Mike was my rep when I got started with Calix! Good guy. He moved on after the COVID nightmare.
I'm deploying the gpon8r2 instead of the 1601. It is is 8 gpon ports, cleverly enough. Way cheaper than the 1601 (which is 8 dual gpon+xgs ports). My customers aren't asking for 2G or 7G, they're asking for cheaper service. Gigabit is more than enough speed. Customers smart enough to call Calix instead of the ISP? Are you insane? I regularly get calls about their TVs (Samsung) and phones (Apple) and gaming machine (Microsoft) and of course when the power goes out they're confused why the WiFi is down. On Sun, Dec 14, 2025 at 8:41 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > My mistake, the WISPAmerica where I talked to Calix was 2016 in > Louisville, and the guy’s name was Mike Carpinelli. He did follow up and > invite me to a roadshow in Bloomington but I didn’t go. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Jason McKemie > *Sent:* Sunday, December 14, 2025 6:33 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Calix question > > > > I have some Calix active gear in the field, and I was using some Gigaspire > routers. I've since switched to Ubiquiti GPON and it has been very solid > since I started using it, which was several years ago. Adtran supposedly > has a good product line-up and I'm told it is more reasonable than Calix, > although I was never able to get pricing. The Calix stuff works well, but > is best when you're spending OPM. > > > > On Sun, Dec 14, 2025, 11:40 AM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good info all of you. > > > > I started thinking about this when I saw a Reddit post by an ISP customer > who went to the Calix website and said it was “creepy as hell”. But the > post was 6 years ago, and you have to take stuff people post on the > Internet with a grain of salt. > > > https://www.reddit.com/r/privacytoolsIO/comments/gd46zy/my_isp_will_require_the_calix_gigacenter_in_my/ > > > > I do remember talking to Calix at a WISPAmerica show, I think the last one > I went to was St. Louis in 2015 so it must have been at least 10 years > ago. The guy was very helpful and I think even lived near me, but after > following up decided my company wasn’t nearly big enough to use them. Had > to create an account, send people to training, buy direct not through > distribution, just to kick the tires and do a lab eval of the WiFi > performance. My impression was they were for ISPs that would buy equipment > by the truckload, and also they were kind of a no sex before marriage > company, not even a kiss. Take the plunge and commit. But that was 10 > years ago. > > > > Another thing someone else has mentioned to me is ISP customers look at > their router and assume their ISP is named something like GigaSpire BLAST, > and that’s who to call for support. Reminds me of the old days when lots > of people said their Internet provider was named Linksys. I’m sure many of > us had prospective customers say Internet is free, they use that free > provider Linksys, and question why we wanted to charge them. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Chuck > *Sent:* Sunday, December 14, 2025 8:17 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Cc:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Calix question > > > > I have built 3 different companies using Calix and have had no problems > like you describe below. Xgs in an E7 shelf is pretty high density. And > you dont have to pay monthly if you dont want their managed router > solution. Never had a problem getting equipment. > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > On Dec 14, 2025, at 5:55 AM, Mark Radabaugh <[email protected]> wrote: > > Calix lost me when I needed higher density hardware and all they ever > wanted to talk about was how they were a cloud service company and look at > all our shiny toys you can pay us monthly for. Yeah - what about actually > hooking up customers? Oh, if you give us a two year forecast of what you > want to buy we will hook you up - just don’t count on them actually having > the equipment when you need it. > > > > Mark > > > > On Dec 13, 2025, at 7:27 PM, Mark - Myakka Technologies via AF < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > Ken, > > > > We use them. First of all their HW just works and works well. They may > seem to be expensive on the MRC, but they bring a bunch of other services > to the table. They will help with marketing, network engineering, etc. > The support is VERY responsive and the amount of data collected in the > service cloud is unbelievable. > > > > This is all they do, managed routers and fiber distribution. They have to > be top notch to survive. > > > > They fit into our business model, but each business if different. > > > > I would say give them a chance to give you a proposal. See what they > bring to the table. Maybe it is a fit, maybe not. > > > > > > > > -- > > Best regards, > > Mark mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]> > > > > Myakka Communications > > www.Myakka.com <https://www.myakka.com/> > > > > ------ > > > > Saturday, December 13, 2025, 1:51:56 PM, you wrote: > > > > > > > > I assume some of the folks on this list who are doing fiber use Calix ONTs > and routers? > > > > If I go to the Calix website, maybe as a provider thinking of using them > as a vendor, I am totally confused. It is not clear what products they > sell or how I would use them. It all seems to be glossy marketing stuff > about their agentic AI cloud and market insights. I don’t see a single > picture of a piece of hardware. > > > > Is this how a lot of ISPs are making money despite charging low prices? > Do they have an “agentic workforce” monitoring how their customers use the > Internet, cross referencing it to demographics, and mining that data for > ads, upselling, etc.? It seems they have special cloud features for MDU > managers as well. > > > > It seems a lot of cable companies use Amazon’s eero, I wonder if service > provider eero is like Calix, or if it’s just the retail eero with a few > remote management features added. > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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