How are you connected (internet)?

Discussion in 'Chatty Pad' started by SeattleSheri, Oct 12, 2019.

  1. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    We are just wrapping up the remodeling project of our basement (YAY!) ... and have always rented our equipment from Comcast/Xfinity ($13/mo) ... now that we have another level of space and Cat6 jacks all over our house, we need to completely rethink how we are connected. We are planning to stop renting the router/modem combo and get our own - I'm kind of irritated that I didn't do this sooner, since it's not cost effective at all! I will also probably start using the Cat6 outlet when I'm working from home.

    How do you connect to the internet? Are you strictly wi-fi and do you own or rent your equipment? For those of you who own your own a modem/router combo, what did you buy? Would you recommend it?
     
  2. cfile

    cfile My bags are packed for Platform 9 3/4

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    We are wifi and have a bundle plan with phone/tv/internet with FiOS. DH takes care of all the computer stuff so unfortunately I cannot assist you more Sheri. I do hope you get answers to help you make a great choice!
     
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  3. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

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    I have cable internet and the modem has to be from the provider. It is not a separate charge. Also, if I have problems, there is no service charge. One benefit of a small local cable/tv/phone company as a provider.

    I had a modem go out on super bowl weekend of 2018. I exchanged it for a new one on Monday. It worked for 4 days and went out again. I asked for a service call at 1:00 on Friday afternoon... they were there at 3:30 to check things out since it was a brand new modem. All in house wiring was fine. Turns out a squirrel had chewed through the wiring by the pole and the ice that had been on the wire had melted causing it to short out. They fixed it temporarily that day by running the wire across the grass instead of in the air. Came back when weather was better to put the wire up. None of this cost me anything. And, any service call I have had has been within 24-48 hours.

    Edit to add that I do have a wifi router. On one visit to check my internet, I thought my router was bad (it was old) and I had a new one to set up but just hadn't done it. The tech set it up for me at no charge. Router can be bought anywhere.
     
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  4. Tree City

    Tree City Get a stepladder, I'm busy

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    We own our router/modem (it's all one unit). We bought the one they would have rented to us--can't remember if the charge was $10 or $12 per month but I bet that charge, like everything else, would have gone up after our contract was up. *eye roll*

    IDK what our wires are because I am strictly wifi with my laptop; however, when I get a desktop I'm sure I'll plug in. I know we have Ethernet but this house was built in the early 2000s. Maybe we'll update cables before we finish our own basement (a project in the distant future lol).
     
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  5. IntenseMagic

    IntenseMagic Some grannies cuss a lot. I'm some grannies.

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    Our internet is through the cable company. We don't have the cable tv, just internet. Our modem is rented from them and I think it's like $5 month. Everything in our house is connected through wifi and we buy our own router. The first one was Netgear and it lasted several years. The one we have now is TPLink, and we've had it for a couple of years.
     
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  6. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    What brand do you have? That's exactly what we are looking for - a modem/router combo unit! With Comcast, it's $156/ year to rent, so buying pays for itself in a little over a year.
     
  7. Iowan

    Iowan Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa

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    We have the 3 play service from Comcast in Seattle (WiFi, tv, and cable phone). We bought a modem from Costco but the phone service part would not work with the non Xfinity modem, so we ended up renting again , grrr. I will be interested in what works for you.
     
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  8. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    They have a couple models that also work with voice. We currently have voice too -- but are thinking of getting rid of it since we very rarely use it. We've had the same ph# for close to 20 years, but I can't remember the last time someone actually used our home ph# for anything other than marketing.

    If you use this link, you can filter by capabilities to find compatible products that you can buy:
    https://mydeviceinfo.xfinity.com
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2019
  9. gonewiththewind

    gonewiththewind I choose joy.

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    We have internet and use a modem/router combo that we rent from Mediacom. We just upgraded to 1 gig service. We have wifi, but I am hooked in via ethernet cable. We do have one booster that it's in Olivia's room to help with signal at that end of the house.
     
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  10. Karen

    Karen Wiggle it, just a little bit!

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    We have Comcast and also bought our modem and router so we wouldn't have to rent those. Most of the house is wi-fi, but my computer is hard wired to give me the fastest connection possible for downloading and streaming, etc. :agree

    Our modem is a Motorola SURFboard SB6141 and the router is a NetGear R7300DST AC1900. It has 3 antennae on the top and came with an extra gadget that we plugged in downstairs in the basement to help boost the wi-fi down there (my craft room is down there) and that really helped a bunch!
     
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  11. Tree City

    Tree City Get a stepladder, I'm busy

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    Um, good question lol! It's a FiOS-G1100. That makes me wonder if we could use it if we switched internet providers or if it's some generic brand and Verizon just slapped their FiOS logo on it?
     
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  12. BevG

    BevG If I can't remember it, it didn't happen

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    We have owned our own modem and router (separate units) for our cable internet for many years now. They can be squirrel-ly things. When we were having trouble with dropped service, we found out our particular modem, while still working was no longer supported by the cable company. So we had to upgrade (BTW - ordered it from Amazon at 11pm and it was on my doorstep at 10am the next morning).

    And routers? Yeah, we have been through a couple of them too. When they go bad they start dropping specific DSN but only for some users or portions (i.e. no pictures on Facebook) until the whole thing crashes. Rebooting helps but eventually it dies. We currently have a Netgear. I loved the setup - super easy. We also had a Cisco router and it played nicely too.

    We had a TPLink router and never, ever, ever again will I own one of them. Setup was extremely difficult and frustrating beyond belief. You had to do things in a certain order or it would not work - things like you could not just turn off the modem but actually had to unplug the cable cord and power cord and wait -- all to get the router, a separate device, to recognize the modem. And you had to hold your mouth just so and know what your MAC (and no, not the fruit kind, but an unique id number for online equipment, I think) of your modem. Like, you know what that hexadecimal number is... So yeah. not easy.

    We are all wireless at this point. However, I have an old laser printer that has to be wired to the router and it refuses to talk to our current router, so we just use it as a copier. We have another printer that is wireless but sometimes it forgets about the router that is sitting on the shelf below it. Old technology does not play well with newer - just sayin.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2019
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  13. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    Thank you for the model numbers!
     
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  14. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    Wow, is it a case of too many options makes it confusing there? It sounds so complicated; everything here seems to get bundled so when we changed providers (ISP company) they gave us a new router based on the 'speed & amount of downloads included per mth' payment plan - I think our modem is part of the fixed box on the wall & we're all Wi-Fi & networked
     
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  15. gonewiththewind

    gonewiththewind I choose joy.

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    That's why we choose to have ours supplied and pay per month . . . because I routinely call to make sure we are at the top level tier of service (we love fast, what can I say? LOL) . . . and it does make a difference when you are paying for high speeds but your modem/router can't accommodate it.
     
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  16. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    The entire industry is a racket! (sorry if anyone works for an internet provider) ... regulators have had to intervene on how they show and offer pricing, etc. Many times you are very limited on options based on where you live. We pay $156/year to rent equipment. We'd come out ahead even if we had to replace our equipment annually - which is very unlikely. I ended up buying anArris router/modem combo for about $150 and it's faster than the unit provided by Comcast!
     
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  17. Tree City

    Tree City Get a stepladder, I'm busy

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    @SeattleSheri we've had our router/modem for almost 6 years. So now that I think about it, in those 6 years we've saved close to $700. That's nothing to sneeze at!
     
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  18. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    Nice! That's awesome!
     
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  19. Scrapping with Liz

    Scrapping with Liz Crafts for days.

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    I don't really know anything about our internet...my hubby just told me that we own our modems. We just recently got 2 connections because our internet is soooooo bad here...there aren't many options where we live. Now there's one connection dedicated for his work and then one for everything else. It has helped a lot! We are all wireless. That's about all I know!
     
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  20. mcurtt

    mcurtt give me all the paleo brownies

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    We do cable strictly for internet access, no TV, no phone add-ons. We have two laptops and a tablet, so everything is wi-fi. When we first got cable which was back in 2011 (cable was just starting to be installed around our area), our internet service provider had an offer to buy your own modem & router. So I did rather than pay monthly rental. The tech came out and installed it, super nice! Although we were getting static via our phone & I had to figure out how to switch the router to another line. (DH is not at all computer literate, so it is up to me to maintain... )

    This past spring we were contacted by our cable company that we needed to upgrade our modem because they were switching equipment on their end and our old modem would no longer work. The cable's website had a list of approved modems, so I bought one of the approved ones from Amazon, plugged it in, contacted the ISP to recognize the new modem, and we were done.

    You may want to check on your ISP's website (or give them a call) for a listing of approved modems & routers that will work with their set-up and the type of connection you subscribe to.
     
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