Get your own gateway. Don’t rent theirs.
You can buy cable modems cheap, too. No reason to use their crap at all.
“cheap” is a relative term.
Nobody should be buying a DOCSIS 3.0 modem these days. They are obsolete and for some reason still being sold.
A decent DOCSIS 3.1 modem is at least $200. A Next Gen like S34 is at least $220. At least at the big blue big box store. And then you have to get your own wifi.
(However, that big blue store also will give you a 15% discount on any networking purchase if you recycle an old network device…I traded in an old modem but you should be able to find a switch or router at a thrift store and still come out ahead)
It pays for itself pretty quick (by not paying rental fees), but that doesn’t necessarily make it cheap.
I absolutely prefer using my own equipment, and do…but it’s also worth mentioning that in many markets, Xfinity removed data caps if you have a rented modem.
It looks like DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 are for coax which should be avoid anyway . VodafoneZiggo is already starting with DOCSIS 4.0.
In my neighborhood you get a choice between coax or nothing.
5G modems are probably an option.
While that may be “an option”, 5G sucks compared to coax service.
Both are inferior to fiber by a long shot, but wired will always be better than cellular, which is limited spectrum and inconsistent.
It depends a bit on where you are and what you need, the speed of my 5G modem was a lot quicker than the coax options for the same money, and it was decently stable. My only issue was that I had like no upload speed.
I was also point out it was an option and it has it’s use cases
Highly location dependent. We have useable cell service in our house but Internet over 5G is slow.
If a DOCSIS 3.0 modem still can’t be saturated by the tier of internet someone is paying for, what advantage would 3.1 have?
Not buying another modem when the ISP quietly upgrades the CMTS and makes more speed available in your neighborhood.
At least in my case, my DOC IS 3.0 modem was having connectivity issues. My neighbor in another apartment had similar issues: dropped connections, slower than expected speeds, etc. Switching to DOCSIS 3.0 modems solved the problem. I guess Comcast upgraded their hardware and it wasn’t compatible with my modem anymore
I used docsis 3.0 and it worked just fine. So why not?
Because docsis 3.0 standard is nearly 20 years old at this point and 3.1 is significantly faster. Docsis 3.1 is only 15, but 4 (which is still 8 years old) probably isn’t supported by your ISP yet. But the speed difference is quite noticeable. 3.0 will theoretically do 1gbps down, and 100-200 up, but 3.1 could do 10 down and 1gbps up. In the age of symmetrical fiber internet those upload speeds are dire. 3.1 realistically gets you a symmetrical gig connection.
I have a 3.1 modem but my ISP only has 3.0 speeds as far as I can tell. 1000/100 is their highest plan so the extra doesn’t really do anything.
My modem is 32x8 and I can see in the UI that only 4 of the 8 upload channels are actually bonded to reach that 100, which is half of the 200 that 3.0 can theoretically do.
Ah, so 3.0 is fine if your internet still sucks. Got it.
Exactly. So it’s great for xfinity
Xfinity likely wouldn’t allow you to use it at this point. They’ve been pushing people toward 3.1 for a while now, and won’t register a new 3.0 modem.
I wouldn’t trust them to not randomly enable WiFi, but you can also use their modem but disable any built in WiFi on it & still use your own router. ISPs continue to try to bundle their modem & router, which gives them complete access to your home network. Some lucky people have found fiber providers that let them use their own SFP.
Can you use your own modem? I thought you had to use theirs?
No you can use your own modem with xfinity.
In Europe that used to be the case, but that changed not that long ago. Now providers are legally obligated to allow you to get your own modem
Yes, look on their website for compatible models, there’s a handful of affordable ones, many which perform better on higher tier connections too. Been using my own modems with Comcast for 25 years.
Well sheeit. What about Spectrum?
I’m on Spectrum and have tons of friends that always complain they’re shit. Spectrum itself isn’t shit, it’s the garbage equipment they set you up with.
Make sure whatever you get works well with IPv6. For whatever reason IPv4 can go out at random but their IPv6 has never failed me (in the Los Angeles area at least).
I have always had my own router, just not the modem.
And the only problem I have is intermittent outages, repeatedly increasing the price without my knowledge or consent, and high latency.
I bought my current one because IPv6 failed to provision on the one they gave me when I moved to a bigger apartment just two units away. I found some post on Reddit about the problem and it mentioned one that “ignores” the lack of IPv6 provisioning and does it anyway (I’m a programmer and IT geek but I don’t really understand cable/DOCSIS well).
If the modem they provided is just a modem and it works well, I don’t think there’s much reason to get rid of it. But personally if it’s an all-in-one box that has “bridge” mode I’d still run away and just go with my own modem.
Yes. Same thing, probably different models.
Probably even the same models as long as they’re using cable internet and not DSL.
You need to use their modem quite often, but you don’t need to use their router. They’re usually “all in one” modem/router things these days, but they’re legally required to provide you with a modem in bridge mode if you ask — at that point, an Ethernet cable attached to their modem is effectively attached to the Internet, and you can put your own hardware inside (firewall, Wifi router, etc.).
While you need to connect to their IP gateway, you don’t need to use their DNS services or anything but their IP gateway service.
I use my own modem and my own router with XFinity.
I have always had my own router. What is bridge mode? Can I do that?
Bridge mode disables the router in the modem; if you have an admin account on the modem you should be able to enable it yourself; otherwise you need to get your ISP to enable it. It will turn off all the firewall and WiFi features on the modem.
I’ll check that out, thanks
Well yeah. That’s what their tech does. And it’s why I have my ISP’s WiFi offering disabled and the antennas removed and run their router in bridged mode, hooked up to equipment I own that doesn’t call out to the Internet.
Faraday cage or bust.
Doesn’t matter for me, my neighbors use all that shit. There’s enough latent rf for them to triangulate literally everything happening nearby.
Is your ISP know for robbing customers when they’re not home?
Yes but they also rob them when they are. Usually via hidden fees.
It doesn’t really matter… the data is managed by a third party in another country. I have no real control over who gets access to it, intentionally or otherwise. Better that the data just doesn’t exist in the first place.
At this point all the arguments about what nefarious could they possibly do with the data are busted. They answer is - our imagination and access to information is not rich enough to figure out today.
Didn’t read the article, but it’s possible to get a 3d map with wifi. They can probably see you.
There is no privacy or security.
They don’t need a 3D map, and the researchers who have rendered a 3D map need a lot of specialized software and resources.
Xfinity doesn’t need that. They only need to know when people are online, what they’re looking at, and who/how many people are watching TV, and if there’s indication of pets in the house. That gives them an advertising gold mine of data.
I don’t really understand how this works, so struggle to see any benefits (only drawbacks😐). It does make me thankful my provider is a small local company. Not the fastest, but probably no spying.
It’s been around for almost 4 years. Don’t use rental modems.
If you are interested I can try and find the article on it but a few years ago an article came out where they were able to use wifi signals with enough accuracy that they could see a password that you were typing on your keyboard!!
But basically they use the way the wifi signal bounce off things to make an image in much the same way that echo location works
Like - I’m excited about sensors that uses higher frequency versions of this for health monitoring. I think that’s a perfectly valid use. But also, in my use, I’d be installing it as an IoT device on a network I control, feeding data to services I own.
This use - where it’s opt in for now, until they figure out how to monetize selling how much time you spend in front of the TV, in the kitchen, bedroom, or bathroom (paired with ‘anonymized’ data about what you’re looking at online in each space) is creepy as fuck.
That is nuts. I’ve always liked hardwired better but hard to do that with a mobile phone.
Different context but the first time I heard about this it was touted as the future for VR
