Modem went bad(?)... do I need to get one from my ISP?
 

I have been a loyal mindspring/earthlink client for 10 years. 7 of those have been with DSL. Yesterday I woke up and for the first time in 7 years I could not get connected. An hour long call to tech support ( India) determined my modem is bad. I need to buy another. Fine... but earthlink's sales dept is having computer trouble and has not been able to make a sale for 24 hours and they are not sure when their computers will be back up.( "Maybe today")

I have to admit I find it a bit suspicious that their computers crashed the same time my dsl service stopped although they assure me the two are not related.....

Can I just go out and buy a modem at C.C. or some place or should I wait until earthlink can sell me one of theirs.....I was told that it is more trouble than it is worth to buy a modem not from your isp.

Meanwhile I am using dial up for the first time is 7 years....

What is dial up? :p :D

If you have to purchase the new modem, just go to Best Buy or CC and buy it. It will be cheaper than what your ISP offers. If, however, your ISP provides the modem for "free" (ie the rental fee is hidden in the monthly fee and unavoidable) then you should get it from them, so youy don't have to worry about fixing or replacing it yourself.

Doesn't matter where you buy.
 

No matter where your get your modem(ISP or CC), you will have to go though this "trouble" to get back up and running:

Once you get your new modem. You will either have to call or go through a setup procedure to give your ISP your new MAC address. This is usually printed on the bottom of your modem. This has gotten easier over the years due to consolidation of DSL technologies. There is a very little chance of you buying an incompatable DSL modem. Also, double-check the box to make sure you do not buy a modem or you will be standing in the return line. I speak from experience with this!:)

i have verizon dsl. they provided me with the modem. they replaced it once. tell them you are going to comcast(or some cable) if they do not provide you with a modem.

comcast charges $3 a month or so.

It's no big deal to use a modem from elsewhere.

There's a 12-digit number on the modem that you'll have to read to their tech before the modem will work. That's how the network knows who it is to allow it. (Note: With cable modems I've heard of a guy who moved into a new place where the cable wasn't turned on and couldn't be turned on due to an unpaid bill. He hooked up his cable modem and kept paying the bill at the old place and it worked fine.)

If you get one from them they'll already know the addr and you won't have to read it to the tech. So what?

The OP has DSL service.

DSL modems do NOT register their MAC address for authentication. They MAY, however store and transmit their PPPoE login info to the phone co.

I got a new replacement off ebay for my DSL modem. Since free modems often come with new service, and many customers already have an existing modem, they just resell them to make a little profit.

I know we are discussing DSL, However:

all cable modems do not work with all providers. i purchased a motorola SBV5120. comcast does not support that modem.

http://media2.comcast.net/anon.comca...sc/cmclist.htm

not approved, no work.

I have four DSL modems from various providers. Most of them are interchangable. There is no registration procedure, but on the newer modems I did have a big pain in disabling the PPPoE built into the modem so I could let my router do it instead. I'm not entirely sure where you would buy one, though. They don't sell them at Best Buy - those are CABLE modems.

Just curious - what was your old modem model #?

It's funny, this week I was in a Hampton Inn that had the same modem I do for DSL and thought, gee, if it ever goes dead, I may just swap it out in a hotel room.

I would get one off e-bay if one is available. There probably isn't any set up at all for DSL, just connect it and go. My 5260 is available all over the internet for under $10, I seriously doubt the phone company would sell it to me for that little.

FWIW.....it turns out it wasn't the modem after all.

My modem is an speedstream, about 7 years old.

Earthlink was having some sort of "meltdown" with their computers and could not process my sale of a new modem. After trying for 36 hours I called their tech support back
(India) and asked them to review my problem.... this tech person had it fixed in 10 minutes. It had to do with a corrupted IP "address" or something.

Glad you got your problem solved. For future reference and FWIW, I also connect through Earthlink, but via Embarq. When my modem actually did die, Embarq replaced it (gratis) and their tech support guys walked me through the new setup/connection process.