Cable Modems - Lease or Buy?

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Rustynuts

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I'm toying with going cable over DSL, but don't know much about the modems for either. I've got Comcast cable and their deal lets you lease a modem or use your own. Are cable modems company specific or all standardized htese days? Also can you hook through a router for networking without paying extra? What are good modems/routers thse days? I see several routers and modems at Newegg.

Do I need both a modem and router? Or do some routers handle both duties?
 
if you want more than one computer hooked up to network you need router. I recomment dlink, linksys, or netgear. I have a toshiba modem that was giving to me by time warner.
 
our cable company gives you a modem with service, as in TO OWN (im pretty sure)

anyway, i would prefer to have a router and modem seperately, but thats just my person preference.
 
If you are looking for a router, then I would agree with XBLiNKX's post.

How much does it cost for the modem? Where I am, you can only lease the modem. Once you terminate your contract, you must return the modem or pay $700cdn for it.
 
Definately buy the modem, but probably not from your ISP. You can get good cable modems from most electronics retailers pretty cheaply now. My ISP originally charged $5 a month for rental, which wasnt too bad but they lowered the service cost then raised the modem rental to $15 a month so I bought one and saved a ton of money each year this way. If you have multiple computers you'll probably need a router, some of them come with one but you really need a router and firewall solution nowadays.
 
I lease mine. It's like $3/month. It's a Motorola Surfboard (they don't use them any more) and at the time, to buy, they were like $100. That's a little over 2.5 years of Leasing.

Buy - something happens to it, you buy another one too.

Lease - something happens to it, they replace it free.

Of course, they are now using cheap arse modems and the Motorola Surfboards are now down to like $50.

I haven't had a single problem out of my Motorola in like the 2+ years I have had it.

My Dad has been through 8 modems in the 3+ years he has had cable internet because they used cheap ones.
 
I would buy a modem. Circuit City almost always has rebates on the modems, so you can get one for half price. When I got my Motorola, it was $100, minus a $50 rebate on the modem, and another $50 rebate for signing up for cable internet thru them (basically they did the paper work, and I worked directly with Charter). So my modem was free. I think right now they are $80, with a $40 rebate. A $40 modem pays for itself in less than a year. The Motorola Surfboard is flawless too.

As for a router, as said before, if you have more than one PC, get one. I got one with a single computer just to have the hardware firewall. Now I have 4 PCs and am glad I got the router. All have internet thru the router, and it doesn't cost extra. However Charter will not give you support with any connection problems (should you have any) involving a router. Comcast may be different though - check their FAQs. They should also give you info on what kind of modem you will need to get, but I would be willing to bet that Comcast probably uses the same technology as the rest.
 
Ya, the general consensus is the motorola modems. Lease if its dirt cheap, but buying it on sale is def better. To find a good router, check out one thats highly rated at newegg to give you ideas. Stick with known brand names at least...
 
second the Motorola recommendations.

i have comcast cable and i use a Motorola SB(SurfBoard)5100. Works great! (i just switched from DSL to cable...:D)

i only have two computers connected to our home network, one wirelessly and one through a cable, both to our WGR614 Netgear router (which also works great, maybe signal strength issues w/ my sis's comp, but i think that's her own problem...)
 
Buy! I got mine on eBay for $30, couldn't be happier. The cable company wanted $100! It's a 3Com Officeconnect.
 
To save money in the long run definately buy one. Motorola Surfboard modems seem to be very popular in the cable modem industry.

Also, Linksys, DLink, and Netgear all make great routers, just get the one that suits your needs best.
 
I work at an ISP. Boils down to this:

Lease modem from us. Lightning blows it off the wall, we replace free and inside 24 hours of notification.

Bring your own, $5 less a month for residential service. Lightning nails it, you talk to your supplier. Could be down for days. :(

Practically all of our commercial customers want the leased modem for exactly that reason. It's the residentials that nickel-and-dime us about bringing their own modem, and the first to whine when their modem dies and we won't rush to their aid with one of ours.

If you choose to buy your own, pick the brand the ISP uses. That brand will be the first to get a firmware update pushed when it becomes available, while off-brands may never get updated.

As for us, it's Surfboards forever! :D

We've been running them since we went DOCSIS from our Com21 proprietary days, and aside from a glitch with the 2.3.1.3 firmware on the 5100 series, never a hassle. We pay more for the Motorolas, but the extras like the onboard status pages and offline DHCP server make it easy for us to help the customer. :)
 
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