train_wreckslow this bird down join:2013-10-04 Antioch, TN |
not EXACTLY a techi believe technically it was a CSR that told the person he had to rent, not a tech. But still, semantics aside. Crazy. | |
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| jlivingood Premium Member join:2007-10-28 Philadelphia, PA |
Re: not EXACTLY a techsaid by train_wreck:i believe technically it was a CSR that told the person he had to rent, not a tech. And it seems they made a mistake... | |
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| ropeguru Premium Member join:2001-01-25 Mechanicsville, VA
1 recommendation |
to train_wreck
It was a rep, at some level that called, AFTER he emailed "Executive Support" . So it should have been someone higher than a typical CSR. If not, then additional shame on Comcast for having a higher authority to contact while sending back down to the depths of a typical CSR. | |
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to train_wreck
Yea, Crazy we expect every single breathing person at any ISP to know every single tidbit of information about every single possible configuration and scenario. If someone does make a mistake then it's a conspiracy to screw the customer out every penny they can possibly get. | |
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Re: not EXACTLY a techsaid by jlivingood:And it seems they made a mistake... yes it does when i'd made my post, the article hadn't been updated to include the official respone. said by battleop: If someone does make a mistake then it's a conspiracy to screw the customer out every penny they can possibly get. when did i ever imply that? | |
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Re: not EXACTLY a techThat wasn't directed a you personally but to the general attitude around here that ISPs go out of their way to hatch evil plans designed to do evil things to customers.
The biggest problem for the big ISPs is that they tend to collapse under their own weight. They get so big with so many employees that it's impossible to get everyone on the same page. In a smaller company you can have more tech savvy employees at many levels. When you get to the size of an AT&T and Comcast you can't find enough tech savvy employees to fill every position so you have a lot of people running around who are clueless. | |
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| | | | train_wreckslow this bird down join:2013-10-04 Antioch, TN Cisco ASA 5506 Cisco DPC3939
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Re: not EXACTLY a techsaid by battleop:That wasn't directed a you personally but to the general attitude around here that ISPs go out of their way to hatch evil plans designed to do evil things to customers. Word. said by battleop:The biggest problem for the big ISPs is that they tend to collapse under their own weight. They get so big with so many employees that it's impossible to get everyone on the same page. In a smaller company you can have more tech savvy employees at many levels. When you get to the size of an AT&T and Comcast you can't find enough tech savvy employees to fill every position so you have a lot of people running around who are clueless. Absolutely. And i'm sure, for every publicized case like this one, there are countless unreported ones. | |
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cableties
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 12:24 pm
$66 does not equal $96FWIW, you can had a "on the list of compatible DOCIS 3 modems" a MOTOROLA SB6121 SURFboard for under $70.
Why rent for $96/yr...? Put a coax surge suppressor inline, and put modem and your router on a UPS... no issues (unless catastrophe). | |
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Mr Guy
Anon
2014-Mar-26 6:25 pm
Re: $66 does not equal $96said by cableties:FWIW, you can had a "on the list of compatible DOCIS 3 modems" a MOTOROLA SB6121 SURFboard for under $70. Not to be nitpicky but that modem is already about 3 years old and only has 4 channel downstream bonding. The SB6141 has 8 channel bonding. | |
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Steve B Premium Member join:2004-08-02 Auburn, WA |
Steve B
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 12:40 pm
Purchase EMTA?I know one can purchase the regular internet modem or rent it. What about the EMTAs? Are users still stuck on renting the internet/voice modem units? | |
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jm101
Member
2014-Mar-26 12:50 pm
Re: Purchase EMTA?said by Steve B:I know one can purchase the regular internet modem or rent it. What about the EMTAs? Are users still stuck on renting the internet/voice modem units? I called about this somewhat recently. Comcast said I could buy an eMTA from them for like $150. Of course I could have received some misinformation. | |
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| | Steve B Premium Member join:2004-08-02 Auburn, WA |
Steve B
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 12:53 pm
Re: Purchase EMTA?said by jm101:said by Steve B:I know one can purchase the regular internet modem or rent it. What about the EMTAs? Are users still stuck on renting the internet/voice modem units? I called about this somewhat recently. Comcast said I could buy an eMTA from them for like $150. I wonder if this available nationally or just in certain markets. Every once in a while I will go to Comcast's site and act like I'm setting up an order to see what deals I can and how much stuff will cost and they don't give an option to buy the eMTA, just rent it. | |
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jm101
Member
2014-Mar-26 1:09 pm
Re: Purchase EMTA?said by Steve B:said by jm101:said by Steve B:I know one can purchase the regular internet modem or rent it. What about the EMTAs? Are users still stuck on renting the internet/voice modem units? I called about this somewhat recently. Comcast said I could buy an eMTA from them for like $150. I wonder if this available nationally or just in certain markets. Every once in a while I will go to Comcast's site and act like I'm setting up an order to see what deals I can and how much stuff will cost and they don't give an option to buy the eMTA, just rent it. Yeah Comcast is pretty unclear about this. I wonder if some Best Buy stores still sell them. We didn't think we would stick with Comcast this long so we didn't buy an eMTA. | |
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Re: Purchase EMTA?I've been told no every time we've ask about it. The most recent being about a month ago. Seems like the general policy is to not allow purchased eMTA.
sometimes you may get lucky but even then its usually only with an older/slower/outdated DOCSIS device.
I've also noticed Comcast tends to use eMTA gateway devices on new HSI installs or modem replacements thus making it difficult switch to regular modems.
Additionally since they push voice and triple play services hard I suspect wont be long until they do an HSI only price increase making it more expensive then going HSI + voice or even with most triple play bundles. Similar to what they have done with TV and internet. Both seem to be a great way to further increase profits. | |
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| | | | | Steve B Premium Member join:2004-08-02 Auburn, WA
1 recommendation |
Steve B
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 6:24 pm
Re: Purchase EMTA?said by crucialcolin11:I've been told no every time we've ask about it. The most recent being about a month ago. Seems like the general policy is to not allow purchased eMTA.
sometimes you may get lucky but even then its usually only with an older/slower/outdated DOCSIS device.
I've also noticed Comcast tends to use eMTA gateway devices on new HSI installs or modem replacements thus making it difficult switch to regular modems.
Additionally since they push voice and triple play services hard I suspect wont be long until they do an HSI only price increase making it more expensive then going HSI + voice or even with most triple play bundles. Similar to what they have done with TV and internet. Both seem to be a great way to further increase profits. I have DSL and Satellite. I'm perfectly happy with what I have now. Although there were times where I was curious about what Comcast could offer me and I asked about buying/renting eMTAs they said you have to rent the eMTA. Granted, that was some time ago. My position is that why should one be forced to pay to rent a device that is essential for service to work....especially if you can't buy a unit instead. Comcast is so full of sh*t. | |
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jm101
Member
2014-Mar-26 9:24 pm
Re: Purchase EMTA?said by Steve B:said by crucialcolin11:I've been told no every time we've ask about it. The most recent being about a month ago. Seems like the general policy is to not allow purchased eMTA.
sometimes you may get lucky but even then its usually only with an older/slower/outdated DOCSIS device.
I've also noticed Comcast tends to use eMTA gateway devices on new HSI installs or modem replacements thus making it difficult switch to regular modems.
Additionally since they push voice and triple play services hard I suspect wont be long until they do an HSI only price increase making it more expensive then going HSI + voice or even with most triple play bundles. Similar to what they have done with TV and internet. Both seem to be a great way to further increase profits. I have DSL and Satellite. I'm perfectly happy with what I have now. Although there were times where I was curious about what Comcast could offer me and I asked about buying/renting eMTAs they said you have to rent the eMTA. Granted, that was some time ago. My position is that why should one be forced to pay to rent a device that is essential for service to work....especially if you can't buy a unit instead. Comcast is so full of sh*t. Plus Comcast keeps increasing the price of the rental. My cloud web hosting plan costs less than the eMTA rental fee. | |
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| | | | | | | Steve B Premium Member join:2004-08-02 Auburn, WA |
Steve B
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 10:14 pm
Re: Purchase EMTA?said by jm101:said by Steve B:said by crucialcolin11:I've been told no every time we've ask about it. The most recent being about a month ago. Seems like the general policy is to not allow purchased eMTA.
sometimes you may get lucky but even then its usually only with an older/slower/outdated DOCSIS device.
I've also noticed Comcast tends to use eMTA gateway devices on new HSI installs or modem replacements thus making it difficult switch to regular modems.
Additionally since they push voice and triple play services hard I suspect wont be long until they do an HSI only price increase making it more expensive then going HSI + voice or even with most triple play bundles. Similar to what they have done with TV and internet. Both seem to be a great way to further increase profits. I have DSL and Satellite. I'm perfectly happy with what I have now. Although there were times where I was curious about what Comcast could offer me and I asked about buying/renting eMTAs they said you have to rent the eMTA. Granted, that was some time ago. My position is that why should one be forced to pay to rent a device that is essential for service to work....especially if you can't buy a unit instead. Comcast is so full of sh*t. Plus Comcast keeps increasing the price of the rental. My cloud web hosting plan costs less than the eMTA rental fee. That too. $8? That is total BS. My aunt was renting a modem for the HSI. I told her no, absolutely not. She went out and bought one of those DOCSIS 3 Modem/Router Gateways from Motorola. Comcast and all their damned nickel and diming. | |
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Re: Purchase EMTA?For all of the clients that have assisted in setting up Voice and Data with Comcast it seems that they do not allow users to own their own eMTA (Voice & Data) Cable Modem. I think I know why. It is because internally within Comcast their provisioning systems are not 100% accurate and they are worried that people will purchase a used eMTA on eBay to save money that they have already registered the MAC address for another customer. Then someone at that new address calls 911 and they send the 1st responders to the wrong address. They get sued and in big trouble. So for them it is much easier for them to just rent the modems then they know for a fact who has what eMTA. Plus it lets them hide the additional $8/month for their voice service.
To get this to change will require legislation as it is not in Comcast's interests to let you save money. The problem is that we have seen this happen before with TiVo's and CableCards. They are not well supported and the last time I checked you do not get on demand services when using CableCards. I just worry that the service you end up getting with a customer owned eMTA will end up being different if Comcast is forced by law to let people use their own eMTAs.
So to be clear, I do not like that Comcast is nickel-and-dime us but until we get some changes with the FCC with regulators that are on the side of taxpayers/consumers things are not going to change. Either that or other options become real competition like Google Fiber or 4G/LTE or community owned broadband networks. | |
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-1 recommendation |
anoncomcast
Anon
2014-Mar-26 12:45 pm
twice i have had installation tech lie to me that my modem was bad.on two separate occasion i have had installation tech tell me my modem was no good and try to sell one. both times they told me they had good modem in the truck i could buy or rent. the first time i told the tech i would buy my own new one and call in the activation. he seemed pretty upset but left after which i called in my mac address and had my supposedly bad modem activated within 5 minutes.
the second time with a different tech i actually heard a staged(on speaker phone) phone call where he called back to the office and asked if my modem would work and the tech on the other end stated 'oh no that ones too old, don't you have have one in the truck' i than looked straight in the tech eyes and said are you really telling me if i call right now to have this modem activated it will not work. and he responded i was probably right but unfortunately he could not help me with it
not 100% sure but i believe contractors do the installation work and make much of their income from modem sales and are under high pressure from above to sell or rent as many modem as possible leading to really shady tactics such as refusing to help 'problem customers' who provide their own modems.
FCC should ban them comcast from selling/installing any modems themselves to rid this behavior. comcast should provide the pipe on which all customer provide there own equipment. consumers no longer buy phones from landline companies and should not buy modems from internet providers. | |
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| Packeteers Premium Member join:2005-06-18 Forest Hills, NY Asus RT-AC3100 (Software) Asuswrt-Merlin
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Re: twice i have had installation tech lie to me that my modem was bad.all the times i was told my modem was suspicious, i would change it's MAC (by attaching a different router/pc so it's Public IP from DHCP would change) then suddenly things seemed to fix themselves. this is why changing a modem appears to fix things (the new modem forces a new public IP assignment from DHCP), when in fact it's simply getting a new IP that clears up intermittent errors, routing and congestion issues. this is the great secret scam of all cable modem providing technicians. if the central office could trigger DHCP to give you a new public IP remotely, half the premise visit calls would be unneeded. i know technically a new public IP should not matter, but anecdotally it very much does. | |
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jlivingood Premium Member join:2007-10-28 Philadelphia, PA |
Um... What? (tempest in a teapot)This document is several years old and is outdated. This was from when the service was initially launched and has not applied for some time.
We have many customers on 105M that own their own devices - and probably a great many of them are BBR users!
Jason Comcast Engineering | |
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| ropeguru Premium Member join:2001-01-25 Mechanicsville, VA |
ropeguru
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 12:50 pm
Re: Um... What? (tempest in a teapot)Jason, and this was after contacting executive support. Supposedly this was the call back from initiating that email.
Additionally, it seems the person who called was extremely rude also. | |
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| | jlivingood Premium Member join:2007-10-28 Philadelphia, PA
1 recommendation |
Re: Um... What? (tempest in a teapot)said by ropeguru:Jason, and this was after contacting executive support. Supposedly this was the call back from initiating that email.
Additionally, it seems the person who called was extremely rude also. Yeah - a terrible experience for sure. I have no idea why the person did not have the right info - we're investigating the entire incident end to end. | |
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to jlivingood
I agree it's not a huge story or anything. But the user was told something false, contacted the executive support team for honest information, received a call from a rude rep who wouldn't budge, and who then used an out-dated and incorrect document to justify not budging.
Kind of a good example of how your customer service systems could still use some work, yes? | |
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| | ropeguru Premium Member join:2001-01-25 Mechanicsville, VA |
ropeguru
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 12:56 pm
Re: Um... What? (tempest in a teapot)Espicially when the so called executive support group cannot even get it right. | |
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| | jlivingood Premium Member join:2007-10-28 Philadelphia, PA |
to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode:Kind of a good example of how your customer service systems could still use some work, yes? No doubt. Nevertheless... | |
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3 recommendations |
Re: Um... What? (tempest in a teapot)Eh, if I have to raise a front page stink to get one user accurate and competent help I don't feel too bad about it. People can go read other stories if they don't find it interesting enough. | |
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| | | | seaman Premium Member join:2000-12-08 Seattle, WA |
seaman
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 2:39 pm
Re: Um... What? (tempest in a teapot)said by Karl Bode:Eh, if I have to raise a front page stink to get one user accurate and competent help I don't feel too bad about it. I think you helped way more than one person here, so thanks. With a merger ahead Comcast's monopolistic market position is only growing. As noted above, some of their practices (intentional or not) are suspect and consumer push-back is one of the few effective ways to keep them honest. | |
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to jlivingood
said by jlivingood:We have many customers on 105M that own their own devices - and probably a great many of them are BBR users! You are correct, myself being one of them. It was also interesting to find a way to get around the $250 "install" fee when I knew exactly what they were going to do and I already had perfect signal levels from a plant extension several years earlier, but I was able to get it done. Funny how it's not required anymore... | |
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just went through this on my FREE blast upgradeReceived the FREE upgrade letter, on my blast to Extreme 105 speed - currently have an owned Arris TM722G EMTA on triple play. Called this past Saturday & was told I needed to upgrade my D2 modem, but they would send a new one out for FREE; of course, I would then be renting it. Told her she's was looking at an old (D2) modem they keep showing on my account, & she needed to look at my active EMTA modem. (why DOES CC keep this crap on subs accounts that has NOT existed for years - stupid!) After she (again) insisted it needed replacing, told her to send me to her supervisor. Sup says the same thing, after which I asked him "how DO you think I'm getting your phone service with an old D2 NON-EMTA device" - to which he says "good point". (DUH) He then tells me "it's because you own your EMTA & that we can't tell which model it is" - to which I reply "then you need to listen to your customer, when they tell you the EXACT, FRIGGEN model they DO have"! So he sends me back to have her put the code on my account, & to wait 24 hours. Fast forward to Monday, still no upgrade - called back in & after sitting on hold for 10+ min, they FINALLY send the update to my modem. After it & my router reboot, FINALLY am getting 115+ down/20+ up. | |
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ropeguru Premium Member join:2001-01-25 Mechanicsville, VA |
ropeguru
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 12:53 pm
So then...The person who called representing "Executive Support" needs to be sent to a re-education camp for a while to be brought up to Comcast's current standards. | |
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richdelbGo Hawks Go Premium Member join:2003-01-22 Algonquin, IL
1 recommendation |
richdelb
Premium Member
2014-Mar-26 1:21 pm
A repost of mineI posted this elsewhere on the site the other day, but is very much "on topic" with this thread, so I am re-posting it here: ***************************************************************
When the news stories of Comcast upgrading some users to 105 service I did an "on line" chat with Comcast to ask if I was able to get the free upgrade. I was told that I was not. Not believing the person that I chatted with, I called Comcast and spoke with a friendly person who said I could not get the free upgrade but I COULD upgrade my service if I wanted to. I was told that I needed a truck roll to run new lines and I'd need a new modem even though I already have a DOSIS 3.0 modem. The install was going to cost me $250 MINIMUM if I wanted the service upgraded. I said, thanks but no thanks, I'd keep my 50 MB service (with which I was speed testing at 57MB).
Several weeks passed and I get a letter in the mail from Comcast saying that I am eligible for a free upgrade and to call them if I was interested. I did and about 4 hours later I rebooted my cable modem and was getting about 92MB down and 22 MB up.
Purchased a new Netgear router (old router was giving me issues for a long time anyway with wireless) and I am pulling 115MB down and 23 MB up consistently. Also pulling 85mb down on my iPad 4.
All this with no truck roll, no new equipment, no $250 minimum install fee.
I am very happy with the new speeds, not so happy with Comcast not really being able to tell me the truth when I called. | |
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Still waitingWell, I am still waiting for this contact.
I also sent this link to the "Executive Support" rep who was rude and made these claims. Can't wait to see if he responds to my E-mail. | |
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Rent ModemsYeah when I talked to a comcast rep in PA they said that I am required to pay the installation fee and also rent their modem under the 105 & up Mbps Plan. They said that I couldn't switch it out or anything. | |
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Some clarificationThis was not a tech who told me the rented Comcast modem was required. It was Ralph from the Executive Customer Relations Team. It was at that point that I pointed out the approved modem list, which he stated was also incorrect. After that he refused any service because I would not agree to rent the modem from them. | |
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The truth isAs someone that used to service Comcast customers on the tech support end, the entire Comcast customer service system is a royal mess. There are several companies that do the work, instead of Comcast trained agents. Speaking with personal knowledge of one said company, they hire anyone that can read a script and follow a simple flow chart; even if they have 0 tech background. Mind you, we were in an advanced tech support department with Comcast that had the capability to remotely connect in to customer machines to resolve wireless issues for them, and they're hiring anyone even without a tech background. I've dealt with several departments within Comcast on the phone and every single one is a horrible mess. Hell, even the actual Comcast employees pull the worst shit on customers. You have some genuinely good people out there working for Comcast, and some who truly do care for the customers, but they probably account for 1% of the reps that handle Customers. Most don't have the right background or knowledge, or just don't give a shit because they work for some 3rd party. Oh, and you've got about a 50/50 shot of reaching a rep that's working from home and truly doesn't give a crap. | |
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1 recommendation |
63475675 (banned)
Member
2014-Mar-26 5:13 pm
It all starts at the top....quote: The person who called representing "Executive Support" needs to be sent to a re-education camp for a while to be brought up to Comcast's current standards.
Actually the problem is with the top executives that run Concrap and other companies like them. They are TOTALLY DISCONNECTED from the people that actually pay THEIR salaries and shareholders dividends.... ........ THE CUSTOMERS! These top executives need to find a way to get TRUTHFUL information from their subordinates instead of having them shielded from the ugly realities of technical incompetence, poorly trained CSRs at ALL levels, and yes rude obnoxious behavior from these people as well, whether the cable installer or the level 1 CSR on the phone. What disgusts me is that these execs are not stupid, and have a decent level of education but CANNOT get a grasp of what I have written here. NO TOP EXEC SHOULD BE ALLOWED IN THAT POSITION WITHOUT FIRST BEING MADE TO DO THE JOBS IN THE TRENCHES FIRST !!!!! | |
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mbruno
Member
2014-Mar-27 12:11 pm
Re: It all starts at the top....You do know that will never happen right? They will say that they went to a IVY league school and that they are too good for that type of work. | |
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IowaCowboyLost in the Supermarket Premium Member join:2010-10-16 Springfield, MA |
My most recent modem purchaseMy most recent modem purchase was a Motorola SB6141 and when I went internet only (turned in equipment at service center), I politely reminded the counter rep to not mess with the equipment codes for the modem to make sure I'm not paying "rent" on the modem I dropped $81 (price matched to Amazon) at Best Buy.
I may go Extreme 105 but I'm not sure what the internet only pricing is on it or if I'll have to pay an install fee. | |
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bum33444
Anon
2014-Mar-26 10:45 pm
Comcast Owned vs Customer Owned and Static IP AddressesYou can not have a static IP address with a customer owned modem.
This was another discovery as well. Again a line of BS | |
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| drdroo Premium Member join:2007-10-09 Bangor, ME |
drdroo
Premium Member
2014-Mar-28 4:21 pm
Re: Comcast Owned vs Customer Owned and Static IP AddressesNot sure about Comcast, but the reason why we have to use cable co provided equipment for Teleworker and Business tiers on Time Warner is because they use RIPV2 and they will not provide the routing keys. I learned this the hard way with a Cisco 1841 and a HWIC-CABLE-D-2.
Admittedly, Time Warner gave a /29 to any business or teleworker users automatically too.
The modem provided (when I had Teleworker) was an Ambit thing with its own router in it. It also had a great smell of burning plastic. Now they seem to use the same UBEE D3 WiFi gateways as they use for residential installs. | |
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levAnyone else remember ISDN?
join:2001-05-30 Goodyear, AZ |
Business class service with static IP requires CPE rentalComcast's has an exclusive with SMC for the D3G gateway, and all products that SMC makes for Comcast or Time Warner remain the property of the cable company.
So Comcast still forces equipment rental, and there's a charge on top of that for the static IP. | |
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What a jokeAt this point I feel like Comcast telling Karl they would reach out to me was just blowing smoke. I have yet to be contacted by anyone. | |
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