My Dad is moving from ATT to Comcast for faster internet, what modem/router combo should I buy him?

[advanced3]

If you live in any of these states with Comcast you're capped at 1Tb a month (extra fees for going over). You can add unlimited data for an additional $50 a month. That $50 you have to pay regardless if you even go over the 1tb limit.

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• New Mexico
• Western Ohio
• Oregon
• Tennessee
• Texas
• South Carolina
• Utah
• Southwest Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin

 

[newtekie1]

If you live in any of these states you're capped at 1Tb a month (extra fees for going over). You can add unlimited data for an additional $50 a month. That $50 you have to pay regardless if you even go over the 1tb limit.

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• New Mexico
• Western Ohio
• Oregon
• Tennessee
• Texas
• South Carolina
• Utah
• Southwest Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin

wifi

Xfinity WiFi by Comcast offers internet on-the-go service at millions of hotspots. Find the fastest Xfinity WiFi hotspot near you!

www.xfinity.com

If you go to that page, and scroll down to the "XFI ADVANTAGE WiFi with and advantage" section where it lists the benefits, if it lists Unlimited Data then signing up to rent the $15 xFi modem gives you unlimited data at no extra charge. But this doesn't apply to all areas(the west coast doesn't get this). So if the unlimited data part doesn't show up, then the $15 modem rental doesn't come with unlmited data and you have to pay the $50.

 

[eidairaman1]

It sounds to me like you are confusing cell service with your home cable Internet service. Wifi is inside your own LAN only. Your own LAN is everyone on your side of the gateway device (typically the modem). Once you hit the Internet/ISP side of your modem, the ISP does not care if your device is connecting via wifi or Ethernet. It's all the same to them.

On the cell phone side, if your phone connects to your wifi when you are home, you don't exceed your cell limits because you are going over your cable connection and not through the cell system.

My point is, if your Internet provider is telling you you have unlimited data, it should not matter if you connect to your modem via wireless (wifi) or Ethernet (wired).

When unlimited data it will at somepoint drop speed too, its an ambiguous term cell/isps uses

 

[Space Lynx]

wifi

Xfinity WiFi by Comcast offers internet on-the-go service at millions of hotspots. Find the fastest Xfinity WiFi hotspot near you!

www.xfinity.com

If you go to that page, and scroll down to the "XFI ADVANTAGE WiFi with and advantage" section where it lists the benefits, if it lists Unlimited Data then signing up to rent the $15 xFi modem gives you unlimited data at no extra charge. But this doesn't apply to all areas(the west coast doesn't get this). So if the unlimited data part doesn't show up, then the $15 modem rental doesn't come with unlmited data and you have to pay the $50.

it says in fine print at the bottom of that link that unlimited data costs extra even with the xfi advantage.. its very confusing. Have you actually gone well over 1TB in data? Can you confirm no extra billing? Or have you not gone over the 1TB data? i called comcast and they said we will still have the 1tb cap unless we pay the 50. don't know, think I might tell my dad to cancel this whole thing, comcast just seems shady as crap, and last time I dealt with them 5 years ago it took a good 11 hours of phone time to cancel. might just tell my dad to stick with ATT, its slow, but no data cap and it works fine. so yeah I think we might back out of comcast now

 

[GLD]

AT&T (All The Taxes) dsl is a thing of the past. I had it for many years. It was clearly the better option over dial up at the time, but it was craptastically intermittent pretty much the whole time, and I moved with it between 3 address.

I have been on Xfinity now for a couple of years. I have never gone over, or come close to the 1Tb monthly cap. We stream vid in the waking hours and I dl some AAA game titles some times. I am not a mad internet pirate dl'ing the entire internet though, lol.

DSL suxxs ballz.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Of course, and that statement makes sense if you only read the tiny part of my post that you quoted. You quoted half a sentence and then responded to it like the second half didn't exist. Who does that?!?

The rented modem pays for itself and then some every single month.

Didn't mean to offend. But you still have not explained why wifi data limits (or no limits) would be different from Ethernet on the LAN side of the network. That was the main point my comment went back to. Sorry I did not explain that well.

It makes no sense wifi would be unlimited but Ethernet is limited. None of that has anything to do with the modem. That's all on the router side. Why would the ISP care if you watch Netflix with your Ethernet connected Roku or your wifi connected Roku? The same movie takes up the same amount of bandwidth. 100MB of data through the modem part of the gateway device is 100MB of data, regardless if it is eventually handed off to the Ethernet switch, or to the WAP.

It is none of the ISP's business how you connect to your side of your local area network.

 

[Space Lynx]

AT&T (All The Taxes) dsl is a thing of the past. I had it for many years. It was clearly the better option over dial up at the time, but it was craptastically intermittent pretty much the whole time, and I moved with it between 3 address.

I have been on Xfinity now for a couple of years. I have never gone over, or come close to the 1Tb monthly cap. We stream vid in the waking hours and I dl some AAA game titles some times. I am not a mad internet pirate dl'ing the entire internet though, lol.

DSL suxxs ballz.

I bought Shadow of War for $17 definitive edition off newegg last week, 150gb download on steam... add in another 60gb because I wanted to play shadow of mordor again, add in 5 people doing netflix 4k and youtube 4k (mostly 1440p though)... its very very easy to go over 1TB if you have 5 people sharing. 1TB on my own would be doable though yeah.

edit: forgot to mention I plan to get Google Stadia, so 4k 60 fps game streaming... I did the beta for Stadia and it was honestly not that bad. I also have Microsoft Xbox Game Pass for $5 a month, which is loads more gigabytes, a quick 7 hour game like Metro Exodus was a good 45gb if I remember. It adds up fast.

Didn't mean to offend. But you still have not explained why wifi data limits (or no limits) would be different from Ethernet on the LAN side of the network. That was the main point my comment went back to. Sorry I did not explain that well.

It makes no sense wifi would be unlimited but Ethernet is limited. None of that has anything to do with the modem. That's all on the router side. Why would the ISP care if you watch Netflix with your Ethernet connected Roku or your wifi connected Roku? The same movie takes up the same amount of bandwidth. 100MB of data through the modem part of the gateway device is 100MB of data, regardless if it is eventually handed off to the Ethernet switch, or to the WAP.

It is none of the ISP's business how you connect to your side of your local area network.

give him time, @newtekie1 just isn't online at the moment. hopefully he can clarify.

 

[newtekie1]

it says in fine print at the bottom of that link that unlimited data costs extra even with the xfi advantage.. its very confusing. Have you actually gone well over 1TB in data? Can you confirm no extra billing? Or have you not gone over the 1TB data? i called comcast and they said we will still have the 1tb cap unless we pay the 50. don't know, think I might tell my dad to cancel this whole thing, comcast just seems shady as crap, and last time I dealt with them 5 years ago it took a good 11 hours of phone time to cancel. might just tell my dad to stick with ATT, its slow, but no data cap and it works fine. so yeah I think we might back out of comcast now

No, that's not what that says. It says Unlimited data is available to all customers, in other words those that don't sign up for xFi, for an additional charge.

And, yeah I signed up for xFi last month and hit almost 2TB of data usage.

Didn't mean to offend. But you still have not explained why wifi data limits (or no limits) would be different from Ethernet on the LAN side of the network. That was the main point my comment went back to. Sorry I did not explain that well.

What? You quoted my post, which has nothing at all to do with the data limits being different on WiFi and LAN, it was entirely about the cost of renting a modem, and your response 100% about why you should buy your own modem. It had nothing to do with data usage, or WiFi vs LAN data usage. That came up later in the conversation.

AND I actually did explain WiFi vs LAN data. Yeah, I didn't say exactly why they would do it this way if they did do it this way, how would I even know why they would do that?* I don't work for the company, I don't know why they do the things they do. But I did say, technically, how it would be possible if they did, but I even specifically said they don't do it this way. Unlimited data is unlimited data with Comcast, it doesn't matter how you connect to use it.

It makes no sense wifi would be unlimited but Ethernet is limited. None of that has anything to do with the modem. That's all on the router side. Why would the ISP care if you watch Netflix with your Ethernet connected Roku or your wifi connected Roku? The same movie takes up the same amount of bandwidth. 100MB of data through the modem part of the gateway device is 100MB of data, regardless if it is eventually handed off to the Ethernet switch, or to the WAP.

It is none of the ISP's business how you connect to your side of your local area network.

This is why there is an * up above, because I wanted to continue that thought down here in response to this. First, I want to say that, I totally agree with you in principle. How you use the data shouldn't matter. However, the reality is corporations like Comcast do inane shit that makes no sense all the time. So it isn't completely crazy to think that Comcast might only only give unlimited data if you are connected through WiFi. It makes a little sense why a customer would be cautious about the xFi unlimited data and might even think it is WiFi only, and Comcast doesn't do a great job of clarifying it. The normal unlimited package is $50, xFi with Unlimited is only $15. Plus xFi is largely marketed as a WiFi thing. So it isn't crazy to put those two together and think that the cheaper $15 unlimited is WiFi only. Corporations do stupid shit, and if they think they can make an extra buck by screwing over the customer, they'll try it. I mean, there are cellular companies that offer unlimited data, but only if you watch videos at 480p, if you stream HD video you don't get unlimited data. That makes as little sense as Comcast saying you get unlimited data, but only if you use WiFi(again, not what they're doing.)

And, like I already said, it is technically possible for Comcast to track data usage on ethernet and WiFi separately if they wanted. Again, it all comes down to the fact that with xFi you have to use their gateway. It isn't just a modem, it is a modem and wireless router combo. They could, in theory, make a firmware for the xFi gateway that tracks data usage between the Wifi Interface and the WAN interface, and also tracks data usage between the ethernet interface and the WAN interface. They could track these two things separately, and report those two amounts. This isn't that far fetched of an idea, there are already consumer routers that do this. You can do it with DD-WRT and Tomato as well as things like pfSense. But I want to reiterate, this is not what comcast is doing. This is just how they could do it if they wanted to be truly evil bastards. God I hope no one from Comcast reads this...

 

[Space Lynx]

Spoiler: ok

No, that's not what that says. It says Unlimited data is available to all customers, in other words those that don't sign up for xFi, for an additional charge.

View attachment 128420

And, yeah I signed up for xFi last month and hit almost 2TB of data usage.



What? You quoted my post, which has nothing at all to do with the data limits being different on WiFi and LAN, it was entirely about the cost of renting a modem, and your response 100% about why you should buy your own modem. It had nothing to do with data usage, or WiFi vs LAN data usage. That came up later in the conversation.

AND I actually did explain WiFi vs LAN data. Yeah, I didn't say exactly why they would do it this way if they did do it this way, how would I even know why they would do that?* I don't work for the company, I don't know why they do the things they do. But I did say, technically, how it would be possible if they did, but I even specifically said they don't do it this way. Unlimited data is unlimited data with Comcast, it doesn't matter how you connect to use it.



This is why there is an * up above, because I wanted to continue that thought down here in response to this. First, I want to say that, I totally agree with you in principle. How you use the data shouldn't matter. However, the reality is corporations like Comcast do inane shit that makes no sense all the time. So it isn't completely crazy to think that Comcast might only only give unlimited data if you are connected through WiFi. It makes a little sense why a customer would be cautious about the xFi unlimited data and might even think it is WiFi only, and Comcast doesn't do a great job of clarifying it. The normal unlimited package is $50, xFi with Unlimited is only $15. Plus xFi is largely marketed as a WiFi thing. So it isn't crazy to put those two together and think that the cheaper $15 unlimited is WiFi only. Corporations do stupid shit, and if they think they can make an extra buck by screwing over the customer, they'll try it. I mean, there are cellular companies that offer unlimited data, but only if you watch videos at 480p, if you stream HD video you don't get unlimited data. That makes as little sense as Comcast saying you get unlimited data, but only if you use WiFi(again, not what they're doing.)

And, like I already said, it is technically possible for Comcast to track data usage on ethernet and WiFi separately if they wanted. Again, it all comes down to the fact that with xFi you have to use their gateway. It isn't just a modem, it is a modem and wireless router combo. They could, in theory, make a firmware for the xFi gateway that tracks data usage between the Wifi Interface and the WAN interface, and also tracks data usage between the ethernet interface and the WAN interface. They could track these two things separately, and report those two amounts. This isn't that far fetched of an idea, there are already consumer routers that do this. You can do it with DD-WRT and Tomato as well as things like pfSense. But I want to reiterate, this is not what comcast is doing. This is just how they could do it if they wanted to be truly evil bastards. God I hope no one from Comcast reads this...

can confirm. https://stopthecap.com/2019/03/04/c...unlimited-data-if-you-rent-their-15-hardware/

im doing this now, thanks newtekie for clarifying.

 

[AsRock]

As much as i would to say go with a Motorola who is owned by ARRIS now have been nothing but problematic over the last 6 months i have had a SB8200 fail and a SB6183 fail too, i have actually fallen back to the Motorola SB6121 which has been nothing but perfect other than aging.

I sent the 1st one back to walmart as it was withing the time limit, how ever the other i am waiting on ARRIS to still replace my other.

TBH sadly i think ARRIS are not making them as good as Motorola were.

Just got one from your local Walmart if you have one and then at least you can just take it back to the store if it fails within 30 days.

 

[moproblems99]

Because they charge you monthly to use it. Buying your own is a better solution.

For those speeds, you need a DOCSIS 3.1 modem, and it will have the “supported” service providers on the box. Personally, I’d get a separate modem and router as you can always upgrade one or the other to go faster when the time comes. My stuff in the PC room is wired and the rest of the house uses wireless through an ASUS AC-RH1300 that I paid a mere $40 for on eBay.

The modem I use escapes me, but it’s a Netgear, one of the highest they produce. It cost $120 (literally one year of renting before it’s saving you money) on eBay as well. They’re about $160 in store when I was shopping for a modem.

Off topic: my modem apparently supports 6 Gbps cable, yet only has a 1 Gbps Ethernet port.

I believe Comcast will charge you whether you use theirs or not. You may as well use theirs and save your money.

Edit: I can't find the article that I read and was confirmed by whatever company. It was either Comcast, Cox, or Frontier.

 

[newtekie1]

I believe Comcast will charge you whether you use theirs or not. You may as well use theirs and save your money.

Edit: I can't find the article that I read and was confirmed by whatever company. It was either Comcast, Cox, or Frontier.

Nah, I used my own for years. They don't charge you if you use your own.

 

[eidairaman1]

AT&T (All The Taxes) dsl is a thing of the past. I had it for many years. It was clearly the better option over dial up at the time, but it was craptastically intermittent pretty much the whole time, and I moved with it between 3 address.

I have been on Xfinity now for a couple of years. I have never gone over, or come close to the 1Tb monthly cap. We stream vid in the waking hours and I dl some AAA game titles some times. I am not a mad internet pirate dl'ing the entire internet though, lol.

DSL suxxs ballz.

I hear the same about comcast being crap.

Tbf its all in the installation

 

[grammar_phreak]

I have the DOCSIS 3.1, Netgear CX1100 and Netgear Nighthawk x6 ac3600....... super Costco on sale pack. If you walked into costco, that's what they'd have.

The crud part is I bought these on sale....... but the sale is over.

 

[Space Lynx]

I have the DOCSIS 3.1, Netgear CX1100 and Netgear Nighthawk x6 ac3600....... super Costco on sale pack. If you walked into costco, that's what they'd have.

The crud part is I bought these on sale....... but the sale is over.

noted. I am 100% certain I will be using Comcast's router and modem though, since it provides unlimited data.

Thanks again for the info @newtekie1

 

[TheMadDutchDude]

The only thing I can find about unlimited data means paying them an extra $50 per month. I don’t see it where they state you can use unlimited amounts using their modem/WiFi combo.

 

[advanced3]

Nah, I used my own for years. They don't charge you if you use your own.

They're not supposed to, but always check your monthly statement.

I supplied my own modem and router before my Gig service. The tech installed my Modem and called it in and had everything activated. He told them "he is using his own modem" and took the Comcast modem back out to his van. 6 months later my wife was looking at the bill and questioned me on why we were being billed for modem rental. I called up and the "BEST" they could do after charging me for 6 months was 2 months credit.....Ya.

Half of the problem with Comcast is they sub out the install. I have ALWAYS got someone who could barely speak/understand English, so it makes it that much more difficult. I am more than pissed with Comcast and if there was anyone else in my area I would switch in a second. Sure my download speeds are great, but the internet itself (gaming) is unusable due to so much packet loss. I am upset enough with the service that I may break my 2-year contract 6 months in.

I really only made the switch from their Blast (250/5) service that I had forever (and always worked perfect) to the Gig for the upload to stream anyways. Everyday between 9pm all the way to around 1am the internet takes a dump, my peak gaming hours. This issue has been ongoing for 3 months now.

Pinging Youtube during these hours. These should all be 15-20ms.

 

[eidairaman1]

They're not supposed to, but always check your monthly statement.

I supplied my own modem and router before my Gig service. The tech installed my Modem and called it in and had everything activated. He told them "he is using his own modem" and took the Comcast modem back out to his van. 6 months later my wife was looking at the bill and questioned me on why we were being billed for modem rental. I called up and the "BEST" they could do after charging me for 6 months was 2 months credit.....Ya.

Half of the problem with Comcast is they sub out the install. I have ALWAYS got someone who could barely speak/understand English, so it makes it that much more difficult. I am more than pissed with Comcast and if there was anyone else in my area I would switch in a second. Sure my download speeds are great, but the internet itself (gaming) is unusable due to so much packet loss. I am upset enough with the service that I may break my 2-year contract 6 months in.

I really only made the switch from their Blast (250/5) service that I had forever (and always worked perfect) to the Gig for the upload to stream anyways. Everyday between 9pm all the way to around 1am the internet takes a dump, my peak gaming hours. This issue has been ongoing for 3 months now.

Pinging Youtube during these hours. These should all be 15-20ms.

AT&T is the same way-outsourced.

If american companies such as these would keep their jobs in the us for call centers there wouldnt be this problem.

I mean Tmobile employ those who can understand and speak English fluently plus they don't make you have to navigate a stupid keypad menu like the VA does just to dpeak to a representative. FAA mandates people to read, understand and speak English too.

 

[newtekie1]

The only thing I can find about unlimited data means paying them an extra $50 per month. I don’t see it where they state you can use unlimited amounts using their modem/WiFi combo.

It varies by location. See here. It is the same website, but one loaded with my VPN connected through Chicago and another connected through LA. Comcast are sneaky assholes.

They're not supposed to, but always check your monthly statement.

Of course, their billing department makes tons of "mistakes".

I supplied my own modem and router before my Gig service. The tech installed my Modem and called it in and had everything activated. He told them "he is using his own modem" and took the Comcast modem back out to his van. 6 months later my wife was looking at the bill and questioned me on why we were being billed for modem rental. I called up and the "BEST" they could do after charging me for 6 months was 2 months credit.....Ya.

Half of the problem with Comcast is they sub out the install. I have ALWAYS got someone who could barely speak/understand English, so it makes it that much more difficult. I am more than pissed with Comcast and if there was anyone else in my area I would switch in a second. Sure my download speeds are great, but the internet itself (gaming) is unusable due to so much packet loss. I am upset enough with the service that I may break my 2-year contract 6 months in.

The installers aren't the problem, they aren't even the problem in your case. It's the billing department that's shit.

 

[TheMadDutchDude]

It varies as some states won’t allow such a BS charge to take place. I wish they’d do that everywhere... but I’ve yet to go over my 1TB limit, even after downloading multiple 80GB games.

 

[64K]

Comcast is great.......until you need help from customer service or a technician to come out and do something. They've gotten a little better since they now have some competition here but some of the employees have been around for decades and they still have a little attitude like they used to when it was either Comcast Broadband or DSL or 56K.

 

[shovenose]

"The cable operator is offering customers in parts of its Central Division its xFi Advanced Gateway "

Not available in all places. For example, in California, this is not available. I guess I'll pay the $50/mo for unlimited data :'(

 

[eidairaman1]

It varies by location. See here. It is the same website, but one loaded with my VPN connected through Chicago and another connected through LA. Comcast are sneaky assholes.



Of course, their billing department makes tons of "mistakes".



The installers aren't the problem, they aren't even the problem in your case. It's the billing department that's shit.

However installers are responsible for reporting details.

 

[Bill_Bright]

What? You quoted my post, which has nothing at all to do with the data limits being different on WiFi and LAN,

And I already apologized (which you quoted, BTW ) for not clearly stating my point. What more do you want? My first born? I said "Sorry I did not explain that well." Now I'm sorry admitting I was wrong (something so many around here never do ) is not good enough for you.

While you continued on in your rant against me with what you said and didn't say, you actually did clear up the confusion over wifi being unlimited while Ethernet is not. The facts are, that is not the case at all. The confusion appears to be based on the interpretation of lynx29's screen shots and somehow, XFINITY (or xFi) was thought to mean "wifi". And therefore, one had to sign up for additional XFINITY service to get unlimited "wifi". When in fact, one had to sign up for additional service to get unlimited bandwidth.

 

[Space Lynx]

And I already apologized (which you quoted, BTW ) for not clearly stating my point. What more do you want? My first born? I said "Sorry I did not explain that well." Now I'm sorry admitting I was wrong (something so many around here never do ) is not good enough for you.

While you continued on in your rant against me with what you said and didn't say, you actually did clear up the confusion over wifi being unlimited while Ethernet is not. The facts are, that is not the case at all. The confusion appears to be based on the interpretation of lynx29's screen shots and somehow, XFINITY (or xFi) was thought to mean "wifi". And therefore, one had to sign up for additional XFINITY service to get unlimited "wifi". When in fact, one had to sign up for additional service to get unlimited bandwidth.

Hi Bill, I am confused by your wording on the bold part. I think we have already verified (also a link to a news article I provided a few posts up) that unlimited data LAN or WiFi is included with the Comcast (I am not sure why on Comcast web page it says WiFi is unlimited but not LAN... the wording of all this is extremely confusing) modem and router $15 a month option (not $13 a month one) for a specific set of states, of which mine happens to one of those states according to that news article I linked. Are you referring to the $2 a month as additional service or the $50 a month most people have to pay?