Replacing a cable modem

You don't replace a modem with a router. You should be able to add a router after the modem with no problems.

As far as replacing the modem, I would first check my bill and see if I'm being charged a rental fee. If so, you can probably go to your ISP's website and check out what modems are on the compatibility list (assuming they have one) and find one that they accept. Then, if acceptable, swap out the modem and give them a call to provision it. If all is well, return their modem and get the rental fee canceled.

If they aren't charging a rental fee or if it's really low (under $3/mo), I'd stick with their equipment. If there's a problem with the modem, call them and ask them for a swapout. I think in your case it's free and I'd stick with it unless there's a problem - in which case I'd call cust. service and tell them.

My Comcast invoice shows it if you own your modem or if rent it. Have you checked yours if there is position for your modem?

Do you want to replace your modem or your router? If you want to buy a new modem, you first have to register the MAC address with your cable company, otherwise it will not work.

Martin

I'd say that (under $3/mo) _is_ 'really low' and it would be hard to beat that. My ISP, on the other hand, charges more like $9/mo if you want to rent it from them.

In any case, there is a simple formula which tells you whether to rent or buy.

(purchase price / rental price) - warranty period = x

If x is positive, rent; if it's negative, buy.

In other words, if you can completely depreciate the purchase price before the warranty expires, buy it; otherwise rent.

Now, I should add that this way of thinking does presuppose that you have a reliable warranty. Those who advocate renting always say, 'that way, the equipment is theirs so if you have any problems you just take it back and they give you a replacement!' However, if you buy the modem from the ISP and it fails within the warranty period, they should treat you just as well. On the other hand, if you buy from a third party you may have downtime for however long it takes to get the repair / replacement sorted out.

cheers,

Henry

Mine costs $3/mo and I could easily justify replacing it, but saving the hassle of dealing with a failure is worth some bucks too. I figure it's

18 months of rental to buy, but you have to add on for the bonus of free replacement/repair with the ISP. Over $3 - I wouldn't argue - buy your own. At $9/mo - buy two of them in case one fails in 6 mos.

Chances are that in 6 months the cost of buying a new modem will more likely fall than rise. Unless the nearest Radio Shack, Best Buy, Circuit City or other store that sells cable modems is more than an hour away (which is unlikely as 94% of the population of the US is within 5 minutes of a Radio Shack), I wouldn't buy the second one until the first fails.

The bigger variable is whether or not the cable company will continue to charge the same rental rate. At one time ATTBI was $9/month, and a lot of people based their purchase decisions on that rate. When it dropped to $3/month, some folks were upset that their break-even point moved out a number of months.

If someone is a new customer, the decision is easier. If you sign-up for the service at Radio Shack, Best Buy, Circuit City or some other retailer that resells Comcast High Speed Internet, and/or whatever other service might be in their market area, there will usually be a rebate of the entire cost of the cable modem, plus the introductory package may include either a lower rate, or a longer period at the introductory rate than if you go through the cable company itself. There may even be a self-install kit with cables and a splitter involved, and sometimes even a gift card for that store as well.

So for a new customer, head to a store to buy instead of signing-up directly with your cable company. Your break-even point for purchasing the modem will usually be the day your rebate check arrives -- and sooner if an instant gift card to the store is part of the offer.

Currently, there is an offer here for Comcast w/ a free modem:

A assume that with further competition from the Baby Bells, there will be more of these offers.

Martin

I was being facetious - maybe a smiley would help. ;)

That's true - you can usually get a free modem (after rebates) when signing up in an electronics store.

You can do just as well if not better at a brick and mortar store in your area. You can be up and running shortly after returning from the store, and if something goes wrong, you can actually face a person in the store, and get things handled or return the product. Why deal with some mail order company that's just licensing the Comcast logo, and reselling Comcast service the same as that store you can actually go to? (Comcastoffers is not Comcast.)

There's nothing new about these offers. They've been around for years. And the improvements in cable Internet service over the years has been better than the improvements in DSL. Fiber to the house is still a long ways off for most people. What you're seeing is not some new response to some new competition. It's just business as usual. But if the phone companies don't start doing a better job of keeping up, you might not see as many great offers.

If you bothered to pick up the phone and call them you would have found out that they will replace the modem they originally supplied for no charge. If you are near one of their centers, you can just bring the old one in and they will exchange it for a new one. The new one that they give out is a Motorola 5120.

Ken

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

First, why do you want to do that? A router is needed only by people who want to network more than one computer, these days most commonly by routers.

Optimum's price doesn't go down if you don't use their equipment.

That's not concisely true. A router is very useful for a single PC security-wise. It could save you a lot of virus headaches and when you do get that second computer, you're all set to go.

Okay, this was just an example. The local stores have the same offer now, too, and you are right it is easier to deal with a person.

Well, I don't know. When I bought my modem, they didn't have this offer here at the local stores, unfortunately.

It is time for some competition. It gets harder to get some good discount from the cable companies. I live in AT&T land and instead of throwing out millions and billions for useless commercials, they should speed up their network upgrade.

Martin

Well, that's true, and something I should have mentioned. As I mention below, I was mainly talking about the value equation of using your own modem. I'd rather equipment be someone else's problem, because in my experience this kind of stuff isn't nearly as reliable as computers or other more high-value items.

If your modem rental was $9 (as perviously mentioned by Henry) would you still rent their modem ? Like I said before, if your rental is over $3, it may be cost effective to buy - depending on your proclivity of course.