Cable Modem/buy or rent?

[soldierguy]

I'm planning to switch from ATT DSL internet to the local Comcast. And I live in Northern California. I've never had any kind of cable connection in the "modern" era(i killed my TV 25 ys ago haha) and I'd prefer to buy a cable modem box as opposed to rent--unless I'm misunderstanding all. But when I buy a cable modem to work with Comcast in my area are there different cable modems? Are there features or better brands or anything I should consider. I know the Comcast cable run on the poles in front my house because i see their trucks out and about etc. And I haven't checked yet, but is there a better Hi speed only connection to choose from. I don't download or upload big files or want any of their TV or other etc/just the connection for gaming/I've got Netflix on the PC and get movies or TV there if I choose and happy with that. I mostly use it for gaming but also browsing, email and the usual.

I'm having to give up on ATT DSL. Its just become so unstable at my house. And I don't why. I've phoned them a couple times--and boy is that a lengthy session of automated voice machines and contracted employees somewhere on the planet that spend the longest time making me look for all my modem serial numbers and how long is my phone wire from here to there, and where is my modem located, and have I cleared out the old browsing history in IE etc etc etc. It just goes on and on as they look at "my stuff", but they don't look at theirs!! I'm not saying I don't "understand". For sure they need to check me out-their customers connection--but why does it stop there? What's with that? Why aren't they checking themselves out? Why isn't there a website where I can post data regarding my bad internet speeds so they can accumulate and monitor my specific account? I could enter my name and account number and the Speedtest results etc and they could keep abreast of their systems performance. Really that would not be hard for them to setup such a webpage and have it be automated. Or something. Arent' they concerned about their performance? It doesn't seem like it?

After a session with these very repetitive boring long questions--that I always have to answer--even if I've called before--Don't they keep records of my history in calling them??? Anyway.

My ATT connection will sometimes be as hi as 5.1Mbps down and .66Mbps up with a 20ms ping. All good right? But mostly its less and sometimes gets sooo slow that the Speedtest program quits and gives me error messages. Kinda long messages that are not something I understand. I think they just mean my system isn't working. And if Speedtest does continue to work I'll get numbers like 1.856Mbps Download and .085Mbps Upload and the ping is still good but didn't record the number and dont' remember/probably low like 20ms or?

I went through all this baloney the other day and I got a Repair Order number and a phone number too that would get me direct to repairs and they said call when the speeds get super low again and when I did last night it was another series of automated phone questions and then an estimate of 20minutes on hold--I just hung up.

Why doesn't the phone company DSL have their own method of quality control that gives them continuous feedback? Why do I have to report anything? Don't they have a way to continuously monitor the up and down speeds for everyone? Wouldn't that be both practical and possible? I dont' know the tech but it would sure help me.

Or is this all in my hardware somewhere? All my wiring looks in order at least to the box on the side of my house. And really I'm only 6feet from the box on the side of the house. That's right a 6foot cable connects the box to the DSL modem. And I have no phones or filters of any kind attached anywhere. The line from the box goes direct to my DSL modem and then to my PC/no router either. Could it all be cleaner? I can't imagine it could. Beyond that of course I wouldn't know.
I do have an old dsl modem that I replaced maybe I could dig it out and install it and see if things get better? Maybe the current modem is malfunctioning. Its about 2 feet from the PC. I don't imagine that's too close. When there was an outage about a year ago I phoned and was told after their diagnosis that it was "me" and my modem. So I drove for like two hours/i live in the countryish/to a store where I could buy their modem and did. Only later that day to get another ATT tech on the phone who said "I" ?? made a bad diagnosis it was their system that was down? And there was nothing wrong with my modem!! "oh help me please". That's why I have the extra modem.
Is there something wrong with my PC that is causing this instability?
By the way I just ran Speedtest and I'm getting a very nice 4.98Mbps down and .66Mbps up and a 20ms ping. Where was that last night when I was trying to play on line and mostly got numbers like 1.53Down and.64Up and 22ms ping. I checked last night on Speedtest maybe 5 or 6 times and always kept getting this really slow stuff. I've been keeping a log of Speedtest results since last June. The ping always seems good. Its the up and download speeds that swing dramatically.

BTW i'm using the internet only ATT DSL hi speed elite package that offers speeds up to 6.0Mbps Down and .77Mbps Up. And of course I know these numbers continually vary depending on traffic etc. But cant pass Speedtest?


And some of you might comment that for gaming the Up and Down speeds don't matter and that its only the Ping. Well from my experience--It Just Ain't So. I can go to a game and have a ping of 34 and play miserably when the Up and Down speeds are low. This is just my experience with my PC, and maybe that's just unique to my setup? Maybe that's an indication of the problem. I don't know. With my machine i need a reasonable ping(80 or less is good) plus reasonable up and down speeds to play well. I find that I need all three. What's reasonable Up and Down--I'd guess at least 2.9Down and .6Up.

Sorry this is soo long.

But if you're still reading--your a trooper--and have any thoughts I'm listening.

Thanks

 

[Gunlance]

Cable modems are cheap. I always buy mine as it works out better in the end. Just get the modem with the right technology for your area. I believe comcast is up to DOCSIS3.x in most areas.

 

[soldierguy]

Thanks I'lll check it out.

 

[DragoXT]

If you have the option you might want to lease the modem from your cable company for the first few months to ensure you get proper service. This way if you dont get the right speeds for what you are paying or of some problem the cable company cant just say its your cable modem since you are leasing theres they will fix it. After you verifiy it works and is stable over a few months then i would suggest getting your own. Some companies allow you to lease month by month the modem and you can get out of it easy while some make you stick with a contract so be sure to check that out.

 

[SteveLord]

Another example of why I tell people that DSL speeds are NOT locked in and to not believe the bs that was relevant 10 years ago. Cable will likely be faster, whether you share it with the neighborhood or not. The only reason to choose DSL if is you can get fiber and willing to pay for it.

As for the modem, I don't think anyone charges you for leasing anymore. Even though few people ever bought their own modems, I think they caught onto that long ago.

If reallllly want to try your luck, look up Motorola's latest modem on Newegg. It has some very positive feedback. How much of that is real versus wishful thinking? Who knows...

 

[soldierguy]

Thanks for the good comments. I'm gonna go ahead and make the switch to cable. Who knows if it will be better or worse? I dont'. I've read a lot on this subject and I guess its whatever works best for each person. And depending on where one lives and how much traffic one shares with all etc, its gonna be different for everyone. I figure I'll make the switch and I've got nothing to lose--that I can see. If its horrible, then I can go back. I looked at the existing coaxial cable wire on my house and I see that I trimmed it back some years ago I guess. I must have been painting or something, and I see where I just lopped it off haha. So I found a union of sorts in the remaining cable already attached to the house and disconnected it there and bought a 12ft coaxial cable at OSH that appears to fix all and drilled a new hole through the wall and I'm good to go!!!

I'll go on line and buy the Performance subscription--at least that's my plan.. I'll sleep on it. It looks good. They have a six month special in my area right now where its $20/month for the first six months and $60/month after. They suggest the Performance subscription is good for as much as 15Mbps download and I don't see them making too many claims about the Upload speed, but gaming doesn't need a Big upload speed so I'll probably be OK.
And by the way I'm currently paying $40 for just the DSL Elite program and no phone. So if this works better or is at least maybe always able to pass Speedtest, I'll consider it a success.

At least I can say --"OK AT&T shove it. You're not gonna push me around anymore" haha Hopefully I won't have to crawl back.

 

[SteveLord]

I pay for the 12mbps regular plan for Mediacom. But I also go way over that all the time. Especially with Steam downloads at times. This is on their issued Arris brand modem w/ ethernet and voip.

Closest


Eastcoast


Westcoast


I tried the cheapest (3mbps) and it was capped hard. They have a 20mbps plan, but what's the point?

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

I live in NorCal as well and you may want to look into SureWest if it is availible in your area they are less expensive than comcast. I run a 25mb up and 25mb down Fiber connection through them along with there tv service and it is sweet. Xfinity by comcast is good to though. I used to run Comcast and never had any issues with them in my area but the price is really heavy. About the modem... by your own Router/Modem in six months the fees you spend renting it, you could buy one...

 

[soldierguy]

Radio_Active

Surewest uh? That's a new one on me. I'll check it out thanks.

 

[soldierguy]

As an update, I went ahead and ordered the Motorola SB6120 in DOCSIS 3.0.
The reviews are really mixed. Some peeps had unuseable experiences and some vast improvement. So? What to do. I thought I'd go with the latest tech so I'm starting with the DOCSIS 3.0. And I hope it works, but there's no guarantee. But I'm hopeful based on what I've learned from others who live in my general geo area. I've read that the DOCSIS 3.0 takes longer to boot but happy users say its worth the wait. So? From what I read DOCSIS 3.0 is mainly to support the "super" high speeds which I'm not subscribing too, but other reviewers argue that they're receiving similar trickle down benefits too. Real? Imagined? Who knows. And yet I read one excellent detailed review of a guy who used his old modem and got the same numbers! But that's his unique experience with his cable company and his cable plan and where he lives etc. So many variables. My cable plan and my cable company and where I live is all different. And apparantly in the cable connection arena, thats a BIG deal. Like i said it looks like a crap shoot. I know in my town the cable companies put in their own wire years ago, so they're no longer using the telcom lines. But does that mean somewhere down the pipe 20miles away that maybe it again taps into the telcom network? Maybe? Its hard to search out good answers to these kinds of physical equipment issues. People in the business don't even know. But in any case the modem is advertised as being backward compatible to 2.0 tech as well. So I'm trying this. We'll see. I'll let ya know next week or so. I'm waiting on ordering the cable. I'll get it after the modem arrives from Newegg.
And if the contract with the cable company allows for a tech to do the install etc/sometimes they do/and especially if I use their modem and I dont' plan to of course, but somehow I'll try to get the installer to come by. I haven't used the coaxial on my house for ages so who knows. Anything could be wrong.

 

[deathman20]

Years ago I bought a modem, router, wifi combo unit. Was pricey but paid for itself in a little under 2 years and was 1 unit. Now only thing I use it for now is a modem/firewall to my main router.

Its great, its now over 5 years old yet it keeps on ticking for me and does the rated speeds that I need it to up to spikes into the 20Mb/s range.

 

[w2richwood]

i have the S.B. 6120 good modem
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1107054873.png

 

[deathman20]

Damn don't think Charter has any more then 20-25Meg out by me for Down.

 

[w2richwood]

they have the urlta 60 here with 5 up docsis 3.0

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

Radio_Active

Surewest uh? That's a new one on me. I'll check it out thanks.

Yep there one of the little guys but are slowly growing.

 

[RollingThunder]

I pay for the 12mbps regular plan for Mediacom. But I also go way over that all the time. Especially with Steam downloads at times. This is on their issued Arris brand modem w/ ethernet and voip.

Closest


Eastcoast


Westcoast


I tried the cheapest (3mbps) and it was capped hard. They have a 20mbps plan, but what's the point?

Steve,

Comcast still has modem rental here but I don't use it. Bought mine 10 years ago and it's more than paid for itself. I'm on Comcast default speeds, it's all I need

Which brings me to another question: My moden is an old Motorola. Would a new technology modem increase my speeds? The service guy from Comcast advised that soon I will need to upgrade it anyhow, perhaps this year. I'll buy this one too.

 

[don'tknow]

This just shows how behind and how cheap *** Timer Warner is. The best I can get is Road Runner w/ 10 mbps down, 512 kbps up, and they charge $45 a month with discount ($55 original price).

Gd they can't wake the hell up already, it's 2011, not 1999.

 

[dfonda]

Steve,

Comcast still has modem rental here but I don't use it. Bought mine 10 years ago and it's more than paid for itself. I'm on Comcast default speeds, it's all I need

Which brings me to another question: My moden is an old Motorola. Would a new technology modem increase my speeds? The service guy from Comcast advised that soon I will need to upgrade it anyhow, perhaps this year. I'll buy this one too.

I don't think you'll see any real world improvements unless you d/l alot from really fast servers(Like Microsoft's) Downloading games on Steam is where I do my heaviest d/l's and there servers are no match for what you have, RT.

Here is relatively newer Cisco Modem on Comcast outside of Phila. The speed is probably more to do with the fact they had to trench a main line to my front door. Instead of having it down by the pole, it was so great a distance they didn't want to ever do it again. The first smaller line was bad for 20 years before they replaced it so the HD could travel it and my skitchy internet would be fixed.

I just realized...shouldn't this be in a section up? lol

 

[SteveLord]

What about those of us who have dual purpose modems for internet/phone???? I don't think they can be bought can they?

 

[RollingThunder]

What about those of us who have dual purpose modems for internet/phone???? I don't think they can be bought can they?

Steve,

That I don't know, we only use Internet and TV services, no telephone.