Motorola sb4100 modem jealousy

[Tarp2]

I finally convinced my father to get a cable modem. Comcast is charging him $3.00 a month for a modem.

I have a few questions. If any one has experience with this modem, I would appreciate input.


1. Should I purchase the modem (sb4100) or leave it to the cable company to be responsible for it?

2. If I purchase a modem outside of Comcast, even a sb4100, would it be a simple swap, or will there be tech issues?

I ask these questions because I am still on a rural dial-up system and I am trying to help my citybound parents. I don't have any personal experience setting up a modem. I'm jealous.

Tarp


I may not be able to reply for a day (Work) but I appreciate any help.

[thekingofpain]

I was givin the newer SB4200 when I subscribed and it never hit the correct speeds---they jacked around for weeks and finally gave me the SB4100 and the problem was cured---I havnt gotton around to buying my own but I think there is a particular ID# that needs to be provisioned when you change a modem out---might be a good idea to ask the cable company before spending...
(4100 is about 60$)

[SPEEDO]

I was more than happy to pay the rental fee for a modem.
A buddy of mine decided to buy his own modem and it went south after 8 months. Sure he sent it back and waited 4 days to get online again, Where if he had rented it he just could have just driven downtown and swapped it for another one.

[MDS]

I choose to use my own a Linksys BEFCMU10 which performs greatly compared to the sb4200 and the sb4100. The cable co. rented me the sb4200 for the first 3 months and was always dropping connection and speeds where not up to par. So I purchased a new sb4100 which had better speeds but was still having issue that about once a week required to be unpluged then plugged in again. You will have to have your cable co reset your mac addy or modem id what evr it is which is usually a simple phone call.

[RamonGTP]

You can't just swap it, you need to call your cable company and give them some numbers off the modem to be able to connect to their network.

[DanU]

Yes, it's slightly more complicated than a simple swap-out, but not by much. The cable company will need to know the new MAC address of the new cable modem. It's usually labeled on the modem itself.

I've had three cable modems go bad on me in the past 3 years. Maybe it's bad luck, but they don't seem to last long for me. I'm going to stick with renting.

[Tarp2]

Thank you All for the advice.

Renting seems the way to go.


Tarp

[Good Companion]

Tarp:

I purchased a D-Link cable modem and it failed on me within the first year. It was still under warranty so I sent it back.

Rental seems like a deal for you. Cox would charge me $15 a month if I rented. Hence, the purchase.

Regards,
Dana

[Tarp2]

G.C.,
Thanks.
Yes, considering my parents are not tech oriented, and if a modem failed, it would take me a few days to get down there and even diagnose the problem.
I feel better knowing they can call their cable rep and get the problem solved.

$15.00 sounds excessive compared to their deal, I would probably puchase a modem for them if the rates got that high. It seems $3.00 amonth is a pretty good deal. I am just wary that they are getting one of the special incentives, and the price will skyrocket in a few months.

Time will tell.

Tarp

[wavefront]

I got Comcast. I rented the modem at $3.00/mo (DCM315).
I too looked at buying a Motorola (from local Wal-Mart). I did the math and figured that I'd break even in 2 years. I figured that there was a fair chance that it wouldn't last that long for one reason or another. I'm going to keep renting unless I can get a better model for less than $30 (10 months rent).