Own or rent modem?

M

Maverick986

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 9, 2007
Messages
119
My current internet is through the local cable company and seemes to have excessive disconnection/resets. My disconnections/resets are from 5 a day to 5 an hour. I tried calling them to see what was wrong with the connection, but all they said was that it is a problem with the modem. It is their modem, but they don't seem interested in doing anything about the problem.

Since when connected the internet service is good I was wondering if I got my own modem if it would be worth it? I figrue if I do get my own I cut out the renting cost of the modem, but I want to have an idea before I do that if it will help the problem or not?
 
I got myself one when we moved into our house. I think it paid for itself the first year.
 
I bought a modem for $60 in 2004, at $10 a month to rent one, it "paid for itself" after 6 months. I still have it to this day.
 
Maverick986 said:
I was wondering if I got my own modem if it would be worth it? but I want to have an idea before I do that if it will help the problem or not?
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To answer the question as to if it's worth it or not....
Compare cost of purchasing modem, to cost of renting modem. Easy math there.

As to if it will help your problem or not, have you absolutely isolated your problem to be the modem? With cable, I'd say 9 out of 10 problems are poorly run coax lines and most often...splitters.
 
I am not sure how to isolate the modem? I assume it is and thats what the company said because I will loose all connection for a min or two and it will come back as if it got reset.

What should I look for when if I buy a modem? I know Linksys is a good company, but they only have one modem. Is it safe to assume their modem is one of the best? Or would there be another that is better?
 
Motorola Surfboard
5120 model if you can, widely compatible and pretty much the most recommended modem by cable techs.

The newer 6120 model is slowly making its way to retail channels, but will be pricier, and unless your cable ISP has rolled out DOCSIS 3 in your area...or will very soon...probably hard to justify the price of the 6120 model at the moment.

You can pickup the 5120 model on fleabay for 50-60 bucks, often still brand new shrink wrapped in the box.

Disconnect problems are frequently caused by splitters though....main line comes into your house. From there..you're probably splitting it to several TVs and your cable modem.

Cable modem should be off the very first split..and then the other leg of that..feed to the rest of your TVs. Basically have your cable modem as close to the "in" to your house as possible. Try replacing that first splitter with a good one.
 
Rent and ride there asses. If need be request a manager call you back.

If you have disconnects & resets, you buy the modem, they will tell you its your equipment and then you're fucked.
 
Better yet:

Continue to rent, and ride them until they wish you were on dial-up - until it's fixed. If need be request a manager call you back.

Then buy your own. In the last 9 years, I have owned two modems. The first was a Toshiba I think, and it lasted me about 3 years before it died outright. I replaced it with a Motorola, and have had no problems since.
 
I got one for free when I signed up with Time Warner through a promotion.
 
We rent the modem from TWC (austin), which is fine with me. The speeds are good and on the off chance it dies or gets struck by lightning (has happened to me), they give me a new one.
 
OmegaAvenger said:
We rent the modem from TWC (austin), which is fine with me. The speeds are good and on the off chance it dies or gets struck by lightning (has happened to me), they give me a new one.
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I rent my modem from Brighthouse down here in Florida, and it is deff worth it. I've had it replaced 5 times in 1 year, due to our lovely Florida lightning storms. 3 times through the coax, twice through the phone wire, Splendid. Deff worth the $6 a month Im spending.
 
d3c1us said:
I rent my modem from Brighthouse down here in Florida, and it is deff worth it. I've had it replaced 5 times in 1 year, due to our lovely Florida lightning storms. 3 times through the coax, twice through the phone wire, Splendid. Deff worth the $6 a month Im spending.
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phone wire? So I take you have the VOIP package thru them huh? same here. Thats why I have it protected multiple ways and my router protected from it. You ever had it fry your router thru the modem like me?
 
d3c1us said:
I rent my modem from Brighthouse down here in Florida, and it is deff worth it. I've had it replaced 5 times in 1 year, due to our lovely Florida lightning storms. 3 times through the coax, twice through the phone wire, Splendid. Deff worth the $6 a month Im spending.
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I am in FL too, and also have Brighthouse, and they never really gave me much help when I tried to have the problem resolved a year ago. Maybe when I move next week I can get better results.
 
breadtk said:
Why not get a surge protector? Here is one I found just by doing a simple search on newegg.
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Contrary to popular belief, most of the time surge protectors do nothing for smaller surges that still wipe out gear.
 
It depends on how much they charge for you to pay for your modem and also how much they cost. Here it would take me 3 years to make the modem they sell at walmart pay for itself so I just rent because I live with 2 other guys.
 
OmegaAvenger said:
phone wire? So I take you have the VOIP package thru them huh? same here. Thats why I have it protected multiple ways and my router protected from it. You ever had it fry your router thru the modem like me?
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Yep, and unfortunately the demarc for the phone is on the outside of my house. I've had a few NICs fry on my Untangle, but they were all RMAed promptly. =D

Maverick986 said:
I am in FL too, and also have Brighthouse, and they never really gave me much help when I tried to have the problem resolved a year ago. Maybe when I move next week I can get better results.
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I guess it helps that my roommate is a Brighthouse Tech. I'm not too impressed by them, but theyre the only real option I have.

breadtk said:
Why not get a surge protector? Here is one I found just by doing a simple search on newegg.
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I live in Florida... my house is protected by an AVR, I have APC 750VA UPSs attached to all my PCs, helping with my coax and phone as well.

Grentz said:
Contrary to popular belief, most of the time surge protectors do nothing for smaller surges that still wipe out gear.
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Exactly! Luckyily the biggest thing I've lost has been my modem a few times. That AVR is a life saver.
 
OmegaAvenger said:
We rent the modem from TWC (austin), which is fine with me. The speeds are good and on the off chance it dies or gets struck by lightning (has happened to me), they give me a new one.
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Same here. It's nice to be able to drive to either the RR office down the street from me, or the MoPac/Duval office in Austin to get a new one if needed. They're cool about doing a swap on the spot as long as you have the modem and power cable with you. Plus, it being their equipment, it's their responsibility and one less part I have to worry about replacing on my own.
 
Rent. Replacing your own EQ suxs .. Not to mention its a easy cop out for a tech to say its your modem and stop diagnosis.
 
um WHO hs to rent a modem, that is the craziest thing i ever heard of, you always get a cheapo one with your deal, or byo awesome one here in aus, its really simple :)

to answer but, go buy a good one, youll thank yoursefl later. and get a modem/router, quite useful
 
delemorte said:
Not to mention its a easy cop out for a tech to say its your modem and stop diagnosis.
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Exactly! If I have problems with mine, i'll try a system or two on it off of my router (for a short time period of course), and if it's still a no go, it's up to them to remedy. TWC in Austin is usually pretty cool about their troubleshooting. They can connect to it remotely, run tests on it, and they're usually accurate/honest. I can't remember a time when there would be a problem and they would try to blame it on my equipment. Usually they would connect to it, test it, and determine something was up on the modem/coax end and fix it either on their end or via service call.
 
You guys made me look at my bill again and all that I pay is 29.95 for my online and than 9.95 for my boost which takes me from 15mb/2mb to 30mb/5mb, modem is included in the cost I guess as I do not pay a rental fee for it. My two cables boxes though I pay like .24 per remote. lol! :rolleyes:
 
I wish I still had TWC. When I was up in NY I loved their service and their customer service, as much of you here talk how good they seem to treat you in other areas of the country. I know Brighthouse is supposedly a partner company of TWC, and if they really are they could use to learn a lot from them, imo.
 
d3c1us said:
I rent my modem from Brighthouse down here in Florida, and it is deff worth it. I've had it replaced 5 times in 1 year, due to our lovely Florida lightning storms. 3 times through the coax, twice through the phone wire, Splendid. Deff worth the $6 a month Im spending.
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what modem did they supply you with..my bro has brighthouse (only choice) they gave him some atlantic scientific. looks kinda wack..i duno if its actually good or not
 
Maverick986 said:
I wish I still had TWC. When I was up in NY I loved their service and their customer service, as much of you here talk how good they seem to treat you in other areas of the country. I know Brighthouse is supposedly a partner company of TWC, and if they really are they could use to learn a lot from them, imo.
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One of the biggest reasons I like TWC (at least here in Central TX), is that you know you are working with local folks. Be it customer service, tech support, field techs, they're in your area. They can relate. That shows me that TWC wants to invest in the community, and understands that in lots of situations being local matters. Unlike when I had to call SBC a few years ago for a friend's DSL issue, talked to a Californian, Floridian, and finally a person in Hyderabad, India. What a lovely experience that was.... Even after hours support for TWC Austin is only 45 mins south of me in San Marcos. That's just a shot down I-35. When you talk to folks here in Central TX, you never really hear about complains with TWC. It's usually about comcast or suddenlink (their poor service i've seen first hand) you hear about.
 
Thanks for the input. I will probably start renting at my new apt and migrate to owning my own modem when I know the connection is good.
 
FibreChanMan said:
you never really hear about complains with TWC. It's usually about comcast or suddenlink (their poor service i've seen first hand) you hear about.
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I work with an awful lot of ISPs across several states. Comcasts is the one I never hate dealing with, usually quite a good experience with them. Some ISPs..when I know I have to call support....I dread it because I know it will turn into a lengthy pain in the butt. If I have to deal with ISP support with a client of mine that uses Comcast...I don't dread that day, I know it will be a good 'n quick experience. I can't say that about a lot of other ISPs.

On the good side of owning your own modem, first...I've never had a DSL model fail on me. I've gone through a lot of ISPs...and I deal with lots of ISPs for my clients, I've never had an ISP support point the finger at my purchased modem and refuse to help because of it was mine and not rented from them. I keep all my (and clients) network equipment on battery UPS....that tends to help in reducing failures.

I have a few spares....if you see a deal on a cable modem...pick it up. It's good to have spares, I probably have 3 kicking around in various draws or piles of equip I have stuffed around. The benefit of having a spare is, it takes a whopping 2 minutes or so (depending on how big your house is) to go grab another one to swap out...if you're troubleshooting with the tech. It takes them just a few minutes to provision a new modem. How many people here would flip if your internet was out for more than a day? ISP onsite tech can't make it out to you in a day. Yet...reaching into a drawer to snag a spare modem while on the phone during that first hour of troubleshooting may get it solved. How much is your internet worth to you? Owning your own (and a spare)..to me, a no brainer..they're inexpensive. The small cost of insurance.
 
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