Cable routers

Hi all

A friend is having trouble with his telewest blueyonder modem which is
connected via ethernet, not USB.

It's the vertical standing black (motorola?) modem with the standby button
on top. His net access has been flakey lately... and Telewest want £1 per
minute for the tech support.

He's running ICS with 2 computers, so i suggested he get a router to replace
the modem.

However, having looked around a bit, it seems the majority - if not all -
cable routers need to be plugged into a modem.

I was hoping to remove the (possibly dodgy) modem rather than piggy back
it.... so can anyone recommend a standalone cable router, if such a thing
exists?

I've never touched cable - i've always been ADSL, so i don't know a thing
about it.

Thanks in advance.

"nut" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e4vhpo$jp9$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi all
>
> A friend is having trouble with his telewest blueyonder modem which is
> connected via ethernet, not USB.
>
> It's the vertical standing black (motorola?) modem with the standby button
> on top. His net access has been flakey lately... and Telewest want £1 per
> minute for the tech support.
>
> He's running ICS with 2 computers, so i suggested he get a router to
> replace the modem.
>
> However, having looked around a bit, it seems the majority - if not all -
> cable routers need to be plugged into a modem.
>
> I was hoping to remove the (possibly dodgy) modem rather than piggy back
> it.... so can anyone recommend a standalone cable router, if such a thing
> exists?
>
> I've never touched cable - i've always been ADSL, so i don't know a thing
> about it.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>

You can't replace the TW cable modem, you can only buy a router to connect
to it. TW control you speed through their modem (a config file) so you have
to use the one supplied. I'm not sure why TW would want £1 a min for
support, you can call 150 free from a TW line or there's an 0845
equivilient. They have blueyonder support newsgroups too which are staffed
mon-fri 8am-8pm.

Rob

Rob Walker wrote:
> You can't replace the TW cable modem, you can only buy a router to
> connect to it. TW control you speed through their modem (a config
> file) so you have to use the one supplied. I'm not sure why TW would
> want £1 a min for support, you can call 150 free from a TW line or
> there's an 0845 equivilient. They have blueyonder support newsgroups
> too which are staffed mon-fri 8am-8pm.

Thankyou for your reply Rob, it was very helpful.

Looks like i'm going to opt for the Safecom 4 port cable router as seen on
ebuyer for £13.99

If the flakiness continues after fitting that, i'll advise him to dial 150
and request a replacement modem.

"nut" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e4vhpo$jp9$(E-Mail Removed)...
> A friend is having trouble with his telewest blueyonder modem which is
> connected via ethernet, not USB.
>
> It's the vertical standing black (motorola?) modem with the standby button
> on top. His net access has been flakey lately... and Telewest want £1 per
> minute for the tech support.

Umm, no they don't .

> He's running ICS with 2 computers, so i suggested he get a router to
> replace the modem.
>
> However, having looked around a bit, it seems the majority - if not all -
> cable routers need to be plugged into a modem.

Yes, all of them are like that. Replacing the modem yourself is not an
option anyway, because only modems registered on Telewest's systems will
work.

Cable modems generally provide good diagnostic information. The following
website may assist: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/

While it is not impossible that the modem has become faulty in some way, I
think it is more likely that the problem lies elsewhere.

HTH,
Alex

Alex Fraser wrote:
> "nut" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:e4vhpo$jp9$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> A friend is having trouble with his telewest blueyonder modem which
>> is connected via ethernet, not USB.
>>
>> It's the vertical standing black (motorola?) modem with the standby
>> button on top. His net access has been flakey lately... and Telewest
>> want £1 per minute for the tech support.
>
> Umm, no they don't .

Friend dialled 150 to report the outage and was told to dial a different
number for blueyonder faults, where he'd be charged £1 per minute... i've
sent him a few number from saynoto0870.com for him to try next time.

> Cable modems generally provide good diagnostic information. The
> following website may assist:
> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/
> While it is not impossible that the modem has become faulty in some
> way, I think it is more likely that the problem lies elsewhere.

Thanks for your help Alex - i'll take a look at that website now.