16 channel vs 8 channel modems 60Mbps Spectrum Cable; is their any real difference?

[videobruce]

I have a Zoom 5341J 8 ch. down 4 ch. up modem. Spectrum gave me (for troubleshooting their issue not related to the modem) a Arris TM1602a eMTA (combo modem & ATA) that has 16 in & 4 out channels. The tech told me of their two new (and only) levels of service 60 & 100 Mbps. I have 30 now for $60/mo. Their 60Mbps service is $65 retail (no promotion) which I will of course take.

Their eMTA is 2x the size of what I have now, I would rather just keep mine. But, the question is;

Are the 8 additional channels really going to make any difference? At my current speed (30Mbps) I see NO difference.
.
I realize 'headway' and 'overhead' but I don't 'stream' that much and there are only the two of us here.

 

[mnewsham]

8 down channels for DOCSIS 3.0 is already enough for 300mbps, 16 channels is going to give 650mbps+ (maximum theoretical speeds).

So no, for any of the speed tiers you're talking about it simply shouldn't matter.

 

[razel]

When things get busy in your neighborhood the extra channels helps ease any slowdowns. Like extra lanes on the highway when traffic gets busy there's more lanes to help ease congestion. I always advocate getting the most channels your ISP supports. Only way to find out is through them or logging into the web interface of a higher channel cable modem attached to your line and proving it yourself.

I started off with a cheap 4 channel, but I noticed a big difference between that and 16 channel in my dense neighborhood. My folks have a 24 channel. It used to be 16 channel then when Time Warner Cable became Spectrum I saw 24 channels getting traffic, but not all at once. It appears to still be 16 channels but they choose between the 24. I guess they also pick the best lanes, perhaps signal wise, from the 16 out of the 24. It made me get a 24 channel, but I noticed no difference in real life. Seems like max channels your cable provider supports is still the best way to go.

 

[videobruce]

The 'channel bonding' that these are suppose to have, is that any issue with 60Mbps service?

 

[JackMDS]

Did this upgrade. They (Spectrum) gave me refurb Arris Docsis 3.

Speed went from 30Mb/sec. to 100 Mb/sec.

 

[videobruce]

Funny you mention their 100M service. In this market it's $100 and an activation fee of $200.

After I stopped laughing, when she told me the activation fee was to pay for the infrastructure. I replied it's the same plant for either.

 

[mnewsham]

Funny you mention their 100M service. In this market it's $100 and an activation fee of $200.

After I stopped laughing, when she told me the activation fee was to pay for the infrastructure. I replied it's the same plant for either.

I've gotten a few mailers from Comcast for their 2gbps fiber service. They are charging $1000 installation fees on top of $149.99 a month base price. Plus a $20/month router rental.

 

[videobruce]

What's that, for running a dedicated line straight from their HE or are you out 200 miles from the HE?

 

[mnewsham]

What's that, for running a dedicated line straight from their HE or are you out 200 miles from the HE?

A requirement even to be eligible for the install is you must be within 1/3rd of a mile of the closest fiber box.
So at MOST it would be 1/3rd of a mile fiber drop they'd have to do.

It's honestly not a terrible deal, you pay $500 for install, $500 for activation, and comcast will pay up to $15,000 in total installation costs. (though the majority of installs come in well below $15,000 that number is their cut off point).

But even so, 2gbps is overkill when I already have 1gbps for half that cost, and without an installation or activation fee to boot.

 

[videobruce]

Are you referring to where no service is at present as in running trunk and/or feeder to your house (where it doesn't already exist)?

 

[mnewsham]

Are you referring to where no service is at present as in running truck and/or feeder to your house?

Comcast's fiber service is only being deployed to customers who pay for it, so yes. They have no existing fiber network and are currently in the process of building it. So if you have a comcast fiber box within 1/3rd of a mile you have to pay them to lay a dedicated fiber line to your door.

It's 2.2gbps download and upload delivered via an SFP+ fiber drop.

 

[videobruce]

That is a completely different situation. I'm talking about where existing service exists, in a city specially, not out in the country.

 

[JackMDS]

I would suggest to take most of the Discussion on this topic with a Grain of Salt.

I have a two Spectrum services and two Fios Services all in the NY Tri-State area all within 50 Miles.

Each place has it own deals rules and availability. What is offered is also grossly affected with the status of the Competitions in each place (even within the same ISP).

So whatever someone plan to do, check the general situation in your "Neck in the Wood".

 

[Elixer]

Charter / Spectrum does give you a 'free' modem, there is 0 reason to not use that, and buy your own.

As for the $200 fee for the 100Mbps(some have 300Mbps) plan, they have been dropping that fee when the area isn't congested.

 

[videobruce]

The only other choice is Verizon FiOS and I don't want to go that route due to the amount of equipment needed for the conversion from fiber to RF. and the associated 'stand-by' power used. Cable modems use around 5 watts and you can't hold them in your hand. Can't say that about FiOS.

As far as their 'free' modem', with TWC it was originally 'free', but a few years ago they started charging for it. Starting at $3, it went up to $10 I believe until Spectrum took over. I'd bet they will do the same in a few years.
Beside between the size, the heat & those overly large blue LED's, I'd rather keep mine that is already custom mounted on a removable board with my ATA, router & switch.

 

[Elixer]

As far as their 'free' modem', with TWC it was originally 'free', but a few years ago they started charging for it. Starting at $3, it went up to $10 I believe until Spectrum took over. I'd bet they will do the same in a few years.
Beside between the size, the heat & those overly large blue LED's, I'd rather keep mine that is already custom mounted on a removable board with my ATA, router & switch.

Yeah, I understand where you are coming from, but, until they do start to charge again, it isn't worth buying your own modem.

Why you ask?
The VERY first thing they blame is your modem. Doesn't matter if there is nothing wrong with it, that is what they tell you, and it requires a truck roll.
They charge for truck rolls these days as well.
Another issue is, that even if the modem is DOCSIS 3.x, they might tell you their system don't support that modem at this time. Yeah, it is highly annoying, and any issues that may crop up, they will once again blame the modem.

 

[videobruce]

Please re-read my 1st post, specifically the 1st sentence. I already have a modem from some time ago and it's been in use.

OT:
Before that, one that I had I was going to sell to a relative was not supported anymore. Decent used modems you can get for $40 or less, you don't have to spend $100 and up. In my situation I CLEARLY (running numerous trace-routes with 3 different programs) showed they have a issue with a local 'hop' (high latency & jitter)., but as I guessed they wanted me to try their modem even thou, obviously it CAN'T be a modem (or router) issue. I re-ran the tests with the tech there and he saw the results were the same. And that was with NO router connected, so they couldn't try to blame that (which would of been the next 'pass the buck' tactic.

The tech agreed with me (he must of been a senior tech since this is the 2nd visit for the same issue which I already e-mailed screen shots of these trace route results to them two weeks earlier with no response). He said it was procedure to take a level at a time. The next step was for a 'line tech' to come out (again, nothing to do with the problem) so it get get escalated to a HE tech. he also stated that the average latency has to be above a certain amount or they won't bother with it.

All this is affecting my VoIP service (not Spectrums) with intermittent choppy or poor audio. I also see issues with studdering video from U-Tube. This is another reason for the 16 vs 8 channel question; could that help any of this. [/QUOTE]

 

[videobruce]

And they wonder why they are loosing customers.

 

[videobruce]

delete

 

[mnewsham]

I don't want to go that route due to the amount of equipment needed for the conversion from fiber to RF. and the associated 'stand-by' power used

Your main reason for not switching to FiOS is idle power draw of the equipment (mainly the ONT i'm assuming?) Older style ONTs from ~8 years ago used ~16w 24/7, or 140kWh a year. In my state that's less than $15 a year in electricity to convert fiber to ethernet.

From there you've got your normal power draw associated with ISP devices (normal wifi router power draw, normal TV set top box power draw, etc).

So i'm really not sure where you think some expensive power hungry process comes into play here, there simply isn't one.

And for under $100 a month, you really can't beat the speeds they offer.

There are other reasons you might not want to switch to FiOS, but power draw shouldn't even register as one.

 

[videobruce]

I didn't imply that it was "power hungry", but it was far more than a simple, small modem.

Since you brought it up, anyone here actually measured the current model Verizon furnished ONT power consumption with a "Kill a Watt" or similar device which is extremely easy to do?

 

[mnewsham]

I didn't imply that it was "power hungry", but it was far more than a simple, small modem.

Since you brought it up, anyone here actually measured the current model Verizon furnished ONT power consumption with a "Kill a Watt" or similar device which is extremely easy to do?

Verizon currently uses 10 different ONT models for installations. Some are MDU (multi dwelling unit) or SFU (single family unit) and some SOHO (small office/Home office).

So it depends on your installation type, and location.


But you can assume it's going to be somewhere in the realm of 20w at most for a residential ONT.


And Verizon FiOS is also trialing an all in one ONT/Router combo unit so you would no longer need to have an exterior mounted ONT, it would be fed directly with a fiber drop. The new ONT unit will also allow 2gbps down and 1.25gbps up, though it is unlikely to be useful considering FiOS currently only offers up to 1gbps for residential customers, and it only has 1gbps ethernet ports, so you're still capped at a single client device getting 1gbps speeds.

 

[videobruce]

Since we are talking about single family, that would be it. I don't know what/where the difference between a home office vs family would be unless there is a fee difference which I don't know how they could/would differentiate the two. IOW's a typical excuse to charge more for the same thing.

Every Verizon FiOS equipment install I have seen was in the basement.

 

[mnewsham]

Since we are talking about single family, that would be it. I don't know what/where the difference between a home office vs family would be unless there is a fee difference which I don't know how they could/would differentiate the two. IOW's a typical excuse to charge more for the same thing.

Every Verizon FiOS equipment install I have seen was in the basement.

SOHO ONTs have an extra ethernet out and maybe another phone line as well to support a static IP and a dedicated office phone line or similar use.

Installation just depends on your house layout, i've seen ONTs put in the living room.

 

[videobruce]

I forgot about the 'phone' portion.