@donjumpsuit: EPIC LOGIC FAIL

Just because you do something doesn't mean everyone does. You have nothing to back that assumption up with.

@sinfuly Delicious: Also the monthly fee for tivo

Yes, That is quite a concern for me as well. I'm not sure I want to pay $299 for a TIVO when I'm STILL going to have to pay $12.95 a month for the "TIVO Service". Sure, I'll save $2 a month over the ComCast Box, but it'll take 150 months at that rate to make up for the $300 Hardware purchase. LOL!

It doesn't appear that are any other options for replacing the current comcast DVR tho, (EXCEPT for TIVO).. If there were, I betcha Tivos service rates wouldn't be so dad-gum high.. (really, $12.95 a month for WHAT really, a TV Guide? Please.)

Also the monthly fee for tivo. I looked into them since I only have the std 100 channels no box cable. Was even open to lifetime memberships for tivos. But they are tied to the box not me. Meaning I have to buy more than one membership per box. And if i need a new box or upgrade. forget it. (not to mention they are not even doing TRU2Way

The prob is up till now there was not two way devices other than cable boxes. But they are launching Tru2way that is working to resolve that.

As much as I loved watching on demand episodes of Home Movies drunk off my rocker at 4AM, the whole concept of paying for that service makes no sense to me anymore. I don't pay any money for my cable modem, it's just part of the charge my cable company charges me each month. I never had comcast...5 bucks a year (as stated in the above) is a rip but it's a light rip.

MOTOROLA SURFboard SB5101 38Mbps Downstream, 30Mbps Upstream USB and Ethernet 10/100Base-T Cable Modem - Retail

Looks like you'll be just fine, this supports up to 38Mbps down. If you want to be extra careful though you can always just look at the model number of your modem and buy the exact same model. I think that's a great strategy. Unless of course yours is unstable or requires frequent replacement for defectiveness, heh.

Consumerist is lame for saying $100 when $50 is the correct answer. Especially because this makes buying your own modem look to the reader like something that takes almost 2 years to pay off when in reality it pays off in less than one year!

I know, LAAAME. But yeah. even using all new parts you can't build your own cable-card compatible Media Center PC.

Source: [arstechnica.com]
Further reading: [www.ehomeupgrade.com]

The call-in is in fact the same thing the install tech did when he came out to install your rented modem.

I recommend you buy a Motorola Surfboard modem, because it's the exact same one Comcast uses (at least until lately when they started getting other, cheaper ones) so you know it's compatible. You can find the surfboard for under $60 usually at newegg.com.

This is the modem I bought and it's been great! I have used it with comcast and another (local) provider. I have found it to be the most reliable modem ever.

direct tv is much better with way more HD so there you competiton.

Oh wait, I had Charter service for 3 weeks and I've already been on the phone with tech support 6 times and billing 3 times. So as of next week they'll have only gotten $5 from me. I'm moving on to a local company that charges NOTHING for a modem. GG

Comcast will get you coming and going.

If you rent, you pay $3/month (will be $5 soon).
If you buy, you $3 MORE/month for internet (will be ? soon).

Will have to buy that Newegg one it looks like.

I only respect people and companies who respect me. That coffee shop that treats me right, that video game company that always puts out the good games, that insurance company that takes care of all my problems, that car company/dealership who has always taken care of my car, even when 100 miles over my warranty.

Comcast is bankrupt. AT&T is bankrupt. Bank of America, and Chase are bankrupt. They take my money, they deny my requests, they increase my rates for no reason after pledging not too. Comcast continues to raise fees and charge ridiculous amounts, while fleecing us on other things.

Sure I rent that HDTV DVR from them for $16 a month. I have done this for 6 years. This is close to $1200. In this time they have upgraded the unit once. If I was allowed to buy my own unit (lets say the exact replica of the one they provide) I would have more harddrive space, and only have paid $400 for that technology in that time. Plus I pay tax on that $1200 to boot.

How is this proper? How do you, a commenter on the consumerist website support this Comcast and its monopolistic ways? Its disappointing and unAmerican in my opinion.

Yes I know its "stealing", no I won't publish my information, I am intelligent enough to know this. But in the age where they are now trying to charge you double the amount for twice as fast internet, and capping the amount you can download a month, you might change your tune as well.

Once again, the main point of this rant is YOU STEAL TOO. In your own special way, that is personal to you. You speed, you roll through stop signs, you browse this website at work (when you shouldn't be using your employers web access for personal use). You have in the past downloaded music, or watched a video burned from a friend, it is easy to say you didn't but in this age, its difficult to differentiate.

You are just jealous that I am better at it than you. You know I am not murdering babies, or stealing from people who have no margin for error. I am stealing from the rich, and giving to the poor.

My credit card raised my APR from 12% to 24% because THE RICH decided to tank the system. I wasn't giving away bad loans, to people without incomes to buy over priced homes. I stayed away from all that, because I knew it wasn't right. But where is my reward???? I don't get any bail outs? I get my credit card rates raised, but I am fully cogent that I decided to buy things and putting off paying for them. I am not mad at the credit card companies, I will pay that penalty and not default.

But with Comcast, I feel their policies and fees are bankrupt, and I will recoup the money I have lost to them over the years, without feeling guilty about putting pressure on their network.

As for my MAC address, it changes all the time. And on DOCSIS 1.0 they can't track it at all.

* Lackluster HD offerings
* Throttled Internet Service
* Caller ID that rarely works

Then again, the competition is no better, so...

Will one of the Docsis 2.0 modems (such as the CRM-100 linked above from Newegg) handle 30MB/Sec download speeds though?

That's what I currently get using the modem I'm renting from ComCast. I wouldn't want to replace it with a Docsis 2.0 unless it'll be able to at least handle that speed..

[www.newegg.com]

Wow, I figured Comcast would be the last ones to provide that info. Thanks!

@pmcpa4 : Yea - Windows Media center PC's with built in cable card access

Hmm.. I've got a buncha spare PCs, I could easily through together a media center. I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the tip!

@JGKojak:

Except that (probably) violates the agreement you have with your internet provider. If you want to do that, you're welcome to, but you'll need a different tier of service.

@donjumpsuit:

The fees are paid to your town/city/county. If you have a problem, talk to them.

@donjumpsuit:

So, you'd be totally fine with sneaking into the movies without paying the ticket, or "borrowing" a car, so long as you refilled the tank before you brought it back?

If you think what you're doing is fine, publish your real name and location. Otherwise you're just a blowhard and a coward.

@Hooray4Zoidberg:

At the end of the day, who cares how the fees are allocated? If it's $7.30 for the box with remote, it doesn't make much difference if it's $7.29 for the remote and $0.01 for the box, 4/3.30, or whatever. It's the total that matters. The better question is why they bother to itemize like that.

If I buy my own cable modem, it it going to be "plug and play" or do I need to give the cable company my hardware information?

[bits.blogs.nytimes.com]

And to the person who's complaining about Comcast not offering A La Carte - they have no say in that. Most networks force the cable companies to offer all of their products. Eg - You can give Discovery Channel to the Digital 1 Tier Customers but you must also give them Planet Green. This is a plus for the people who like channels that don't have as big an audience to keep it afloat by itself. Don't blame a company that has no say in the matter. If that was the case, there would be AT LEAST one company that offered A La Carte.

@ALL: [www.newegg.com]

$20 recertified, good reviews. Bought one right now. Also on their "approved" list "-RM" = remanufactured? Might buy another just in case.

@mizike: I had to do something similar with Comcast. I pay my modem rental fee like a good little lamb every month, but when I had an internet issue they accused everything under the sun. The first thing was, "Well it has to be your router." Yeah.. of course. So we went to get a new router at Walmart, and we were having the same issue. We returned it. Then it was the modem, so we drove to get it replaced. Then after that didnt work either they blamed the COAX! After we swiched that out they finnally agreed tro send someone out in a few days.. Then the day of the appointment it magically started working.

So after all that: we canceled the appointment.

@TCama: Yeah and the rental price for them is almost as much as the box they rent out. :(

You know, it should be my business if I buy internet access, attach it to a powerful Wifi Router, and give my neighbors access.

Still, I've had no speed or reliability problems with my $80 modem for over 7 years now and I still get the maximum download/upload speed comcast offers in my area. 7 * 12 * 3 - 80 = 172 dollars saved not counting the $30 I saved the first 3 months.

What's right would be some sort of internet charge, for the time I spend on it, regardless of who provides the service.

With electricity, I pay for what I use. With internet, somehow I pay to have the privilege to tax its resources at my leisure?

The model is flawed, the excess is obvious.

With the digital TV, my PBS station airs 4 or 5 different 'channels'. Masterpiece Theatre is my friend. :-)

You my friend, are honoring moral codes for those that do not deserve your respect. That is the outrage.

We actually found one at the THRIFT STORE of all places too for $3.

@dmuth: This happened to me as well, but not on Comcast. My ISP is a small, local, DSL provider (as I can't stomach the thought of dealing with Bell or Rogers) which requires you to buy your own DSL modem. While this is good in theory, it means that whenever ANYTHING goes wrong you can be damm sure their tech people will take the position that it's the modem at fault. I actually had to resort to buying a second DSL modem (which I returned the next day) to prove to them that my connection still wasn't working with a brand new modem and that, just maybe, the problem was on their end. Sure enough, once they could no longer stonewall me by blaming the clearly working modem, they managed to find and correct the problem (which was on their end the entire time) within 12 hours.

It's almost worth paying the extra monthly cost just to take that excuse out of their playbook.

you are forced to rent the cable card and some times pay a outlet fee + (some systems HD cable card fee)

I still have may old wirespeed one and the newer one they gave out when they moved to LS.

Your sense of entitlement disgusts me. How is that not stealing?

Thank you very much for that link, jeffbone.

I've had cable modem service since 2000 with two providers, and one cable modem had to be replaced. And even then it wasn't that the cable modem stopped working, it was that the power cable wouldn't always connect correctly. I'd have to jiggle it sometimes to get it to go back on.

Usually the problems I have with my cable modem are fixed by unplugging it and plugging it back in, and I have to do that maybe once every 6 months. I'm good, thanks Comcast!

Yeah, I need to get rid of this Comcast DVR too, paying $14.95 a month for it. REALLY, Comcast? $15 a MONTH?

It's ridiculous. That's $180 a year for a box that I'll EASILY have for 5+ years (so long as I stay with Comcast)..

I've just been lazy and haven't bothered to go get my CableCard (Guess I'll do that tonight, since their office is on my way home) and craigslist a TIVO this weekend. Course, THEN I get the honor of paying TIVO a monthly service. *Grumbles*.

Are there any DVRs out there that will work with a CableCard that DON'T require a monthly service package?

I bought a MOTOROLA SURFboard SB5101 from NewEgg for $50 - best cable modem I have owned and I do a *lot* of uploading/downloading. It will pay for itself in a year. This is a modem that Comcast uses in many locations.

I returned my digitial receiver and DVR box and replaced them with TiVos. The TiVos yield a much better experience, the cable card costs nothing, and I can't rent an HDMI box from Comcast without paying $15 a month.

I can't see myself paying rental fees to Comcast again.

You may or may not save $60/yr in modem rental charges.
You may or may not save $600 in internet costs at home.

Since you barely use internet at home and get free internet at work, this would be convenient. Especially since you pay AT&T close to $30 a month for iphone internet as well, and its getting ridiculous.

You may consider giving comcast this $660 a year, but then again, Comcast charges you $5.99 to rent a HD movie, $13.99 to rent a nudie, won't let you purchase only the channels you want (a la carte), AND does not provide you with the NFL Season Pass.

Thanks. I'll keep my $660, and won't complain about the above. Its finally nice doing buisness with you.

@Esquire99: Yeah, I don't see this as a big deal. Cable modems are cheap enough for people to buy them if they want.

[customer.comcast.com]

If so, they should activate it without raising a fuss.

Furthermore, I already bought my own wireless access point. If I had bought a modem with wireless built-in, it would probably make a lot more sense. But alas, I did not. I wonder how liberal Target is with its return policy ...

Although I also get the comcast digital voice, which uses a different modem, so that throws a wrench in it. Anyone know if it's still feasible to buy your own for cable & phone? And what's involved in setting it up? (ie can it be provisioned or whatever over the phone or do they have to send out a tech?)

I was having signal problems a few months ago and Comcast came out to test the lines and determined that the problem was with my modem. They told me I had to go out and buy a new one. I did. But when the same problem returned a couple of days later I called only to be told by the service operator that there had been line issues in my neighborhood the past week and they were working to fix it.

A few days later I have working cable internet and two working modems. Thanks Comcast.

Uh-oh. I hope Charter doesn't catch wind of this and do the same thing.

(They probably will. Dang.)

The modem is currently $85.53 at Amazon. That's a 17-month ROI.

[www.amazon.com]

Now if Comcast wants to do direct sales of modems (do they?), I might go for that.

@Southern: How so? I have no problems with my Comcast DVR. I do have issue with On Demand, though. I wish you could fast forward at the same speeds as DVR.

@Moosehawk: Even when you buy your own modem, make sure that they do not continue to slip in the modem rental fee. This has happend to me a few times. Just an FYI.

By the way, the Motorola models seem to stand up better than other models of modems that I have seen and used. They are a bit more robust to power surges from what I have seen.

I bought my own Docsis 3.0 compatible modem 5 years ago when I first moved into my house for like $50 (had a mail in rebate and on-sale). There are several cable modems on Newegg right now for $40-$50. I've never had any problem with mine. If I were renting from comcast, I'd have paid $180 by now.

Luckily there is FIOS in some places, but not all. As well as DSL (usually slow), or possible wireless solutions (again, slow).

It'd be nice if there were more competition in markets between cable companies. I thought localized monopolies would be illegal.

You can. One of the new TIVOs will do the trick, but you will need the "Cable Card" from ComCast. I don't know if they charge a rental for that though, or if it's an outright purchase.

I'm going to replace my ComCast DVR with a TIVO soon, as ComCasts DVR is the worst excuse for a DVR that I've ever seen.

Try getting comcast to replace a modem .. they expect you to drive to the local office to get the replacement (in spite of paying a rental fee) .. unless of course you want to go ahead and sign up for their "protection plan", otherwise, they might have to bill you for the "service" call.

My hate for Comcast runs deep...

In addition to Moosehawk's comments, keep in mind that Comcast can also refuse to activate your owned device. At least in the Philadelphia area, they are refusing to activate certain type devices (in my case, a Netgear combo router and gateway) because "they interfere with infrastructure upgrades."

It took an hour and a half and three support escalations to finally activate my combo router. Now if only they could get my billing squared away...

@Moosehawk: Yeah I have a Motorola that's worked well for the past 5 years. And you can find them on sale for much less than 100 bucks.

Poor, poor, 30% of the market owning babies.

@Moosehawk: When I had Comcast, I ended up buying my modem because they refused to trade out my obviously non-working one.

I like renting the modem for the fact that I can trade it in for another one at any time if I'm having problems with it.

@Joewithay: You can but I would check to see if it is legal where you live. It is not here so I avoid those craiglist offers.