Six year old rental modem.

U

upriverpaddler

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 11, 2004
Messages
1,701
I am using the original cable modem that I recieved from my ISP six years ago. I never catch wind of any conversations in modem technology. Have there been any tech breakthroughs in the past six years to make me want to upgrade my modem?

And what is your opinion on renting your modem from your ISP for $5 a month? What should I look for if I want to buy one?
 
I'm not sure about modem tech, but I will comment on renting the modem.

I think renting a modem is a waste of money if you plan to keep the modem/service for a while. You have been renting that modem at $5 a month for 6 years. You have paid about $360 for that modem! New modems are only about $80.

If you want to get a new one contact your ISP to see what their procedure is. Normally you will just have to give them some info off of the new modem (MAC address), so that they can identify that modem as yours.
 
I would just go buy a new modem. As far as features pretty much all of the modems are going to be the same.
 
The only advantage of renting the modem is if it breaks (or is even just flaky) it's the cable companies responsibility.
 
You can pickup brand new...still sealed in the box..Motorola 5120 modems for like 55 bucks on fleabay. Probably less these days..but that's what I paid for mine about a year ago.
 
As far as technology goes I think Cable Labs updated Docsis to 2.0 which allows downstream speeds of up to 30 MBps
 
The type of modem used depends on the provider. There might be better modems out there but if the headend doesnt support those features you wont see the benefit. Some of the newer modems do offer more managability.
 
Best reason for buying is to avoid paying the rental, I used to rent when my ISP only charged $5 a month, was nice because at the time I first got cable, modems were running over $200, but once they jacked the rental up to $15/mo I could buy them for around $100 so I started buying my own. I replaced my old 4 year old Motorola SB4200 about a year ago with a SB5120 that I got for about $60, great modem and with what you pay per month it would pay for itself in 1 year.

No major breakthroughs that would mandate an upgrade, unless your modem is limiting your speed. If you're going to keep renting I would ask for an upgrade, maybe check their list of supported modems (yours is likely not on that list anymore) and demand an upgrade.
 
Im still using a SB3100 Cable modem. I was renting it for $5 per month untill last year. I called and asked a charter rep if I could buy the modem and they ended up just giving the modem to me. I also have a SB5100 someone gave to me. The SB3100 works perfect so why switch them out?
 
Cracked said:
The SB3100 works perfect so why switch them out?
Click to expand...
The SB3100 is a DOCSIS 1.0 modem, the 5100 is a DOCSIS 2.0 modem.

Motorola's next generation SURFboard SB5100 Cable Modem incorporates the latest DOCSIS 2.0 Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (A-TDMA) and Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (S-CDMA) technologies to provide up to three times greater upstream capacity than DOCSIS 1.0/1.1 systems.
Click to expand...
If you have Comcast with 'speed boost' (bursting) you may see a benefit with the SB5100. Otherwise just keep in mind that while DOCSIS 2.0 is backwards compatible, DOCSIS 1 is not forwards compatible; if your cable company is going to or is already at DOCSIS 2.0, you may see intermittent issues including loss of connectivity.

To the OP; Buy a 5120 or 5100 off of ebay. It'll be worth the $50, especially if your '6 year old modem' is one of the old RCA types. *shiver*

Edit: Keep in mind that on most networks, 'switching' a cable modem won't work right out of the box. You will most likely need to contact your ISP and have them re-provision your new cable modem in order for it to work properly.
 
upriverpaddler said:
I am using the original cable modem that I recieved from my ISP six years ago. I never catch wind of any conversations in modem technology. Have there been any tech breakthroughs in the past six years to make me want to upgrade my modem?

And what is your opinion on renting your modem from your ISP for $5 a month? What should I look for if I want to buy one?
Click to expand...

Well if you had bought one when you first got cable, im sure you'd have saved $$$ in the long run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top