Considering dropping DSL modem rental, bad idea?

[aquilles10]

Yup. You could recoup your money in no time. In the ten years I've had DSL, only one modem has died on me. They are cheap on ebay, so I think the rental fee is a waste of money.

[davec]

RgG, Trouble, lafinfil, marksomebodyelse, nwyaker- thanks for your posts. I have no experience with setting up a DSL modem. Would I be wise to purchase an exact match for the modem they are proposing to rent to me? Are there other makes/models I should consider? Could I expect this to be plug-n-play or would there be some instructions for setting it up that I could find on the internet?

Thanks for your input!

Dave

[rgG]

Another thought, since your old modem is working fine, see if they will give it to you, or sell it to you for cheap. They are just going to junk it if they sell you on a new one.

[DaviDC.]

I fried my Netgear wireless router a few years ago so a friend gave me a wireless Westell modem he'd talked BellSouth out of.

There are plenty of used modems/routers out there.

[Bill in NC]

Buy buy buy.

See if they'll sell you your current modem for a small fee.

I switched to a Westell combo modem/wireless router years ago- paid $30 off ebay for it.

[davec]

RgG-Thanks! I will see if they would sell or give me the old modem. It is working, so there would be no set up hassles. DavidDC-not knowing much about modems, when switching modem brands was there much of a set up hassle?

Thanks for your posts!
Dave

[lafinfil]

There really is very little set up if you use a separate modem/router instead of the combo.
Every modem I've had from Verizon or Frontier was a Westell (FWIW)

phone line >>> MODEM >>> cat5 cable >>>>ROUTER >>> cat5 cable >>>> Mac

In System Preference go to Network and run the set up then surf!

When I installed the combo unit I had to have the tech walk me through a bunch of settings for bridging
and other secret settings. Buy the stand alone modem and avoid that headache

[space-time]

PM if you want a a modem, just pay shipping. I think I still have one in the attic, although the power supply might be missing. it takes anything between 11-18 V DC< so you should have no trouble finding a power supply. I think it's a SpedStream 5260 (IIRC)

[numbered]

Definitely buy a modem, especially since you already have the router in the Airport. Something like this will serve you well.

The only issue is that you do not want dhcp from both the modem (acting as a router) and the Airport. I am not sure how it is configured out of the box, but you may have to turn off the dhcp on the modem (which is easy from a web browser.)

[decocritter]

I "bought" my westell modem in 3 installments when I first got Bellsouth/ATT. It is still working after 5 years.