Need suggestions for a new cable modem

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thecoolnessrune

thecoolnessrune

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2005
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Alright, to those few that remember the thread I posted a day or two ago, here was the start of my quandary

Hey everybody, I'm going to try to lay this out as absolutely plainly as possible.

This involves 2 homes in two different towns, a single DIR-655 router, and pinpointing why it works at one location and not another.

Both homes feature:

Charter cable internet.

Motorola Surfboard 5100 Cable Modems.

A single desktop connected to them using Windows Vista.

Previous routers connecting to the broadband just fine.



Differences include:

The place where the internet does work has a much shoddier connection (the connection tends to disconnect alot, even when the modem is directly connected to the computer. It has nothing to do with the router.)

Working home features a Linksys WRT-54GS as its previous router, whereas the nonworking home features a Sorenson VS-200 router (rebadged D-link DI series router designed for videophone for deaf services so it has custom firmware with QOS prioritization to the Sorenson VP-200 videophone thats on the network, which in itself is a rebadged D-link eye2eye videophone with custom firmware).


So this all started with my SO's friend. The friend's entire famiily (including herself) is deaf, hence the need for the videophone equipment. Well the friend got a new laptop for her birthday and hearing about me, wondered if i would come and set it up for her. Sure, it's a friend of my SO so why not. Well, I am familiar with the Sorenson products (my SO's parents are also deaf and have a videophone / router system) so I knew she wouldn't have wireless which she wanted.) So I tell her she needs a router with wireless and she settles on the D-Link DIR-655 because she wants Draft N support (yes she knows its draft, but she likes the speeds and wants it and its her money regardless). It's a pretty nice unit even if it is expensive.

So I go over and look at the settings of the Sorenson router. All basic stuff. DHCP client setup with no hostname, IP address of 192.168.0.100 for the DHCP client table. You can tell its router stock settings, no customizations. So I'm thinkin piece of cake right? Sigh* wrong.

I hook up the DIR-655 and one desktop computer and it all starts lighting up, but no connection, the router alternates on "Cable Status:" between "Connected" and "Disconnected". I do a firmware upgrade to 1.20, nothing. I change IP addresses, nothing. I call D-Link support, they tell me the unit must be bad cause they can't figure out whats wrong either. I switch back to the Sorenson router, it connects right up within a minute. Connect to the DIR-655, nothing. I power cycle the modem, nothing. Power cycle the router, nothing. Power cycle both, nothing. Curse, nothing. Hook back up the Sorenson, it works just fine. BLAST!

So at this point I'm pretty frustrated and take the unit with me back here to see if it works. I get it all hooked up to this one desktop and after a few seconds it's online. I'm even making this post on it. So I'm trying to figure out what the difference is here. Both homes use charter cable, both use Motorola Surfboard 5100 modems, both have just one desktop connected. Can anyone make any suggestions on why it wouldn't connect to the other home before I have to go back over there?
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Well, I racked my brain over and over again on it and even talked with charter support for 2 hours (Thank God I got an intelligent, American woman to help me). But still to no avail. So at this point, I'm starting to wonder if the modem is bad. (The deaf family had purchased the modem themselves, rather than rent from Charter). The modem, as said, was a Motorola Surfboard SB5101. After the charter technician came to service the modem, I made a new topic here stating:


Hey again guys, I'm afraid I dont have much time right now to go into details. I have 8 days left in my stay in Wisconsin and during that time there was a death in my SO's family yesterday and I've been trying to help the past couple days with getting this deaf family's internet working wirelessly (parents of the friend of my SO).

Anyways, a charter tech came out today and we found out the modem was bad. They had bought it themselves, a Motorola Surfboard 5101. It's about 3 years old. The charter tech hooked them up to a rental modem and the dlink router I'd had so much trouble with worked instantly after a MAC address clone.

But they don't want to rent that modem each month and would rather buy one. So should they just get another Surfboard? Or is there a different cable modem that would work better. Just needs cable in, ethernet out, and handling 5Mbps cable. Anything else is just frivolties that aren't fully necessary. Bonus points if it can be purchased from Best Buy but I will try to open them up to other suggestions as well.

Thanks Guys!
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The tech couldn't find anything wrong but the second he hooked up the test modem the network took hold immediately. The old modem wont release and renew an IP address nor accept any other router other than the one it's always been connected to. So they rented the router for the month and we'll be picking a new Motorola Surfboard 5101 on Friday (have to work around this death in the SO's family).

I'll update everyone when I get it all sorted out hopefully Friday. And thank you to everyone for the help. I really appreciated it.


FINAL EDIT:

New modem (Motorola Surfboard SB5101) was bought today, installed and activated. Router immediately connected without issues. It was indeed the modem causing the problems.

Thanks everybody for the help!
 
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