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Can you recommend a cable modem?

murphy55d

murphy55d

Lifer
Hey guys, my cable company recently upped the price of renting my cable modem, so I am in the market to just buy one.

Is there really much of a difference between them? I'd like to stick with ethernet rather than USB... Linksys? 3com? US robotics? what do you suggest? The one I rent from the cable co is a 3com home connect. also, what's a good price? I checked pricewatch..I guess the going rate is ~$90?

Thanks in advance for all your help. It's much appreciated.
 
I have a Toshiba PCX1000 Cable Modem. Ethernet. I'm not sure about the price as it came with my service (I got free hardware, activation, plus free month) but I like it. No complaints. Good speed. However, I really dont have much to compare it to.
 
Well I see newegg has the Toshiba PCX1100U for 99 bucks. USB or ethernet...I suppose thats a decent price.

Anyone else?
 
How much does the actual modem account for in up/down speed? Will there be a difference in up/down from 1 modem to another, or is it all the same just depending on the speed of the actual connection?

Also what kind of speed difference is there from ethernet to USB?
 
Well depending on how well your cable signal and traffic in your node is how fast of a connection you will have. I have used 2 different calbe modems, one being a Com21 and the other the RCA one. Com21 was nothing but headackes and the speed was horrible. I ended up having all my cable in my house replaced since it was about 20 years old and was able to get a RCA cable modem. The RCA proved to be much better than the Com21 in terms of stability and speed. You should have little trouble with either the RCA or toshiba cable modems. As far as USB or ethernet, I would go with ethernet. Ethernet will allow you to hook up the modem to a router for connection sharing and also has a lot less trouble than USB.
 
I have a SurfBoard SB4100 from the now defunct @home. It's ethernet and it works fine, no complaints.
 
I've used the Motorola SB3100, Toshiba PCX1100U, and the new Linksys BEFCMU10. All of them work fine, except I didn't really like the Toshiba, I think it only supports 10BastT. But that shouldn't matter so Just get one that works with your provider.
 


<< I've used the Motorola SB3100, Toshiba PCX1100U, and the new Linksys BEFCMU10. All of them work fine, except I didn't really like the Toshiba, I think it only supports 10BastT. But that shouldn't matter so Just get one that works with your provider. >>



All cable modems only have a 10BaseT port.
 


<< the toshiba has a usb port too >>



I second that on the Toshiba. Doomguy is incorrect. You can use the 10baseT or USB port on it. 10baseT operates up to 10Mb/s and USB up to 12Mb/s.
 
I'm sorry what I meant is there are no cable modems with a faster than 10megabit connecter. I actually own the Toshiba. My brother owns the Motorola SB4100.

Don't use USB for your cable modem, it'll waste your cpu cycles and will be slower.
 
Thanks for all your input everyone. I'm going to call my cable co today and check out which are compatible, then I'll go from there.

I'm leaning towards the Toshiba right now, based on your thoughts and a few other forum threads I read at various broadband sites.

Thank you all again. 🙂
 
I have time warner Road Runner.
The first 2 cable modems they gave me were Toshiba 1100u and they both burned out after about 3 months. Then they gave me a Motorola SB4100 which has not had a single problem for over a year. VERY happy.
 
Well I got off the phone with them and they said I can use whatever I want as long as its upgradable. I suppose firmware wise, the lady on the phone didn't go into much detail there. Basically if Charter decides to upgrade their systems or whatever my modem needs to be compatible. I would assume that applies to basically any modem out there.
 
I have AT&T BB (formely MediaOne). Was renting the Toshiba 1100 modem. Then it started acting up. Eventually all the lights on the modem stayed on. So AT&T sent a tech out on Sunday (YES Sunday morning). Swapped out the modem and he was on his way.

Thats one of the perks of renting than owning. He ended up giving me a 3com modem. Looks like a sharks fin. Ugly thing but it works fine. I since then put the modem and router in the closet and wired my computer room with one of those 6 port jacks (where you can put coax, phone and data ports on). Looks realy slick and unclutters my desk.
 
The SB4100 actually has a 10/100 mbps WAN port. Not that it really matters since most service caps are far below 10 mbps let alone 100 mbps. It's even worse than the "need" for a 133 MB/S hard disk interface with a drive that has a beginning STR of 38 MB/S! 🙂

Cheers!
 
powa, that is the one I have now. the 3Com "SharkFin". I'm actually now considering just keeping the rental...

Undecided now. 😕
 
Yah Its a toss up. Had I purchased the modem then I would be stuck in buying another one. Plus they are coming out with the new DOCSIS cert. next year. AT&T Comcast are planning on offering Tier services where you can actually purchase cable modem service at different rates like you do with DSL.
 
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