# My Dad is moving from ATT to Comcast for faster internet, what modem/router combo should I buy him?



## Space Lynx (Aug 3, 2019)

We currently do not own a router or modem, and we will be getting the 1000 down on Comcast as opposed to our 50-70 down max on ATT for around same cost. We just need a router and modem combo, I know nothing about networking to be honest, how much is it?


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## advanced3 (Aug 3, 2019)

Why not just use the one they supply?

Good luck getting a Tech to your house if ever needed be when using your own equipment too, they refuse to touch it. I wish there was someone else besides Comcast here.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Aug 3, 2019)

Because they charge you monthly to use it. Buying your own is a better solution.

For those speeds, you need a DOCSIS 3.1 modem, and it will have the “supported” service providers on the box. Personally, I’d get a separate modem and router as you can always upgrade one or the other to go faster when the time comes. My stuff in the PC room is wired and the rest of the house uses wireless through an ASUS AC-RH1300 that I paid a mere $40 for on eBay.

The modem I use escapes me, but it’s a Netgear, one of the highest they produce. It cost $120 (literally one year of renting before it’s saving you money) on eBay as well. They’re about $160 in store when I was shopping for a modem. 

Off topic: my modem apparently supports 6 Gbps cable, yet only has a 1 Gbps Ethernet port.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 3, 2019)

Motorola MB8600 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem - Approved for Comcast Xfinity, Cox, and Charter Spectrum, Supports Cable Plans up to 1000 Mbps | 1 Gbps Ethernet Port - Newegg.com
					

Buy Motorola MB8600 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem - Approved for Comcast Xfinity, Cox, and Charter Spectrum, Supports Cable Plans up to 1000 Mbps | 1 Gbps Ethernet Port with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				




motorola DOC 3.1 or Netgear 3.1?  which do you guys think? both same price









						NETGEAR DOCSIS 3.1 Gigabit Cable Modem - Newegg.com
					

Buy NETGEAR DOCSIS 3.1 Gigabit Cable Modem. Max download speeds of 6.0 Gbps, For XFINITY by Comcast, Spectrum, and Cox. Compatible with Gig-Speed from Xfinity (CM1000) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 3, 2019)

Netgear


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## Vario (Aug 3, 2019)

If you can, get Verizon instead.  Comcast is very unreliable.  Had really bad experiences with them.  By comparison, Verizon stays up all the time, I don't need a modem just CAT6 to my router from the ONT, its faster, and its $50 less per month.  Comcast would intermittently go down for 5-10 minutes about once every 1-2 hours on average.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 3, 2019)

Vario said:


> If you can, get Verizon instead.  Comcast is very unreliable.  Had really bad experiences with them.  By comparison, Verizon stays up all the time, I don't need a modem just CAT6 to my router from the ONT, its faster, and its $50 less per month.  Comcast would intermittently go down for 5-10 minutes about once every 1-2 hours on average.



Its Frontier here


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## shovenose (Aug 3, 2019)

Just switched to the 1Gbps Comcast service. My old modem wasn't compatible so I am renting theirs for a month til my friend gives me one that'll work. For a Comcast-provided box it's actually really good.


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## Deleted member 67555 (Aug 3, 2019)

They  usually say what networks they work with on the box...Your ISP will update your firmware to their stuff and that's it.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 3, 2019)

Vario said:


> If you can, get Verizon instead.  Comcast is very unreliable.  Had really bad experiences with them.  By comparison, Verizon stays up all the time, I don't need a modem just CAT6 to my router from the ONT, its faster, and its $50 less per month.  Comcast would intermittently go down for 5-10 minutes about once every 1-2 hours on average.



I just checked, Verizon is not in my area sadly.

I am surprised a bit on Comcast's pricing though, it was only $10 more per month to go from 450 down to 1000 down... quite a big jump for only $10 more. I think I will go with the Netgear one I linked, I am not too happy that Lenovo owns Motorola now. Lenovo Chinese owned and caught red handed for telemetry in older laptops, apologized and said they stop... but yeah I doubt they ever stopped.


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## slightofhand (Aug 3, 2019)

If it's American hardware you want then take a look at the Arris 8200 .  Arris is owned by CommScope.  The Arris products are the Surfboard modems previously developed by Motorola, and except for the SB6190 (lame Intel modem hardware) they are all good.  The 8200 is really a very nice modem.

Greg


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## Xzibit (Aug 3, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> We currently do not own a router or modem, and we will be getting the 1000 down on Comcast as opposed to our 50-70 down max on ATT for around same cost. We just need a router and modem combo, I know nothing about networking to be honest, how much is it?



Why not just look at the ones that are compatible with their service / service you'll be getting ?  All major ISP in the USA have compatibility list on their sites for 3rd party equipment.

*Comcast Service Area compatible (Type in your Info)*

*Comcast Business Compatible (List of modem models compatible)*

My advise don't get one that barely makes the list. They are likely the ones to get dumped during network upgrades. Get one just above of what your service will be so your not limited by it.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Aug 3, 2019)

That’s the Netgear modem I have. It has been excellent since I got it. 

You can get them significantly cheaper on eBay, brand new, for what it’s worth.


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## oxrufiioxo (Aug 3, 2019)

I have the netgear 3.1 with Comcast 1Gbps and it's been flawless. I use a nighthawk X8 router with it.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 3, 2019)

slightofhand said:


> If it's American hardware you want then take a look at the Arris 8200 .  Arris is owned by CommScope.  The Arris products are the Surfboard modems previously developed by Motorola, and except for the SB6190 (lame Intel modem hardware) they are all good.  The 8200 is really a very nice modem.
> 
> Greg



Agreed, I was just going to suggest the Arris.  It's a good modem.

I ended up renting their modem for $15/month so I can get the unlimited data that comes with it.


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 3, 2019)

I agree with Xzibit and you should check your local Comcast website for their list of compatible devices.

And FTR, I don't like "residential gateway" devices - integrated devices that include the router and modem in the same box. That's too many devices in one box for me (router, WAP - wireless access point, 4-port Ethernet switch, and modem, and maybe VoIP). I like having a separate wireless router and modem. In this way, should my ISP require a new DOCSIS version, for example, I only have to buy a new modem. Or should my wireless range be inadequate, I only have to get a new wireless router.

I've had great service from Motorola/Arris modems. 





newtekie1 said:


> I ended up renting their modem for $15/month


And it is good to have someone else responsible. But note the excellent Motorola MB8600 32x8 cable modem can be had from Amazon for $168. In less than 2 years at $15/month, you would pay double that cost in rental fees.

Another problem with ISP provided devices is they typically include back doors into those devices. They are NOT for nefarious deeds. They typically are to allow access for strangers in your neighborhood who are customers of the same ISP to piggy-back onto to your connection. In effect, your ISP turns your wireless modem into a free "hotspot" for their customers visiting your area. To learn more, read about Xfinity Wifi (other ISPs have similar services). I don't like that idea and I just assume that eventually a bad guy will figure out how to hack that back door, crack the firewall between my network and the public network, and get into my network.

These guests are not sharing your bandwidth. This is above what your service contract allows for. But your ISP and these guests are using your electricity, even if that is just a tiny bit.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Aug 3, 2019)

I’m not a fan of sharing my WiFi to the general public either.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 3, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> I agree with Xzibit and you should check your local Comcast website for their list of compatible devices.
> 
> And FTR, I don't like "residential gateway" devices - integrated devices that include the router and modem in the same box. That's too many devices in one box for me (router, WAP - wireless access point, 4-port Ethernet switch, and modem, and maybe VoIP). I like having a separate wireless router and modem. In this way, should my ISP require a new DOCSIS version, for example, I only have to buy a new modem. Or should my wireless range be inadequate, I only have to get a new wireless router.
> 
> ...



I agree, I've replaced too many modem/ETHERNET/WIFI/HPNA/VOIP Gateways it wasn't funny.
If anything I'd rather have a rack system to attach modem to switch then to Wifi TX/RX, HPNA/MOCA adapter. If I really needed a Phone service Id rather have POT's over VOIP (LET the CO repair the service and maintain the big backup batteries that last weeks/months on end)


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## Space Lynx (Aug 3, 2019)

slightofhand said:


> If it's American hardware you want then take a look at the Arris 8200 .  Arris is owned by CommScope.  The Arris products are the Surfboard modems previously developed by Motorola, and except for the SB6190 (lame Intel modem hardware) they are all good.  The 8200 is really a very nice modem.
> 
> Greg



it has a nice price. saving me about 20 bucks


newtekie1 said:


> Agreed, I was just going to suggest the Arris.  It's a good modem.
> 
> I ended up renting their modem for $15/month so I can get the unlimited data that comes with it.



we were just looking at that actually. is that $15 rental it said unlimited data wifi only? so if I go over 1TB on LAN i get charged a fee? but if I unplug and do WiFi I will never be penalized for going over 1TB data cap?  (5 people live in my home, all of us do netflix 4k, youtube, gaming, we hit 2tb most months)


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 3, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> we were just looking at that actually. is that $15 rental it said unlimited data wifi only? so if I go over 1TB on LAN i get charged a fee? but if I unplug and do WiFi I will never be penalized for going over 1TB data cap?


It sounds to me like you are confusing cell service with your home cable Internet service. Wifi is inside your own LAN only. Your own LAN is everyone on your side of the gateway device (typically the modem). Once you hit the Internet/ISP side of your modem, the ISP does not care if your device is connecting via wifi or Ethernet. It's all the same to them. 

On the cell phone side, if your phone connects to your wifi when you are home, you don't exceed your cell limits because you are going over your cable connection and not through the cell system. 

My point is, if your Internet provider is telling you you have unlimited data, it should not matter if you connect to your modem via wireless (wifi) or Ethernet (wired).


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## Space Lynx (Aug 3, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> It sounds to me like you are confusing cell service with your home cable Internet service. Wifi is inside your own LAN only. Your own LAN is everyone on your side of the gateway device (typically the modem). Once you hit the Internet/ISP side of your modem, the ISP does not care if your device is connecting via wifi or Ethernet. It's all the same to them.
> 
> On the cell phone side, if your phone connects to your wifi when you are home, you don't exceed your cell limits because you are going over your cable connection and not through the cell system.
> 
> My point is, if your Internet provider is telling you you have unlimited data, it should not matter if you connect to your modem via wireless (wifi) or Ethernet (wired).



no on the comcast checkout it says if you pay for their modem and router, you get unlimited wifi data, it literally says that but nothing about the details of it, thats why I am asking newtekiw who owns it as well. i might do that option if that is the case. its a 1TB data cap on LAN and unlimited on wifi, but only if you pay for comcast router and modem i think... on the checkout it says 1TB data cap though, so I 

no cell phones here... only internet checkout so I don't know...

@newtekie1 please confirm/explain


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## advanced3 (Aug 3, 2019)

You can turn off the Wifi hot spot in the router settings and also password protect it. If you live in a area where Comcast enforces a cap it will cost extra if you go over 1TB a month which I always do, but there's no cap here.


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 3, 2019)

advanced3 said:


> You can turn off the Wifi hot spot in the router settings


This is true. But it is enabled by default. But also, if the ISP pushes out a firmware update, it has been reported that the setting may get enabled again. 


lynx29 said:


> thats why I am asking newtekiw who owns it as well
> 
> its a 1TB data cap on LAN and unlimited on wifi


Then I would be interested in how that works too. Because again, your data leaves the modem in the same way and out on the same cable, regardless if your computers connect via wifi or Ethernet.

And again, your LAN is everything on your side of the modem. The "WAN" or wide area network (the Internet) is on the ISP side of your modem. What you do on your LAN is none of your ISP's business. You can move a million TB between devices on your LAN and that has no impact at all on your ISP or data usage. Not one byte (or bit) of that data leaves your home. So for them to say unlimited wifi sounds to me like some deceptive marketing. I hope newtekie can clear that up for us.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 3, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> And it is good to have someone else responsible. But note the excellent Motorola MB8600 32x8 cable modem can be had from Amazon for $168. In less than 2 years at $15/month, you would pay double that cost in rental fees.



Of course, and that statement makes sense if you only read the tiny part of my post that you quoted.  You quoted half a sentence and then responded to it like the second half didn't exist.  Who does that?!?

The rented modem pays for itself and then some every single month.



Bill_Bright said:


> Another problem with ISP provided devices is they typically include back doors into those devices. They are NOT for nefarious deeds. They typically are to allow access for strangers in your neighborhood who are customers of the same ISP to piggy-back onto to your connection. In effect, your ISP turns your wireless modem into a free "hotspot" for their customers visiting your area. To learn more, read about Xfinity Wifi (other ISPs have similar services). I don't like that idea and I just assume that eventually a bad guy will figure out how to hack that back door, crack the firewall between my network and the public network, and get into my network.



A few things here.

1.) You can opt-out of this through your customer account page or by going here.
2.) You should be putting the Comcast gateway into Bridge mode, turning the gateway into effectively a modem.
3.) You should have your own router between the ISP equipment and your LAN.  I'd never trust the ISP provided equipment to keep my network safe. So even is someone does manage to crack the VLAN between the public hotspot WiFi and the private customer network, the customer's router will stop anyone from getting into their network.



Bill_Bright said:


> These guests are not sharing your bandwidth. This is above what your service contract allows for. But your ISP and these guests are using your electricity, even if that is just a tiny bit.



The public hotspot uses 0 extra electricity.  It is a VLAN created using the already existing wireless radio.  Even if the hotspot didn't exist, the wireless radio would still be on and consuming the same amount of power.



lynx29 said:


> we were just looking at that actually. is that $15 rental it said unlimited data wifi only? so if I go over 1TB on LAN i get charged a fee? but if I unplug and do WiFi I will never be penalized for going over 1TB data cap? (5 people live in my home, all of us do netflix 4k, youtube, gaming, we hit 2tb most months)



It is unlimited data on everything you use. Even streaming through On Demand on your TVs(yes, some of that counts towards your monthly data usage.)  It is not just unlimited Wifi.



Bill_Bright said:


> My point is, if your Internet provider is telling you you have unlimited data, it should not matter if you connect to your modem via wireless (wifi) or Ethernet (wired).



It could technically be possible to monitor data usage at the gateway and that would allow an ISP to determine amount of data used from ethernet and amount from WiFi.  Comcast doesn't do this, but it's possible for them if they wanted to program the firmware in the gateway to do it.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 3, 2019)

holy crap... ok I am having my dad change his order then, we will not provide our own router modem after all, we won't buy the $13 option either will do the $15 one... I had no idea it was true unlimited data... that is a game changer for us because we use more than 1TB a month.  @newtekie1  ty


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## advanced3 (Aug 3, 2019)

If you live in any of these states with Comcast you're capped at 1Tb a month (extra fees for going over).  You can add unlimited data for an additional $50 a month. That $50 you have to pay regardless if you even go over the 1tb limit.

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
New Mexico
Western Ohio
Oregon
Tennessee
Texas
South Carolina
Utah
Southwest Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin


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## newtekie1 (Aug 3, 2019)

advanced3 said:


> If you live in any of these states you're capped at 1Tb a month (extra fees for going over).  You can add unlimited data for an additional $50 a month. That $50 you have to pay regardless if you even go over the 1tb limit.
> 
> Alabama
> Arizona
> ...








						wifi
					

Xfinity WiFi by Comcast offers internet on-the-go service at millions of hotspots. Find the fastest Xfinity WiFi hotspot near you!




					www.xfinity.com
				




If you go to that page, and scroll down to the "XFI ADVANTAGE WiFi with and advantage" section where it lists the benefits, if it lists Unlimited Data then signing up to rent the $15 xFi modem gives you unlimited data at no extra charge.  But this doesn't apply to all areas(the west coast doesn't get this).  So if the unlimited data part doesn't show up, then the $15 modem rental doesn't come with unlmited data and you have to pay the $50.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 3, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> It sounds to me like you are confusing cell service with your home cable Internet service. Wifi is inside your own LAN only. Your own LAN is everyone on your side of the gateway device (typically the modem). Once you hit the Internet/ISP side of your modem, the ISP does not care if your device is connecting via wifi or Ethernet. It's all the same to them.
> 
> On the cell phone side, if your phone connects to your wifi when you are home, you don't exceed your cell limits because you are going over your cable connection and not through the cell system.
> 
> My point is, if your Internet provider is telling you you have unlimited data, it should not matter if you connect to your modem via wireless (wifi) or Ethernet (wired).



When unlimited data it will at somepoint drop speed too, its an ambiguous term cell/isps uses


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## Space Lynx (Aug 3, 2019)

newtekie1 said:


> wifi
> 
> 
> Xfinity WiFi by Comcast offers internet on-the-go service at millions of hotspots. Find the fastest Xfinity WiFi hotspot near you!
> ...



it says in fine print at the bottom of that link that unlimited data costs extra even with the xfi advantage.. its very confusing.  Have you actually gone well over 1TB in data? Can you confirm no extra billing? Or have you not gone over the 1TB data? i called comcast and they said we will still have the 1tb cap unless we pay the 50. don't know, think I might tell my dad to cancel this whole thing, comcast just seems shady as crap, and last time I dealt with them 5 years ago it took a good 11 hours of phone time to cancel. might just tell my dad to stick with ATT, its slow, but no data cap and it works fine. so yeah I think we might back out of comcast now


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## GLD (Aug 3, 2019)

AT&T (All The Taxes) dsl is a thing of the past. I had it for many years. It was clearly the better option over dial up at the time, but it was craptastically intermittent pretty much the whole time, and I moved with it between 3 address.

I have been on Xfinity now for a couple of years. I have never gone over, or come close to the 1Tb monthly cap. We stream vid in the waking hours and I dl some AAA game titles some times. I am not a mad internet pirate dl'ing the entire internet though, lol.

DSL suxxs ballz.


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 3, 2019)

newtekie1 said:


> Of course, and that statement makes sense if you only read the tiny part of my post that you quoted. You quoted half a sentence and then responded to it like the second half didn't exist. Who does that?!?
> 
> The rented modem pays for itself and then some every single month.


Didn't mean to offend. But you still have not explained why wifi data limits (or no limits) would be different from Ethernet on the LAN side of the network. That was the main point my comment went back to. Sorry I did not explain that well.

It makes no sense wifi would be unlimited but Ethernet is limited. None of that has anything to do with the modem. That's all on the router side.  Why would the ISP care if you watch Netflix with your Ethernet connected Roku or your wifi connected Roku? The same movie takes up the same amount of bandwidth. 100MB of data through the modem part of the gateway device is 100MB of data, regardless if it is eventually handed off to the Ethernet switch, or to the WAP. 

It is none of the ISP's business how you connect to your side of your local area network.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 4, 2019)

GLD said:


> AT&T (All The Taxes) dsl is a thing of the past. I had it for many years. It was clearly the better option over dial up at the time, but it was craptastically intermittent pretty much the whole time, and I moved with it between 3 address.
> 
> I have been on Xfinity now for a couple of years. I have never gone over, or come close to the 1Tb monthly cap. We stream vid in the waking hours and I dl some AAA game titles some times. I am not a mad internet pirate dl'ing the entire internet though, lol.
> 
> DSL suxxs ballz.



I bought Shadow of War for $17 definitive edition off newegg last week, 150gb download on steam... add in another 60gb because I wanted to play shadow of mordor again, add in 5 people doing netflix 4k and youtube 4k (mostly 1440p though)... its very very easy to go over 1TB if you have 5 people sharing. 1TB on my own would be doable though yeah.

edit:  forgot to mention I plan to get Google Stadia, so 4k 60 fps game streaming... I did the beta for Stadia and it was honestly not that bad. I also have Microsoft Xbox Game Pass for $5 a month, which is loads more gigabytes, a quick 7 hour game like Metro Exodus was a good 45gb if I remember.  It adds up fast.


Bill_Bright said:


> Didn't mean to offend. But you still have not explained why wifi data limits (or no limits) would be different from Ethernet on the LAN side of the network. That was the main point my comment went back to. Sorry I did not explain that well.
> 
> It makes no sense wifi would be unlimited but Ethernet is limited. None of that has anything to do with the modem. That's all on the router side.  Why would the ISP care if you watch Netflix with your Ethernet connected Roku or your wifi connected Roku? The same movie takes up the same amount of bandwidth. 100MB of data through the modem part of the gateway device is 100MB of data, regardless if it is eventually handed off to the Ethernet switch, or to the WAP.
> 
> It is none of the ISP's business how you connect to your side of your local area network.



give him time, @newtekie1 just isn't online at the moment. hopefully he can clarify.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 4, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> it says in fine print at the bottom of that link that unlimited data costs extra even with the xfi advantage.. its very confusing.  Have you actually gone well over 1TB in data? Can you confirm no extra billing? Or have you not gone over the 1TB data? i called comcast and they said we will still have the 1tb cap unless we pay the 50. don't know, think I might tell my dad to cancel this whole thing, comcast just seems shady as crap, and last time I dealt with them 5 years ago it took a good 11 hours of phone time to cancel. might just tell my dad to stick with ATT, its slow, but no data cap and it works fine. so yeah I think we might back out of comcast now



No, that's not what that says.  It says Unlimited data is available to all customers, in other words those that don't sign up for xFi, for an additional charge.





And, yeah I signed up for xFi last month and hit almost 2TB of data usage.



Bill_Bright said:


> Didn't mean to offend. But you still have not explained why wifi data limits (or no limits) would be different from Ethernet on the LAN side of the network. That was the main point my comment went back to. Sorry I did not explain that well.



What?  You quoted my post, which has nothing at all to do with the data limits being different on WiFi and LAN, it was entirely about the cost of renting a modem, and your response 100% about why you should buy your own modem.  It had nothing to do with data usage, or WiFi vs LAN data usage.  That came up later in the conversation.

AND I actually did explain WiFi vs LAN data. Yeah, I didn't say exactly why they would do it this way *if* they did do it this way, how would I even know why they would do that?*  I don't work for the company, I don't know why they do the things they do.  But I did say, technically, how it would be possible _*if*_ they did, but I even specifically said they don't do it this way.  Unlimited data is unlimited data with Comcast, it doesn't matter how you connect to use it.



Bill_Bright said:


> It makes no sense wifi would be unlimited but Ethernet is limited. None of that has anything to do with the modem. That's all on the router side. Why would the ISP care if you watch Netflix with your Ethernet connected Roku or your wifi connected Roku? The same movie takes up the same amount of bandwidth. 100MB of data through the modem part of the gateway device is 100MB of data, regardless if it is eventually handed off to the Ethernet switch, or to the WAP.
> 
> It is none of the ISP's business how you connect to your side of your local area network.



This is why there is an * up above, because I wanted to continue that thought down here in response to this.  First, I want to say that, I totally agree with you in principle.  How you use the data shouldn't matter.  However, the reality is corporations like Comcast do inane shit that makes no sense all the time.  So it isn't completely crazy to think that Comcast might only only give unlimited data if you are connected through WiFi.  It makes a little sense why a customer would be cautious about the xFi unlimited data and might even think it is WiFi only, and Comcast doesn't do a great job of clarifying it.  The normal unlimited package is $50, xFi with Unlimited is only $15. Plus xFi is largely marketed as a WiFi thing.  So it isn't crazy to put those two together and think that the cheaper $15 unlimited is WiFi only.  Corporations do stupid shit, and if they think they can make an extra buck by screwing over the customer, they'll try it.  I mean, there are cellular companies that offer unlimited data, but only if you watch videos at 480p, if you stream HD video you don't get unlimited data.  That makes as little sense as Comcast saying you get unlimited data, but only if you use WiFi(again, not what they're doing.)

And, like I already said, it is technically possible for Comcast to track data usage on ethernet and WiFi separately if they wanted.  Again, it all comes down to the fact that with xFi you have to use their gateway.  It isn't just a modem, it is a modem and wireless router combo. They could, in theory, make a firmware for the xFi gateway that tracks data usage between the Wifi Interface and the WAN interface, and also tracks data usage between the ethernet interface and the WAN interface.  They could track these two things separately, and report those two amounts.  This isn't that far fetched of an idea, there are already consumer routers that do this.  You can do it with DD-WRT and Tomato as well as things like pfSense. But I want to reiterate, *this is not what comcast is doing. *This is just how they could do it if they wanted to be truly evil bastards. God I hope no one from Comcast reads this...


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## Space Lynx (Aug 4, 2019)

Spoiler: ok






newtekie1 said:


> No, that's not what that says.  It says Unlimited data is available to all customers, in other words those that don't sign up for xFi, for an additional charge.
> 
> View attachment 128420
> 
> ...







can confirm.  https://stopthecap.com/2019/03/04/c...unlimited-data-if-you-rent-their-15-hardware/

im doing this now, thanks newtekie for clarifying.


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## AsRock (Aug 4, 2019)

As much as i would to say go with a Motorola who is owned by ARRIS now have been nothing but problematic over the last 6 months i have had a SB8200 fail and a SB6183 fail too, i have actually fallen back to the Motorola SB6121 which has been nothing but perfect other than aging.

I sent the 1st one back to walmart as it was withing the time limit, how ever the other i am waiting on ARRIS to still replace my other.

TBH sadly i think ARRIS are not making them as good as Motorola were.

Just got one from your local Walmart if you have one and then at least you can just take it back to the store if it fails within 30 days.


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## moproblems99 (Aug 4, 2019)

TheMadDutchDude said:


> Because they charge you monthly to use it. Buying your own is a better solution.
> 
> For those speeds, you need a DOCSIS 3.1 modem, and it will have the “supported” service providers on the box. Personally, I’d get a separate modem and router as you can always upgrade one or the other to go faster when the time comes. My stuff in the PC room is wired and the rest of the house uses wireless through an ASUS AC-RH1300 that I paid a mere $40 for on eBay.
> 
> ...



I believe Comcast will charge you whether you use theirs or not.  You may as well use theirs and save your money.

Edit: I can't find the article that I read and was confirmed by whatever company.  It was either Comcast, Cox, or Frontier.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 4, 2019)

moproblems99 said:


> I believe Comcast will charge you whether you use theirs or not.  You may as well use theirs and save your money.
> 
> Edit: I can't find the article that I read and was confirmed by whatever company.  It was either Comcast, Cox, or Frontier.



Nah, I used my own for years.  They don't charge you if you use your own.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 4, 2019)

GLD said:


> AT&T (All The Taxes) dsl is a thing of the past. I had it for many years. It was clearly the better option over dial up at the time, but it was craptastically intermittent pretty much the whole time, and I moved with it between 3 address.
> 
> I have been on Xfinity now for a couple of years. I have never gone over, or come close to the 1Tb monthly cap. We stream vid in the waking hours and I dl some AAA game titles some times. I am not a mad internet pirate dl'ing the entire internet though, lol.
> 
> DSL suxxs ballz.



I hear the same about comcast being crap.

Tbf its all in the installation


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## grammar_phreak (Aug 4, 2019)

I have the DOCSIS 3.1, Netgear CX1100 and Netgear Nighthawk x6 ac3600....... super Costco on sale pack. If you walked into costco, that's what they'd have. 

The crud part is I bought these on sale....... but the sale is over.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 4, 2019)

grammar_phreak said:


> I have the DOCSIS 3.1, Netgear CX1100 and Netgear Nighthawk x6 ac3600....... super Costco on sale pack. If you walked into costco, that's what they'd have.
> 
> The crud part is I bought these on sale....... but the sale is over.



noted.  I am 100% certain I will be using Comcast's router and modem though, since it provides unlimited data.

Thanks again for the info @newtekie1


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## TheMadDutchDude (Aug 4, 2019)

The only thing I can find about unlimited data means paying them an extra $50 per month. I don’t see it where they state you can use unlimited amounts using their modem/WiFi combo.


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## advanced3 (Aug 4, 2019)

newtekie1 said:


> Nah, I used my own for years.  They don't charge you if you use your own.



They're not supposed to, but always check your monthly statement.

I supplied my own modem and router  before my Gig service. The tech installed my Modem and called it in and had everything activated. He told them "he is using his own modem" and took the Comcast modem back out to his van. 6 months later my wife was looking at the bill and questioned me on why we were being billed for modem rental. I called up and the "BEST" they could do after charging me for 6 months was 2 months credit.....Ya.

Half of the problem with Comcast is they sub out the install. I have ALWAYS got someone who could barely speak/understand English, so it makes it that much more difficult. I am more than pissed with Comcast and if there was anyone else in my area I would switch in a second. Sure my download speeds are great, but the internet itself (gaming) is unusable due to so much packet loss. I am upset enough with the service that I may break my 2-year contract 6 months in.

I really only made the switch from their Blast (250/5) service that I had forever (and always worked perfect) to the Gig for the upload to stream anyways.  Everyday between 9pm all the way to around 1am the internet takes a dump, my peak gaming hours. This issue has been ongoing for 3 months now.

Pinging Youtube during these hours. These should all be 15-20ms.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 4, 2019)

advanced3 said:


> They're not supposed to, but always check your monthly statement.
> 
> I supplied my own modem and router  before my Gig service. The tech installed my Modem and called it in and had everything activated. He told them "he is using his own modem" and took the Comcast modem back out to his van. 6 months later my wife was looking at the bill and questioned me on why we were being billed for modem rental. I called up and the "BEST" they could do after charging me for 6 months was 2 months credit.....Ya.
> 
> ...


AT&T is the same way-outsourced.

If american companies such as these would keep their jobs in the us for call centers there wouldnt be this problem.

I mean Tmobile employ those who can understand and speak English fluently plus they don't make you have to navigate a stupid keypad menu like the VA does just to dpeak to a representative. FAA mandates people to read, understand and speak English too.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 4, 2019)

TheMadDutchDude said:


> The only thing I can find about unlimited data means paying them an extra $50 per month. I don’t see it where they state you can use unlimited amounts using their modem/WiFi combo.



It varies by location.  See here.  It is the same website, but one loaded with my VPN connected through Chicago and another connected through LA.  Comcast are sneaky assholes.



advanced3 said:


> They're not supposed to, but always check your monthly statement.



Of course, their billing department makes tons of "mistakes".



advanced3 said:


> I supplied my own modem and router before my Gig service. The tech installed my Modem and called it in and had everything activated. He told them "he is using his own modem" and took the Comcast modem back out to his van. 6 months later my wife was looking at the bill and questioned me on why we were being billed for modem rental. I called up and the "BEST" they could do after charging me for 6 months was 2 months credit.....Ya.
> 
> Half of the problem with Comcast is they sub out the install. I have ALWAYS got someone who could barely speak/understand English, so it makes it that much more difficult. I am more than pissed with Comcast and if there was anyone else in my area I would switch in a second. Sure my download speeds are great, but the internet itself (gaming) is unusable due to so much packet loss. I am upset enough with the service that I may break my 2-year contract 6 months in.



The installers aren't the problem, they aren't even the problem in your case.  It's the billing department that's shit.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Aug 4, 2019)

It varies as some states won’t allow such a BS charge to take place. I wish they’d do that everywhere... but I’ve yet to go over my 1TB limit, even after downloading multiple 80GB games.


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## 64K (Aug 4, 2019)

Comcast is great.......until you need help from customer service or a technician to come out and do something. They've gotten a little better since they now have some competition here but some of the employees have been around for decades and they still have a little attitude like they used to when it was either Comcast Broadband or DSL or 56K.


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## shovenose (Aug 4, 2019)

"The cable operator is offering customers in parts of its *Central Divisio*n its xFi Advanced Gateway "

Not available in all places. For example, in California, this is not available. I guess I'll pay the $50/mo for unlimited data :'(


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 4, 2019)

newtekie1 said:


> It varies by location.  See here.  It is the same website, but one loaded with my VPN connected through Chicago and another connected through LA.  Comcast are sneaky assholes.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



However installers are responsible for reporting details.


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 4, 2019)

newtekie1 said:


> What? You quoted my post, which has nothing at all to do with the data limits being different on WiFi and LAN,


 And I already apologized (which you quoted, BTW   ) for not clearly stating my point. What more do you want? My first born? I said "_Sorry I did not explain that well._" Now I'm sorry admitting I was wrong (something so many around here never do ) is not good enough for you. 

While you continued on in your rant against me with what you said and didn't say, you actually did clear up the confusion over wifi being unlimited while Ethernet is not. The facts are, that is not the case at all. The confusion _appears_ to be based on the interpretation of lynx29's screen shots and somehow, XFINITY (or xFi) was thought to mean "wifi". And therefore, one had to sign up for additional XFINITY service to get unlimited "wifi". When in fact, one had to sign up for additional service to get unlimited bandwidth.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 4, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> And I already apologized (which you quoted, BTW   ) for not clearly stating my point. What more do you want? My first born? I said "_Sorry I did not explain that well._" Now I'm sorry admitting I was wrong (something so many around here never do ) is not good enough for you.
> 
> While you continued on in your rant against me with what you said and didn't say, you actually did clear up the confusion over wifi being unlimited while Ethernet is not. The facts are, that is not the case at all. The confusion _appears_ to be based on the interpretation of lynx29's screen shots and somehow, XFINITY (or xFi) was thought to mean "wifi". *And therefore, one had to sign up for additional XFINITY service to get unlimited "wifi". When in fact, one had to sign up for additional service to get unlimited bandwidth.*



Hi Bill, I am confused by your wording on the bold part. I think we have already verified (also a link to a news article I provided a few posts up) that unlimited data LAN or WiFi is included with the Comcast (I am not sure why on Comcast web page it says WiFi is unlimited but not LAN... the wording of all this is extremely confusing) modem and router $15 a month option (not $13 a month one) for a specific set of states, of which mine happens to one of those states according to that news article I linked. Are you referring to the $2 a month as additional service or the $50 a month most people have to pay?


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 5, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> Hi Bill, I am confused by your wording on the bold part.


Me too! 

That's my complaint with Comcast. They are adding confusion with their wording. I don't understand either why the Comcast webpage says WiFi is unlimited but not LAN. That makes no sense to me. Once your data leaves the "router" and enters the "modem" (remember, these are separate devices even if integrated in the same box), it should not matter (and is none of their business) how you connect to your LAN.  

So what I was trying to clear up is the fact you don't have to pay more to get unlimited "wifi". You have to pay more to get unlimited bandwidth period - regardless if you connect your LAN devices via Ethernet or wirelessly. 

Clear as mud, huh?


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## Slizzo (Aug 5, 2019)

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but if you go WiFi only, there's no way you'll be able to use your gig connection anyway, so that's wasted bandwidth.


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 5, 2019)

Use the Comcast provided. You’ll regret not using it when you get overages


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## Space Lynx (Aug 5, 2019)

Durvelle27 said:


> Use the Comcast provided. You’ll regret not using it when you get overages



So you can confirm it is unlimited data as stated in this article with their modem/router? 





__





						Stop the Cap!  » Comcast Brings Back “Free” Unlimited Data, If You Rent Their $15 Hardware
					





					stopthecap.com


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## dirtyferret (Aug 5, 2019)

Vario said:


> If you can, get Verizon instead.  Comcast is very unreliable.  Had really bad experiences with them.  By comparison, Verizon stays up all the time, I don't need a modem just CAT6 to my router from the ONT, its faster, and its $50 less per month.  Comcast would intermittently go down for 5-10 minutes about once every 1-2 hours on average.



I dislike Comcast (I had them for one year and they throttled netflix) but my in laws had a choice between Comcast and Verizon.  They went with Verizon but Verizon was only DSL to the mail box not the home so they quickly dropped them.  For a lot of people they often only have one choice for ISP.



eidairaman1 said:


> Its Frontier here



they are awful, just awful


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## Space Lynx (Aug 5, 2019)

dirtyferret said:


> I dislike Comcast (I had them for one year and they throttled netflix) but my in laws had a choice between Comcast and Verizon.  They went with Verizon but Verizon was only DSL to the mail box not the home so they quickly dropped them.  For a lot of people they often only have one choice for ISP.
> 
> 
> 
> they are awful, just awful



Sad part is we have another choice, MetroNet fiber optics. However, my father does not want to go to them for some reason, we tried them once and their TV service was a bit messed up, but that was 5 years ago... I might make him a deal. We cancel Comcast install, I'll pay half in half for the 1 gig down 1 gig up fiber with metronet ($45 a month for each of us) and he keeps his Direct TV satellite he likes. He might go for that. Metronet has no contracts at all, so its no risk, but he still most likely won't do it sadly as he only cares about TV not internet.


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 5, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> So you can confirm it is unlimited data as stated in this article with their modem/router?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes I switched to their modem and I got unlimited included


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## Space Lynx (Aug 13, 2019)

I also got 970 down on my speedtest. 19ms.

Do you guys think if I get a NVME drive my steam download will go even faster? is my 2TB SSD holding me back?  it seems like the disk usage is slowing me down, not sure... thoughts?

@R-T-B @rtwjunkie @newtekie1 @Durvelle27


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 14, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> I also got 970 down on my speedtest. 19ms.
> 
> Do you guys think if I get a NVME drive my steam download will go even faster? is my 2TB SSD holding me back?  it seems like the disk usage is slowing me down, not sure... thoughts?
> 
> @R-T-B @rtwjunkie @newtekie1 @Durvelle27


I doubt it


I downloaded multiple 50GB games last night due to doing a clean install and it took less than than 30Mins

It all depends on how far you are from the server and how congested they are 

Also that was to a 2TB 7200RPM Mech HDD 10x slower than a SSD


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## moproblems99 (Aug 14, 2019)

Durvelle27 said:


> Also that was to a 2TB 7200RPM Mech HDD 10x slower than a SSD



HDDs can do sequential reads and writes ok provided the disk isn't fragmented to hell.  Latency is what kills them.


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## Jetster (Aug 14, 2019)

*Motorola MB7420 *
Paid like $80 two years ago and haven't had one issue
*Otherwise* the latest one for $150

I buy the $150 mbs download. As far as the cap goes I don't hit 1Tb but close sometimes. Ive only had one overage charge and it was $10


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 14, 2019)

11GB Game only took 6 mintues to download


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## rtwjunkie (Aug 14, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> I also got 970 down on my speedtest. 19ms.
> 
> Do you guys think if I get a NVME drive my steam download will go even faster? is my 2TB SSD holding me back?  it seems like the disk usage is slowing me down, not sure... thoughts?
> 
> @R-T-B @rtwjunkie @newtekie1 @Durvelle27


I really wouldn’t worry about it.  

Also, you are getting nearly 3 x the download speed I am!


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## moproblems99 (Aug 14, 2019)

rtwjunkie said:


> I really wouldn’t worry about it.
> 
> Also, you are getting nearly 3 x the download speed I am!



I am only 100mb at home.


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## Jetster (Aug 14, 2019)

No one care about your works speed


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## Totally (Aug 14, 2019)

Just a heads up if you happen to live in the suburbs or dense residential area in the evenings (7-9ish) when everyone gets home and starts streaming speeds will take a hit, in my case would tank to the point where it allowed simple browsing. Gaming became a lag-fest, and trying to watch anything myself pretty much 10s of buffering for every second of whatever I was watching. Calling in a complaint only got me a response that advertised speeds were "up to" what I was paying for. I switched to ATT after I had enough and realized there no longer any point in holding out for fiber in my area.  Speeds are slower for the same money but they're consistent.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 14, 2019)

Totally said:


> Just a heads up if you happen to live in the suburbs or dense residential area in the evenings (7-9ish) when everyone gets home and starts streaming speeds will take a hit, in my case would tank to the point where it allowed simple browsing. Gaming became a lag-fest, and trying to watch anything myself pretty much 10s of buffering for every second of whatever I was watching. Calling in a complaint only got me a response that advertised speeds were "up to" what I was paying for. I switched to ATT after I had enough and realized there no longer any point in holding out for fiber in my area.  Speeds are slower for the same money but they're consistent.



I'm aware of this issue, I planned to just pause downloads during rush hour times, as it doesn't matter to me. Doesn't seem to be too much of a slow down with 1 gig though

@Durvelle27 that is nice you get faster speeds than me though, and you are just using SSD as well? or going to HDD?

fyi here is my fast.com speed 1.1 giga down... and this is during rush hour traffic. not bad for $75 a month. well me and my Dad split the cost. so yeah, this is so much nicer than ATT 60 down max we was getting...


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 14, 2019)

Totally said:


> Just a heads up if you happen to live in the suburbs or dense residential area in the evenings (7-9ish) when everyone gets home and starts streaming speeds will take a hit, in my case would tank to the point where it allowed simple browsing. Gaming became a lag-fest, and trying to watch anything myself pretty much 10s of buffering for every second of whatever I was watching. Calling in a complaint only got me a response that advertised speeds were "up to" what I was paying for. I switched to ATT after I had enough and realized there no longer any point in holding out for fiber in my area.  Speeds are slower for the same money but they're consistent.


Since getting my network situated I’ve never seen below 700Mbps hardwired 
No matter the time of day



lynx29 said:


> I'm aware of this issue, I planned to just pause downloads during rush hour times, as it doesn't matter to me. Doesn't seem to be too much of a slow down with 1 gig though
> 
> @Durvelle27 that is nice you get faster speeds than me though, and you are just using SSD as well? or going to HDD?
> 
> fyi here is my fast.com speed 1.1 giga down... and this is during rush hour traffic. not bad for $75 a month. well me and my Dad split the cost. so yeah, this is so much nicer than ATT 60 down max we was getting...


That’s straight to a Segate ES HDD


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## Space Lynx (Aug 14, 2019)

sure is nice having faster internet like this, wow... lol  ATT is so outdated in my area, they don't stand a chance unless they upgrade to fiber, last I heard they were done expanding their fiber though.  too bad for them, my money is going elsewhere now.


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 14, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> sure is nice having faster internet like this, wow... lol  ATT is so outdated in my area, they don't stand a chance unless they upgrade to fiber, last I heard they were done expanding their fiber though.  too bad for them, my money is going elsewhere now.


AT&T where I live only offers fiber in the upper class areas, the rest are limited to only 75Mbps on DSL


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## Space Lynx (Aug 14, 2019)

Durvelle27 said:


> AT&T where I live only offers fiber in the upper class areas, the rest are limited to only 75Mbps on DSL



yep we only had 75 with ATT for last few years, but it wasn't really 75, youtube would buffer all the time cause there are 5 of us in this house at times... and my niece and nephew both watch youtube, im watching netflix while gaming online, and my parents are playing tablet games online... it was so outdated I couldn't stand it...

my dad is actually paying $10 less a month now, gets more tv channels, 1 gig internet, and landline.  So glad we made the move, not a huge fan of any of these companies, but its nice to have proper internet for a change.


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## moproblems99 (Aug 14, 2019)

Durvelle27 said:


> AT&T where I live only offers fiber in the upper class areas, the rest are limited to only 75Mbps on DSL



ATT in my area is capped at 25.


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## Space Lynx (Aug 14, 2019)

newtekie1 said:


> A few things here.
> 
> 1.) You can opt-out of this through your customer account page or by going here.
> 2.) You should be putting the Comcast gateway into Bridge mode, turning the gateway into effectively a modem.
> 3.) You should have your own router between the ISP equipment and your LAN.  I'd never trust the ISP provided equipment to keep my network safe. So even is someone does manage to crack the VLAN between the public hotspot WiFi and the private customer network, the customer's router will stop anyone from getting into their network.



I opted out just now, thanks for the heads up. I live in a retirement home area with my parents, so not too worried about hackers, just going to use the modem/router combo they gave me since I am getting such amazing speeds.  /shrug

@Durvelle27 @newtekie1 so i wanted to double check my speeds after opting out....   LMAO omg its so fast....  rofl what is this madness


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## Solaris17 (Aug 22, 2019)

Closed per request.


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