Charter Spectrum internet and router question

[realdog4]

Does Charter Spectrum offer good internet service?

By good I mean the following:

I ordered internet service that advertises 60 Mbps.

* Will I actually get this speed?

Also....

* Should I use my own router?

I don't own a router but was hoping I can get one that might be better than the one Charter will provide for a fee.

I have been reading about dual band routers but I am not savvy with technical gadgets.

Please note, I have never used this provider before so your experiences would be appreciated.

Take care,
Jason

 

[Kindas]

I have charter here in ct. We pay for 60mbs and the last test i did directly from the modem was 66mbs. The router we were using is an older linksys 600n. It is only allowing wifi at 33mbs max and 43mbs wired. We just bought a new asus and that allows us the full speed. I would recomend buying your own router but make sure it is a good one. I dont care for netgear or some of the other cheaper ones. They dont hold up. I perfer linksys/cisco, or asus. But to each his own. Good luck

 

[realdog4]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am moving into a condo so I anticipate slower speeds due to interference from neighbors in close proximity as well as my own wi-fi devices.

I plan to buy a newer dual band router which should help to some degree. I am researching technology again but I must admit I have fallen behind the times.

Any other comments are welcomed.

 

[Kentos]

Wifi bandwidth nowadays is so good that much of the time the bottleneck is the ISP. See what you get right off the modem and use that determine how good of a router you need. I can get in excess of 180Mbs but usually it's closer to 40 during peak hours.

 

[StillShaving]

For the most part you should get the advertised speed, though it might be less during the peak hour, a lot will depend on your neighbors. If you are only signing up for internet service then it is very much worth buying your own modem.

Some internet guides will recommend modems like the Surfboard SB 6141 due to its wide compatibility but I think its channel selection (pretuned frequency selection) is somewhat limited and you are more likely to run into bandwith competition from your neighbor. I found two or three modems that looked to be relatively fast and cheap. IIRC the Motorola MB7420 and Zoom 5370 made my short list and I think they are largely the same units. I ended up buying the Zoom and feel that it was a good decision. The Roku rarely glitches now as compared to before when using the previous modem at the same "service speed rating".

 

[realdog4]

For the most part you should get the advertised speed, though it might be less during the peak hour, a lot will depend on your neighbors. If you are only signing up for internet service then it is very much worth buying your own modem.

Some internet guides will recommend modems like the Surfboard SB 6141 due to its wide compatibility but I think its channel selection (pretuned frequency selection) is somewhat limited and you are more likely to run into bandwith competition from your neighbor. I found two or three modems that looked to be relatively fast and cheap. IIRC the Motorola MB7420 and Zoom 5370 made my short list and I think they are largely the same units. I ended up buying the Zoom and feel that it was a good decision. The Roku rarely glitches now as compared to before when using the previous modem at the same "service speed rating".

Have you ever done a scan of the channels that are being used in order to find the one with the least traffic?

 

[StillShaving]

Have you ever done a scan of the channels that are being used in order to find the one with the least traffic?

No, but I am not sure that channel selection would be under user control anyways.

A longer answer would be that that the modem setup was very simple from my end as the cable company just needed the MAC Address (aka device id) and model type of the device. TimeWarner (Spectrum) as part of their setup needed to push a new version of firmware down before setup was complete, and it took some time on the phone waiting for it to get provisioned and the new firmware pushed down. Immediately after setup was complete I changed the admin password but apparently did not record it correctly as I can no longer login. But since everything is running smoothly, I am avoiding doing a device reset for now to get back the administrative interface. I don't want risk having to call Spectrum after doing a factory reset.

 

[Kentos]

You seem like a lot more tech savvy than me, but wouldn't a reset only mess with your configs and not the firmware?

No, but I am not sure that channel selection would be under user control anyways.

A longer answer would be that that the modem setup was very simple from my end as the cable company just needed the MAC Address (aka device id) and model type of the device. TimeWarner (Spectrum) as part of their setup needed to push a new version of firmware down before setup was complete, and it took some time on the phone waiting for it to get provisioned and the new firmware pushed down. Immediately after setup was complete I changed the admin password but apparently did not record it correctly as I can no longer login. But since everything is running smoothly, I am avoiding doing a device reset for now to get back the administrative interface. I don't want risk having to call Spectrum after doing a factory reset.

 

[StillShaving]

The factory reset will wipe any software updates as well as any configuration changes, restoring the modem back to its original state, to the baseline version of software found in flash memory. There isn't any option to just reset the passwords or configuration.

I might assume that the TWC/Spectrum provisioning system would handle this anyways, as they must occasionally need to roll out new versions of firmware to fix any bugs that are detrimental to their system without getting the customer involved. Meaning I would expect it to read the software version when the device is first connected (re-connected) to their network and if the firmware is too old, then push out a new update. But since I do not like to call customer service. ;-) I have not tested this out.

If you are thinking about getting your own modem I would encourage it, as the setup is pretty straightforward, especially if you have ever had cable internet service in the past. I had canceled service a couple of months before signing up again. When I first plugged in, the modem connected and got an IP address. But since I was not registered, I was not able to get any service (the logs from the Zoom admin interface showed something like the device was unknown). After calling up TWC/Spectrum and signing up for service they transferred my call over to technician who took down my device-id and then noted that the firmware needed to be upgraded. I was not sure if he was actively applying the firmware or just telling me what was happening automatically.

 

[realdog4]

I had everything installed yesterday.

I don't think I want to fool around with another modem right now.

The one they installed is dual band and I am getting incredible speeds.

To buy something equivalent to what I have now would mean I would have to maintain Spectrum internet for around 18 months.

Competition is moving into the area so I will take a wait and see approach for awhile.