ATT Residential Reverse DNS Records (how to and rant)

Posted by annie_444@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 26 comments

Overview:

I’ve spent the past week scouring the internet for any information on how to setup reverse DNS records for my ATT residential account. I pay for a static IP block, so one would think that this is not an insane request. Well, this request sure about drove me insane. However, I’ve come to share my knowledge so you don’t have to waste your time like I did.

TL;DR:

Scroll to the bottom for instructions.

Storytime (i.e., rant):

After a quick search, you’ll find many results pertaining to ATT reverse DNS records; however, none of the given instructions are accurate. The most recent information I was able to find was on the LinuxExchange boards, and that was from 2017. So I decided I should just give ATT a call. My hope was high since when I called requesting a static IP block, I could rant with the rep about some pretty high level stuff. I was confident in ATT’s customer service representative training. However, that confidence was misplaced.

After calling the customer service line on their website, I was placed on hold for over a half an hour before being transferred to a technical support representative. However, the tech that I spoke with had no clue what I was talking about. Hope wasn’t lost, though, because he gave me the number of ATT’s security support office and assured me that they would be able to handle my request.

So I called the security line, and they were confused as to how I got their number as a residential customer. The representative I spoke with told me that they only served enterprise customers, not even normal business customers, let alone residential customers. So he gave me the number for ATT’s “premium” customer support line.

At this point I thought I was getting somewhere. It’s premium support, after all! But when I called the number, something seemed off. No automated “para español oprime dos,” no AI trying to figure out what I need… It was just hold music immediately. This isn’t unheard of; it’s just strange for an international telecommunications company. But then suddenly a recorded voice says, “Your account balance is $10,250.75. If you would like to make a payment, please press one.”… At this point it was screaming scam, especially since I’ve only been an ATT customer for 6 months and my internet is not that expensive. $600? Believable. $10,000!? Scam.

At this point all hope was lost. However, this morning I decided to give the customer service number (the first number I called) another try. This time, I wasn’t going to assume competency and just tell them what I needed them to do. A sweet southern woman answered the phone, and I asked to be transferred to technical support. Once transferred, I asked to be sent to the technical support manager. Once I was on the phone with the technical support manager, I finally explained what it was I was looking for. He ended up putting me on hold, but he seemed to know what I was talking about at first. However, 20 minutes later he picked up the line and asked, “You want… your DNS to be… reversed?” All hope was lost.

I decided it was time to weaponize my womanhood, and I went full Karen. I hate doing it, but at this point I was out of options. After slowly explaining to them what I was asking for, like I was explaining it to a five-year-old, I was placed on hold again. This time I was on hold for over an hour. But I was patient. I figured the tech had sought someone who knew what I was talking about. And my patience paid off! When he picked back up, he told me exactly what to do to configure reverse DNS records.

How to get Reverse DNS Records for ATT Static IP Addresses:

Note: This is how I did it in September 2025.

Note: I recommend just configuring NS records to your preferred name server(s), that way you don’t have to go through this process ever again.

  1. Identify the IP(s) and subnet(s) you want to set up records for.
  2. Identify the target name server(s) you want your IP address(es) and subnet(s) to point to.
  3. The Email. Note, there are some instructions online that tell you to include more/different information than what I’ve listed here. However, let this serve as a warning: do not include anything besides what I’ve listed here. If you include any more information, you’ll be in a week long email chain because the ATT DNS technicians don’t know what they’re doing.
  4. I’ve listed all the emails that are actively taking DNS requests. Each email address is technically delegated to separate divisions within ATT, but in my experience it’s better to include them all so the technicians from one division can help out the other ones if anyone gets confused (which is very likely in my experience.)
  5. I recommend including the RFC that explains reverse DNS best practices (RFC 2317) as they will sometimes claim that “reverse DNS can’t have NS records” (which is incorrect).

To: prov-dns@att.com, dnsrequests@att.com, RM-dnschanges@att.com

Subject: Reverse DNS

Body:

Account Information:

Billing number: The number listed on your bill or listed above your name on the website. Name: The full name of the primary account holder. Account Type: This is either “Residential Fiber” or “Residential Uverse 5G” (or “Business Fiber”). Address: The address where you have ATT internet. Phone number: This should be the number on your account, but if they can’t call you at that number, then just use whatever number you wish. Email: This should be the email listed on the account. If that email is different from the one you’re sending the email from, make sure you include a note right below noting which email they should reply to.

IP addresses and CDIR range:

CDIR: The subnet block you’ve been assigned. Make sure it’s a valid subnet, as ATT often gives you a x.x.x.x/29 block but only routes 5 addresses. This means that if your starting IP is x.x.x191*, your CDIR is either x.x.x190/29 or x.x.x192/29.

Addresses: List all the addresses that are actually usable within your subnet. e.g.:

Requested records:

Please create name server (NS) records for the addresses listed above that point to:

Target DNS configuration:

Here you want to spell out your requested zone. I, personally, did it in the official zone syntax (TTL and all), which I think confused them, so here you might just want to say something like:

191.x.x.x.in-addr.arpa should have one NS record with the value ns1.example.com and a second NS record with the value ns2.example.com. 192.x.x.x… etc.