Cable modem lesson's learned

So far as I know, all cable modem upgrades have to come from the cable company. (or you impersonating the cable company, but lets not go there) This is because the modem has to identify you to the cable company correctly for billing purposes. 'The Man' has to get paid.

 

our cable modem is free with xfinity, so, they keep it up to date. but we are on a $150./mo. plan for cable, phone and internet, which may explain the 'free'.

i have priced out at&t as well as fits, and prices are all similar, after the 'promotion'.

 

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch -- or cable modem.

 

Your only recourse is to rent the cable modem if you have data and voice for the most part. My cable guy told me it's ok, just call Comcast every 3-6 months and have them send out a tech to upgrade the equipment. Get your money's worth on that rental fee. Also check forums to see what the latest and greatest cable modem currently available. Right now it's Docsis 3.0 with 3.1 being slowly introduced in some areas. Again reread my previous sentence about upgrading your cable gear. The Docsis 3.1 stuff will do gigabit internet. Next is the 4k cable box.

 

If you can still use a DOCSIS 3.x compliant cable modem on Comcast, I've got one you can have. No Comcast in my area, so it's sitting around gathering dust.

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after you've spent some time with computers, you'll learn that nothing is weird.

 

My WOW soared from $46 to $66 just this month (w/ their router). Internet only service. Called yesterday to inquire what my monthly bandwidth has been so I could compare with prospective replacements to WOW, namely AT&T (yeah, I know, ugh). WOW claimed to not have ever stored data on my bandwidth usage. That sounded odd. What internet or cell service doesn't track usage?

They did agree to back it back down to a total of $51/month, but only for a limited time. The rep recommended that I also talk to their customer retention, or "satisfaction" department to get the price even lower, as he was allowed to only do so much in his own department. AT&T is $30 for the first year, but I know that will escalate quickly, and there is a bandwidth limit most likely. AT&T will also give me a $100 gift card, as I am a DirecTV customer. I convinced DirecTV to lower my bill, including the HBO, from $101 to $61 inclusive just last month, and just in time for the internet only WOW portion to jump up in price. Hard to win at these games.

Right now I'm stuck in that proverbial rock and hard place trying to decide to make the deal with AT&T or to stay with WOW if they can do even better on the price.

 

Not always. I'm on Spectrum, and run my own separate modem and router. All they need is the MAC address from the modem, and for it to be a compatible model (so I'm running a Motorola/Arris SB6141 - if they start offering faster service by default I'll probably need to upgrade to an SB6183).

 

The reason it needs to be a 'compatible model' is that the cable company programs it each time it is turned on with your caps on speed. If you had a modem they could not program, they would not control your usage, so they do not allow modems they can't program.

All modems are DOCSIS compatible, so they would all work (at some speed) if the company did not have (legitimate) needs to control bandwidth and get paid. As the company upgrades to faster DOCSIS protocols, they have desire to force you to get faster too, so that the same infrastructure supports more users. So over time they turn off older protocols that the equipment can do, to better use the cables they have.

 

No cost, I can't use it on Spectrum. They provide their cable modems at no charge.

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Fun fact, Spectrum charges you a wifi fee if you use their modem.

 

^ Saw that just yesterday.

Internet providers are like insurance companies.
You always get the best deal if you're a new customer.
Until somebody turns that model on its head and starts rewarding their customers with a 'loyalty discount' you are always better off if you change (or threaten to change) your provider whenever your provider changes their prices.

I am cobbling up a home-brew alarm/camera system (RPI/ESP8266) on my 'country estate' (5 acres of inherited land) and the $15/1GHz wifi hotspot is struggling to keep up. Charter says they can give me [sic] 30.0 Mbps Download; 5 Mbps Upload for $45 plus junk fees, and I'm circling the hook......

I don't need that capacity, but the next step up from a barely-in-range StraightTalk puck that I'm currently using would be about the same price.

Either way....
"Free" modems are like free oil changes at the dealership.
Sometimes they're not worth the cost and if you're not careful...."free" can be VERY costly!
If I bite the hook, I'll do a self-install and buy a modem, flashing it as I am able to.

...or?
I'll try to make what I have work for $15.

 

yeah, we've been a comcast customer for over 20 years, and don't get bupkis unless we complain.
and every year they raise the price, hoping you won't notice.

 

Even if you have your own router?

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Not in Texas...where they just took over Time Warner Cable.

 

Old school cabled Ethernet worked for me. I use my laptop rarely, and my LTE hotspot works fine.

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Apparently there are ways to refuse the wifi service, but they're rather difficult to do without refusing their modem.