I need some help please...

Nine Ball

Nine Ball

Certified Rail Tester
Silver Member
Ok, I know this is not pool related but I can't take it anymore. I'm on a dial-up connection and it's driving me crazy. I'm going to finally upgrade to the cable modem. My problem is I do not know the differences between modems. Can anyone tell me whats the differences between cable modems and what would be the best-fastest one to purchase. Is it hard to install a cable modem on the comp yourself? The charge for professionally installed is about $100 so I would rather do it myself if I can.. All help needed and appreciated.

Thanks,
 
Try going to a Best Buy they were very helpful to me..there may be another computer store nearby..good luck...
 
The cable company you choose usually provides you with a cable modem... Use that one, and when you get it if you need any help setting up send me a PM or just call support from the cable company.
 
Nine Ball said:
Ok, I know this is not pool related but I can't take it anymore. I'm on a dial-up connection and it's driving me crazy. I'm going to finally upgrade to the cable modem. My problem is I do not know the differences between modems. Can anyone tell me whats the differences between cable modems and what would be the best-fastest one to purchase. Is it hard to install a cable modem on the comp yourself? The charge for professionally installed is about $100 so I would rather do it myself if I can.. All help needed and appreciated.

Thanks,
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After you sign up for cable, you will be sent a modem as said above. that is the one you should use. Speed will not really be impacted by the modem you use, it will more be affected by the speed of the cable line(which the provider controls).

if you need any help, i'm def available to help with anything you need, just shoot me a PM and i'll send you my Phone # to call and we can take care of it quickly.
 
Well see the cable company here is charging $89 for the cable modem and then they give you a mail in rebate which will take forever and a day to get the money back. So I thought about just buying one. But there are so many of them I'm not sure which is good for the price or the difference between each one.
 
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Thanks for the help so far and the offers to help me get it up and running if I have problems. Greenies for you two.
 
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After researching them I decided to go with the Motorola Surfboard Modems SB5100. Seems like a good choice for the money? Which is the same one the company offers for free after the mail in rebate which will take 16 weeks to get back and is $89. Now I just have to find the lowest price. I've seen them for $46 shipped new but probably can find a little lower price. Would rather pay that then double and wait 16 weeks to get it back. You guys think this Motorola is a good choice? I also figured out the difference between cable modems, I think. Some have the potential to download and upload at a higher speed then others? Right? Like this one has a max speed of like 38 mbps and the ISP can provide up to 54 mbps at it's highest peak. Do I have this all right or am I still flakin it? heh. Plus the installation seems simple after reading up on the stuff. Seems simple, Will find out. heh.
 
Hey. You will need to make sure you have the power, coax, and ethernet (running to pc or router) hooked in first. The fastest way to get going from there is to call your cable provider and say "I need to provision my modem". They will verify some personal info, activate your modem, and probably try to sell you something but it is the quickest way to have them activate it instead of using a self install cd that you may have received.:D
 
sharkeye9 said:
Hey. You will need to make sure you have the power, coax, and ethernet (running to pc or router) hooked in first.
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I don't think there's a problem there. I'm sure I have all that and there's the ethernet plug in on the back of the comp.
 
James said:
Josh,

Here's a slightly newer model SB5120 for $45 shipped, new.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825122106

This is also a wonderful company to deal with. Very fast shipping and great customer service.

If you have any questions that aren't already answered, send me a PM and I'll give you my cell #. It should be a straight forward process though.

-James
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Thanks James, That's the site I found. Greenies for you. :p
 
AZE said:
The cable company you choose usually provides you with a cable modem... Use that one, and when you get it if you need any help setting up send me a PM or just call support from the cable company.
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Yep Charter only charged us $25 to come out and install. All it is, is a coax cable running into the back of the modem, an ethernet cable running from the box to the computer, then the power cord. WindowsXP should pick it up automatically I would think:confused:

You can also split the cable and get t.v. but dont get caught unless you pay for it (we already pay for basic cable so they dont care, but beware that it will and can slow your connection speeds down). You wont regret cable. The best thing to do is buy a laptop and a router and you can go anywhere in or near the house and connect. Like someone mentioned BestBuy was real good helping me out.
 
Nine Ball said:
Thanks James, That's the site I found. Greenies for you. :p
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Thats the same modem I have. Works really well with no problems and I've had this one a year. The other one worked but Charter swapped it out because I was having connection problems (it was the computer, not the modem).

But if you have a laptop keep in mind a router to go along with the Surfboard;) :cool:
 
Couple of things to add that I did not see posted.

Modem you picked is good, one of the best, and it meets the standards the cable companies want when you use your own.

1. The modem will probably have both a USB and a Ethernet jack. Use the Ethernet to connect to the computer, it's much more fool-proof. I have dealt with quite a few issues with Windows and USB connected modems, and have not seen one yet with Ethernet. You should pick up a few 6-10ft cables, you need 1 for modem to router (see #2) and one for router to PC. One issue with bying your own, if you have issues with the service from the company, they will try to blame the modem, which means you are stuck with maybe having to buy a new one to appease them before they will trouble-shoot further. This is not a given, but I know when it comes time to fixing things, pass-the-buck is a game that is played by techs, especially 1st level support that read from a script.

2. Before connecting online, buy a router (about $30 for no wireless, $50 for a wireless one). Even the cheapos will have a servicable firewall and will keep your PC hidden from most basic online attacks. Read the router manual to help you set it up, it's fairly easy but if you are new to the computer network thing you can hit a snag or 2. Do a search on Newegg for a router (make sure it has 4 ethernet ports so you can connect another PC if you want to later on). Just about any brand will work fine, Netgear, Linksys, D-Link are 3 of the most common ones.

3. The cable company will probably ask you for the MAC address of the router, so note that. It should be on a label somewhere on your modem.

4. Get an anti-virus software AND anti-spyware. 2 I use that are free is AVG anti-virus and Spybot Search and Destroy. Once you are on broadband and are downloading all sorts of things, you will really want those if you don't have them set up already. The seedier parts of the NET are filled with nasty things that will want to chew up your computer and spit in your coffee. Beware music/warez/movie download sites (not the pay ones I'm talking about the pirated stuff), you can very easily ruin your Windows setup with what some of those sites try to do.

5. PM me for all the good porn sites once you are online :-)))

Good Luck with your setup.
 
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Qwest runs some deals including DSL, phone service, cable, package discount, probably free install. I know we all hate Qwest, but my DSL works perfectly, and is very fast, no problems
 
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