New DSL Modem

M

melteye

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 29, 2000
Messages
1,851
Recently my SpeedStream 4100 DSL modem has been giving me some trouble, randomly disconnecting me from the net (but all the lights remain lit as if nothing is wrong). The modem then needs to be reset and then it takes up to 10 minutes for it to sync.

I was going to call AT&T and ask for a replacement but the power chord has been extensively chewed by a rabbit which lived with us for a month (including every ethernet and speaker cable in the house)... damn him... so I do not know if they will charge me for a new modem. If so I would rather buy my own DSL modem.

I was reading reviews from 2004 (may be outdated?) and it seems that the Netgear DG834 seems to be a good device:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/2004/q2/netgear-dg834.html

I could grab this modem refurbished for $25-$35... is this modem still good? My current connection is:

6016 Kbps (downstream)
768 Kbps (upstream)
 
DSL modems dont really have much difference, most are rated to 10mb these days and different models dont make much of a difference in the consumer market.

Its not like cable modems where different ones vary performance a lot.
 
Thank you for the information, it is much appreciated.

I set my modem in NAT mode and have the router doing PPPoE and so far after three hours of torrents its still good. Hopefully this trend continues.
 
Actually most DSL modems are rated to 24 megs....the really really old first version ones such as the Speedstream 5260 models were the 8 meg models, vast majority of them for the past quite a few years are the 2nd gen models like the 4100/4200 models....and the nearly identicle Motorola units that SBC/AT&T are now shipping which replaced the SS4100/4200 models.

They aren't powerful routers...so you want to convert them to run as a pure modem...killing the NAT/DHCP/PPPoE...moving that to your own more powerful router. Advanced...PPP location...you'll see 3x choices....all you have to do is select the 2nd one..which clearly states that you do your own PPPoE on your PC or router.
 
Ya. The second choice is exactly what I meant... I haven't had any problems since.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top