dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
1908

Tyler
join:2010-06-04
North East, PA

Tyler

Member

[Equip] Eliminate Rental Gateway

Recently I added an additional modem to my account that I purchased, SB6141 (8x4, didnt want to spend too much in hopes of upgrades to 3.1 coming in the future, but wanted something that could adequately support my 105 package). I also "rent" the DPC3939 which is used solely for CDV.

I remember the old days of having an Arris EMTA modem like the TM602g. If I were to go buy an EMTA device (not needing internet to be used on it), does the device NEED to be Docsis 3.0 compliant? I understand I will need to check with my local office to see if I can buy my own new/used EMTA device, but I'm just curious, if I'm only using it for CDV, if it needs to be the latest and greatest to activate it.

maxbrando
Premium Member
join:2014-06-01
Netgear WNDR3700v4
SMC D3CM1604
ARRIS TM602G

maxbrando

Premium Member

[Equip] Re: Eliminate Rental Gateway

The only 2 emta's you can own are the Arris TM722G (comcast RETAIL kit version only) and arris TG862G(comcast RETAIL version only).

I've heard of ocassions where people have gotten other EMTA's activated but their was an extreme hassle in doing so. For the most part all of the EMTA's you find are stolen or unreturned
equipment.

NetDog
Premium Member
join:2002-03-04
Hollywood, FL

NetDog

Premium Member

said by maxbrando:

I've heard of ocassions where people have gotten other EMTA's activated but their was an extreme hassle in doing so. For the most part all of the EMTA's you find are stolen or unreturned equipment.

This is up to the market if they allow a customer owned eMTA.. But this comment is favor..

anon7807
@73.45.79.x

anon7807 to maxbrando

Anon

to maxbrando
I'm a comcast triple play with blast user. I own have have used a TM822G with comcast since march of this year.

iNick
Premium Member
join:2012-12-11
Joliet, IL

iNick to Tyler

Premium Member

to Tyler

Re: [Equip] Eliminate Rental Gateway

said by Tyler:

Recently I added an additional modem to my account that I purchased, SB6141 (8x4, didnt want to spend too much in hopes of upgrades to 3.1 coming in the future, but wanted something that could adequately support my 105 package). I also "rent" the DPC3939 which is used solely for CDV.

I remember the old days of having an Arris EMTA modem like the TM602g. If I were to go buy an EMTA device (not needing internet to be used on it), does the device NEED to be Docsis 3.0 compliant? I understand I will need to check with my local office to see if I can buy my own new/used EMTA device, but I'm just curious, if I'm only using it for CDV, if it needs to be the latest and greatest to activate it.

Are we allowed to do that? I would do that if I could.

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

Darknessfall

Premium Member

said by iNick:

said by Tyler:

Recently I added an additional modem to my account that I purchased, SB6141 (8x4, didnt want to spend too much in hopes of upgrades to 3.1 coming in the future, but wanted something that could adequately support my 105 package). I also "rent" the DPC3939 which is used solely for CDV.

I remember the old days of having an Arris EMTA modem like the TM602g. If I were to go buy an EMTA device (not needing internet to be used on it), does the device NEED to be Docsis 3.0 compliant? I understand I will need to check with my local office to see if I can buy my own new/used EMTA device, but I'm just curious, if I'm only using it for CDV, if it needs to be the latest and greatest to activate it.

Are we allowed to do that? I would do that if I could.

I believe that you usually have to set the voice modem to voice only. However, I commonly hear of people having two modems active at once in their home which was set up by a tech.

iNick
Premium Member
join:2012-12-11
Joliet, IL

iNick

Premium Member

said by Darknessfall:

said by iNick:

said by Tyler:

Recently I added an additional modem to my account that I purchased, SB6141 (8x4, didnt want to spend too much in hopes of upgrades to 3.1 coming in the future, but wanted something that could adequately support my 105 package). I also "rent" the DPC3939 which is used solely for CDV.

I remember the old days of having an Arris EMTA modem like the TM602g. If I were to go buy an EMTA device (not needing internet to be used on it), does the device NEED to be Docsis 3.0 compliant? I understand I will need to check with my local office to see if I can buy my own new/used EMTA device, but I'm just curious, if I'm only using it for CDV, if it needs to be the latest and greatest to activate it.

Are we allowed to do that? I would do that if I could.

I believe that you usually have to set the voice modem to voice only. However, I commonly hear of people having two modems active at once in their home which was set up by a tech.

I have an TM822G customer owned but with 24x8 coming soon getting an EMTA (Non Gateway version) might not happened.

Tyler
join:2010-06-04
North East, PA

Tyler

Member

I did the online chat to ask if I'm allowed to buy a TM602g and get it activated on my account and requested she check if I can do this in my market, I know the chat is the last group of people I should trust from comcast, but she made it sound very easy that I would just need to give them the MAC and the serial number and they would get it provisioned as its a very easy process. Obviously it won't be an easy process, but for 10 bucks after shipping on Amazon, I'm going to either make a great move or waste 10 bucks. I'll certainly post the results. Several users posted reviews about buying the modem off amazon and about 85% said they had success getting it activated with cdv with few issues from the rep.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

Premium Member

One bit of advice I will offer in respect to using an SB6141 for data, and a TM605g for CDV, is don't activate/register the TM605g via the "walled garden". And make sure that the CSR who activates/registers it manually understands that you only want to use the TM605g for CDV. If both modems accidentally get activated for data use, I can foresee a future Comcast audit detecting two active modems on your account and making an assumption that you are gaming the system by using two data modems.

iNick
Premium Member
join:2012-12-11
Joliet, IL

iNick

Premium Member

said by NetFixer:

One bit of advice I will offer in respect to using an SB6141 for data, and a TM605g for CDV, is don't activate/register the TM605g via the "walled garden". And make sure that the CSR who activates/registers it manually understands that you only want to use the TM605g for CDV. If both modems accidentally get activated for data use, I can foresee a future Comcast audit detecting two active modems on your account and making an assumption that you are gaming the system by using two data modems.

If this actually works then I'll have to try it when I go to upgrade, That's mean I can keep my TM822G for Voice and use an SB1683 or whatever newer out at the time.

Tyler
join:2010-06-04
North East, PA

Tyler

Member

said by iNick:

If this actually works then I'll have to try it when I go to upgrade, That's mean I can keep my TM822G for Voice and use an SB1683 or whatever newer out at the time.

Are you referring to using a EMTA device for strictly phone, and using a standalone modem for internet, right? If thats the case, it does work, because thats how I am currently set up right now. My issue is that I want to buy a cheap EMTA device on amazon to provision on my account so I can avoid the $10 dollar fee for renting the DPC3939 I currently have, which is currently only being used for voice service.

iNick
Premium Member
join:2012-12-11
Joliet, IL

iNick

Premium Member

said by Tyler:

said by iNick:

If this actually works then I'll have to try it when I go to upgrade, That's mean I can keep my TM822G for Voice and use an SB1683 or whatever newer out at the time.

Are you referring to using a EMTA device for strictly phone, and using a standalone modem for internet, right? If thats the case, it does work, because thats how I am currently set up right now. My issue is that I want to buy a cheap EMTA device on amazon to provision on my account so I can avoid the $10 dollar fee for renting the DPC3939 I currently have, which is currently only being used for voice service.

Yes. Can you tell me how you got this happening? & What's the setup you have?

Tyler
join:2010-06-04
North East, PA

Tyler

Member

I called tech support, eventually talked to an english speaking guy in level 2 who knew exactly what i was trying to accomplish.

My setup is a DPC3939 gateway strictly for CDV...i don't even have a network cable going to it.

My internet has now been ported over to a SB6141 I bought, which goes into my pfsense router.

You just need them to understand that you should not be able to access internet on your CDV device...which I confirmed...I plugged a network cable in directly to the PC and it took me to the walled garden after all was said and done.
Tyler

Tyler

Member

The nightmare is starting to begin. The chat support told me something about the equipment used to be on an account so the actual comcast store has to update their database to allow the modem to be activated. So I figured I'd call and inquire about it, this person now told me that the TM602g is not a supported device. After questioning the supported devices page, he said that page is not accurate. I told him that he's giving me a completely different excuse/explanation than what the online chat support gave me. He refused to connect me to a level 2 support person like they did when I switched to an Internet only modem in my prior post... He told me there's no such thing as a level 2 support person that talks to customers... He said level 2 does not talk to customers. He ended up telling me that I need to go to the store and tell them I spoke to Chris at support and gave me a reference number to give them. He was also not from this country.

What are anyone's thoughts?

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

1 edit

NetFixer

Premium Member

said by Tyler:

What are anyone's thoughts?

Comcast is Comcast is Comcast.

Everything they do is designed to antagonize their customers. I suspect that this attitude toward their customers is a misguided attempt to engender a life-long feeling of gratitude from the customer once they finally look at that customer as being a bit higher on the evolutionary/food chain than a night crawler.

I would rather call and schedule a root canal than to speak to anyone from Comcast.

I have a lot more thoughts on that subject if you really want to hear them.

Tyler
join:2010-06-04
North East, PA

Tyler

Member

I was just thrown through a loop because he was in a rush to get rid of me after my repeated attempts at asking why he won't transfer me to a Level 2 support person (english preferably)...after all, I called last week to get my internet moved to a SB6141 from my DPC3939, and they transferred me to Level 2 and the guy understood what i was trying to do completely, and resolved my issue. This guy refused and made up excuses how there is no such thing as Level 2... He eventually said have I helped you with all of your issues today, and I said, frankly no, I'd like to know why I cannot speak to the next level of support, and he just said goodbye and hung up.

He also said comcast doesn't keep track of what departments I spoke to or who I spoke with, or any notes about any issue I called in last week about...very interesting.

train_wreck
slow this bird down
join:2013-10-04
Antioch, TN
Cisco ASA 5506
Cisco DPC3939

1 edit

train_wreck

Member

said by Tyler:

He also said comcast doesn't keep track of what departments I spoke to or who I spoke with, or any notes about any issue I called in last week about...

BS for sure.... did you have a reference number for the previous call? Asking for, and keeping, those numbers is a MUST. It's how they look up previous calls.

Now, no guarantee that the CSRs actually write anything down per those numbers, or that what they write down is accurate.... it's the mercy of the beast on that one.

EDIT btw, you've mentioned an Arris model "TM602G".... this looks like a DOCSIS 2.0 eMTA, and so would likely have a hard time getting activated... i would think

Tyler
join:2010-06-04
North East, PA

Tyler

Member

I wrote down the reference number "Chris"... The only Chris who works at comcast apparently...gave me. I'm going to take my dpc3939 and my tm602g to my local office tomorrow since it's open 830-5 Saturday. He claims they will be able to get it activated. If they can, great, I'll be saving $10 dollars a month by not renting their gateway. I just don't understand why only a retail store can do this, and why India has no communication to America... Why they have no escalation procedures, I don't know why. I just couldn't believe he basically hung up on me... I guess all those stories people record are true!
Tyler

Tyler to train_wreck

Member

to train_wreck
To elaborate on the docsis 2.0 part... I specifically asked the chat support if that modem would be fine strictly for CDV service only since I have a SB6141 for Internet, and I got complete praises that it's such an easy process to get activated and it would work great, despite being D2. I was basically looking for a cheap alternative to eliminate the rental fee and also not spend 200 dollars on a gateway device. Heck, I'd rather drop phone completely, but it would put my package in shambles and cause an ETF apparently.
Tyler

Tyler

Member

Went to the comcast store today, spent a whole 2.5 minutes in there with the issue resolved. The guy said of course that modem is supported...he went into the system and said it must have been used in another market...so he clicked something in a drop down box...added it to my account, returned my dpc3939 and gave me the receipt (which is in a firesafe box now) and told me to just go to comcast.com/activate.

Got home, activated without a hitch...my internet on my sb6141 was never interrupted, phone is working great on the tm602g, all is good.

Lessons Learned: Never trust chat support or overseas customer support.

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721

Member

Now your only problem is comcast is phasing out docsis 2 devices i was told by early 2015 so when they send the end of life codes out your D-2 device will no longer function on there network.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

Premium Member

said by Jim721:

Now your only problem is comcast is phasing out docsis 2 devices i was told by early 2015 so when they send the end of life codes out your D-2 device will no longer function on there network.

I'm thinking that one of the official reasons for almost all DOCSIS2 modems having already been declared EOL (there are only five Arris eMTA devices still on the supported list), is lack of support from the manufacturer (perhaps especially because of a lack of IPv6 support). Perhaps Arris has indicated to Comcast that they will continue to support the five remaining DOCSIS2 eMTA devices (and possibly even provide IPv6 CMTS maintenance interface support). Otherwise I can't think of any reason why Comcast would have not already declared those remaining DOCSIS2 eMTA devices EOL as they have done for all other DOCSIS2 devices.

maxbrando
Premium Member
join:2014-06-01

maxbrando

Premium Member

Does comcast still use the arris docsis 2 emta for BCDV service, my grandma had BCI & BCDV installed in 2012 and they installed an SMC d3g for internet and a tm602g for the phone.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

Premium Member

said by maxbrando:

Does comcast still use the arris docsis 2 emta for BCDV service, my grandma had BCI & BCDV installed in 2012 and they installed an SMC d3g for internet and a tm602g for the phone.

I know that several Arris eMTA boxes (including the TM602g) were used for BCI service in the past. But I have been fully retired since Jan, 2012, so I no longer visit clients who use Comcast BCI, and I don't know what eMTAs are currently being used (but I suspect they may still be using the TM602g just by the fact that it is still on the approved modem list).

maxbrando
Premium Member
join:2014-06-01
Netgear WNDR3700v4
SMC D3CM1604
ARRIS TM602G

maxbrando to Tyler

Premium Member

to Tyler
said by Tyler:

I wrote down the reference number "Chris"... The only Chris who works at comcast apparently...gave me. I'm going to take my dpc3939 and my tm602g to my local office tomorrow since it's open 830-5 Saturday. He claims they will be able to get it activated. If they can, great, I'll be saving $10 dollars a month by not renting their gateway. I just don't understand why only a retail store can do this, and why India has no communication to America... Why they have no escalation procedures, I don't know why. I just couldn't believe he basically hung up on me... I guess all those stories people record are true!

Wow, your local comcast office is actually open reasonable hours on Saturday, mine is only open 10am-1pm
maxbrando

maxbrando to NetFixer

Premium Member

to NetFixer
Comcast will probably continue to support the Arris Docsis 2.0 eMTA's for a long time because their is no DOCSIS 3.0 replacement for the 4 and 8 line eMTA's

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721

Member

I dont think so. Docsis 2 needs to be removed from there network to move forward. Again i was told by a source docsis 2 will be phased off the network by early 2015.

maxbrando
Premium Member
join:2014-06-01
Netgear WNDR3700v4
SMC D3CM1604
ARRIS TM602G

maxbrando

Premium Member

I may be that comcast is planning to phase out DOCSIS 2.0 modems for internet usage so that it residential customers will upgrade to more efficient docsis 3.0 modems, but they are keeping support for a select few DOCSIS 2.0 eMTAs because they are so commonly used for digital voice and in some cases such as TM508A and 608g are not easily replaceable because as far as I can see their are no 8 line DOCSIS 3.0 Devices that comcast supports and the applications those eMTAs (Businesses that needed several lines and possibly some wierd MDU installs) were used in they would not be easily replaceable.

I notice that the Arris TM602g, TM604g, TM508A and TM608g are not on the EoL list, but every other DOCSIS 2.0 modem that comcast ever supported is.

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

Johkal to Tyler

MVM

to Tyler
said by Tyler:

I wrote down the reference number "Chris"... The only Chris who works at comcast apparently

[OT] Don't get me started on Comcast Chris. Funny though. Sorry, back on topic.

Ref: »[CustSvc] Chris: Comcast Products Specialist [amusing]
sabretooth
join:2012-02-14
Marietta, GA

sabretooth to maxbrando

Member

to maxbrando
said by maxbrando:

Comcast will probably continue to support the Arris Docsis 2.0 eMTA's for a long time because there is no DOCSIS 3.0 replacement for the 4 and 8 line eMTA's

Sure there is. The Arris TM722G and the TM822G. The TM822G is the preferred eMTA fully supported.