Buy your own cable modem?

[3MTA3]

That's one of the ones I was looking at. It looks identical to the one I have now. There are a couple of questionable reviews though. One of them states it is near obsolescence. And another review stating "near end of life".

Closer examination the back of mine is slightly different. Older/newer ??

My experience with Arris is that they are rock solid. If it's obsolete or near that it's because they are likely focusing in all in one modem/phone/router/wireless units that potentially allow others to access your equipment.

The main thing is that it has the all important active phone jacks Modem, phone, and nothing else:

 

[Mikej]

Understood....Maybe I'm paranoid? One of the reviews on a unit said that shortly after they got the modem hooked up and working, Comcast changed something and their new modem became worthless. So what you are saying is that this modem is accepted for use by Comcast now and that won't change? My worry is that I'll get it and 6 months from now they will cease support for the unit.

I really appreciate the time spent on this for me.

 

[Mikej]

I'm also looking at refurbished now. $40.00 + shipping. I could buy three of those for the price of one new.

 

[3MTA3]

Understood....Maybe I'm paranoid? One of the reviews on a unit said that shortly after they got the modem hooked up and working, Comcast changed something and their new modem became worthless. So what you are saying is that this modem is accepted for use by Comcast now and that won't change? My worry is that I'll get it and 6 months from now they will cease support for the unit.

I really appreciate the time spent on this for me.

As long as the hand off from Comcast is coax this modem will work just fine. If they support a new specification it will be backwards compatible. Think about how much it would cost them to replace all existing modems in terms of equipment and support.

Pair this modem up with your own wireless router and you should be set:

 

[3MTA3]

As long as the hand off from Comcast is coax this modem will work just fine. If they support a new specification it will be backwards compatible. Think about how much it would cost them to replace all existing modems in terms of equipment and support.

Pair this modem up with your own wireless router and you should be set:

 

[Mikej]

As long as the hand off from Comcast is coax this modem will work just fine. If they support a new specification it will be backwards compatible. Think about how much it would cost them to replace all existing modems in terms of equipment and support.

Pair this modem up with your own wireless router and you should be set:

Makes sense. I've got the button ready to push to get a "Refurbished-VERY GOOD" here by the 11/22 for $46.99. Any issues there you think?

 

[3MTA3]

Makes sense. I've got the button ready to push to get a "Refurbished-VERY GOOD" here by the 11/22 for $46.99. Any issues there you think?

I'd go for it as long as you can get your $$$ back.

 

[Member 5605]

The newest technology is DOCSIS 3.1 but that doesn't mean the millions of DOCSIS 3.0 modems are obsolete.

I wouldn't worry that within 6 months your modem will be obsolete. I'm betting we have 3-5 years before they push DOCSIS 3.1 as the minimum standard.

 

[Mikej]

I'd go for it as long as you can get your $$$ back.

I went for it. It's the same unit I've been using for several years now at $10.00 a month and it now went up a buck.

 

[Ramjet12]

I've always owned my cable modems. I've always been ahead on them. The first I bought lasted 4 years. I just upgraded a year ago to an Arris Surfboard SB6183. It's been rock solid and since I work from home I need a solid internet connection.

 

[Grimm]

I bought one when I was on Comcast and it worked ok. I had to do resets several times per week, but that seems to be the standard for Comcast.

If you have the choice, go with FiOS - much less trouble, more consistent, better speeds.

It's funny you say that. Fios has been scheduled twice to come to our house and has no showed both times after my wife has taken time off work. No one in the customer service department can figure out why. We told them nevermind, we're staying with Comcast. Just called and got them to lower my bill $50 a month to stick around!

I've heard several people rave about fios, but this put a bad taste in our mouth. They no showed on our neighbors too who were setting up the same day as us.

 

[3MTA3]

It's funny you say that. Fios has been scheduled twice to come to our house and has no showed both times after my wife has taken time off work. No one in the customer service department can figure out why. We told them nevermind, we're staying with Comcast. Just called and got them to lower my bill $50 a month to stick around!

I've heard several people rave about fios, but this put a bad taste in our mouth. They no showed on our neighbors too who were setting up the same day as us.

I think technically FIOS is better as well as more robust. Looks like your provider needs to learn the same lesson Comcast did years ago about poor customer service. I remember when they were just as bad about keeping appointments. I also caught them at one house trying to get away with stringing their cable along a fence line right on top of the ground. I told him I was going to call Comcast and ask if this met their standards and if so was going to cancel.

 

[The Heretic]

For both Comcast and FiOS the installers/et. al. are often third party contractors who can be really good or flakey.

The service though - FiOS has been much better than cable in my experience.

YMMV

I would settle for either if I could get here - almost anything is better than the DSL or LD WiFi I have now. Interestingly, I have Comcast now, but thru UpwardAccess LD WiFi and it is as flakey as Comcast was directly.

 

[Member 5605]

I also caught them at one house trying to get away with stringing their cable along a fence line right on top of the ground. I told him I was going to call Comcast and ask if this met their standards and if so was going to cancel.

Standard procedure to get customer up and running. To bury a line requires locates and the underground crew. Never is done in a day. Only restrictions are trespass issues.

 

[3MTA3]

Standard procedure to get customer up and running. To bury a line requires locates and the underground crew. Never is done in a day. Only restrictions are trespass issues.

They did reschedule the install and the line was buried. Frankly leaving a cable where it would likely be damaged by yard equipment was a pretty stupid idea. Point is that you need to keep a close eye on anybody who brings in a utility or provides a service as my experience has been they will cut corners to your disadvantage every time and you don't have to accept their shoddy work.

 

[Mikej]

Makes sense. I've got the button ready to push to get a "Refurbished-VERY GOOD" here by the 11/22 for $46.99. Any issues there you think?

I went for it. It's the same unit I've been using for several years now at $10.00 a month and it now went up a buck.

Bringing this back up.....Kinda like that dinner you had that didn't sit well, and you're up at 1:00 AM tossing it in the toilet!

Make it short and sour. Got the modem. Called comcast to get it set-up. Was told it was showing in use somewhere in the country. 7 days, too numerous to count times going through comcast's AUTOMATED phone system, about four hours phone time, two lengthy visits to the understaffed comcast store near me to be treated like a thief, and it would seem that the company sold me a modem that wasn't kosher. I'm no comcast fan but the two gals I last talked to, on the phone, put a lot of work into looking deep, all the way to "Tier 1", and looking deep into the Eastern division of comcast. I believed what they said. The outfit that sold the modem, "Precision ElectroSales", was telling me during the whole battle via e-mail about comcast just shining me on because they don't want to lose their rental fees. They, comcast and the gals, don't care if I buy my own modem, no matter what people will tell you!

Amazon sent me the return label, so the non-kosher modem is on it way back, and a new upgrade is on it's way.

Comcast isn't really that bad to deal with once you get through the automated phone system and get to tech support. I think those people are the best of comcast. Going into the stores I find the staff are not people persons. Getting to an "Agent" on the phone is a pain. What worked with the phone thing is once you get to the second or third time the voice says "I'll conncect you with an agent but let's try this first, say something like....." just start saying "agent", "Agent", "AGEnt", "AGENT!!!" By about the fifth time you're yelling AGENT the voice at the other end will say "I'll connect you with an agent". You probably don't NEED to yell, it just seemed like that at the time.

 

[3MTA3]

Bringing this back up.....Kinda like that dinner you had that didn't sit well, and you're up at 1:00 AM tossing it in the toilet!

Make it short and sour. Got the modem. Called comcast to get it set-up. Was told it was showing in use somewhere in the country. 7 days, too numerous to count times going through comcast's AUTOMATED phone system, about four hours phone time, two lengthy visits to the understaffed comcast store near me to be treated like a thief, and it would seem that the company sold me a modem that wasn't kosher. I'm no comcast fan but the two gals I last talked to, on the phone, put a lot of work into looking deep, all the way to "Tier 1", and looking deep into the Eastern division of comcast. I believed what they said. The outfit that sold the modem, "Precision ElectroSales", was telling me during the whole battle via e-mail about comcast just shining me on because they don't want to lose their rental fees. They, comcast and the gals, don't care if I buy my own modem, no matter what people will tell you!

Amazon sent me the return label, so the non-kosher modem is on it way back, and a new upgrade is on it's way.

Comcast isn't really that bad to deal with once you get through the automated phone system and get to tech support. I think those people are the best of comcast. Going into the stores I find the staff are not people persons. Getting to an "Agent" on the phone is a pain. What worked with the phone thing is once you get to the second or third time the voice says "I'll conncect you with an agent but let's try this first, say something like....." just start saying "agent", "Agent", "AGEnt", "AGENT!!!" By about the fifth time you're yelling AGENT the voice at the other end will say "I'll connect you with an agent". You probably don't NEED to yell, it just seemed like that at the time.

"representative" is another good phrase that phone systems will recognize.

Sorry you got scammed. When I attached my modem I just called Comcast and had them turn it up. I wasup and running almost immediately.

 

[Mikej]

"representative" is another good phrase that phone systems will recognize.

Sorry you got scammed. When I attached my modem I just called Comcast and had them turn it up. I wasup and running almost immediately.

I don't necessarily think the vendor was scamming. Comcast, among other providers I imagine, sell the returned modems for pennies to companies that check 'em over and test them and then vendors purchase the refurbished units for resale to ME. Things slip though. There's also an issue, that I learned from one of the helpful gals on the phone, of people giving other people their modem, that is programmed already. Maybe when they move? Or drop off the radar? So at that point comcast has lost a modem and the dirtbag has disappeared on comcast's books? Comcast has no way of knowing if I am one of "Them". Assuming the unit is not one of the above, there's clearly a failing, either when comcast sells off the modem for pennies, or when the vendor buys refurbished units for re-sale. One of them should fully clear the modem using the "MAC numbers on the back. Their bad!