[ale] OT: Comcast modem

[JD]

>> All,
>>
>> I have been paying Comcast to rent a cable modem for the last 6 years
>> and have realized I couldve owned several for the money Ive handed to
>> them over the years.
>>
>> Has anybody got some advice? Whats the best way to go about this? Is
>> it essential to have a "Comcast approved" device or will any cable
>> modem work? 
>>
>> Are there any changes in the pipeline that I need to be aware of for
>> a purchase I make now e.g. IPv6? Is there a single
>> "no-brainer" modem that I should buy? Or alternately, Is there any
>> equipment that I should avoid?

I've rented, owned, owned, rented, and now rent modems from Comcast, AT&T,
MediaOne... over the last 15 yrs.

Started out renting, but quickly learned I was throwing money away.
Bought a Toshiba DOCSISv1 modem and used that for many years. I still have it,
but Comcast suggested an update to a DOCSIS v2 modem to get more reliable
connections and much, much greater throughput. Of course, they offered to rent a
modem, if I wanted.  Bought a Surfboard and was extremely happy with it. It is
around here somewhere still.

In 2007, I signed up for TV, ISP and Phone service through Comcast. That was
deployed using an ETA - modem and phone ATA with battery backup. Had to be
rented.  After a year, I fuond the services to be much too expensive and almost
every Thursday afternoon the phone service would go out for 30-90 minutes when I
needed to be on an important conference call.  I took the ETA back, plugged in
my Surfboard (called to give them the MAC) and things were great.

Late 2011, the company decided to pay for my internet connection - static IPs -
so business class was necesary.  With business class, they provide the modem and
run it so that I can't take China off the internet through a routing
configuration mistake.  It is DOCSIS v3, so it includes all those features.  It
is also a more costly service than residential, but it also appears that if the
bandwidth is available, I get it as I need it.  Up and down have clocked at over
30Mbps when we pay for the lowest tier service.  Whether those services can be
trusted is a different question.  DOCSIS v3 helps Comcast better utilize their
total QAM bandwidth thanks to bonded channels and mid-stream channel switching
that it supports.

So, after all that, I'd buy the Surfboard DOCSIS v3 modem on the approved list.
 I've never had a power spike or lightning hit harm any equipment in GA. All of
it is behind a UPS ... except when I had VoIP through Comcast, that was not.

If you can, buy.  Use a credit card that doubles the warranty. That way you will
more than break even should something go wrong, but it is much more likely that
you'll simply forget about the modem because it will "just work" for 5-10 yrs.
By that time DOCSIS v4 with 1Gbps will be the standard.