I have a USB DSL modem atm, and have decided to get an ethernet one instead (i tried my friends ethernet one and it vasty reduced ping times on games). My only choices are: get one from the phone company at a huge markup or get one off ebay. I can’t find any stores, brick or web, that sell DSL modems. Isn’t this an illegal control of supply by phone company’s? You can walk into any electronics store to get a cable modem but no DSL. Anyone know why this is?
Mythil
I have a DSL modem that came with my HP computer. Therefore, it stands to reason that you can buy a standalone DSL modem froma computer superstore (CompUSA, Micro Center)…
You can. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them in Fry’s, and you can certainly find them online:
http://zdnetshopper.cnet.com/shopping/resellers/0-9719668-1411-7425600.html
The reason you don’t see them in every store is undoubtedly lack of demand - most people will be content with the one they get when ordering DSL. The DSL vendors are buying in huge quantities and get them cheap, so it’s not likely to be price competetive either.
Although I do note that both stores in my zdnet link don’t have that particular model in stock at the moment. Perhaps there’s a kink in the supply right now.
Sure you can buy them at the store. Ebay.com is fine, what makes you think they are over priced?
I recently replaced a DSL modem that died on me. (had a bear of a time with getting install help but thats another thread) New one from Pacific bell would have been $135. I paid $68 with shipping from PCliquidations.com.
IIRC Tigerdirect sells them pretty cheap too
and last but not least if you havent gone to www.pricewatch.com you haven’t looked hard enough 
I’ll sell you one for $50 plus shipping.
The biggest reason you probably don’t see them advertised all over the place it two-fold.
Most people who sign up for DSL get a modem free with service (most people not all people) and that modem is maintained for the life of the service contract. That undercuts a good protion of the retail market right off the bat.
Secondly DSL is fairly new and isn’t all that widespread a technology in most of the country, so your larger retailers have no idea that stocking it might be a good idea (in fact it may not be a good idea).
Third: Taking the first two into consideration, most folks who need one already have one and DSL modems don’t break all that often. I have had this unit for three years, still worked like a charm last month when I switched over to cable.
I once wrote troubleshooting / customer support documentation for a major ISP. If I recollect, there are other reasons to buy a modem from the ISP. These reasons may be more or less valid depending on the modem, the ISP, the ISP’s local equipment, your technical expertise, etc.
Bottom line is: you might be able to get away with it, but you might not.
Modems are not all the same, even straight out of the box. You might buy a modem that is incompatible, or partly incompatible with the local system.
Modems are sometimes customized for an ISP. The customization may or may not be to your personal benefit, but it’s certain the ISP customized it the way it wanted.
If the ISP contract say you have to buy or lease a modem from them, then . . .
If you run into problems, and your modem isn’t the same, you may have just steered yourself into a no-win situation. The customer support people can’t troubleshoot a modem they’ve never heard of. If there’s a problem with other people’s modems in the neighborhood, and the the ISP goes looking for the cause, and they discover you don’t have a standard modem, they could force you offline until you replace it with a standard modem. It’s possible that your modem would cause a problem in your neighborhood (especially if you’ve purchased it or tuned it specifically because it improves your performance). If you purposely degrade your neighbor’s performance for your own benefit, and you’re really nasty about it, the ISP may refuse you service now, and in the future. Even if you move.
Modems change, even if the model number doesn’t, so you can’t be sure you’re buying the same modem that works for your neighbor, that they got from the ISP.
ISP periodically upgrade modems, sometimes downloading patches. If you buy a modem, chances are it won’t be upgraded / upgradable.
I wouldn’t recommend a non-ISP modem to any of my friends – not if I was likely to be the person they ran to to fix it, that’s for sure.
I once wrote troubleshooting / customer support documentation for a major ISP. If I recollect, there are other reasons to buy a modem from the ISP. These reasons may be more or less valid depending on the modem, the ISP, the ISP’s local equipment, your technical expertise, etc.
Bottom line is: you’d probably be able to get away with it, but you might not.
Modems are not all the same, even straight out of the box. You might buy a modem that is incompatible, or partly incompatible with the local system.
Modems are sometimes customized for an ISP. The customization may or may not be to your personal benefit, but it’s certain the ISP customized it the way it wanted.
If the ISP contract say you have to buy or lease a modem from them, then . . .
If you run into problems, and your modem isn’t the same, you may have just steered yourself into a no-win situation. The customer support people can’t troubleshoot a modem they’ve never heard of. If there’s a problem with other people’s modems in the neighborhood, and the the ISP goes looking for the cause, and they discover you don’t have a standard modem, they could force you offline until you replace it with a standard modem. It’s possible that your modem would cause a problem in your neighborhood (especially if you’ve purchased it or tuned it specifically because it improves your performance). If you purposely degrade your neighbor’s performance for your own benefit, and you’re really nasty about it, the ISP may refuse you service now, and in the future. Even if you move.
Modems change, even if the model number doesn’t, so you can’t be sure you’re buying the same modem that works for your neighbor, that they got from the ISP.
ISP periodically upgrade modems, sometimes downloading patches. If you buy a modem, chances are it won’t be upgraded / upgradable.
I wouldn’t recommend a non-ISP modem to any of my friends – not if I was likely to be the person they ran to to fix it, that’s for sure.
To put it another way: people for whom this works are mostly telling you about the benefits. They aren’t volunteering to fix your connection or reimburse you if something goes wrong.
Motorola, Linksys and Toshiba (and others) makes and sells cable modem. They have them at Best Buy and several other stores. Whichever you decide to buy, make sure it’s DOCSYS certified.
Jim
Uh, the issue of compatibility may be of some importance. You say you have a USB DSL modem atm, and you tried an “ethernet” one, and liked it better.
Residential DSL services are normally provided over ADSL technology by the local phone company (and resold by ISPs). There are multiple ADSL technologies, and not all modems will work with all the different technologies.
MOST (but not all) residential ADSL services require something called PPPoE (the “E” is for ethernet). But some use PPPoA (the “A” is for ATM). I suspect, but don’t know for sure, that your USB DSL modem atm is for a PPPoA ADSL service. Most of the DSL modems you will find support PPPoE, but I don’t think most support PPPoA.
So, the “ethernet” piece is only the piece between your computer and the DSL modem. Right now, you are using USB. In either case, they should be much quicker than the ADSL connection itself, and therefore not likely responsible for any latency (delay) that you find with ping tests. It is more likely related to your service providers network, and won’t likely be improved by converting to “ethernet”.
More information than you could possibly want can be found at www.dslreports.com. Do a search for PPPoA, just to get a feel for the issues. The forums there many experts, and you can get information customized for your particular provider, in your local market.