• CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      You can use your own. But at every single point they’re going to tell you that your brand new top of the line modem, is out of date and is probably the problem of any issue that you’re having. They try so hard to gaslight customers in believing that you need to use their white labeled equipment. They want you to use their stuff and pay the fees so they can resell the Wi-Fi, and they have full control over your device.

    • astrsk@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      Yes, look on their website for compatible models, there’s a handful of affordable ones, many which perform better on higher tier connections too. Been using my own modems with Comcast for 25 years.

        • Cousin Mose@lemmy.hogru.ch
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          2 days ago

          I’m on Spectrum and have tons of friends that always complain they’re shit. Spectrum itself isn’t shit, it’s the garbage equipment they set you up with.

          Make sure whatever you get works well with IPv6. For whatever reason IPv4 can go out at random but their IPv6 has never failed me (in the Los Angeles area at least).

          • Ulrich@feddit.org
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            2 days ago

            I have always had my own router, just not the modem.

            And the only problem I have is intermittent outages, repeatedly increasing the price without my knowledge or consent, and high latency.

            • Cousin Mose@lemmy.hogru.ch
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              2 days ago

              I bought my current one because IPv6 failed to provision on the one they gave me when I moved to a bigger apartment just two units away. I found some post on Reddit about the problem and it mentioned one that “ignores” the lack of IPv6 provisioning and does it anyway (I’m a programmer and IT geek but I don’t really understand cable/DOCSIS well).

              If the modem they provided is just a modem and it works well, I don’t think there’s much reason to get rid of it. But personally if it’s an all-in-one box that has “bridge” mode I’d still run away and just go with my own modem.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      I have successfully avoided cable up to this point, but I did use my own modem back when I used DSL. It wasn’t advertised anywhere, but I just took the details from their modem and called support for the last bit I needed and used my own. It worked well, and I had my router be separate so I was able to just toss the modem when I got better service.

    • Fiery@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      In Europe that used to be the case, but that changed not that long ago. Now providers are legally obligated to allow you to get your own modem

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      You need to use their modem quite often, but you don’t need to use their router. They’re usually “all in one” modem/router things these days, but they’re legally required to provide you with a modem in bridge mode if you ask — at that point, an Ethernet cable attached to their modem is effectively attached to the Internet, and you can put your own hardware inside (firewall, Wifi router, etc.).

      While you need to connect to their IP gateway, you don’t need to use their DNS services or anything but their IP gateway service.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        I don’t think that’s true. Their techs may claim that, but you van buy compatible modems online and find a helpful phone support person to get the details you need. Read up a bit on it first because they’re not going to walk you through it.

      • Ulrich@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        I have always had my own router. What is bridge mode? Can I do that?

        • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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          2 days ago

          Bridge mode disables the router in the modem; if you have an admin account on the modem you should be able to enable it yourself; otherwise you need to get your ISP to enable it. It will turn off all the firewall and WiFi features on the modem.