Alright. I’m finally able to connect to my RV50 via a static IP. For people who are new to AT&T, here are some things to keep in mind:
- There are a lot of phone numbers on the AT&T website (even for business) that you can call, but a “Dynamic Public IP”/“Static IP” request will have you transferred at least 4 times before you find someone that “might” be able to help. So far, calling 1-800-331-0500 seemed to yield the best results.
- You can’t have a “Dynamic Public IP” or “Static IP” for a personal account. A personal account will require you to use “broadband” as your APN and there is only Private IP support. You can call up AT&T to make the switch. This was not without pain, but I recommend calling up their wireless business folks, have them create a new business account for you, and then they can move your lines over to your business account. I’m sorry that I don’t have a specific department name… it’s all but a blur now. All I know now is that I have a “Premier Account”.
- Near the end, even the 800 number was starting to fail me. I was getting disconnected a lot and it was a crap shoot on who I spoke with. In a moment of desperation I found a “chat now” button lurking on the side of a page in the business section. After a restrained, emotional plea on my part, my contact info was finally routed to someone who was able to submit a request for me to the team that is responsible for setting up static IPs. An email arrived later with the details.
- The APN I was finally set up with was “i2gold”. Some documentation I posted earlier called this out. Near the end I was relentlessly favoring the “path of least resistance”. When I asked the fellow about “Dynamic Public IP” and how it worked, he was honest and said that he didn’t know. What he did know for certain was how to setup Static IPs and that’s what I got.
Things I may never know/too tired to dig into/but would like to know:
- Why was it even mentioned that GPS was a requirement? I vaguely recall some mention during my first chat session that “Google requires it if a SIM is used” and I thought maybe AT&T was licensing some tech from Google. Wish I saved that transcript.
- “Dynamic Public IPs” are free and “Static IPs” are not. I couldn’t find anyone to talk to about the QOS of “Dynamic Public IPs” and what would happen if an IP switches when there is an active session.
- The AT&T developer site (see link above) says that the “Static IP” is in fact “pseudo-static”. What have I gotten myself into…
- AT&T has some pretty, shiny documentation posted on IoT, how it’s the future, etc. etc. I believe it’s called M2M, but I don’t know if I should care about it (i.e. don’t touch the house of cards). I know “i2gold” is an older, overloaded solution and I think I read that M2M is the future… however M2M does not support “Dynamic Public IPs” or “Static IPs”
Digression:
It seems that AT&T augments their technical support with contractors on the weekend (perhaps for cost saving measures). I feel bad for them since AT&T doesn’t seem to give them access to any knowledge bases that I don’t have access to. I encountered only one person in Advanced Technical Support who was honest and was willing to give it “the old college try” (despite possibly affecting his metrics). Granted, my case is unique and if AT&T 80/20ed their technical support resolutions, I probably fall in the 0.5% of the 20%.
I invite others to reply to this thread if they can correct any misunderstandings that I may have, or even suggest a better way to set up “Static IPs”. I can’t imagine the level of effort required to roll out a fleet of RV50s.
Like a masochist, I probably clocked in over 20 hours spent chatting across AT&T’s chat tool and telephone switchboard nightmare.