Vista or Not

[mbpark]

tw,

Comcast offers a single port version, no multiple-port version. If you have a business setup with them, they will provide you with a Linksys or Netgear router.

Verizon, on the other hand, will give you an integrated Westell 4-port router with 802.11g wireless (with WPA-PSK support, no less), and very good support for user configurability. I.E. if you have a good enough (read: business with static IP) plan from them, they will help you even configure it for server usage.

Their cable modems connect to the routers out there over TCP/IP (the router has to use DHCP to connect to the modem, and usually requires you to use the "MAC Cloning" feature of the Linksys modems to connect the router from your PC as some cable providers associate a cable modem with a NIC card in a PC).

However, I have heard that Telstra in AU does require PPPoE over Cable and DSL. Verizon's consumer service requires PPPoE. Most, if not all routers support that.

The Linksys routers even have specific settings for AU/Telstra. I've seen them on the WRT54GS that I use .

Thanks,

Mitch

[Kingswood]

I won't touch Vista because it has too much unnecessary DRM crap in it. Vista is basically the result of Microsoft currying favour with the big media companies. Don't expect to run anything in high-definition on Vista unless Microsoft approves it.

It looks as if Microsoft are trying to tighten their grip. But as Tarkin discovered, the more one tightens one's grip, the more will slip through the fingers. I would expect some companies to migrate to non-Windows platforms and many more to consider the move. One thing that companies can rely on with platforms like *BSD and Linux is that the operating system won't be pulled out from under them with another unnecessary "upgrade" or "end of life" five or ten years from now.

[tw]

Originally Posted by mbpark

Their cable modems connect to the routers out there over TCP/IP (the router has to use DHCP to connect to the modem, and usually requires you to use the "MAC Cloning" feature of the Linksys modems to connect the router from your PC as some cable providers associate a cable modem with a NIC card in a PC).

Verizon modems (ie Westell) permit a connection either under IP or using PPPoE to a router. Reason for using PPPoE option: it eliminates some latency.

Also curious is that PPPoE is provided by ATM - using existing equipment in Verizon's network.

I am surprised that (if) the Motorola modem does not also offer PPPoE - for faster operation.

Biggest sin in any modem is no status page to view signal strength. Again, Verizon DSL modems offer that, but I don't remember seeing such status information in FIOS. Comcast modems, as best I can tell, offer no signal strength even though that parameter is essential to understanding data loss and future failures. To not provide such numbers is akin to calling the user an 'idiot who need not know anything'. Rather insulting to assume a user should always be dumb.

[mbpark]

tw,

I believe Motorola has that option, due to Telstra using it. However, Comcast is known for requesting certain firmware revisions for their cable modems, as is Verizon (check the Westell pages if you want to flash a Westell router, you can't).

Verizon's corporate services use static IP addresses.

Comcast's approach is that the hardware is cheap and replaceable. They'll swap out modems without doing proper signal tests until they fix the problem. This happened to my sister. Someone put a nail in the wall and nicked the wire. Comcast had to come back at least three times to fix the issue, and it was after they ran signal tests at the location that they finally figured it out. This was after three cable modems as well .

Verizon, on the other hand, has better testing tools and methodologies because they've been doing this for a century. When they fix a signal problem, it doesn't take three times and three hardware swaps.

I am sure that they have built some rather sophisticated testing tools for FIOS. After all, it is supposed to replace the telephone, and we don't have signal strength meters on those lines . They're just supposed to work.

It is reasons like this why Verizon or its descendants will be around fifty years from now in roughly the same form, and Comcast more than likely will not.

[tw]

Originally Posted by mbpark

Comcast's approach is that the hardware is cheap and replaceable. They'll swap out modems without doing proper signal tests until they fix the problem. This happened to my sister. Someone put a nail in the wall and nicked the wire. Comcast had to come back at least three times to fix the issue, and it was after they ran signal tests at the location that they finally figured it out. This was after three cable modems as well.

Verizon, on the other hand, has better testing tools and methodologies because they've been doing this for a century. When they fix a signal problem, it doesn't take three times and three hardware swaps.

Well Verizon's response is true when you finally get the lineman. But Verizon DSL tech support (according to the linemen) get bonuses when they don't roll a truck.

The wire clearly was broken. Westell reported signal stengths of 0 and worse dB. Repeated calls to Verizon - and they had the cutomer swapping ethernet cables. Told what the dB was, they did not want to know. Reality was not important. They had this procedure which only resulted in all ethernet cables screwed up.

Furthermore, after five day, when Verizon said a truck was being rolled, they lied. So I got a supervisor who then threatend $60 and $120 service charges. Yes, those charges exist when the problem is on customers wire. But I was making a connection direct to their wire - at the NID. Therefore the problem was 100% on his wire. So they said service could not come out for two day. In reality, he was taking revenge and never dispatched a single truck. Again, their intent is to eliminate truck rolls for increase bonuses.

Eventually I got someone on the day shift. Truck arrived at 9 AM next morning. He found the broken wire. Signal strength increased by almost 20 dB - all problems solved.

Yes, if you can get a patriot - someone who knows even minimal science - then Verizon works real good. But when I get a customer service rep with an American accent, then too often a technical grasp is missing.


Meanwhile, Westell modems can be flashed. Dell even warns about some early Westell modems with firmware that must be updated a software bug discovered by Dell.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by tw

But when I get a customer service rep with an American accent, then too often a technical grasp is missing.

Their turnover rate would explain this -- it is around three months or so. Training rooms are full on a daily basis, but always with new employees. They're pretty much trained to enter tickets and read from a troubleshooting script, nothing more.

[mbpark]

tw,

What I meant is that you can't find newer firmware for the Verizon-specific devices.

Thanks,

Mitch