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tsduke
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Waterloo, IA

tsduke to BAINCH

Premium Member

to BAINCH

Re: Smallest Physical Modem for Mediacom

I realize you can't test every modem, but the canned response anymore is that there is no supported modem list at all. This is mostly likely what leads people to the conspiracy that Mediacom is quietly trying to force modem rental. Whether it's true or not.

I'm curious which option is actually more cost effective for the cable companies(customer own vs rental). They surely spend a ton on these devices used for rental, but on the other side you have the issue of not supporting many devices customers purchase.

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by tsduke:

I realize you can't test every modem, but the canned response anymore is that there is no supported modem list at all. This is mostly likely what leads people to the conspiracy that Mediacom is quietly trying to force modem rental. Whether it's true or not.

I'm curious which option is actually more cost effective for the cable companies(customer own vs rental). They surely spend a ton on these devices used for rental, but on the other side you have the issue of not supporting many devices customers purchase.

We can publish a list of "supported" modems but it is always going to be what we provide to our customers.

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

Anonymous88 to tsduke

Premium Member

to tsduke
Bainch mediacom should have 2 options

1 Buy modem from Mediacom or
2 Rent modem from Mediacom

I think this would "simplify" the service, that way people don't have to worry what modem to use or have people mention word 'conspiracy'.

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

1 recommendation

BAINCH

MVM

said by Anonymous88:

Bainch mediacom should have 2 options

1 Buy modem from Mediacom or
2 Rent modem from Mediacom

I think this would "simplify" the service, that way people don't have to worry what modem to use or have people mention word 'conspiracy'.

Hmm. Perhaps that is coming very soon. Stay tuned.

KA0OUV
Premium Member
join:2010-02-17
Jefferson City, MO

KA0OUV

Premium Member

MAN!!! I even offer up cookies to MediacomChad, and almost never get teasers out of him like that. Maybe I am offering cookies to the wrong people?

GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

GLIMMER to Anonymous88

Member

to Anonymous88
said by Anonymous88:

Bainch mediacom should have 2 options

1 Buy modem from Mediacom or
2 Rent modem from Mediacom

I think this would "simplify" the service, that way people don't have to worry what modem to use or have people mention word 'conspiracy'.

thats a good option but that should not give mediacom the right to rape the customer on price! I can see this becoming a problem for mediacom. And ending up infront of the FCC

lhollow
join:2010-12-02
IL

lhollow to BAINCH

Member

to BAINCH
said by BAINCH:

Hmm. Perhaps that is coming very soon. Stay tuned.

Anonymous' wording sounds like people should have two choices: Buy from Mediacom or Rent from Mediacom.

Giving people the option to buy a modem from Mediacom would be fine, but looking at the price on the return equipment checklist, Mediacom's would have to have a different price for an up-front purchase or they probably wouldn't sell many modems: $300 is a little steep. Add another $15-$25 for a power cord.

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by lhollow:

said by BAINCH:

Hmm. Perhaps that is coming very soon. Stay tuned.

Anonymous' wording sounds like people should have two choices: Buy from Mediacom or Rent from Mediacom.

Giving people the option to buy a modem from Mediacom would be fine, but looking at the price on the return equipment checklist, Mediacom's would have to have a different price for an up-front purchase or they probably wouldn't sell many modems: $300 is a little steep. Add another $15-$25 for a power cord.

Agreed. It would have to be a competitive price.

tsduke
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Waterloo, IA

tsduke

Premium Member

Price wouldn't be my only concern on the " Buy from Mediacom or Rent from Mediacom" option. Selection of devices would be a concern also. If Mediacom went that direct I would hope an expansion of device offerings would be in the works.

Our best buy has to cable modem brands. Motorola and Zoom. I've always had good luck with Moto. No clue about zoom.

Edit: I'm curious, how are other cable companies handling modems?

Anonymous88
Premium Member
join:2004-06-01
IA

Anonymous88

Premium Member

Mediacom has the right to decide what hardware can work on their network. This is why I can remove your crappy splitters and wiring and install Mediacom approved stuff. I just wish Mediacom would treat modems like DCTs. Have all of the MACs in the system and not allow any third party modem to go online (not even to reach the provisioning website). The selection of devices would be decided by Mediacom. Streamline the process and probably reduce the cost.

So when you sign up for service you have two options

1 Buy a NEW modem from Mediacom for let's say $90 with 1 year warranty
2 Rent a modem for $5/mo (that may be refurbished) with a free replacement as long as you have the service

Of course to do this Mediacom would need to trash a lot of old modems and buy a lot of new ones. I still think that in the long run this would cost less money and improve customer satisfaction with the service because I will be first to admit that Mediacom has a lot of really outdated modems still being used/issued. For example Bainch mentioned DCM425 as being the smallest modem available from Mediacom but unfortunately this modem is outdated and is having problems staying online and a lot of them report downstream SNR way lower than my meter. I think going with DOCSIS 3 modems from now on would make a lot of sense.
Thordrune
Premium Member
join:2005-08-03
Lakeport, CA

Thordrune

Premium Member

said by Anonymous88:

I think going with DOCSIS 3 modems from now on would make a lot of sense.

I couldn't agree with you more .

tsduke
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Waterloo, IA

tsduke to Anonymous88

Premium Member

to Anonymous88
It's Mediacom's right to decide that concerns me if they go this direction with modems. I don't have a lot of confidence that the modems the would offer for sale would be of good quality. I base this off the junk they have for modems in my area. This isn't just my opinion, more than one tech voiced the same opinion to me.

BTW, I don't have any crappy splitters in my house unless the splitters Mediacom provides are crap.

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

1 recommendation

BAINCH

MVM

said by tsduke:

It's Mediacom's right to decide that concerns me if they go this direction with modems. I don't have a lot of confidence that the modems the would offer for sale would be of good quality. I base this off the junk they have for modems in my area. This isn't just my opinion, more than one tech voiced the same opinion to me.

BTW, I don't have any crappy splitters in my house unless the splitters Mediacom provides are crap.

Mediacom has ALWAYS allowed customers to bring their own modems. I don't see that ever changing. I do think Mediacom can and should draw a line between make/models that it can officially support vs just any device that may be sold at Walmart.

While there is still a wide variety of modems available online including ones supported by Mediacom, we are concerned that retail seems to be limited to just one or at max two options.
GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

GLIMMER

Member

said by BAINCH:

Mediacom has ALWAYS allowed customers to bring their own modems. I don't see that ever changing. I do think Mediacom can and should draw a line between make/models that it can officially support vs just any device that may be sold at Walmart.

While there is still a wide variety of modems available online including ones supported by Mediacom, we are concerned that retail seems to be limited to just one or at max two options.

The problem is mediacom is to money hungry to support moto modems besides the 6120. At the least the moto series you can buy at walmart or best buy should be supported.

Anonymous as for having crappy splitters in my house I dont have any. Line in to modem done. Thats how its easy to tell when mediacoms service is to blame for outages not my equipment.

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by BAINCH:

said by Anonymous88:

Bainch mediacom should have 2 options

1 Buy modem from Mediacom or
2 Rent modem from Mediacom

I think this would "simplify" the service, that way people don't have to worry what modem to use or have people mention word 'conspiracy'.

Hmm. Perhaps that is coming very soon. Stay tuned.

Although we are looking at additional make/models (based largely on demand) we do now sell the following modem (which you should be able to call and order.)

Cisco DPQ3925
D3.0, Packetcable 2.0, 802.11N Wifi Router
$149.95 I believe

»www.cisco.com/en/US/prod ··· 337B.pdf

tsduke
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Waterloo, IA

tsduke

Premium Member

Not a big fan of the router in that. Is the router fully open or locked down?

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by tsduke:

Not a big fan of the router in that. Is the router fully open or locked down?

Should be, yes. If someone gets one that isn't let me know.

elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO

elios

Member

BAINCH
related question why have you disable some of the page in the cisco modems ?
if i boot the modem with out the co-ax i can see things like where the provisioned rate and snr data etc like the older linksys modems
but once it gets a config from the headend all of that is disabled
be nice to be able to see the snr and provisioned rates

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by elios:

BAINCH
related question why have you disable some of the page in the cisco modems ?
if i boot the modem with out the co-ax i can see things like where the provisioned rate and snr data etc like the older linksys modems
but once it gets a config from the headend all of that is disabled
be nice to be able to see the snr and provisioned rates

I don't know. If you want to PM me the model# and the MacID I will investigate. Well, I'll investigate either way but it is easier if I have a known example.

elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO

elios

Member

nm there is a mac list but not sure what side its on ill pm you the info
StreatorTech
join:2009-12-02
Streator, IL

StreatorTech

Member

If you are renting the Cisco wifi gateway from us, then yes it is locked down, because all router configuration is to be done using the clear access customer webpage

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by BAINCH:

said by elios:

BAINCH
related question why have you disable some of the page in the cisco modems ?
if i boot the modem with out the co-ax i can see things like where the provisioned rate and snr data etc like the older linksys modems
but once it gets a config from the headend all of that is disabled
be nice to be able to see the snr and provisioned rates

I don't know. If you want to PM me the model# and the MacID I will investigate. Well, I'll investigate either way but it is easier if I have a known example.

So, here is the story from Cisco. The modem shows all the diag pages by default prior to successful provisioning (presumably to assist with any connection or provisioning issues.) Once it provisions, the firmware disables several of the diag pages by default. We've asked Cisco if they have any vendor-specific MIBs we can add to the config to default those diag pages back on. We'll see what they come back with.
GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

GLIMMER to StreatorTech

Member

to StreatorTech
said by StreatorTech:

If you are renting the Cisco wifi gateway from us, then yes it is locked down, because all router configuration is to be done using the clear access customer webpage

yeah thats so much more efficent than connecting straight to the modem.... Sometimes I would like to know who the person is that thinks these are good ideas
StreatorTech
join:2009-12-02
Streator, IL

StreatorTech to BAINCH

Member

to BAINCH
I dont want to disagree with you, but that is incorrect. Until recently, the Cisco gateway pages were accessable even after provisioning. Now, once a gateway syncs up, even without having been provisioned, most of the pages are able to be seen but are grayed out so you cannot change them. This is all well and good, but when going through the new provioning system, and the ClearAccess page after is where there is an issue. Neither way will populate the router information to the modem.

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by StreatorTech:

I dont want to disagree with you, but that is incorrect. Until recently, the Cisco gateway pages were accessable even after provisioning. Now, once a gateway syncs up, even without having been provisioned, most of the pages are able to be seen but are grayed out so you cannot change them. This is all well and good, but when going through the new provioning system, and the ClearAccess page after is where there is an issue. Neither way will populate the router information to the modem.

Apples and Oranges. Elios doesn't have a gateway, so that was a different issue. The wifi gateway's we provide are configured with TR69 code and pointed to the ClearAccess server. The process does disable the "internal" gateway control pages. That is part of the home networking product. If a customer purchased their own gateway then the home networking product is not enabled and the ClearAccess server option is not available.
GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

GLIMMER

Member

said by BAINCH:

said by StreatorTech:

I dont want to disagree with you, but that is incorrect. Until recently, the Cisco gateway pages were accessable even after provisioning. Now, once a gateway syncs up, even without having been provisioned, most of the pages are able to be seen but are grayed out so you cannot change them. This is all well and good, but when going through the new provioning system, and the ClearAccess page after is where there is an issue. Neither way will populate the router information to the modem.

Apples and Oranges. Elios doesn't have a gateway, so that was a different issue. The wifi gateway's we provide are configured with TR69 code and pointed to the ClearAccess server. The process does disable the "internal" gateway control pages. That is part of the home networking product. If a customer purchased their own gateway then the home networking product is not enabled and the ClearAccess server option is not available.

so lets read this right.

Since you are so bad with support.

I was told this when I signed up for phone service today. I just wanted to buy the modem but they said they could not sell it to me.
so what is the deal?

BAINCH
MVM
join:2003-04-02
Blooming Grove, NY

BAINCH

MVM

said by GLIMMER:

so lets read this right.

Since you are so bad with support.

I was told this when I signed up for phone service today. I just wanted to buy the modem but they said they could not sell it to me.
so what is the deal?

I'm not sure I understand the question. Is this related to changes/access to the internal pages or are you asking if you can purchase a modem from Mediacom?
GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

GLIMMER

Member

i was told we were not able to buy the modem....

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

You can purchase the modem through our representatives over the phone and we will ship the EMTA to you.

Johnnylate
@sunwave.com.br

Johnnylate to BAINCH

Anon

to BAINCH
Hasn't that modem and program been available since last year?

»mediacomcable.com/Custom ··· msg68766
said by BAINCH:

Although we are looking at additional make/models (based largely on demand) we do now sell the following modem (which you should be able to call and order.)

Cisco DPQ3925
D3.0, Packetcable 2.0, 802.11N Wifi Router
$149.95 I believe

»www.cisco.com/en/US/prod ··· 337B.pdf