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I have Comcast and my own modem/router. It’s a good idea to have your modem/router as the article suggests but you’ll have to be tech savvy enough to counterac

by sykh 8y ago

I have Comcast and my own modem/router. It’s a good idea to have your modem/router as the article suggests but you’ll have to be tech savvy enough to counteract Comcasts’ tech support people. Every time there is an issue with the internet connection their tech support always say it’s my modem/router that is the problem and that I need to use a Comcast supplied modem/router. It’s annoying and those who are not savvy enough will capitulate and get Comcasts’ equipment. I hate Comcast and would gladly pay another company double what I pay for internet service with similar speeds. Alas, no such competition exists is my area. I hope Comcast goes bankrupt some day.

gnicholas 8y ago
Yep, and you have to also watch out for their multiple EOL lists. I have a modem that has been EOL'd if it's a leased modem (meaning they will give you a new one if you're leasing it) but has explicitly not been EOL'd if it's customer-owned. But guess how many Comcast reps catch that distinction? None, of course. Even when I show them their own page that explains this, they insist that I need to get a new modem.
- Mrtierne 8y ago
  I have Spectrum and the best decision I ever made was buying my own modem and router. I've had zero issues since and consistent speeds.
  - dhimes 8y ago
    I second this. With Comcast (business). No complaints coming up on the first year. Caveat: I don't need blinding speed to push code back and forth. Verizon DSL was fine, actually, when I used that.
  - Onawa 8y ago
    I was in the same situation. Their all-in-one modem/router is the most insufferable piece of equipment I've ever had to work with. Trying to do any kind of video chat using it was a nightmare with constant freezing and buffering issues even when standing right next to it. Bought my own Surfboard and TP-Link router and installed DDWRT and have been free of most issues since then except one. I randomly lost internet connection once and tried everything that I could to get it back up and running. Finally got a technician out and he showed me that sometimes you have to keep the power on the surfboard and only unplug/replug the coaxial cable to the wall and then it will start working again. I had never seen an issue like that before in my life and I'm still trying to figure out why that fixed it.
    - jschwartzi 8y ago
      Probably a supply glitch during power up that interferes with block sync, but only sometimes.
- cptskippy 8y ago
  The reason leased modems fall onto the EOL list sooner is because it takes time for Comcast to rollover those units. Comcast has to continue to support those units until they've removed them from the field. Once they've rollover all the units, then the modem is put on the customer owned EOL list. The EOL list serves two functions. They will remotely update the firmware of supported modems using the TFTP interface and the will validate supported modems on their network for the speeds offered by the modem. When your modem falls onto the EOL list it is no longer updated and they cannot guarantee your speed. The former is a security concern for them, and the later is more of a nuisance if you upgrade your service to a tier your modem can't achieve on their network.
  - matheusmoreira 8y ago
    So ISPs remotely push updates to their customer premises hardware? This doesn't apply to the customer's own equipment, right?
    - cptskippy 8y ago
      It does, if you access your cable modem's web interface you'll find rebooting is the only function you can perform otherwise it is read only. ISPs manage Cable Modems regardless of who owns them. It's part of the subscriber agreement. If you have an all-in-one device that is a cable modem, router, switch, and wifi ap all-in-one; the cable modem is still managed by the ISP.
      - matheusmoreira 8y ago
        Only the modem is managed? Is it a separate system/firmware? That would make a lot of sense. My ISP gave me a VDSL router and I can configure a lot of things via the web interface, but to get access to features such as bridge mode I'd have to replace its firmware. Is there a way to get the modem as a discrete component, rather than integrated into these all-in-one things?
ocdtrekkie 8y ago
An argument can be made the rental is worth it for the ability to tell them "if I can't get x speed off this Ethernet port, it's your fault, hands down, so fix it". Whether or not it's worth $10-15 a month depends on how much you loathe arguing with Comcast on the phone. In my case, I was on my own modem on Comcast, my new service on my new ISP is using DOCSIS 3.1, and what they support at what speeds seems to be changing frequently, so a rental is the safest bet right now. (And 3.1 modems are expensive as heck.) I tried buying one, it was too new for my ISP to work with, and all the other ones both cost more and were lower end hardware. I'll probably switch back to my own modem once 3.1 stabilizes a bit.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago
  > the rental is worth it for the ability to tell them Tell them you want to cancel. You'll be routed to the cancellation department, which is greatly empowered and incentivized to ensure you don't cancel. I have to do this about once a year, when Spectrum/TWC randomly adds $40 to my monthly internet bill.
  - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
    Oh, my God. Never do this. Never suffer their retention specialists. If you want to negotiate your bill, you use Twitter. (Comcast's social media team at corporate HQ won't give you the runaround the goofballs at the regional support centers do, they have different incentives.) What is this, the dark ages? o.o
    - JdeBP 8y ago
      Yes it is, as a matter of fact. Future historians will have this very approach to such matters to thank for the darkness. People have been talking about a digital dark age for some years, now.
    - ams6110 8y ago
      The thing to do is to go into one of their customer service offices. There you will deal face to face with a human being who is not reading from a decision tree script, and has more options. I do this periodically to get the new subscriber introductory rates on my service.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
josefresco 8y ago
I subscribed to this idea for years ... until I had "Internet" issues at my office. Called Comcast, tech visited and blamed my old router. I called them on their bluff (it wasn't) and had them install a Comcast combo router/modem - problem solved, didn't need to buy a new router. I can now call Comcast whenever anything slows, or breaks at my office. They're responsible for it all, I don't have to worry about managing my own router and never have the situation where my hardware can be blamed. I value my time (which = money) greater than my "geek" needs to have a separate router. I don't get paid to fart around with router reboots, firmware upgrades or hardware updates. Edit: Spelling/grammar.
- jimmy1 8y ago
  Keep in mind you do get charged a "modem rental fee" or whatever, and in most cases its $10-20 dollars monthly. For you that might be worth it, for others who already feel like their ISP is a sham and charging way too much, it might cross the line.
  - throwahey 8y ago
    Comcast modems also broadcast a second set of WiFi networks for other Xfinity customers and their mobile network. You are paying monthly to subsidize their 5G network. The additional power usage, however negligible, is additionally insulting.
    - josefresco 8y ago
      Does the modem broadcast this wifi signal, or just the router? I have just the modem at home and don't see the "xfinity" wifi network like I do when travelling. I'm not worried about "freeloaders" at the office. Our neighbors all buy their Internet (which is actually silly, we should cooperate) , and there's no "loitering" area outside.
    - jerf 8y ago
      Considering I've used that feature quite a few times, it's hard for me to complain about the, what, 2 cents a year of power we're talking here?
mygo 8y ago
> Alas, no such competition exists is my area. I hope Comcast goes bankrupt some day. Alas, unless your municipality is willing to bust Comcast’s local monopoly, they’re not going anywhere so long as you need internet.
Clubber 8y ago
That's why I ditched my Cisco for theirs. It's like they are looking for an excuse to end the support call. I still use my own WiFi equipment though. The Comcast one isn't very good.
mseebach 8y ago
The easy solution is to keep the provided modem, and when there's an issue, just swap it over and replicate. Preemptively factory reset the modem, too, which is no big deal anyway when you're only using it for troubleshooting.
- sykh 8y ago
  They charge a fee for using their modem.
  - mitchty 8y ago
    Yep like $7 a month to "rent" it. There is a good reason for not doing that racket.
alasdair_ 8y ago
>I have Comcast and my own modem/router. It’s a good idea to have your modem/router as the article suggests but you’ll have to be tech savvy enough to counteract Comcasts’ tech support people. I have comcast security as well as internet (it's actually pretty good - the apps are really well written, which I was surprised by). The installer insisted that for more than two cameras, I had to use comcast's own modem because the other solution was to use an extra plugin part that worked crappily for more than two cameras. Any idea if this is actually true?

by sykh 8y ago

gnicholas 8y ago

Yep, and you have to also watch out for their multiple EOL lists. I have a modem that has been EOL'd if it's a leased modem (meaning they will give you a new one if you're leasing it) but has explicitly not been EOL'd if it's customer-owned. But guess how many Comcast reps catch that distinction? None, of course. Even when I show them their own page that explains this, they insist that I need to get a new modem.

Mrtierne 8y ago
I have Spectrum and the best decision I ever made was buying my own modem and router. I've had zero issues since and consistent speeds.
- dhimes 8y ago
  I second this. With Comcast (business). No complaints coming up on the first year. Caveat: I don't need blinding speed to push code back and forth. Verizon DSL was fine, actually, when I used that.
- Onawa 8y ago
  I was in the same situation. Their all-in-one modem/router is the most insufferable piece of equipment I've ever had to work with. Trying to do any kind of video chat using it was a nightmare with constant freezing and buffering issues even when standing right next to it. Bought my own Surfboard and TP-Link router and installed DDWRT and have been free of most issues since then except one. I randomly lost internet connection once and tried everything that I could to get it back up and running. Finally got a technician out and he showed me that sometimes you have to keep the power on the surfboard and only unplug/replug the coaxial cable to the wall and then it will start working again. I had never seen an issue like that before in my life and I'm still trying to figure out why that fixed it.
  - jschwartzi 8y ago
    Probably a supply glitch during power up that interferes with block sync, but only sometimes.
cptskippy 8y ago
The reason leased modems fall onto the EOL list sooner is because it takes time for Comcast to rollover those units. Comcast has to continue to support those units until they've removed them from the field. Once they've rollover all the units, then the modem is put on the customer owned EOL list. The EOL list serves two functions. They will remotely update the firmware of supported modems using the TFTP interface and the will validate supported modems on their network for the speeds offered by the modem. When your modem falls onto the EOL list it is no longer updated and they cannot guarantee your speed. The former is a security concern for them, and the later is more of a nuisance if you upgrade your service to a tier your modem can't achieve on their network.
- matheusmoreira 8y ago
  So ISPs remotely push updates to their customer premises hardware? This doesn't apply to the customer's own equipment, right?
  - cptskippy 8y ago
    It does, if you access your cable modem's web interface you'll find rebooting is the only function you can perform otherwise it is read only. ISPs manage Cable Modems regardless of who owns them. It's part of the subscriber agreement. If you have an all-in-one device that is a cable modem, router, switch, and wifi ap all-in-one; the cable modem is still managed by the ISP.
    - matheusmoreira 8y ago
      Only the modem is managed? Is it a separate system/firmware? That would make a lot of sense. My ISP gave me a VDSL router and I can configure a lot of things via the web interface, but to get access to features such as bridge mode I'd have to replace its firmware. Is there a way to get the modem as a discrete component, rather than integrated into these all-in-one things?

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

An argument can be made the rental is worth it for the ability to tell them "if I can't get x speed off this Ethernet port, it's your fault, hands down, so fix it". Whether or not it's worth $10-15 a month depends on how much you loathe arguing with Comcast on the phone. In my case, I was on my own modem on Comcast, my new service on my new ISP is using DOCSIS 3.1, and what they support at what speeds seems to be changing frequently, so a rental is the safest bet right now. (And 3.1 modems are expensive as heck.) I tried buying one, it was too new for my ISP to work with, and all the other ones both cost more and were lower end hardware. I'll probably switch back to my own modem once 3.1 stabilizes a bit.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> the rental is worth it for the ability to tell them Tell them you want to cancel. You'll be routed to the cancellation department, which is greatly empowered and incentivized to ensure you don't cancel. I have to do this about once a year, when Spectrum/TWC randomly adds $40 to my monthly internet bill.
- ocdtrekkie 8y ago
  Oh, my God. Never do this. Never suffer their retention specialists. If you want to negotiate your bill, you use Twitter. (Comcast's social media team at corporate HQ won't give you the runaround the goofballs at the regional support centers do, they have different incentives.) What is this, the dark ages? o.o
  - JdeBP 8y ago
    Yes it is, as a matter of fact. Future historians will have this very approach to such matters to thank for the darkness. People have been talking about a digital dark age for some years, now.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    The thing to do is to go into one of their customer service offices. There you will deal face to face with a human being who is not reading from a decision tree script, and has more options. I do this periodically to get the new subscriber introductory rates on my service.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

josefresco 8y ago

I subscribed to this idea for years ... until I had "Internet" issues at my office. Called Comcast, tech visited and blamed my old router. I called them on their bluff (it wasn't) and had them install a Comcast combo router/modem - problem solved, didn't need to buy a new router. I can now call Comcast whenever anything slows, or breaks at my office. They're responsible for it all, I don't have to worry about managing my own router and never have the situation where my hardware can be blamed. I value my time (which = money) greater than my "geek" needs to have a separate router. I don't get paid to fart around with router reboots, firmware upgrades or hardware updates. Edit: Spelling/grammar.

jimmy1 8y ago
Keep in mind you do get charged a "modem rental fee" or whatever, and in most cases its $10-20 dollars monthly. For you that might be worth it, for others who already feel like their ISP is a sham and charging way too much, it might cross the line.
- throwahey 8y ago
  Comcast modems also broadcast a second set of WiFi networks for other Xfinity customers and their mobile network. You are paying monthly to subsidize their 5G network. The additional power usage, however negligible, is additionally insulting.
  - josefresco 8y ago
    Does the modem broadcast this wifi signal, or just the router? I have just the modem at home and don't see the "xfinity" wifi network like I do when travelling. I'm not worried about "freeloaders" at the office. Our neighbors all buy their Internet (which is actually silly, we should cooperate) , and there's no "loitering" area outside.
  - jerf 8y ago
    Considering I've used that feature quite a few times, it's hard for me to complain about the, what, 2 cents a year of power we're talking here?

mygo 8y ago

> Alas, no such competition exists is my area. I hope Comcast goes bankrupt some day. Alas, unless your municipality is willing to bust Comcast’s local monopoly, they’re not going anywhere so long as you need internet.

Clubber 8y ago

That's why I ditched my Cisco for theirs. It's like they are looking for an excuse to end the support call. I still use my own WiFi equipment though. The Comcast one isn't very good.

mseebach 8y ago

The easy solution is to keep the provided modem, and when there's an issue, just swap it over and replicate. Preemptively factory reset the modem, too, which is no big deal anyway when you're only using it for troubleshooting.

sykh 8y ago
They charge a fee for using their modem.
- mitchty 8y ago
  Yep like $7 a month to "rent" it. There is a good reason for not doing that racket.

alasdair_ 8y ago

>I have Comcast and my own modem/router. It’s a good idea to have your modem/router as the article suggests but you’ll have to be tech savvy enough to counteract Comcasts’ tech support people. I have comcast security as well as internet (it's actually pretty good - the apps are really well written, which I was surprised by). The installer insisted that for more than two cameras, I had to use comcast's own modem because the other solution was to use an extra plugin part that worked crappily for more than two cameras. Any idea if this is actually true?