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Roadruuner, you like to waste my time & $ & I hate u, but TY for the interweb ;)
freejackmack
Member Posts: 378
So amazon basically made things difficult for me when they shipped the wrong modem.
I ordered the Motorola SB6141 which was on the "buy your modem" list (Buy Your Modem). Amazon said there was a used 1 available and the model had good reviews so I said what the hell, time to get rid of the ridiculous lease fees that Time Warner Roadrunner was charging us. So today I get the package earlier than expected but on opening the package I see the Amazon god's decided to give me a test of will. They gave me a different modem; I freaked, thinking of all the crap I will have to go through returning this piece of useless junk; or I could keep it and use it for a paper weight. But then I have to get a modem still and we have no bailouts in the private sector unfortunately.
Then I thought, wait maybe I can find this paperweight on the list and see if it has good reviews. Maybe I can transform this paperweight into a working solution.
As it turned out my search for a list was pretty much coming up short with any sort of direct-link to the official Time Warner buy your modem page(which is weird because i had found it 5 days ago). Too bad my history was wiped when I installed Windows8 However I did find 1 single review for the paperweight aka "Arris CM820A modem from the gods" as it were. It was not anything great; Amazon reviewer said it worked great(http://www.amazon.com/Arris-Touchstone-Cable-Modem-CM820/product-reviews/B008GG78FU/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1); It's not the Arris CM820A but I thought I had the Arris CM820 because I had yet to look on the back where the A appears. I think the Amazon gods made the same mistake.
Well, I decided since the 2 modems were almost the same the Arris had 4 les watt consumption ($130 Arris CM820,$115 Motorola SB6141)that it was more than an acceptable gamble with 1 positive review; It should be up to the task as well being $15 more U.S.. So I was ready to fight for this modem that I paid $90 for used like new which turned out to be New never been opened more expensive better modem.
I searched on Time Warner's site and found online chat support and qued up to see if I could get some answers. The question I asked was: can I use this modem that Amazon gave me instead of the one I actually ordered. The reply went like this: Here are some links to help you- lease your modem and buy your modem
I thought,"there it is in the "lease your own list""! YAY! ME HAPPY NOW!
The chat support lady said: does that answer your question? I replied there it is on the list TY. She said the, your welcome spiel and have a nice day. I thought, yeah I will have a nice day. It's gonna be a bright sun shinny day!
So I opened the package hooked up the modem then called tech support to get my modem working. The first call was a bust, ending with me telling the robot on the other end 3 times to activate my equipment then handing the phone over to my bother who is a costumer service rep for A privately owned franchise of a franchise called Wireless Zone(WirelessZone.com); his company is in WNY area. Any way my brother talks to robots all day so he could make Mr I Robot do what we needs "doin". It decided to take action before He could even speak; My brother informed me it was going to activate equipment. I thought ok great! But how does it even know what my MAC address is?
So I called again and Mr R2D2 asked questions while I carried on an informative conversation about the customer support business "wit" my bro; the 3PO robot thingy on the other end finally said,"this does not seem to be working out too good. Would you like to talk to A real live person representative?" I said HEEELLLL YES! Mr Droid Face said," please hold. Your estimated wait time is 30 minutes. :<
I Finally got someone 1 pint of coconut ice cream later and they spoke perfect English, so I asked if my modem would work and she said she needed to talk to a tech guy or manager or whatever and put me on hold. When she came back she said no your modem will not work. Which I replied with: so if I understand correctly from what the link says, that the online chat support gave me it works as a leased modem and not as a "buy your modem", modem. That makes no sense. She said that is correct you have to send it back to Amazon and get an approved "buy your modem" modem.
After I pleaded for a work around deal were we activate my modem under a lease then switch to a non lease and refund me or what the hell ever we could do to bloody make my interwebtubes to a working state again without the ludicrous lease fee; I took my brothers expert advice and asked to speak with a supervisor then handed the phone over to my brother the seasoned veteran of the customer service arts.
I have to say I was impressed at the type of tone he spoke in; it reminded me of the sound of trees blowing in the wind; and as relaxing as listening to a doped up guru talking about nirvana. HE GOT STONE WALLED TOO; lol but the force is strong with this one(my little brother I am so proud of 
). She (the two faced rep) said sorry but your modem will not work. The my brother, in his CSR tone said well I understand, then turned to me and asked do you have the link? I did, so we ran up to my computer and my pro bro walked the rep to the page where the lease modems were. After she acted like it did not exist. My bro could hardy contain his laughter as he made a face equal to a slamming your finger in a door face, when she said Oh, well we will set you right up.
You see he knows the game all too well Time Warner probably gets a kick back when certain modems are connected or if you lease one they make a mint. I had stumbled into getting a hold of a modem that is most likely leased out to commercial businesses with higher demand, and the modem might be more durable too I suspect, with lower watt consumption.
Then my bro asks if there is a loyal customer program; she says no. Then he asks is there a discount he can get, because my friends are getting the same speed for half the price. She replies well yes we can get you an introductory price that basically drops down from $60 to $39 for 12 months; then he asks well can we get a speed upgrade for that price? We end up getting a 12 month price @ $49 then goes to $59. But that is for extreme which is upgraded from turbo at turbo price; hopefully with no lease fee. At the least we get extreme for the price of turbo.
So pretty good for a modem that does not work on Roadrunner(according to the reps)! Speedtest.net says: Down-30.27mbps, Up-4.71mbps, Ping- 35ms That is with 2 people playing Halo4. So pretty good for $90. My old modem got us 17down, 1.5-2.0 up, 175ms ping, Modem was a Ubee Model # U10C018.80; We paid a lease fee for that piece of junk.
I hope you all get some insight on this new lease deal with providers from this wall of text. And may the interwetubes be forever open to you and yours. PEACE OUT!
Comments
I dont know how it goes there (well actually now i do) - but its so much simpler in Israel - you simply get a Modem (either ADSL one or Cable one - depends on which company you choose)... They dont ask for a leese price for the Modem (which i think is exactly as it should be).
So - nice to hear all is well - but come to Israel - here its free :-)
Just my 2 cents...
What plan do you use for those kinds of upload speeds? O.O mine is hard capped at 0.9ish mbps upload T_T
Ill def look into buying a modem like you if the speeds improve! @_@
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basically Time Warner cable turbo will get you those speeds I think but we wanted t o see if extream would be better. It might be a little i would have to do more testing to be sure.
Isreal is nice I here. I never heard of free internet. Are you janking my chango? Or is you for realziezs O.o
They still pay monthly but whatever the pricce of the modem or w/e is is already included.
Unlike in the US where the ad says $40 but in reality its 40+ tax + equipment + paper fees or w/e.
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In Finland internet is a legal right, and telecommunication companies legally have to provide you with at least 1MBit service (soon to be 100Mbit by 2015).
They don't say it's free, just that it has to be available.
It is also considered a right in France, Costa Rica, Greece, Estonia, and Spain, but they don't dictate any minimum speed or location, just that every citizen has a right to access.
Oh, I remember when a certain President of the United States made similar promises (grumbling at my crappy ISP in my rural home right now)....
As far as the OP goes - not unusual. They will lease you the cheapest hunk of junk they can possibly make work - and most of the time with flashed proprietary firmware so you can't "repurpose" it. The firmware is usually the only difference. Glad you finally got it to work by talking to robots - you got very lucky that someone didn't just say "No" and hang up on you.
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I used to be a Cable Technician, and Time Warner is the biggest joke of a cable company there is. There is a reason why a modem will not work on a cable system. Its DOCSIS standard is too low; so getting something like a 12 year old Toshiba to bond to the network just does not work alot. Or there is a firmware issue with the modem like the recent Cisco Docsis 3 modems. Outside of that any cable modem should do, preferably a DOCSIS 3 that bonds to 8 channels.
The fact Time Warner puts in actual blocks for non-Motorala modems is just odd. The Cable Company I used to work for could have made so much money by moving into Time Warners Territory. Only have to wear the Cable Company shirt and stand next to an Apartment complex to sign up 50 new accounts.
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Verizon is in the process of jumping ship. Here in San Diego, Cox and Verizon are partnering. Chances are if you are not in a rural area, you will have more choices if Verizon is offered.
If you get TV service as well as internet service, then I would definetly get phone service. Most cable companies let you use the emta which is a phone and cable modem in one while you are have phone service. With all 3 services you end up paying $10 or more less as well. But different service providers have different standards.
The virtual monopoly system for internet services in the USA actually encourages these providers to not upgrade their infrastructure. They make more money while not increasing their hardware assets. The USA is ranked around 27th in the world now for internet service, iirc. Bulgaria does a better job than we do.
I am also stuck at a place where Time Warner is pretty much the only thing reasonably available. At a far higher price than it should be. Sad.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Im with Cox which.... is the best cable provider in the US. They upgrade their services as they upgrade their network. Also San Diego has the highest or second highest internet speeds in the US. Pretty great huh?
However, the way they rate internet infrastructures is a little unfair to the US. In the metropolitan areas, the speeds sometimes eclipse most other nations, but in the rural areas the speed slows down. The problem is the size of the US. Its the 5th or 6th largest country and when you look at comparably sized countries, the US is ranked pretty evenly on its internet infrastructure.
The other thing some people don't understand is how the US internet infrastructure is. There are major data points strategically placed throughout the US. I think the main ones are Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, Atlanta, Washington D.C., and New York. From there it is a hierarchy approach. At these major points it goes into a sub network to cities. To this point its all constructed by the US government and managed by the FCC. Then from there ISPs hook up their headends and setup their network.
Time to move to Russia I guess