DSL Modems

[BubbaGump69]

I have bell south for my dsl provider. It was the only one in the area because I have a new house. Well my modem has been a POS since I got it. It finally bit the dust. I would like to find a better replacement. I went a few stores but couldn't find a phone line dsl modem just cable. Do they sell these things or do I have to through my dsl provider?

 

[mikesgroovin]

Well, for a DSL or cable modem you dont really HAVE to go with your provider. Your provider might NOT support the one you want to get though. And besides, they should replace this thing for free anyway with no cost to you.

 

[BubbaGump69]

The modem is out of warranty. So I'll have to pay for a new one. It's only $40 and they waived shipping because I Biatched. I couldn't find one anywhere else so I ordered it through the provider. I just wish there was a modem/router. Thanks.....

 

[mikesgroovin]

Ahh, so you don't have a gateway/router at home? Did you ask them which models they had? Usually, an ISP will hold more than 1 make because of contracts/shipping errors/etc etc. You may want to call them back and see if they had any with routing functionality.

 

[BubbaGump69]

They offer 2 different modems: Westell or Actel. The westell is the most popular. I have a router that I use to share the connection. They don't offer anything else. There service is terrible. I wish there was another alternative but there isn't.

 

[turboimpala]

I just moved to South Carolina and have Bellsouth DSL also.
A thunderstorm apparently caused a power surge and fried my computer, 1 phone and the Westell modem.
I called Bellsouth customer service, was on the phone with them for at least 1 hour, and they want to send a technician to my house.
I can see melted resistors or whatever inside the modem, so I know that's the problem.
If I hook up a phone to the phone line I get a dial tone.
Why can't they just send me a new modem?
I might go to bestbuy and purchase whatever aftermarket dsl modem I can find just to try and see if it works.
Can I use some kind of surge protector on the phone line to prevent destruction like this in the future?

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Yes, some nice surge protector's have ports for phone lines, and Coax cable too.

 

[EricB]

http://www.zoomtel.com/products/adsl_overview.html

http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=220

 

[turboimpala]

Thanks for the links.
I'll definitely get one of those surge protectors.
I actually bought a Zoom modem yesterday but it doesn't work well.
I can connect to the internet and go to a homepage such as msn.com, hotmail.com, bellsouth.net, etc.
But when I try to go further into each site (like logging into my email, clicking a news link on msn.com, etc) the internet connection seems to freeze up.
So I guess I'll let bellsouth send a technician and see what they can figure out.