I recently found out that my normally cost-conscious father has been renting his modems from his ISP for like 25 years and for Christmas I want to give him the gift of not having to pay $15 a month to Comcast anymore, but I was hoping for some guidance.
He's currently paying for 800mb/s and they have him Arris TG3482G wireless gateway.
He lives in a ~1700 sf one story (plus basement) housee. All three bedrooms (and maybe the kitchen?) are wired with with ethernet jacks if that matters. Both he and my mom have said the signal in their bedroom can occasionally get spotty (in the rough sketch of their house below, the router is in the basement roughly on the X, room with occasional coverage issues is red square). That initially made me think maybe I should look into a mesh network, but then I realized it could just be that the signal on those modem/router combos really is that bad and a decent traditional modem could suffice.
Their internet usage typically consists of your run of the mill web surfing and occasional streaming. My dad also works from home over the wired connection.
They recently moved their landline over to Xfinity, so the modem requires voice. The modems xfinity lists as compatible with their plan:
- NetgearCM2050V
- Motorola MT8733
- Arris T25
- Netgear CM1150V
- Arris SBV3202
- Netgear C7100V
- Motorola MT7711
- Arris SVG2482AC
- Arris SBV2402
Any thoughts on which modem and router would best fit their situation and needs? Obviously the CM2050V appears to be the superior modem on the list, but also seems like a overkill given their plan and usage habits (unless it'd be a good idea for a bit of future proofing in case their plan ever gets upgraded?).
That’s very sweet, but you are turning all of the future troubleshooting into a you problem. Are you sure that’s worth saving your dad $15/month?
That's 180 dollars a year though! And my dad loves saving money. He's pretty good with tech compared to other people his age, and I don't mind troubleshooting if it comes up. But I'll mention that to them in case they hadn't considered that aspect.
Just to make sure, I recommend calling their ISP provider to know exactly what you are giving up in terms of support, how much TS they can do to a cx owned modem, in which situations they will need to pay a technician appointment for an issue by having their own modem and the cost of the technician appointment
ISP agents know very well the leased modems but they may not know all the tricks on a owned modem, so always have their owned modem manual available, the manufacturers contact number, and most likely agents will not provide any assistance related to login to the modem settings and handle their wifi network, ports, etc, which your dad may be able to as you mentioned he understands technology.
But yes my advice as tech support agent of another ISP is to call them an know the policy they have regarding owned modem, and before going to their owned modem make sure everything on their network is working on point while having the leased equipment
As someone who has dealt with Comcast tech support a LOT, I would not believe anything they say about this.