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Cable Modem Q's

zdubyadubya

Turbo Monkey
Apr 13, 2008
1,273
96
Ellicott City, MD
Sooo.... with a recent bump in my Comcast speed to my house, my cable modem is now the slowest link in my home network. 2 Questions. When buying a new modem, what should I be looking for? What are your recommendations? Is IPv6 certified necessary? Also, might be moving in a couple months; and the new residence has FIOS. What does Verizon FIOS use in terms of home connectivity? Basically, with comcast its: apartment wall -> modem -> router and I can handle everything from router on... With a house, what are my options and how is the FIOS signal handled? Thanks geeks!
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Comcast should be providing you with a new modem if it is necessary....which it probably isnt.

edit: when getting Fios, verizon will come out and install all necessary equipment
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,573
24,191
media blackout
not sure about fios - not available for me.

as for ipv6, it certainly wouldn't hurt. that's where we're heading. actually today some major sites flipped the switch and are doing a 24hr live test of ipv6 to give it a test drive IRL.
 

zdubyadubya

Turbo Monkey
Apr 13, 2008
1,273
96
Ellicott City, MD
Comcast should be providing you with a new modem if it is necessary....which it probably isnt.

edit: when getting Fios, verizon will come out and install all necessary equipment
it is necessary... they keep calling me and telling me my modem is insufficient to receive the speeds i am paying for. and they will provide one for $10/month. six months in I could have bought my own.

same with verizon; why rent equipment when if you have said equipment for >1yr you could have owned it.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
There's no such thing as a D-Link Linksys.

The one pictured is a Linksys modem.

They may be requiring DOCSIS 3.0 modems to support the higher speeds, which is why they're requiring you to get a new modem. DOCSIS 2.0 is plenty capable of providing 20/4 but if they're trying to get customers onto the new protocols, they may be using this as a catalyst for it.

Road Runner gave me a modem free as long as I keep up the service. $10/month is a crap ton of money for a modem rental.

I have a Motorola Surfboard modem that I've been happy with, almost never requires reboots. I had a Linksys that required a reboot about once a month. There's not much to them, though, they're essentially a giant NIC.
 

zdubyadubya

Turbo Monkey
Apr 13, 2008
1,273
96
Ellicott City, MD
There's no such thing as a D-Link Linksys.

The one pictured is a Linksys modem.

shows how much i know... the one pictured is the one i have

They may be requiring DOCSIS 3.0 modems to support the higher speeds, which is why they're requiring you to get a new modem. DOCSIS 2.0 is plenty capable of providing 20/4 but if they're trying to get customers onto the new protocols, they may be using this as a catalyst for it.

good to know. do you know how fast DOCSIS 2.0 can support?

Road Runner gave me a modem free as long as I keep up the service. $10/month is a crap ton of money for a modem rental.

i agree completely. hence why i started the thread; not going to upgrade if i don't have to.
thanks a bunch all. appreciate it.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Double Play (digital preferred + "Blast!")

are they just trying to get money out of me? The internet is supposed to be 20 down, 4 up. i know you have comcast... do they charge you for a modem?

my modem is this:

its a 2007-ish D-Link Linksys.
if thats your modem, then you probably do need a new one.
i have Blast! too and usually only get 11-13down/4-5up but i cant find any other info on their site about it..its cheaper than their "performance" and more money then their "performance starter."

my modem is a bit different since i used to have phone service and this has a battery backup, plus it supports DOCSIS 3.0. i lease this from them for $5/month
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zdubyadubya

Turbo Monkey
Apr 13, 2008
1,273
96
Ellicott City, MD
if thats your modem, then you probably do need a new one.
looking into it. trying to figure out if it is as capable as BV thinks.

i have Blast! too and usually only get 11-13down/4-5up but i cant find any other info on their site about it..its cheaper than their "performance" and more money then their "performance starter."
thanks a bunch man. its weird, i don't think even they really know the differences. i just know that my speednet tests didn't change after the whole upgrade to XFINITY crap and relabelling of internet tiers, so I figured maybe my modem was holding me back. I was 15/3 before and was upgraded to 20/4 (supposedly), but still only get like 14/2 consistently on speednet and have got those same numbers for the last three years.

*edit* must spread rep. will get back to you.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
I'm just saying that the DOCSIS standard supports higher speeds. Your modem may still be a limiting factor.

Also, it may not be anything your ISP can do anything about. If they're only rolling the 20/4 speeds out to DOCSIS 3.0 customers, then you're stuck.