cable modem

by **willy lump lump** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:25 pm

my isp charges 5$ a month to rent their modem. since we just moved and now settled in our new abode. i am gonna buy a modem. i wanted to know if their are things i need to look for inregards to upload, download speed and overall performancs? recomendations are also appreciated.

by **TChicken** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:13 am

Doesnt the ISP have a big list of all recommened models?

by **MAN-AT-ARMS** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:05 am

I would pay the lease on the modem rather than buying, at least in this area.

DOCSIS 3.0 is gonna be coming out and if your ISP is one that stays on the cutting edge, you'll wanna be able to take advantage of that when they implement it. When we switched to DOCSIS 2.0 we mailed out thousands of brand new modems to our leasing customers to be able to take advantage of the speed enhancements. (I get 16M down/2M up now

)

Also, if anything should happen to your modem, it's usually just a matter of taking a trip to the local office to swap it for a new one for free.

So basically, when you lease you get an insurance policy as well as a modem that is always up to date.

A modem generally costs $75-$100 in stores, so it takes almost 2 years to pay for itself. Anything can happen in 2 years.

But if you're insistant on buying, get a Motorola Surfboard.

by **CodeRed68** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:09 am

I bought the Motorola Surfboard modem last month. It cost $79. bucks. I think it works great. A noticable difference in my speed to the internet. It also got 5 out of 5 stars in the reviews at CompUSA web site.

by **Major SONAR** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:46 pm

I too bought the Motorola SB 5120. Cost $60 AR at Circuit City. I tried to convince them to honor another $20 rebate, but no luck.

I've heard it's a good modem, but I had noting but problems with it. My cable provider said it was a good modem, but for some reason did not work in my small town. It was one of the modems recommended on their website.

I think it's a good modem. I happen to think my cable provider (Charter Cable) SUCKS!!

by **[ecgn] btt** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:44 pm

"I happen to think my cable provider (Charter Cable) SUCKS!!"

Amen Brother. I think their tech support is great. Unfortunately I have used it enough to find out.

by **MoDyna** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:25 am

Just make sure your ISP supports the modem you want. Trouble with owning your own is they are constantly upgrading the modems. Charter has gone through four different types since their HSI roll-out. Had a Toshiba up till Wednesday. Tried to get the Ambit modem from charter, but they had since already moved on to the new Scientific Atlanta WinStar modem. I got that one and it works really well so far. Long and short of it, leasing allows you to upgrade just by trading up. No extra cost involved. You buy your modem, then when you upgrade, you have to buy a new modem, unless a firmware update will work. A lot of the new modems are more tolerant of slightly out of range line values. My Toshiba was constantly going offline because my TX power level was 55 dBmV, slightly over the limit, which is why I tried to get an Ambit because the forums say this modem works well with out of range values. However, my new WinStar seems to work well too. I've been on line now for two days with no problems.

No easy answer my man. Cost versus flexibility. Always the battle.

by **willy lump lump** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 1:07 pm

fellas i think i will just keep the lease modem. a big mahalo to all who posted, it helped me to make an informed choice .

by **Camel toe joe** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 4:52 pm

Originally posted by MAN-AT-ARMS
(I get 16M down/2M up now )

Son of a bitch!!! I struggle here to find a decent ISP and get 512/256 not to mention free lag!!

by **radar77** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 5:23 pm

Originally posted by Major SONAR
I happen to think my cable provider (Charter Cable) SUCKS!!

I agree!

by **MAN-AT-ARMS** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:10 pm

MoDyna:

If you TX level is that high, you might have too many splits in the cable before it gets to your modem.

55dBmv is the spec for QAM16 upstream, but some modems do indeed work at level slightly above that.

The real fix for you would be to eliminate any unecessary splits in the cable. That will lower the TX level down to a level within specs.

Impoper F-connections on the cable can also cause high TX levels and poor signal on the lower frequency channels...usually your low analag TV channels (e.g. Ch 2 - 19)

cable modem

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