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Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

routersecurity.org

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Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#41

Post by jamestimmins »

trimbo wrote: post #37
OkGoDoIt wrote: post #21

I wish. I own my own modem and router, but Comcast won’t let me use them unless I pay a whole bunch of extra fees or accept a stupidly low monthly data cap. I’ve got my router downstream of theirs which is a bit annoying, especially considering their modem-router combo overheats and needs to be rebooted via unplugging power at least once a month. Sadly I have no other options here in San Francisco. My house is not wi…

I live in SF and Comcast doesn't charge me to have my own router. I pay $130 for 1.4gbit and unlimited data. It's expensive but I also have no other choices. Sonic stops only one block over and we haven't been able to convince them to wire up my block.

I'm so jealous of SF internet options.

In LA I pay $105 for "supposedly" 2-300mbit, but this week I've been seeing 30.

I keep looking for alternatives but haven't found any in my area.

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#42

Post by xyst »

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #21

I wish. I own my own modem and router, but Comcast won’t let me use them unless I pay a whole bunch of extra fees or accept a stupidly low monthly data cap. I’ve got my router downstream of theirs which is a bit annoying, especially considering their modem-router combo overheats and needs to be rebooted via unplugging power at least once a month. Sadly I have no other options here in San Francisco. My house is not wi…

The crappiness of national ISPs is a feature, not a bug. ISPs have lobbied at state and federal levels to get their way. In many states, they have lobbied _for_ the ban of municipal ISPs.

Then between major ISPs they have under the table agreements to avoid competing in certain areas. This impacts all types of residential areas - suburban, urban, and rural. I believe it’s much worse in rural areas.

Why bother with providing good customer service or improving? They know you have no other choice.

Cellular networks functioning as ISPs have provided _some_ relief in this aspect but comes with its own drawbacks (congestion can get bad and you get throttled, and latency tends to be shitty all around).

The ideal municipal ISP I have seen is in Chattanooga TN. They (EPB) offer _residential_ customers symmetrical access starting at 1000 Mbps, up to 25,000Mbps. [1]

The 1gig plan is cheaper than GFi er and 2.5G plan is competitive.

Plus this money is kept within the ecosystem of this area. Creates high paying jobs. Profits reinvested into network rather than stock buybacks or some C-level executive that “super commutes” in a private jet.

[1] https://epb.com/fi-speed-internet/?#choose-your-plan

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#44

Post by xyst »

veilrap wrote: post #30
OkGoDoIt wrote: post #21

I wish. I own my own modem and router, but Comcast won’t let me use them unless I pay a whole bunch of extra fees or accept a stupidly low monthly data cap. I’ve got my router downstream of theirs which is a bit annoying, especially considering their modem-router combo overheats and needs to be rebooted via unplugging power at least once a month. Sadly I have no other options here in San Francisco. My house is not wi…

I'm surprised by this, is Comcast super regional with it's restrictions? I have a Comcast 1gig plan in the Bay Area, and last I checked I get a small ($5?) discount for using my own modem. I've been on the plan for a least a few years now... so alternatively maybe I'm grandfathered in or something? Or maybe some Comcast sales person was lying to you about your options?

You probably live in a zip code where ISP choice is an option l. Thus not getting bent like parent comment

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#45

Post by s1mon »

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #21

I wish. I own my own modem and router, but Comcast won’t let me use them unless I pay a whole bunch of extra fees or accept a stupidly low monthly data cap. I’ve got my router downstream of theirs which is a bit annoying, especially considering their modem-router combo overheats and needs to be rebooted via unplugging power at least once a month. Sadly I have no other options here in San Francisco. My house is not wi…

We used to be stuck with Comcast, but we had no trouble using our own modem and router.

We moved from lower Nob Hill to Russian Hill and were finally able to get fiber from Sonic. We went from ~300Mbps down to 1G (more like 750Mbps) and from $137/month to $50/month. Oh and it’s symmetric, very much unlike cable. So happy to get rid of Comcast.

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#46

Post by iknowstuff »

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #21

I wish. I own my own modem and router, but Comcast won’t let me use them unless I pay a whole bunch of extra fees or accept a stupidly low monthly data cap. I’ve got my router downstream of theirs which is a bit annoying, especially considering their modem-router combo overheats and needs to be rebooted via unplugging power at least once a month. Sadly I have no other options here in San Francisco. My house is not wi…

Just accept that xFi, the $30 additional fee or whatever it is, is just part of the price. If you’re not a normie you should probably just pay it and get a decent experience. Comcast is a monopolist but there are worse experiences out there than 1.4Gbit down/50Mbps up.

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#47

Post by perching_aix »

Bit difficult to reconcile with reality in case you e.g. have to use the ISP's router or even just their SFP modules, which are really like a router in your router in a sense, and are common in fiber installations to my knowledge, as using a different one can cause issues for other subscribers on the same passive connection.

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#48

Post by tempestn »

Owning your own router also helps avoid lock-in. I just switched ISPs and it was relatively painless since I could just plug my router into the new box, maintaining all my config. (At least in theory; since all ISPs are terrible, they misconfigured their own modem, so I had to figure out how to log in and switch it to bridge mode. But after that, painless...)

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#49

Post by doctorpangloss »

trimbo wrote: post #37
OkGoDoIt wrote: post #21

I wish. I own my own modem and router, but Comcast won’t let me use them unless I pay a whole bunch of extra fees or accept a stupidly low monthly data cap. I’ve got my router downstream of theirs which is a bit annoying, especially considering their modem-router combo overheats and needs to be rebooted via unplugging power at least once a month. Sadly I have no other options here in San Francisco. My house is not wi…

I live in SF and Comcast doesn't charge me to have my own router. I pay $130 for 1.4gbit and unlimited data. It's expensive but I also have no other choices. Sonic stops only one block over and we haven't been able to convince them to wire up my block.

You do have a choice, it's Astound, and you're about to save like $1,000.

Re: Avoid ISP Routers (2024)

#50

Post by thowawatp302 »

pyuser583 wrote: post #6

The part about a cockroach colony is a bit unfair. Insects love electronics, with the heat and noise they generate. And when electronics sit in storage for a long time, the critters can crawl in from neighboring items. This is just as likely to happen with a non-ISP router. Ok, in all fairness I don’t have any stats to back up that claim. But nobody else does either. That open source router you love so much may have…

If you can’t actually refute this then why say anything in the first place?
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