Using your own modem with Comcast

[Gunslinger08]

An off topic thread made me realize I have a DOCSIS 2.0 modem that might be limiting my speeds. Looking into getting a 3.0 modem and I'm considering buying my own to save the $7/month rental fee. Anybody do this? Just wonder if there are any hidden fees (ex. A one time setup fee for them to register your MAC) or gotchas. I'm looking at the Zoom 5341J.

 

[Fardringle]

The only real problem with using your own modem is that if there is ever a problem with the connection, the Comcast techs will blame it on your modem.

If you are paying the monthly rental, make them give you a new DOCSIS 3 modem instead of that old one you have now.

 

[Vinwiesel]

I doubt the 2.0 modem is limiting your speed. Up until a year ago I was still using a DOCSIS 1.0 owned modem. I upgraded to a 3.0 and went from a peak of 15mb to 25mb. However, a few months ago Comcast started limiting my connection again so I only get the 12mb that I pay for. The real reason I upgraded was because the old modem was rebooting frequently. The new modem did the same thing, so it is comcast doing it. I also know other people in the same region who get the same reboots. Usually around noon on any given day it will reboot several times about 10 mins apart.

There were no fees to switch, but it was a huge pain due to comcast not properly supporting the default motorola firmware of my new modem. You should go to dslreports.com and ask there based on your current modem, and the plan you have. It was a tech in the comcast forums who fixed my modem, after the phone techs, and field tech said it was defective.

 

[ImDonly1]

No fees to get your own modem. Saving $7/mo is more than enough of a reason to buy the modem. As for them not giving you support because you have your own modem, that is false. They will still look at your signal levels and diagnose connection problems/send techs out if they need to. I have never had them blame my modem as the problem.

Go to
http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/
for a list of supported modems.

You don't really need a docsis 3 modem unless you have a plan higher than 25mbps or so.

 

[styrafoam]

I actually just did something similar, replaced a 2.0 modem with a 3.0. I have owned my modem for most of the time i have had cable (@home to AT&T to comcast). I did not see any change in connection speed when i changed out the modem. If you do end up buying a modem make sure to hang on to the receipt they give you when you hand your old modem in as people complain of being billed for not returning their hardware at random times down the road.

You will also most likely need to call in to support and have them provision the modem. After waiting for 30 minutes to get the setup page for a new modem i broke down and called. The course that the call made it pretty clear that I wouldn't have ever gotten set up without action on their end.

 

[weovpac]

You don't really need a docsis 3 modem unless you have a plan higher than 25mbps or so.

Indeed, but having a DOCSIS 3 modem can't hurt

I have used a Motorola SB6120 for ~2 years, has worked out great and paid itself by now

If you do end up buying a modem make sure to hang on to the receipt they give you when you hand your old modem in as people complain of being billed for not returning their hardware at random times down the road.

Good advice.

You will also most likely need to call in to support and have them provision the modem. After waiting for 30 minutes to get the setup page for a new modem i broke down and called. The course that the call made it pretty clear that I wouldn't have ever gotten set up without action on their end.

The easiest thing to do is just call, like said above it is a must. Should only take a few minutes.

 

[C2bcool]

I just did this myself. I previously had the SMC Wireless Gateway 3.0 DOCSIS (Comcast did not have a separate modem and router in one that worked with voice available at the time, or so they said). It had a piss poor wireless signal and speed was at 25mbs. Basically, the majority of Comcast's equipment that they provide the customer is subpar with poorly written firmware (they use their own custom firmware).

I returned it and got a Arris TM722g (from a Best Buy with a Comcast Connection Center) and used my old Linksys wrt54g v2 w/Tomato firmware. Speed is now at 35mbs and wireless range/single is great.

Whatever you get just don't get one of the all-in-one modem/wireless router combos, they generally suck at one or both of the functions.

 

[FoxFifth]

No fees to get your own modem. Saving $7/mo is more than enough of a reason to buy the modem. As for them not giving you support because you have your own modem, that is false. They will still look at your signal levels and diagnose connection problems/send techs out if they need to. I have never had them blame my modem as the problem.

Go to
http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/
for a list of supported modems.

You don't really need a docsis 3 modem unless you have a plan higher than 25mbps or so.

I agree regarding the support. I had a significant decrease in speed which they quickly diagnosed remotely with no issues related to the fact that I owned the modem. It has more than paid for itself.

 

[billyb0b]

I owned a SB5120 for over 3 years with Comcrap and currently have a SB6121 with DOCSIS 3.0 speed - i have their 30 or 33mb/s connection (whichever one right above the 25mb/s one). I've owned the SB6120 for nearly 15 months now with no issues. Got it on sale for $65.

In the 5 years I've been on Comcrap I've had 3 problems in which a tech needed to be sent out to my house. No one ever on the phone, or the tech who came to the house, ever blamed the issue on my modem. THe one issue where I suspected it might be my modem I went to the local Worst Buy store and got another SB5120. After 3 days of the connection issues I was having still being there, and the tech identifying the issue not my modem, I returned the SB5120 to Worst Buy for a full refund.

I would argue it would be unwise not to own your own modem merely to negate their expensive rental fee.

 

[alkemyst]

Works fine unless you have voice service. At least for me they would not allow me to bring my own device. When I had cable/internet only, I was able to buy my own. I went with a Motorola Surfboard as well and recommend them.

 

[ringtail]

On my Comcast account I have my own Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem. Works great.

 

[C2bcool]

Works fine unless you have voice service. At least for me they would not allow me to bring my own device. When I had cable/internet only, I was able to buy my own. I went with a Motorola Surfboard as well and recommend them.

As I stated in my earlier post...Voice will work with your own modem as long as it is an eMTA approved modem. Also, getting it from a Comcast Connection Center at Best Buy makes it easier (not all Best Buys have one) as Comcast is really particular about the voice modems. Just make sure the Comcast rep at the Best Buy activates/provisions the modem for both voice and internet and make sure they give your account number (if you don't already know it).

The one I got is the Arris TM722g and its working very well for both voice and internet.

 

[Genx87]

I have had a motorola DOCSIS 2.0 modem for 7 years. Used it with Charter and now Comcast. I definately saved money in the long run owning the modem. I bought it for 65 bucks.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Any reason to buy the Motorola SB6121 over the Zoom Technologies 5341j? SB is $86 from Amazon. Zoom is $80 from B&H and can do 8 channel bonding - not that my service is fast enough for that to matter.

 

[Modelworks]

A word of warning about buying your own modem, check out dslreports.com first for any word on your ISP not allowing this. Charter has begun the process of no longer allowing user owned modems. New accounts don't even get the option and the bill doesn't show a rental fee for the modem, it is just one set charge and you have to use their modem for the service.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27267298-

Let’s talk equipment, as part of the new pricing and packaging, we have decided to include the modem at no additional cost to the customer. As a result, we will no longer provision customer owned modems on our network when a customer signs up for Charter Internet service. If you are an existing Charter Internet customer and own your own modem, and you are content to stay in your current package and pricing, you can continue to use your modem. If you decide you would like to come to the new pricing, at that point, we will issue you a new Charter modem. We made this decision for a variety of reasons. 1) We want every Charter Internet customer to have the best on-line experience possible. 2) We thoroughly test every modem that we issue to customers to ensure they will perform optimally on our network. 3) By providing the modems, we can ensure that they all have the most up-to-date firmware. 4) As technological advancements are made, we can make sure every customer’s modem is upgraded accordingly.

I can understand their reasoning for this as it does make support easier if everyone has the same hardware, does it cost more this way, possibly but the new rates Charter is using are slightly lower than it was before with renting a modem + service .

Personally I wasn't happy with the decision because I just purchased a cisco modem with lots of nice features that before long I will not be able to use.

 

[notposting]

Haven't had any problems since getting a Motorola SB6120 last year. Made the savings back in less than a year so it's a good idea. Moto's are pretty rock solid modems.

One thing as mentioned is the provisioning. I ended up on the phone for 45 minutes while they tried to figure it out, it would constantly reboot when trying to self provision over the internet, wrong firmware is automatically downloaded occasionally to a customer owned modem apparently.

Was ready to post in the Comcast Direct forum on DSLR but they got it working...HOWEVER, the weasels tried slapping a $30 tech visit fee on our next bill. So watch out for that.

 

[Tegeril]

Keep all the records of your return of your rental modem when you do. It took 2 years and a BBB complaint to finally get them to recognize that I returned my rental modem (they'd stopped billing after 2 calls to support but never removed it from my account, which was exciting come cancellation time).

That said, if your plan requires a DOCSIS 3 modem, they would have provided one for you.

 

[mayer]

No fees to get your own modem. Saving $7/mo is more than enough of a reason to buy the modem. As for them not giving you support because you have your own modem, that is false. They will still look at your signal levels and diagnose connection problems/send techs out if they need to. I have never had them blame my modem as the problem.

Go to
http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/
for a list of supported modems.

You don't really need a docsis 3 modem unless you have a plan higher than 25mbps or so.

Hi, why is actually Docsis 3.0 needed? I use the 2.0 version now and pay for 12 mbps, but I'm planning to upgrade to higher speed (they have an offer for up to 50 mbps) and don't know whether I'm going to need a new modem or not..

 

[ch33zw1z]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS#Speed_tables

if you want to upgrade to 50mbps, 3.0 is needed.

 

[Doomer]

I'm on my second purchased Cable modem. The first was a DocSis 2.0 which gave me many years of troublefree service. I decided to upgrade when I found the Morotola SB6141 on sale. Got a nice little speedup plus it too has been totally troublefree. I bought my own when Comca$t upped the rental from 3 to 5 dollars.

 

[HeXen]

I use my own. It's doc 2.0 though, not sure what difference 3.0 would really make, it's only a 24mb connection, at least that's what speetest shows.

 

[Brahmzy]

I'm looking at the Zoom 5341J.

That's a great choice OP. Highly recommended from Comcast reviewers on Amazon, too.

Mine gets me 55 down with my 50 meg plan. Rockin'.

 

[Cabletek]

An off topic thread made me realize I have a DOCSIS 2.0 modem that might be limiting my speeds. Looking into getting a 3.0 modem and I'm considering buying my own to save the $7/month rental fee. Anybody do this? Just wonder if there are any hidden fees (ex. A one time setup fee for them to register your MAC) or gotchas. I'm looking at the Zoom 5341J.

You need a D3 modem if your PAID FOR BASE SPEED is greater than 30 Mb/s, otherwise a D2 will work fine. The newest concern is when will you be forced to go IP6 though, so make sure if you buy a new modem it does support IP6. That seems to be the line they drew for what D2 modems will be EOL and which will not.

 

[sze5003]

I have a motorola sb610 with their standard performance service bundled with cable. Works great and it's better than the rented crap you get.

 

[glenn1]

Sorry to necro the thread but figured it was easier to revive than create a new one. Same question a year later, has Comcast modified policy on BYOD for those who want to use their own eMTA / VOIP cable modems? And if so, is the Arris 822 still the model to get?

For background, father-in-law mobile service is sketchy so is using Comcast Voice currently and is trying to lose the modem rental fees. POTS service isn't available (think the building was wired for FiOS from the get-go) so Magic Jack isn't an option. He's had bad experiences with Vonage so that's out as well.