Claro home internet question

[Big Gray Golem]

I've been struggling with Movistar/Telefonica internet in the house for about 2 years now. Never happy, but just stuck with it.

At some point in the last 6 months, Movistar remotely changed the settings on my router, locking me out from making any changes. All I can do is view the settings. So if I want to change my SSID or wireless password now, I can't. I wanted to added MAC filter level security, and I can't.

That's really not good, obviously.

So I want to make the switch to Claro, but before I do, I was wondering if anyone had experience. My questions:

1.) Does Claro allow you to supply your own modem/router if you sign up with them? Or do they force you to use their equipment (like Movistar)?

2.) If you do use their equipment, do they let you retain admin rights to the router?

Thanks!

[sunflower]

Sorry I can't give you any insight on Claro, as we can't get it in our area. But I'm a little bit confused. I feel your pain with Movistar, had tons of problems with them as well. Still when they installed our equipment I specifically asked for the username (a number and then @speedy) and the password (just the number, normally printed on the back of the router) to get into the router. The technician gave it to me without any problem. Now we use our own modem and can make changes as we want. Even though I know the 104 service number is just useless, I was told they can give you the login data as well.

You are so lucky being able to switch to Claro ....

[stuart]

Claro modems are cable modems, so if you have a ADSL modem/router you won't be able to use it. But... and I know the prospect of this might bring a tear or two to your eyes... they give you a really good Motorola router with tonnes of settings. And I mean they give it to you, for free - there's no installation charge or fee for the equipment or anything. When setting up, they ask YOU what username and password you want to use. The router has a battery, so if the power goes out, you've still go internet on any batteried device you have.

In addition to the high quality hardware, you get a semi-static IP. I say semi, because either they have a very very long lease time or they are actually static but they might randomly change your IP address every several months - at least as far as I can remember from a previous Claro contract. Either way, I find this ridiculously useful. *Edit* - trying as best I can, I can't find a single mention of a DNS server. This IP address I've had I've had for as long as I can remember.

Lastly, 6mb internet costs about the same as 2mb internet from Movistar. I get about 600-700kbps down at peak hours.

[fanning]

Lastly, 6mb internet costs about the same as 2mb internet from Movistar. I get about 600-700kbps down at peak hours.

Do you get 600-700kbps or 600-700kBps ( Kilobyte, not kilobit ) ( a big difference )
I have 4 Mb of Movistar and can download at 390-400 kB per second ( so the actual speed as advertised, not just 10% of it )

[stuart]

Lastly, 6mb internet costs about the same as 2mb internet from Movistar. I get about 600-700kbps down at peak hours.

Do you get 600-700kbps or 600-700kBps ( Kilobyte, not kilobit ) ( a big difference )
I have 4 Mb of Movistar and can download at 390-400 kB per second ( so the actual speed as advertised, not just 10% of it )

With no acronyms, I have a 6 megabit connection. I get 600 to 700 kilobytes per second, 100 more than I should - well, between 14.4 less than I should and 566 more than I should if 1 kilobyle == 1024 bytes. Actually, no wait, a kilobit is 1024 bits, a megabit is 1048576 and six megabits is 6291456 bits, that's 629kilobytes per second - so I'm getting 100% or near 110% of what I pay for. It's late, so no more arithmetic pretty please! Let's talk about Claro going 110% in business and giving you free $150 Motorola routers instead!

[sbaustin]

A couple notes:

1. Hold down the button on your router until it resets.. Call telefonica and they will walk you through the setup again and you'll gain access to your router.

2. On Claro you get access to the cable modem so you can set it up however you want.

I get the fully advertised speed on both Claro and Movistar at about 630kb/s.

[Philipc4u59]

All I know is that I wish we had Claro.
We were told upon moving to our new apartment; that Movistar had the rights to any installations.
Now I am not sure this is accurate; maybe Movistar pays a commiccion for the business?

With Movistar, I can't call or fax to the USA. I try to call Peruvian cell #'s; "no actativo"???
(M) doesn't have a monthly programming guide, etc. Talk about inferrior services...

[sunflower]

With Movistar, I can't call or fax to the USA. I try to call Peruvian cell #'s; "no actativo"???

Just call the 104 and tell them you want to call cells. They will activate the service right away, but it might take around 24h until it works. The same applies for calling numbers in the provinces and abroad. But here they often tell you, you need to go to one of their "service" centers, because you need to sign a piece of paper.

I think every customer of Movistar knows their service is more than lousy. But unfortunately we have to cope with it. Because just one block from our house the area has Claro coverage and we were told now for three years they are working on expanding their service. But until now nothing happened. I really can't understand why the Peruvian government supports this nonsense. At least prices even with Movistar has dropped.

[Big Gray Golem]

Claro modems are cable modems, so if you have a ADSL modem/router you won't be able to use it. But... and I know the prospect of this might bring a tear or two to your eyes... they give you a really good Motorola router with tonnes of settings. And I mean they give it to you, for free - there's no installation charge or fee for the equipment or anything. When setting up, they ask YOU what username and password you want to use. The router has a battery, so if the power goes out, you've still go internet on any batteried device you have.

In addition to the high quality hardware, you get a semi-static IP. I say semi, because either they have a very very long lease time or they are actually static but they might randomly change your IP address every several months - at least as far as I can remember from a previous Claro contract. Either way, I find this ridiculously useful. *Edit* - trying as best I can, I can't find a single mention of a DNS server. This IP address I've had I've had for as long as I can remember.

Lastly, 6mb internet costs about the same as 2mb internet from Movistar. I get about 600-700kbps down at peak hours.

This is great news. If Claro is cable -- and not the tiny, thin, single copper wire ADSL I have with Movistar -- then that's a bonus. I am trying to add some home security cameras, and the static IP will help. I will definitely get more serious about switching to Claro, then.

An interesting aside: when we upgraded our Movistar about a year ago, the technician tried to sell us an upgraded modem for another s./ 100. While he was standing there, I went online and checked the model he was trying to sell us -- it was an older model (A/b/g compliant, no N) and it was actually a downgrade. It was a mafia deal, and I am sure they trick a lot of people with the swap.

[Big Gray Golem]

A couple notes:

1. Hold down the button on your router until it resets.. Call telefonica and they will walk you through the setup again and you'll gain access to your router.

Only temporarily, until they reset it again.

One of the settings in the modem control panel is for "configuration access" (or something like that), and it has been toggled to DISABLED. There is also a special access password hard-coded into the firmware, with a user name "SPEEDY" (Movistar's previous name), so it's clear that they intentionally grant themselves sole access to your router. A Google search shows up the same thing with Movistar Chile, and claims that they do this to prevent gamers and P2P downloaders from port forwarding.

Meanwhile, however, they actually DECREASE overall network security by blocking guys like me who want to improve their lockdown.

[Big Gray Golem]

Still when they installed our equipment I specifically asked for the username (a number and then @speedy) and the password (just the number, normally printed on the back of the router) to get into the router. The technician gave it to me without any problem. Now we use our own modem and can make changes as we want. Even though I know the 104 service number is just useless, I was told they can give you the login data as well.

You may want to double check that. What you said was true for us, as well, up to about 6 months ago. Movistar did a remote reprogramming of the settings since then. If you haven't tried to access your modem control page, you may want to take a look(http://192.168.1.1) and see what's there NOW.

Thanks, though!

[gerard]

I've never had any problems logging into my Movistar modems, and I did just check that I still could. Have you actually called Movistar and and asked them why you can't? Maybe it is only certain models that have the restriction. We just got a new modem for free by complaining that we were getting occasional disconnects.

[sbaustin]

Movistar now offers cable modem internet service starting at 10mb..

http://www.movistar.com.pe/internet/mov ... xperiencia