[ale] Xfinity Modem -- lease or buy recoomendations

[Byron Jeff]

On Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 01:08:31PM -0400, H P Ladds wrote:
>    Hi All,
>    Clear, my Internet service provider, is shutting down. So I'm switching
>    to Xfinity -- because I have no practical alternatives in my
>    neighborhood.

I switched back 3 months ago because of speed and price.

>    I'm inclined to buy my own modem,

Excellent idea. Cheaper than a rental, you won the equipment, and you can
resell if you switch. Will pay for itself in 6 to 10 months.

> but wonder how this has worked for
>    other folks and what model would be recommended?

I've had a couple of bites at this apple now. Some rules of thumb:

1. Check for your device here: http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/ and make
sure that the model is both checked off for retail and that you have the
retail model number. I got an Arris TM822G that was not retail (line 11)
and Comcast could not provision it. Had to swap it out for a retail version
of the same device. It worked like a champ. 

2.  Do not call standard comcast cutomer service. Also the self install
capture gateway is somewhat dodgy. Comcast modem activation number is
1-855-652-3446. Call them after hooking up your equipment and they can
activate and verify your equipment.

3. If you even plan to have telephone service, be sure to get an eMTA
modem. There's only really two choices, the Arris TM722G retail, which I
purchased, and the Arris TG862G wireless gateway, which leads to point #4.

4. Pretty much all the wireless gateways are terrible. You are much better
off buying a wired gateway, then adding your own wireless router behind it.
I settled on an T-Link Archer C5.

Give these rules of thumb, your best bets are the Motorola SB6141 if you do
not need telephone and the Arris TG722G retail if you do.

Hope this helps. It took a lot of work to get it all figured out.

BAJ

>    Thanks,
>    Preston

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-- 
Byron A. Jeff
Associate Professor: Department of Computer Science and Information Technology
College of Information and Mathematical Sciences
Clayton State University
http://faculty.clayton.edu/bjeff