Anybody know what a good cable modem for Charter broadband in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area might be.

I've been having problems with my connection just not coming up sometimes. I'm tired of reseting modem and restarting.

I'm supposed to be gettin 5000 kbps down and 500 kbps up.

Something bad is going on. I don't know if it's my old Linksys BEFCMU10 ( I don't know what version), the cable connection, the modem, flaky Charter (I hate em) or some weird software or hardware thing with my computer.

Thanks.

I'm running this:



Asus A8N 5X
AMD X2 3800
Corsair XMS2048 3200
PNY Quadro NVS 440 PCIEX 16
WD Caviar SE16 2500KS
Samsung 16X DVD+R DVD
Sony IDE DVD-ROM
Samsung 1.44 3.5 floppy
Cooler Master RS 450
Cooler Master Centurion 5CAC-T05
Logitech X-230 32 Watts RMS 2.1 Speakers-OEM
2 AGM CW 19" wide screen monitors
MS XP Pro
NOD 32

Almost new, working pretty well.

I hate to say this man but im willing to bet its the linksys cable modem your using, its your modem correct and not a rental? What I would do is pick up a loner from the cable company for starters ( I would ask for a Motorola modem 5100 or 5250 ) I bet after that you connection will be stable, if not with the Motorola modem go to 192.168.100.1 in you browser and hit the signal page and post your readings or screenshot and ill tell you whats wrong.

Thanks. I'm begining to think it's my modem too. How or why do modems go bad? Do they just get tired?

Are Link Sys modems considered not very good or problamatic?

I think it's about 3 or more years old now.

Any thoughts about modem brands? Motorola or D Link? Why do you like Motorola?

I don't understand or know much about all the obscure aspects of how modems work.

Thanks again.

well Gary, when I worked for a cable company the motorola modems were the best as far as many years of use and there stability on the network. I would have thought the Linksys modems would be as rock solid as there routers before I started working there but after so many phone calls about there modems having many issues along with Dlink and the dreaded RCA modems the Motorola modems work awsome I have a Motorola 5100 I have used now for 3 years with not one problem at all. I hope this has helped you.

Thanks for the reply and information. I appreciate it.

This morning it took me a real long time to connect. I'm getting tired of reseting the modem and it doesn't always work.

When I can get into http://192.168.100.1/ I notice that my "upstream power and frequency " are often "NA".

Also, there is a change in downstream power rating about every 10 seconds or so. Is this supposed to be steady? It's causing a clicking sound coming from my speakers with every change in downstream power dBmV rating. Is this coming from the modem or the Charter broadband cable coming into the house from the outside pole?

I'm thinking of just going out and buying a new Motorola cable modem to replace the LinkSys BEFCMU10.

Are there just 4 possibilities of whats wrong? The Modem, the Charter cable signal, my computer or the software settings?

Thanks again for sharing info.

The clicking is the modem refreshing the page its normal no problem there. The upstream power not showing is it may be beyond what the modem can see with that model. can you take a screenshot and post it?

Well, I've tried one other thing.

I read another comment about cable modems somewhere here (might even have been you Bastion) about the cable going through splitters.

Mine was going through a dual splitter with 2 cables coming out of the splitter. 1 to the modem and 1 to the old vcr (which is now unused since we got Direct TV and my cousin records "her programs" through the Direct TV thingy ). I disconnected the cable from the wall to the splitter and connected it directly to the cable modem.

Could the splitter and extra cable have been sabotaging my reception?

I think it's working better, but I may still go out and buy a new modem or maybe wait and buy it online from newegg and save $25.

Thanks for your time, knowledge and info. Tom's is a good place to learn and be helped isn't it? Yes it is.

Yes I was the one that made the comment about the splitters being pure EVIL. The worst thing you can do is to have a outlet in the wall come out and split it 1 to the modem and 1 to your cable box, tech's love to do this cause then they don't have to run a dedicated line to the modem which is what there supposed to do to began with. I think this should help you modem stay more stable if it continues then a new modem may be the next step.

I went to Best Buy yesterday to buy a new Motorola modem, but they were $86 (with tax) vs $53 (including $6 shipping.) I decided that I could wait a few days and save myself $33 so I ordered it from the egg.

Anyway, while I was at BB I talked to one of the "Geeks" and he mentioned that splitters can cause problems with broadband and especially if they are not rated for 2000 mhz or more. So when I got home I checked out my "premium quality" Radio Shack "high speed internet" splitter and it was rated from 5-1100 MHZ.

Since I disconnected the cable from the splitter and connected the cable directly to the modem it's working better and I'm not getting all those sign on problems. Bad splitter! Bad splitter!!

Interesting how a cheap little part can cause all kind of problems.

And another P.S. question to you Mr. Bastion since you seem to know so much about modem and connections, etc.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages to using the usb cable vs the RJ45 cable to connect the modem to the computer? Right now, I've got a long RJ45 cable that goes about 12 feet from the cable wall outlet to the back of the computer and I don't know if I want to buy an expensive long usb cable.

Thanks.

The modem should always be hooked through the RJ45. I hated the fact that cable modem manufacturers have a USB connection at all. There is alot of problems that come with hooking it up USB, you also have to load the USB drivers for the modem your using which are also bad. lol just use the RJ-45 and have trouble free connection. Cat5 or Ethernet cable can go up to 100meters so your fine there as well.

I had the same service degradation you describe with Charter and a Linksys modem. Everything pointed to the line but that was verified to be good and a loaner modem worked without any problems. I appears that the 3 year old Linksys just died and would not sync.

I bought a new Motorola as a replacement but have not yet installed it. The cable repair guy told me he had replaced several Linksys units within the past month. I was very disappointed with my loss since I like the Linksys product line.