our website and the Quote/Order form will guide you through the available options.

Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in dnsmasq, the service on the ZyXEL routers which provides a DNSresolver, DHCP functions and router advertisement for IPv6.
A list of these can be found here.

The scope of these is relatively broad, and most attack vectors are local. causing the router to fail DNS/DHCP/RA if exploited (DoS condition), one additional vector includes execution of arbitrary code.
As dnsmasq is tightly integrated into the router, it can't just be turned off, however as a workaround you can change the DNS servers the routers serves in it's DHCP server to minimise potential impact from a local attacker should they perform a DNS request in a way which exploits the DoS conditions. This can be performed by going to the Router Settings page on your control pages, and entering our nameservers 217.169.20.20 and 217.169.20.21 into the IPv4 DNS fields, clicking save, then clicking on the DHCP button at the bottom (for B10Ds only) or clicking on Send ZyXEL configuration (B10As or B10Ds, will wipe existing settings on the router)

An official patch from ZyXEL is estimated to be provided during December 2017 for the VMG1312-B10D routers (Firmware V5.13(AAXA.7)), and January 2018 for the the VMG1312-B10A routers.
An update will be made to this post once firmware updates have been released.

We have a number of tariff changes planned, after a lot of interesting comments from my blog post - thank you all.

Some things are simple, and we are able to do sooner rather than later, like the extra 50GB already announced. Some will not be until mid to late October as they depend on other factors. Some may take longer still.

To try and ensure we get improvements as quickly as possible for customers I am updating a news item on our web site with details as we go.

http://aa.net.uk/news-2017-tariffs.html

As you will see, we are testing a change to make top-up on Home::1/SoHo::1 not expire. We have the end of a period (full moon) in two days where we can see if code changes work as expected on a live customer line. If all goes well then later this week we can change the description on the web site and officially launch this change.

Do check that page for updates and new features we are adding as we go.

As mentioned in https://aastatus.net/2482 we are installing new fibres into BT to increase our capacity. We are now ready for customers on BT backhaul ADSL and VDSL circuits to test this.

Customers prefix their username in their router withe "test-" which will then connect through the new fibres. (eg if your username is example@a.1, change it to test-example@a.1) There should be no other differences in the service. We'd appreciate any feedback and observations being sent to trial@aa.net.uk

All being well, we hope to move the rest of the customer circuits in stages next week at which point you can remove the "test-" from your username.

As you know, we are one of the few ISPs that monitor every line every second for loss, latency and throughput, and provide that data to customers to see how well your line is performing, and how we are performing as your ISP.

Well, the latest FireBrick code now provides these graphs in SVG format which means awesome scaleable graphs with even more detail and much clearer and easier to understand.

We are rolling out these as part of LNS upgrades over the coming weeks, and will have all systems using them soon. In the mean time you may see a mix of old (PNG) and new (SVG) graphs.

I hope you appreciate them as much as I do, and the hard work we have put in to making them. We take the quality of our service very seriously which is why we make this available to customers, and the nicer and clearer we can make that - the better.

There are lots of news articles and discussions about the 'KRACK' attack vulnerability affecting WiFi client devices.

From an customer of AAISP point of view, we do sell DSL routers with WiFI as well as WiFi access points but, this is a vulnerability in WiFi clients rather than the routers themselves.

Generally, the fix for this vulnerability is on the client side - ie the computer or mobile device connecting to a WiFi network, and so customers should look for software updates for their devices and operating systems. There are links below regarding devices we are involved with which contain further information.

We'll add further information to this post as we receive it.

OFCOM have today published their decision on automatic compensation for broadband and phone line faults. The result is a scheme adopted only by the major ISPs to pay compensation for delayed installs, delayed fault repair and missed appointments.

As a small ISP, we are relieved at this approach as the original proposals contained a number are areas of serious concern. This is good news for consumers generally and should hopefully mean that Openeach and back-haul carriers that we use put in place systems to pay automatic compensation (though OFCOM have not insisted on this). If this happens we will be able to pass on any compensation we receive automatically to AAISP customers as well.

So, whilst not part of the scheme, AAISP customers should benefit from automatic compensation in most cases.

We also hope, as do OFCOM, that in the 15 months lead up to the scheme starting, the likes of Openreach will actually improve services so as to avoid having to pay compensation. Obviously this will benefit all ISPs and their customers, not just those in the scheme.

I am pleased to confirm we have now launched "Quota Bonus"

The concept is simple, and applies to Home::1 and SoHo::1 on all levels including terabyte.

You start your billing month with your quota as normal, but get an extra bonus that is half of the unused quota, if any, from the previous month.

This allows people to build up a reserve and allow for occasional higher months without needing top-up.

Thanks to all of the customers for the feedback on my blog posts on this. --Adrian.

P.S. yes, it is sort of cumulative, see examples on http://aa.net.uk/broadband-quota.html

We have changed the monthly quota allowances on Home::1 and SoHo::1 today, increasing all of the sub terabyte rates by 50GB per month, without changing prices.

I.e. you now get 200GB for the previous price of 150GB, and 300GB for the previous price of 250GB.

Existing customers have had this additional amount added to their September quota.

For the past few years we've been supplying the ZyXEL ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A router. This is being discontinued and we will start supplying its replacement, the ZyXEL VMG1312-B10D (note the subtle difference!)

The new router is smaller than the previous one and has a very similar feature set and web interface to the old one.

We are still working through our configuration process and are updating the Support site with documentation. We are hoping this model to resolve many of the niggles we have with the old one too.