Broadband modem suggestions

[Andrew Wonser]

Need a suggestion for a good modem to replace the one I'm currently renting from my ISP and put that money towards a DVR. I was looking a while back at a Motorola (Company that makes the modem I have now) wireless cable modem. My problem now is that I would like to ditch Charter and go with a DSL service but for right now that service is not available. So what I'm looking for is a broadband modem, wireless or not, that can accept either services.

[disarm]

are you looking for cable or DSL?  you'll have to choose for now because you can't buy a modem that will do both...

[Daehawk]

Hard to believe andyone would go from cable to dsl volunteerly. DSL is so much slower...though it is cheaper.

[drifter]

actually daehawk it varies.  I had cable and DSL at the same time for over a year.  I downloaded a bit faster on the cable connection but had consistently a lower ping to servers on the DSL side.  By a faster download a good sized file might take a minute longer to download on the DSL versus the cable, something like a gamedemo I mean.

I ditched cable and switched to satellite and DSL; in doing so I lowered what I pay by about $25/month.

[Daehawk]

I dont understand why you must keep 2 different services? Would it not be a lot cheaper to have a single type?

[stiffler]

I dont understand why you must keep 2 different services? Would it not be a lot cheaper to have a single type?

Not necessarily.  If I ditched my cable company and went two plans (satellite and DSL) I would probably save the same amount.

I think my cable internet costs twice as much as a cheap DSL plan.

[Andrew Wonser]

are you looking for cable or DSL?  you'll have to choose for now because you can't buy a modem that will do both...

I had a feeling that might be the case, but figured I'd ask anyway.

Essentially this is my situation. I'm currently getting Tv and Cable through Charter which I really have no complaints service wise. My problem really lies in how much it costs me. I'm currently paying 40 for 3mb down 256 up and then another 60 for digital cable. I would love to get rid of my cable service and go with a satellite as it would be cheaper but here lies the problem. Charter is the only broadband that currently reaches my home (Qwest may eventually) so I would end up keeping them as my ISP but since I would no longer have their cable service my internet would increase by another 10 making the satellite move to save money a moot point. I'm also currently renting a modem from Charter for 5 dollars a month. While it may cost me more money in the short term to buy one, in the long run it would save me money.
Essentually I'm stuck in a catch-22. I can't leave Charter and get Dish (or whatever) because it wouldn't save me any money and I can't get Dish because there are no other broadband providers in my area.

As far as speeds. I'm never really hitting my peak speed (I'm hitting 1.5mb right now). Especially with the majority of the bandwidth I consume (Torrents). The only downside to DSLs is that they don't seem to offer anything above a 128kb up.

I would really like to get a lower tier for my digital cable service but they have them manuvered in such a way that I have to stay where I am if I want to keep certain channels.

[drifter]

daehawk,  I had bellsouth DSL free for a year so I kept both.  My cable company had been bought by a larger one and I had 2 IP's grandfathered to me that I did not want to lose.  The dsl was free so I used both for that time.

[unbreakable]

I would go with whatever you can get cheapest from a good company, like Westell, Linksys, D-Link, Motorola, or whoever.  Actually, your ISP probably has a list of recommended companies/models on their support site.

IMO, stay away from 'combo' modem/routers.  I have had my Netgear wireless router blow out four or five times already, but Ive been using the same cable modem (a D-Link) for the past five years or so.  I also had a Westell DSL modem for three years before I got cable, and no problems.  Yeah, it sucks when the router goes out, but at least Im not TOTALLY off the grid, so to speak.

As far as getting a router, I have to highly recommend Linksys, and specifically the WRT54G (or WRT54GS if you want to spend a bit more for the 'speedboost' equipment).  I have installed that stuff for home network clients, and am very happy with Linksys as far as their router, PCI, and PCMCIA cards.  

I cannot recommend the NetGear, even though I use one at home, just because it goes defective every year or so.  I -will- say their warranty and tech support is really good (their support is obviously in an Indian call center), but I would rather have the router not break than get a new one every 1-2 years.  And thats the funny thing about their warranty- once I get the replacement, the warranty starts over again, because it is a 'new' router!  So until one can last 3 years before dying, I am going to be a NetGear customer.  BTW, the NetGear PCI version SUCKS, and I have never gotten it to work.  It could be a boxed and shipped defective, but Im not using it, so Im not really worried.

I have yet to find a USB wireless NIC I can recommend: the one Linksys version I tried wouldnt work, even when sitting right next to the access point.  It may have possibly been a defective model, but there have been a few complaints on the internet regarding that one as well.