Cable Modem Help

[OGI]

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi
and phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the
house shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back
room PC where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi
since it stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify
output power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone
number and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

 

[Wolf K]

On 2016-10-03 12:52, OGI wrote:
> Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

[snip]

IMO the best configuration is a separate wifi router connected to the
modem. The modem will govern the internet connection, the wi-fi router
will govern everything else, so streaming content from a computer to a
TV (for example) will be as fast as the router can handle it. But
streaming from the internet (eg, Netflix) is governed by the modem's speed.

Keep in mind that if two or more devices are on the router at the same
time, neither will see the maximum rate. If you want the fastest
streaming between devices, use Ethernet cable. Some mfrs offer
super-routers with very high throughputs, but I have no idea how well
they handle multiple sources/destinations.

HTH

--
Best,
Wolf K
kirkwood40.blogspot.ca

 

[Paul]

OGI wrote:

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi
and phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the
house shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back
room PC where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi
since it stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify
output power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone
number and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

The channel number that is least-used, is preferred
You would do a survey, if attempting to play that game,
and see what channels are occupied.

The Arris works on 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Each has channels in it.

http://www.arris.com/globalassets/resources/data-sheets/tg1672g_pf_30sep13.pdf

3x3 Integrated Dual Band Concurrent
2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11n radios with
Beam Forming

The Arris doesn't have band steering. There is a
red X next to the feature in the table here.

http://www.dslreports.com/hardware/ARRIS-TG1682-h4006

A demo without a lot of benchmarks...
A Wifi with band steering, puts the 5GHz capable
clients on the 5GHz band. These are silly little
firmware features, not necessarily requiring any
custom hardware to make them work.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-howto/32754-reduce-wi-fi-congestion-with-band-steering

*******

The rates are listed here. The Arris is likely to be
rows 21,22,23. Min of 156, max of 450 (ideal signal
conditions, with some mixture of clients). Would
the security cameras have three antennas ? What happens
when a non-MIMO device talks to a MIMO router ?
150 maybe ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n-2009

21 3 64-QAM 2/3 156 173.3 324 360
22 3 64-QAM 3/4 175.5 195 364.5 405
23 3 64-QAM 5/6 195 216.7 405 450

And to my way of thinking, you cannot reasonably
expect to escape the clutches of the "150", unless
the client devices switch to something better. If
you had band steering, *maybe* some of the more
capable clients would end up on the 5GHz band.
And *maybe* it would use 40MHz then. It's a
Wifi Lotto after all.

Even if you had a modem/router with 802.11AC
in it, it might still switch down to 150 for
some of the client devices.

And remember that penetration power, varies with
frequency. 900MHz bores through a lot of stuff.
2.4GHz is getting a bit flaky. 5GHz is going
to be worse. And 60GHz (WiGig) is guaranteed
to work in the same room as you - with whizzy
transfer rates, but no ability to reach
the basement room.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Gigabit_Alliance

*******

I'm not a big fan of "integrated" boxes like the Arris.
Can you figure out why ?

I need control of each aspect of my network. So
I can "design it". And for me, that means separate
boxes and a lot of wasted electricity. But, I'm getting
the features I want.

My VOIP ATA is a separate box. My router setup has
varied from time to time, and for a lot of years,
I used a separate router box. The modem portion
tends to stay in "bridged" mode. Which is not
available on "rental" modem/router/rocketship
boxes from the ISP. The ISP really doesn't
want you modifying the settings, because
then you'll call up and "complain" when it
no longer works. And they can't have that.

*******

Wifi:

1) Feature-rich.
2) Not tunable by humans.
Tends to deliver lowest-common-denominator.
3) Is an "Up-To" technology. Never ever
delivers the "max rate". Unbounded lower
rate (until the connection is so slow, it
times out).

*******

They make separate VOIP ATA boxes. There are two
ways to connect them. The easy way. The hard way.
The hard way, is for ATAs connected to subtending
wired connections, where you have to port forward
a bunch of stuff. If you install them in-line (the
easy way), they may limit download speeds. So you
have to be careful when selecting one. The boxes
also auto-update the firmware, and auto-pull-down
the config from the ISP. Using the box the ISP uses,
makes it a lot easier (the ISP puts the correct URLs
in the setup, so the box does the right thing when
plugged in).

Example: "GRANDSTREAM VoIP ATA" - has two RJ11 jacks
(Would need two phone accounts to use both jacks)
(VOIP accounts are available for $10/mo with
portable DN. I use my old POTS phone number
on my VOIP setup. I *hate* VOIP and think
it sucks donkey balls... The fucker has dropped
calls on me, while the modem was operating
perfectly fine. The server at the ISP is suspected.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3HG37Y8553

VOIP offers the worst of all possible worlds:

1) Nobody is interested in your call quality.
Try and get Tech Support to care :-(
AT&T won't "wring the line out" when you call.
POTS has a certain regulatory framework.
What does VOIP have ?
2) Services are unverified. Does the VOIP service
have "e911" ? Mine doesn't. In an emergency,
I could be talking to a dial tone, screaming
for help. There's no guarantee of anything when
an emergency arises. No guarantee they know where
you are. If I dial 911, someone will pick up,
but they might not be in my city, and they have
no idea of my physical location. If I've just
had a heart attack, and cannot speak, I'm
going to just croak waiting for help.
3) For $10 a month, you get a DN... (preserve your
Directory Number), and the rest is purely left
to your imagination. You are responsible every
once in a while, for using your cell phone or a
pay phone, to make sure the VOIP still works.
Call home, see if your voice mail box picks up
or not. What fun. I'm enjoying myself already.
4) If you drop the conventional FAX machine to 9600 baud,
it may work over your second RJ11 VOIP jack.
The 14400 baud setting is unlikely to work.

But I am saving money. I keep telling myself
I'm saving money dammit.

HTH,
Paul

 

[John Larkin]

On Mon, 3 Oct 2016 09:52:06 -0700, OGI <OGI@NOWHERE.COM> wrote:

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi
and phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the
house shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back
room PC where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi
since it stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify
output power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone
number and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

We had AT&T DSL and phone service. The DSL was terrible and the phone
was expensive. We got Comcast cable and DSL, and phone service is
"free" but we had to rent the cable modem/phone box for something like
$5 a month, a fraction of the cost of AT&T landline service. We use
our own WiFi router. We kept our phone number and it works great.

The Comcast data speed keeps going up. It's about 130 mbits now.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

 

[krw]

On Mon, 03 Oct 2016 12:43:36 -0700, John Larkin
<jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

On Mon, 3 Oct 2016 09:52:06 -0700, OGI <OGI@NOWHERE.COM> wrote:

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi
and phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the
house shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back
room PC where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi
since it stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify
output power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone
number and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

We had AT&T DSL and phone service. The DSL was terrible and the phone
was expensive. We got Comcast cable and DSL, and phone service is
"free" but we had to rent the cable modem/phone box for something like
$5 a month, a fraction of the cost of AT&T landline service. We use
our own WiFi router. We kept our phone number and it works great.

We had naked DSL for a few years. It was horrible. Earlier this year
AT&T allowed us access to the fiber running through our yard so went
with Uverse. It hasn't been without it's issues, either. First, they
own the router/AP, so con troll the password. The hardware has been
really flaky and they've had to replace everything at least once and
some of it several times. The Internet still drops out occasionally
for a few seconds to minutes.

>The Comcast data speed keeps going up. It's about 130 mbits now.

When it doesn't screw up, our Uverse is just OK (~60Mb). AT&T sucks.

 

[Andy]

Why would you want to pay spectrum up wards of $ 10.00 a month to rent a
cable modem from them?
In less then a years rental time and cost you could by a good modem and or
modem wireless router combination for the same or less money.
I have stopped paying them a model rental fee the day it came out.
I my self use a Motorola cable modem and love it and spectrum fully supports
it .
Because it is one of the models on its approved modems list so they cant
refuse to support it


--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"OGI" <OGI@NOWHERE.COM> wrote in message
news:nsu2bo$l43$1@adenine.netfront.net...

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi and
phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the house
shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back room PC
where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi since it
stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify output
power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone number
and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

 

[Ron D.]

The WIFI part should really be in the center of the house. Now, you have to look at line of sight obstructions like thick walls etc. You can use a repeater to handle the dark spots. Generally the repeater needs the MAC address of the signal it's repeating. The repeater only needs a wireless connection.

In my case, I had trouble getting a decent WIFI signal sitting in a chair until I added a repeater about 3 feet from the chair. The repeater allowed coverage in the yard.

 

[Joseph Gwinn]

On Oct 4, 2016, Andy wrote
(in article<8qOdndYiWeVc2m7KnZ2dnUU7-IPNnZ2d@earthlink.com&gt:

Why would you want to pay spectrum up wards of $ 10.00 a month to rent a
cable modem from them?
In less then a years rental time and cost you could buy a good modem and or
modem wireless router combination for the same or less money.
I have stopped paying them a model rental fee the day it came out.
I my self use a Motorola cable modem and love it and spectrum fully supports
it .
Because it is one of the models on its approved modems list so they cant
refuse to support it

I do the same, for the same reason. I’m on COMCAST, but it’s the same
story.

When the transition from DOCSIS 2 to DOCSIS 3 became mandatory, I decided to
buy my cable modem, for money reasons, but at least as importantly, because
what COMCAST wanted to provide got terrible reviews on technical grounds.
They also wanted to be your WiFi base station, but with a very weak WiFi
radio, and no obvious way to turn the WiFi function off. (Perhaps there is a
way, but it proved impossible to get a real user manual for that modem, and
so one must presume guilt.) I already have a wired network with a WiFi arm
that all work just fine.

So I worked through COMCAST’s list of approved DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems, and
chose one that did only that, no VOIP phone or WiFi pretensions, specifically
ARRIS SurfBoard SB6183 for about $90, if I recall. The payback period is
about 9 months.

After getting everything working (and batting away various attempts to get me
to ditch the SB6183 and use the COMCAST offering), things went well for at
least a year. Then, the performance began to degrade. I didn’t notice at
first, but the issue came to a head when I was unable to download a 3 GByte
file - it would struggle for six hours, and always fail. Now, I have 25
Mbit/sec service, so this should take about 15 minutes. When I measured the
speed using COMCAST’s own Xfinity Speed Test, I got 411 Kbits/sec. Huh?

So I contacted COMCAST Support, first by internet Chat to someone who seemed
to be in India. He walked me through the usual diag steps, none of which
worked, all the while insisting that the problem was the ARRIS modem. Nope -
It’s an approved modem. One observation was key: If I used the nearby
Boston, MA server, I got far higher speed than to the remote Detroit and
Chicago servers (which are near to the source of the 3 GB file). Well, that
cannot be a modem issue, and can only be a COMCAST network problem.

Anyway, the guy in India gave up, and escalated to Advanced Tech Support, a
woman on the telephone calling from the US somewhere. She reiterated the bit
about the ARRIS modem, and I made the points about the meaning of
“approved”. Again, no test changed the speed. Modem make came back up.
Well, “approved” means that I can expect to get the 25 Mbit/s data rate
I’m paying for. Or, is COMCAST putting proprietary stuff in their
interpretation of DOCSIS 3, so that no other modem will work? At this point,
the conversation dwindled, and I said that I’d go and do all the tests that
had been suggested but couldn’t be performed without dropping the chat to
India, and the conversation ended.

First test was to hook computer directly to cable modem, which could not be
done without rebooting (because the DHCP server was not the cable modem). All
of a sudden, speeds had jumped from less than 1 Mbit/second to around 88
Mbits/sec. Wow. Put the internal network back into the path. Still 88 Mbits.
Ran a test from my wife’s laptop, via WiFi - still 88 Mbits.

This whole drama basically cost me the weekend. All that testing confused a
number of unrelated devices and their drivers, requiring debugging and
network scanning.

The 88 Mbits was during the weekend. As the week progressed, the speed did
drop. As I write, it’s 15 Mbits/sec for downloads, and 6.5 Mbits for
uploads.

Joe Gwinn

 

[Joe Morris]

"Joseph Gwinn" <joegwinn@comcast.net> wrote:

[lousy performance problems on Comcast using an "approved" cable modem]

This whole drama basically cost me the weekend. All that testing confused
a
number of unrelated devices and their drivers, requiring debugging and
network scanning.

The 88 Mbits was during the weekend. As the week progressed, the speed did
drop. As I write, it's 15 Mbits/sec for downloads, and 6.5 Mbits for
uploads.

As a data point (and this is from a friend, not personal experience): My
friend was a Comcast customer a few years ago and was getting decent speeds
out of the Comcast interface, but noticed that they had started dropping to
the extent that snailmail would have almost been faster than email.

Unfortunately for Comcast, this friend is the head of the networking
department for our common employer, so one weekend he took home some of the
test equipment to see what's going on.

To make a long story short, what he found was that on the Comcast link:
*every* router he looked at:

* had the default SNMP community strings [passwords] for both read and
write.
* was significntly downlevel, well below the version for critical fixes
* was running at 100% CPU
* was infested with malware.

....which explained his problem.

Comcast's response when he notified it of the situation? "You're not
supposed to do that!!!"

My friend is now a very satisfied FiOS customer.

Joe

 

[Robert Baer]

OGI wrote:

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi
and phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the
house shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back room
PC where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi since
it stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify
output power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone number
and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

I have an "Xfinity" Technicolor TC8305C.
That seems to be the brand name for those made by Motorola (if i
remember correctly) and sold to Comcast.
Arris is another brand name.
As far as i can tell,about 90 percent of production goes directly to
Comcast.

One model/style has no Wifi, and the other has it; otherwise they all
seem to be the same beast. Rental rate is the same; sales price cannot
say; i got the WiFi version for about $100, saving me $20 year one.

There is no "preferred" channel; let the modem do the assignment
automatically (for best signal).

There are re-sellers where you can buy exactly what your cable
provider offers. I suggest you do not rock that boat for a few months
and look at the bill CAREFULLY to find the exact monthly rental charge.
If in the region of $10/month or more,then buy the exact same model
for around $100. Pays for itself in 10 months..
Those resellers may have specs or know where you can get them.

The installation instructions CANNOT work (read them and you will see
what i mean).
You will have to call your cable provider and get them to add its MAC
address into their database and activate it; else it CANNOT WORK.
Once you are satisfied, if at all possible, PHYSICALLY return their
modem to one of their sales centers AND GET A RECEIPT (!!!_VERY_!!!
important). If not, see if you can wangle a shipping label from them (as
a courtesy because you are UPGRADING the service).
Without that receipt, they can continue to charge monthly rental fees.

Get your phone service from the same cable internet provider; the
phone service alone will be less than landline.
In fact, that is why i switched from copper (POTS) to cable,as the
loco phone bastards were raising the rate every other month; i wound up
saving money.

Allowed me to switch from modem (144K in reality, NOT the advertised
or bally-hooed fake rate) to cable at a respectable speed.
Plus...i now have unlimited long distance at NO extra cost.

Mind you,i did not have TV and still do not have it.
Adding TV service on the cable is expensive as far as i am concerned.
So,,if you HAD TV from your cable provider, adding internet and phone
will not be that much more(*).
If you are close enough to the transmitting stations (ASSuming no
reflections to bugger signal), you can put up our own antenna and get
them free (like the GOOD OLD DAYS of analog).

(*): IGNORE ALL ADS that quote some bullshit price; actual cost is
always about TWICE whatever the ad says.

 

[Robert Baer]

John Larkin wrote:

On Mon, 3 Oct 2016 09:52:06 -0700, OGI<OGI@NOWHERE.COM> wrote:

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi
and phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the
house shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back
room PC where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi
since it stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify
output power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone
number and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

We had AT&T DSL and phone service. The DSL was terrible and the phone
was expensive. We got Comcast cable and DSL, and phone service is
"free" but we had to rent the cable modem/phone box for something like
$5 a month, a fraction of the cost of AT&T landline service. We use
our own WiFi router. We kept our phone number and it works great.

The Comcast data speed keeps going up. It's about 130 mbits now.

Over a 12+ year period, Comcast slowly raised the modem rental rate
from the $5/mo to $10/mo. Ever hear the story about the frog in the pot
over the fire?
Got my own modem,EXACT same brand and model (heck it even says
Xfinity on it) for about $100.
So i can say i am saving $10/mo now that it has paid for itself.

 

[Robert Baer]

Andy wrote:

Why would you want to pay spectrum up wards of $ 10.00 a month to rent a
cable modem from them?
In less then a years rental time and cost you could by a good modem and or
modem wireless router combination for the same or less money.
I have stopped paying them a model rental fee the day it came out.
I my self use a Motorola cable modem and love it and spectrum fully supports
it .
Because it is one of the models on its approved modems list so they cant
refuse to support it

YES>>>Motorola makes almost all of the modems sold to Comcast (and
prolly Spectrum as well).
Model brand names vary,but they is the same beast, so if what you buy
on the net is the same exact brand and model that they use,then they
HAVE TO have it on their approved list; they cannot dis their own stuff.
$100 for your own modem and no $10/mo gives a 10 month ROI; no brainer.

 

[Andy]

Seeing the problems you have faced i can understand why you get fed up with
the cable company.
Some states have no problems with speeds ect others seem to have no end to
them.


--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"Joseph Gwinn" <joegwinn@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:0001HW.1DA3F422000D43351147FC3BF@news.giganews.com...

On Oct 4, 2016, Andy wrote
(in article<8qOdndYiWeVc2m7KnZ2dnUU7-IPNnZ2d@earthlink.com&gt:

Why would you want to pay spectrum up wards of $ 10.00 a month to rent a
cable modem from them?
In less then a years rental time and cost you could buy a good modem and
or
modem wireless router combination for the same or less money.
I have stopped paying them a model rental fee the day it came out.
I my self use a Motorola cable modem and love it and spectrum fully
supports
it .
Because it is one of the models on its approved modems list so they cant
refuse to support it

I do the same, for the same reason. I'm on COMCAST, but it's the same
story.

When the transition from DOCSIS 2 to DOCSIS 3 became mandatory, I decided
to
buy my cable modem, for money reasons, but at least as importantly,
because
what COMCAST wanted to provide got terrible reviews on technical grounds.
They also wanted to be your WiFi base station, but with a very weak WiFi
radio, and no obvious way to turn the WiFi function off. (Perhaps there is
a
way, but it proved impossible to get a real user manual for that modem,
and
so one must presume guilt.) I already have a wired network with a WiFi arm
that all work just fine.

So I worked through COMCAST's list of approved DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems,
and
chose one that did only that, no VOIP phone or WiFi pretensions,
specifically
ARRIS SurfBoard SB6183 for about $90, if I recall. The payback period is
about 9 months.

After getting everything working (and batting away various attempts to get
me
to ditch the SB6183 and use the COMCAST offering), things went well for at
least a year. Then, the performance began to degrade. I didn't notice at
first, but the issue came to a head when I was unable to download a 3
GByte
file - it would struggle for six hours, and always fail. Now, I have 25
Mbit/sec service, so this should take about 15 minutes. When I measured
the
speed using COMCAST's own Xfinity Speed Test, I got 411 Kbits/sec. Huh?

So I contacted COMCAST Support, first by internet Chat to someone who
seemed
to be in India. He walked me through the usual diag steps, none of which
worked, all the while insisting that the problem was the ARRIS modem.
Nope -
It's an approved modem. One observation was key: If I used the nearby
Boston, MA server, I got far higher speed than to the remote Detroit and
Chicago servers (which are near to the source of the 3 GB file). Well,
that
cannot be a modem issue, and can only be a COMCAST network problem.

Anyway, the guy in India gave up, and escalated to Advanced Tech Support,
a
woman on the telephone calling from the US somewhere. She reiterated the
bit
about the ARRIS modem, and I made the points about the meaning of
"approved". Again, no test changed the speed. Modem make came back up.
Well, "approved" means that I can expect to get the 25 Mbit/s data rate
I'm paying for. Or, is COMCAST putting proprietary stuff in their
interpretation of DOCSIS 3, so that no other modem will work? At this
point,
the conversation dwindled, and I said that I'd go and do all the tests
that
had been suggested but couldn't be performed without dropping the chat to
India, and the conversation ended.

First test was to hook computer directly to cable modem, which could not
be
done without rebooting (because the DHCP server was not the cable modem).
All
of a sudden, speeds had jumped from less than 1 Mbit/second to around 88
Mbits/sec. Wow. Put the internal network back into the path. Still 88
Mbits.
Ran a test from my wife's laptop, via WiFi - still 88 Mbits.

This whole drama basically cost me the weekend. All that testing confused
a
number of unrelated devices and their drivers, requiring debugging and
network scanning.

The 88 Mbits was during the weekend. As the week progressed, the speed did
drop. As I write, it's 15 Mbits/sec for downloads, and 6.5 Mbits for
uploads.

Joe Gwinn

 

[Andy]

Exactly why i OWN my own modem.
The day i got the notice in the mail about 2 or 3 years ago in Maine.
I went out and bought my own Motorola modem off the approved list got the
best one that DID NOT have wireless i don't use it .
and love the savings and the speeds as they allow channel bonding in my area
any ways so i get double the normal download speeds most of the time.


--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"Robert Baer" <robertbaer@localnet.com> wrote in message
news:sI%Iz.129410$wg2.72605@fx05.iad...

Andy wrote:
Why would you want to pay spectrum up wards of $ 10.00 a month to rent a
cable modem from them?
In less then a years rental time and cost you could by a good modem and
or
modem wireless router combination for the same or less money.
I have stopped paying them a model rental fee the day it came out.
I my self use a Motorola cable modem and love it and spectrum fully
supports
it .
Because it is one of the models on its approved modems list so they cant
refuse to support it


YES>>>Motorola makes almost all of the modems sold to Comcast (and
prolly Spectrum as well).
Model brand names vary,but they is the same beast, so if what you buy on
the net is the same exact brand and model that they use,then they HAVE TO
have it on their approved list; they cannot dis their own stuff.
$100 for your own modem and no $10/mo gives a 10 month ROI; no brainer.

 

[FromTheRafters]

Same here, except I got a WiFi "SurfBoard" model.

While I was at it, I had mentioned that a cable modem wasn't really a
modem after he asked me if I needed a modem. I had already given him
that "approved" list provided by Time Warner Cable for compatibility
with their system. They, of course, call them all cable modems.

He argued with me! Right or wrong, salesmen shouldn't argue with
customers. Cable modems have more in common with TV transceivers than
they do with modems. I asked him if a smartphone was a modem, and he
said no.

After serious thinking Andy wrote :

Exactly why i OWN my own modem.
The day i got the notice in the mail about 2 or 3 years ago in Maine.
I went out and bought my own Motorola modem off the approved list got the
best one that DID NOT have wireless i don't use it .
and love the savings and the speeds as they allow channel bonding in my area
any ways so i get double the normal download speeds most of the time.


--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"Robert Baer" <robertbaer@localnet.com> wrote in message
news:sI%Iz.129410$wg2.72605@fx05.iad...
Andy wrote:
Why would you want to pay spectrum up wards of $ 10.00 a month to rent a
cable modem from them?
In less then a years rental time and cost you could by a good modem and or
modem wireless router combination for the same or less money.
I have stopped paying them a model rental fee the day it came out.
I my self use a Motorola cable modem and love it and spectrum fully
supports
it .
Because it is one of the models on its approved modems list so they cant
refuse to support it


YES>>>Motorola makes almost all of the modems sold to Comcast (and prolly
Spectrum as well).
Model brand names vary,but they is the same beast, so if what you buy on
the net is the same exact brand and model that they use,then they HAVE TO
have it on their approved list; they cannot dis their own stuff.
$100 for your own modem and no $10/mo gives a 10 month ROI; no brainer.

 

[John Larkin]

On Tue, 04 Oct 2016 21:46:51 -0800, Robert Baer
<robertbaer@localnet.com> wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Mon, 3 Oct 2016 09:52:06 -0700, OGI<OGI@NOWHERE.COM> wrote:

Looking at getting Spectrum cable but having spec difficulty.

They will provide a router only, router with wifi or router with wifi
and phone but cannot give me specs.

What's my problem ?
I currently have AT&T WiFi Router that does not have much power out and
seems to drop WiFI or internet or ??? often. My security cams turn off
and the app shuts down. Bad app too !

If I use WiFi Analytics WiFi app on my laptop it shows the AT&T WiFI at
"Max Rate" 150 where another LAN WIFi router at the other end of the
house shows as "Max Rate" 300. I cannot watch movies from the back
room PC where the AT&T WiFi is to the living room PC using their wifi
since it stops and stutters. Using a cable down the hall works perfectly.

Several questions.
What feature should I be looking for in a WiFi router:
Speed 300 vs 150 "Max Rate"
Power output
Dual freq 2.9 vs 5 GHz
AC protocol or whatever it is called

Spectrum says it installs an Arris TG1672G but it does not specify
output power in the specs I found. Anyone have a better spec source ?
I am not even sure that is the WiFi modem router that I will get as it
seems they grab whatever is handy to bring out to install.

So I hate to think I would have to set up my own WiFi Router.

Last question -
If I get internet only and want phone service, what are my choices ?
And would that service be able to take my current land line phone
number and use it ? I would totally drop AT&T if so.
Does that service have caller ID - mandatory feature for me to have.

Also is there a preferred Channel ? 1 or 6 or 11 or ???

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

We had AT&T DSL and phone service. The DSL was terrible and the phone
was expensive. We got Comcast cable and DSL, and phone service is
"free" but we had to rent the cable modem/phone box for something like
$5 a month, a fraction of the cost of AT&T landline service. We use
our own WiFi router. We kept our phone number and it works great.

The Comcast data speed keeps going up. It's about 130 mbits now.


Over a 12+ year period, Comcast slowly raised the modem rental rate
from the $5/mo to $10/mo. Ever hear the story about the frog in the pot
over the fire?
Got my own modem,EXACT same brand and model (heck it even says
Xfinity on it) for about $100.
So i can say i am saving $10/mo now that it has paid for itself.

I had a modem, but it didn't do the telephone thing. The installer did
everything with their modem, including patching into our phone lines,
and setting up all the cable boxes, and I thought that was a good
deal. I have plenty of electronic projects already.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

lunatic fringe electronics

 

[Phil Hobbs]

On 10/05/2016 02:55 AM, Andy wrote:

Seeing the problems you have faced i can understand why you get fed up with
the cable company.
Some states have no problems with speeds ect others seem to have no end to
them.

In my neck of the woods Verizon can't find their keisters with two
hands, a map, radar etc., whereas Optimum is right on the ball. We
soldiered on with V. for a long time despite hours spent in call
forwarding purgatory that never resolved anything, billing snafus,
clueless office droids, and an apparent total lack of communication
between their residental and commercial operations. The only reason
that I did that was because I really wanted to keep the copper POTS for
use during blackouts. I finally decided that I didn't trust an
operation that clueless to know how to run a legacy central office
battery system, so that the whole thing was sort of moot.

In 5 years with Optimum I've had exactly one trouble. Within half an
hour, they had somebody on my premises who actually knew what he was
doing, with an apprentice in tow learning the ropes. Fifteen minutes
later they had it patched (reprovisioned somehow so that I had 25/5 Mbps
again) and the trouble outside was fixed the same day. A couple of
times a year, V. sends salesmen to visit, and I try very hard to
restrain my impulse to greet them with howls of derisive laughter, not
totally successfully.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

 

[Phil Hobbs]

On 10/05/2016 08:56 AM, FromTheRafters wrote:

After serious thinking Andy wrote :
Exactly why i OWN my own modem.
The day i got the notice in the mail about 2 or 3 years ago in Maine.
I went out and bought my own Motorola modem off the approved list got
the best one that DID NOT have wireless i don't use it .
and love the savings and the speeds as they allow channel bonding in
my area any ways so i get double the normal download speeds most of
the time.
Same here, except I got a WiFi "SurfBoard" model.

While I was at it, I had mentioned that a cable modem wasn't really a
modem after he asked me if I needed a modem. I had already given him
that "approved" list provided by Time Warner Cable for compatibility
with their system. They, of course, call them all cable modems.

He argued with me! Right or wrong, salesmen shouldn't argue with
customers. Cable modems have more in common with TV transceivers than
they do with modems. I asked him if a smartphone was a modem, and he
said no.

You run WiFi right off your cable modem? With no separate firewall? I
expect your other hobbies are bungee jumping, motorcycle racing, and
free-climbing, right?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

 

[FromTheRafters]

Phil Hobbs laid this down on his screen :

On 10/05/2016 08:56 AM, FromTheRafters wrote:

After serious thinking Andy wrote :
Exactly why i OWN my own modem.
The day i got the notice in the mail about 2 or 3 years ago in Maine.
I went out and bought my own Motorola modem off the approved list got
the best one that DID NOT have wireless i don't use it .
and love the savings and the speeds as they allow channel bonding in
my area any ways so i get double the normal download speeds most of
the time.
Same here, except I got a WiFi "SurfBoard" model.

While I was at it, I had mentioned that a cable modem wasn't really a
modem after he asked me if I needed a modem. I had already given him
that "approved" list provided by Time Warner Cable for compatibility
with their system. They, of course, call them all cable modems.

He argued with me! Right or wrong, salesmen shouldn't argue with
customers. Cable modems have more in common with TV transceivers than
they do with modems. I asked him if a smartphone was a modem, and he
said no.

You run WiFi right off your cable modem? With no separate firewall? I
expect your other hobbies are bungee jumping, motorcycle racing, and
free-climbing, right?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

It's okay, I have a fire extinguisher.

 

[Pat]

On Wed, 5 Oct 2016 11:39:31 -0400, Phil Hobbs
<pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 10/05/2016 08:56 AM, FromTheRafters wrote:

After serious thinking Andy wrote :
Exactly why i OWN my own modem.
The day i got the notice in the mail about 2 or 3 years ago in Maine.
I went out and bought my own Motorola modem off the approved list got
the best one that DID NOT have wireless i don't use it .
and love the savings and the speeds as they allow channel bonding in
my area any ways so i get double the normal download speeds most of
the time.
Same here, except I got a WiFi "SurfBoard" model.

While I was at it, I had mentioned that a cable modem wasn't really a
modem after he asked me if I needed a modem. I had already given him
that "approved" list provided by Time Warner Cable for compatibility
with their system. They, of course, call them all cable modems.

He argued with me! Right or wrong, salesmen shouldn't argue with
customers. Cable modems have more in common with TV transceivers than
they do with modems. I asked him if a smartphone was a modem, and he
said no.

You run WiFi right off your cable modem? With no separate firewall? I
expect your other hobbies are bungee jumping, motorcycle racing, and
free-climbing, right?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I believe the "cable modem" he was referring to is a combined device
that includes a cable modem with a wifi enabled router. The router
includes the firewall and other modern router features. Based on my
personal experience, the cable company supplied modem/routers have
everything needed except reliability. It didn't take long for me to
disable the router functionality and use my own separate router. The
modem part of the cable supplied box works just fine.