When I signed up with Cox for highspeed cable, they provided a WebStar modem for a nominal cost. It has been working fine,but should anything go wrong, would like to be armed with some info about getting a replacement.
Googling provided some information. As i understand it, if I buy a DOCSIS modem, it should work with any provider, yes?
Is there any appreciable difference between modems as far as speed, reliability, etc?
Is cost related at all to quality? There seems to be quite a range of prices.
Any recommendations or suggestions as to a good one?
rent the one from your cable provider - if it happens to go bad, they have to replace it.
I work for a cable provider here in Michigan and service modems almost daily. The brand of modem has little to do with speed. We have the Webstars at 6M down and 1M up. When I was with the bigger cable company, they were using the Webstars at 8M down and .7M up. However, speed of service depends much more on your provider than your modem. We can (and do) cap your speed at the head end, depending on what you pay for.
Most people rent their cable modems from their cable company (and don’t even realize it).
A new cable modem is $40-70. You might pay like uhm…$3 or $1.75/mo. to lease one from the cable company.
If you rent from the cable company, The Man comes and installs it and when it breaks The Man comes back and gives you the latest model. If you have any problems, and if they’re not sure what it is, they might send The Man out to give you a new modem just for shits’n giggles.
If you get your own modem, you set it up. If it breaks, you go buy a new one and re-install it. If there’s a problem they can’t “see” on their end, they might blame it on your modem.
These days with the cost of cable modems, it’s 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Most folks don’t want to bother with hardware. It’s easier to let the cable company do it, for them.
When I bought my house I bought a cable modem because I am cheap and didn’t want to spend the $3/mo to rent. I just got a Motorola WhateverWasCheapest because I knew Adelphia always had us using Motorolas when we rented. I asked what they supported when I signed up. they said “whatevah.”
Just don’t get a USB modem. That’s silly. Ethernet ports are everywhere - use 'em
Check with your provider to make sure they have not used a proprietary driver for your modem. If so you will need to use their driver or firmware. I ran into this with pac bell DSL a couple years back. They seem to have dropped this method lately since I have hooked up several sbcat&tyahoowhateverthefucktheyarethisweek DSL modems and had no problems.
Some models can be better at dealing with noise. Ages ago I worked helpdesk for a large US cable ISP. To my regret, I can’t recall which were better than others…
I do recall that the Motorolas seemed to be well-built, and I never saw a faulty one in the time that I was there. (Though I only saw 3 modem failures, so that’s not a big sample). Perhaps call support a few times and see if there’s one type they really hate.
As ZipperJJ says, avoid USB (only) cable modems, and don’t use it if you have it. It’ll only lead to headaches, and if you call support saying you have WinME, well, that was pretty much 3rd worst on my list of calls to take. (The other two being someone who’s account I could see was accidentally cut off by our TV support despite us telling them all the time not to do that 'cause it would take a week to restore - (bastids!:mad: ) and that time I got a translator call from someone with a super-flaky connection wanting to set up their cable modem for the first time using a Japanese version of Windows XP)
Oh yeah, some come with a ‘standby’ button, which leaves the modem looking ‘on’, but it won’t transfer packets in and out. If your dog hits the button (seriously, it happened more than once), check that first.
One big advantage to owning your own modem is that, should it break, you can go out and pick up a new one immediately, not wait a week to have the guy not show up and reschedule the day you are planning to give birth to your first child. I have found that comcast at least, is more than happy to help you out whether you have your own modem, or are renting theirs. I actually went out and bought my modem when I was having internet troubles, and they said something like “about 30% of the information is being dropped between the cable and your computer, it is probably the modem.” So I went out, bought one, they helped me set it up (you have to give them model number and serial number and such) and I have been online ever since.
