[SOLVED] if replace comcast modem does that mean no tech suppot

[luckydriver]

my friend has comcast triple play and has continual connectivity issues. ive personally been in the next room with one of the kids phones and lost signal. modem is literally in the middle of the house so at least 1st floor should be perfect connections. i told her a solution is a better modem router and she would break even on rental cost in just 2 years. she fears though if she has issues with internet that comcast will say you dont have their modem and tough luck no troubleshooting. i said now you have sporadic wifi anyway, how much worse can it be

so i was wondering what your experience was with troubleshooting a customer owned modem with comcast. she has zero tech abiltity so its all on me or comcast

 

[bill001g]

They generally don't provide much support on the router part anyway. If it would break then it just saves you the cost.

This is one of the reasons you get a separate modem and router. That way if you want you can rent just the modem form them and use a better router. You can verify the connection by plugging directly into the modem which will show if it is the router causing the issue.

With so called triple play I think that means it has a phone line in it. There are many more restriction on what you can own/replace than just a simple internet. I know many of the devices that have phone lines have batteries in them which increases the cost. Unless they REALLY want a land line I would cancel the phone part and use cell phones only. There are many other voice option that are a fraction of the cost of the ones from ISP. Google voice used to be /is ? free. There are many inexpensive VoIP solutions. You need some box to hook old analog phones to one of common one people used was magicjack but there are much better ones. You can get service from many places. Years ago we used to use skype.

 

[luckydriver]

when you cancel triple the rates shoot up to make up the difference and she will not do it.. but regardles they dont do tech in that house. so i cannot get them to cancel the 2 landlines. they would need a voice modem along with the internet modem and new router.

i dont actually know if just renting modem is less or not. she never asked them. from what ive read all the mesh systems you can buy have new router with them so i guess could just plug that into the existing but to me seems like paying 2x for something.

 

[USAFRet]

On the topic of "landline", I use Ooma.
Approx $5/month. Never a problem or drop, have had it for 6-7 years.

 

[luckydriver]

i did ooma myself and like it. but shes in contract so even if wanted to get out cannot.

 

[luckydriver]

my friend is blind. cannot do any tech support. her mom is old. cannot see or do tech. i need to make this ez for them but she wont even consider getting rid of the other modem cause is convinced comcast wont service them if they get their own stuff. plus is a lot up front cost. i wouldnt even know what could take care of phone and internet while doign better than the existing unit

 

[gggplaya]

Yes, from my experience comcast tech support will blame your equipment if it's not working right.

Now for the modem, if it's an approved modem, comcast has a firmware image file for each modem and it automatically uploads to the modem based on whatever tier speed you buy. They have some way to remotely see things on approved modems like they do their own equipment.

As for the router/wifi, they literally can't do anything and blame your equipment the first chance they get in my experience helping friends convert away from rental fees.

In my experience, with the situation your friends are in. I do think it's best that they rent their equipment so comcast will continue to offer full tech support. Now if it's a super longtime family friend and you can be on call to always offer instant tech support. Then they can make the switch, but if you're not that type of friend. It would be better for them to rent.