Unbundling Comcast

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Wingsofglass

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Wingsofglass
There some smart tech guys here so I'm hoping someone can answer my questions and point me to the thing I need to buy. I currently use Comcast for phone and internet. I have no other internet choice but I do on the phone and I find the Comcast cable phone less reliable than my cell phone, which makes it frustratingly useless, and so I want to go back to a regular land line. I know, what idiot still has a land line? But I have small kids that may need to dial 911 and I work from home and I like a real phone for conference calls etc. So please don't try and talk me out of this plan, but please help execute it.

What I want to do is give my internet/phone modem back to Comcast and rather than lease an internet modem from them, buy my own and install it. What modem do I need to buy or how do I find out which one I need that will work with Comcast? Thanks.
 
Comcast should have a list of approved modems. That does not mean that others that support the same standards will not work, but if you get one off the approved list then at least you will not have to argue with support every single time you call in.

It can be hard to get them to show you the list as well since they would much rather rent you their modem.
 
The keyword to use as your starting point is "DOCSIS3.0" (or numerically higher). After you find a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, check to see that it is on the Comcast list of approved modems or call a rep.

http://mydeviceinfo.xfinity.com/
 
asicer said:
The keyword to use as your starting point is "DOCSIS3.0" (or numerically higher). After you find a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, check to see that it is on the Comcast list of approved modems or call a rep.

http://mydeviceinfo.xfinity.com/
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This approach works. I bought a motorola modem and it works fine. Of course their help line people are clueless about it and their troubleshooting scripts are written solely for their own modems.
 
I did the same ... wait - just re-read ... I kept voice which means I needed a VOIP modem - bought this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056NRU3G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
but your goal is even easier ... dang near any cable modem will work ... but yeah, comcast has a list of approved modems on their website

I haven't had a lick of trouble with comcast voice in years ... sorry to hear your experience is different
 
I haven't seen one available at Best Buy that isn't on the approved list. The odds of you getting the wrong one is pretty slim.
 
There's little to no "troubleshooting" for a cable modem. Restarting it either works or it doesn't, not much else to it. (I've worked cable internet tech support before). If a basic restart doesn't work, and the phone tech has confirmed you've got all the cable hooked up right (power, coax in, Cat5 out), and confirmed you don't have 5 old analog splitters between the modem and the wall, it'll usually require a tech visit. The modem itself is rarely the problem. This is just to say that basically any DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem will work just fine.
 
bradg33 said:
There's little to no "troubleshooting" for a cable modem. Restarting it either works or it doesn't, not much else to it. (I've worked cable internet tech support before). If a basic restart doesn't work, and the phone tech has confirmed you've got all the cable hooked up right (power, coax in, Cat5 out), and confirmed you don't have 5 old analog splitters between the modem and the wall, it'll usually require a tech visit. The modem itself is rarely the problem. This is just to say that basically any DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem will work just fine.
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Lol. Ya gotta jump through the hoops and bs before you can get a tech visit. Even then it is a crap shoot.
 
I rent the modems from Comcast. That way they can log in and check signal strength. Also, those things tend to die about once every other year and when that happens, I just tell them to put in a new one. I found that having a business account with them gets you infinitely better service than dealing with their consumer side. You pay through the nose for that convenience but if everything including VoIP phones is dependent on the internets, you don't have much of a choice.
 
And just why do modems "Die" anyway ? It's not like there's a steam engine in there. And why do they need to be reset or powered down from time to time as well ? What is it that's so hard about their life ? None of my other " hard working " electronics require this much TLC.
 
I think I've gone through two modems in 15 years, and only got the second one because the first one got so old as to be unsupported.
 
We replaced our rented modem with a purchased modem about a year ago. We installed it and called to have them update their system so it would work. It was great for a week then stopped working. Ultimately a tech came out and discovered everything was fine but the girl on the phone did not remove the original modem from their system (their system showed we had two modems).

Make sure when you install your own modem that they completely wipe the old one from the system under your account. The tech told me the folks on the phone often skip this step and it ends up causing problems.
 
jetrep said:
We replaced our rented modem with a purchased modem about a year ago. We installed it and called to have them update their system so it would work. It was great for a week then stopped working. Ultimately a tech came out and discovered everything was fine but the girl on the phone did not remove the original modem from their system (their system showed we had two modems).

Make sure when you install your own modem that they completely wipe the old one from the system under your account. The tech told me the folks on the phone often skip this step and it ends up causing problems.
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also watch your bill to make sure they don't bill you a monthly fee for your own modem. They not only charged me a rental fee for my own modem but tried to claim it as theirs----took sending an email to their executive vice president for them to fix my account. Comcast customer service sucks and is incompetent but their exec office is pretty decent.
 
Yes, rental fees have magically reappeared on a couple of occasions for us as well.
 
Art VanDelay said:
And just why do modems "Die" anyway ? It's not like there's a steam engine in there.
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It's usually not the modem itself, but the cheap lowest-bidder wall wart/power brick that takes a dump.

Art VanDelay said:
And why do they need to be reset or powered down from time to time as well ? What is it that's so hard about their life ? None of my other " hard working " electronics require this much TLC.
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Software bugs. It's always software bugs.
 
weilke said:
I rent the modems from Comcast. That way they can log in and check signal strength. Also, those things tend to die about once every other year and when that happens, I just tell them to put in a new one. I found that having a business account with them gets you infinitely better service than dealing with their consumer side. You pay through the nose for that convenience but if everything including VoIP phones is dependent on the internets, you don't have much of a choice.
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I have had a motorola DOCSIS3.0 modem purchased from best buy (price matched to online because I could get it that night/activated over the phone) running for the previous 4 years or so non-stop. I think I have power cycled it twice. However, my "business" modem from comcast at the condo complex is complete garbage and I believe that has been replaced twice in the same amount of time. They are absolutely terrible as an all-in-one router/modem/voip whatever. And the "business" service is ridiculously overpriced.

Art VanDelay said:
And just why do modems "Die" anyway ? It's not like there's a steam engine in there. And why do they need to be reset or powered down from time to time as well ? What is it that's so hard about their life ? None of my other " hard working " electronics require this much TLC.
Click to expand...

See above. Really never understood why people always need to reset them. My router has been reset the same amount of times as the modem on a few different occasions IIRC. I also changed a capacitor once and it's been going strong for a few years since.
 
Art VanDelay said:
And just why do modems "Die" anyway ? It's not like there's a steam engine in there. And why do they need to be reset or powered down from time to time as well ? What is it that's so hard about their life ? None of my other " hard working " electronics require this much TLC.
Click to expand...

There is a little hamster wheel in there and depending on how much data you send through it, the hamster has to run faster. If you run the hamster too hard, it dies.
 
Art VanDelay said:
And just why do modems "Die" anyway ? It's not like there's a steam engine in there. And why do they need to be reset or powered down from time to time as well ? What is it that's so hard about their life ? None of my other " hard working " electronics require this much TLC.
Click to expand...

A lot of times it's not the modem itself that dies but that cheapo wall wart that they bundle with it that starts putting out noise instead of a clean DC voltage.
 
No problems at all with the cable modem (data only) that we bought some years ago. Motorola. Now, don't get me started on Comcrap. They pushed for years to get us to sign up for the VoIP service. I kept asking what happened when the power failed and they said that battery backup would keep us running. Not long enough, I've seen a 10 day power outage in an ice storm here. However, I finally bit. And, sure enough, a few months later they contacted me and said that the battery in the cable modem (used for VoIP) was bad or wasn't there. Wasn't there? What? I checked, no battery. "Oh, we stopped providing those at the end of February and you had it installed in March. We'll sell you a battery for $35." The heck you will. I hooked up a spare UPS. Worth far more than $35, but it's now a matter of principle. I will say, however, that free long distance is nice.
 
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