Our local cable company will be offering Internet service within the next year. The prices that I am hearing sound like it would be affordable ($29.99 / mo. + $9.95 / mo. modem rental) It’s that modem rental that gets me.
Within the next month, I will be purchasing a new PC. Is there something that I can purchase that will allow me to avoid the modem rental? What does my PC need in order to access the Internet with cable? I could ask the people at the cable office, but they know little or nothing about anything. They take the money, but don’t know much about what they actually sell or how it works.
I’m thinking of getting a Compaq. Any horror stories? Any good stories?
Thanks.
Yes, there’s something you can buy to avoid the modem rental, and it’s called a modem. 
Sometimes, cable providers will offer a deal and sell you the modem and give you three months free cable service. That was the deal I got with Comcast.
In addition to the cable modem, a new card has to be installed in the computer. When I got my cable, this was all provided by Comcast. They had to hook up another cable since I did not want the computer in the same room as my TV, and, in fact, it’s on a different floor. The modem and card were installed and I was all set.
Generally the sales or admin won’t know much about the hardware needed to hook you up to the Internet. Their field technicians and tech support people will, however (er, we hope anyways :rolleyes: ).
You can buy your own cable modem. Best Buy is starting to sell them. Make sure you call your company’s tech support and ask them what brand/model modems they have tested with their ISP equipment and know that they work without a hitch.
You’ll also need a 10Mb (megabit) Ethernet card installed in your PC. Most off the shelf computers are coming with these installed. You can get cheap ones (cards) for $10-$20, though I always stick with 3Com products, which are more. IMHO:
HP/Compaq = El Sucko
Gateway = a little better
Dell = much better, but getting worse
Build Your Own = Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
I have RoadRunner cable Internet service (now it’s called Cox) and have had no big problems to speak of. Check your potential ISP here.
Just to add that a 100Mb card will work too and 10’s are getting hard to find. Also most cable modems now have a usb connection along with a network connection allowing you to use a standard usb cable.
A couple things…
Don’t bother with a 10baseT card (10 megabit). Go with 100. There will be little difference in the price, and as k2dave mentioned, 10baseT cards are getting tough to find. With a 100 megabit card, you’ll have a faster network if you one day decide to get a second PC to network with the first one.
CompUSA sells a few brands of cable modems. You need to get the specs from your ISP before you buy one, though, to make sure it conforms.
3Com cards are nice, and you’ll likely not go wrong purchasing one of those. Netgear also makes some nice stuff. I have Netgear cards in all of my PCs, save for one that has a 3Com card. Good stuff.
Thanks for the help. Since my cable system doesn’t actually have Internet service yet, I doubt anyone over there would know what standards they will be using. After all, this is a place where even the installer at the house says, “Well, channel twenty is just going to be a bit fuzzy. There’s nothing we can do about that.” Anyone know anything about Internet from a DSS system?