This is a situation that I encountered recently with regards to internet service. To sum it up, the existing service was exemplary (e.g. speed, up-time) except for the bandwidth cap. Being stuck with a cap below 100 GB in the age of electronic media distribution is a pain. It's an even greater pain when someone won't let you keep track of the data usage that necessitates playing it safe.
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| Two Cable Modems |
The end result was that I decided to get my own internet service. I don't do that much downloading, but the shackles just became a pain and paying an extra $50 a week became more than worth it to me at some point. That psychological barrier was actually crossed a while ago. Deciding on whether to go with cable or DSL service was the real problem.
Good Old Cable
I just wanted the service set up in the most painless way possible, but it just didn't seem possible from my research. With an existing cable internet service, a cable drop was obviously already available. All I wanted to do was get a modem, plug it in, and go. Ideally, it would be an exact copy of the current service except for the paying twice thing.
After doing extensive research, I discovered that while technically possible, the local cable companies supposedly had a policy of requiring a separate cable drop for each modem. That meant potentially having to wait for the classic "cable guy" who would put more holes into the walls -- the last time one did, he trashed a room while doing exactly that.
DSL: Slightly cheaper, why not?
Going with DSL actually happened -- well, if you count signing up online and getting as far as the confirmation screen. I found out that a technician visit was once again required despite having a land line. Upon further research, it became apparent that telephone utility technology had developed quite a bit over the years. A tech would likely be required to install a POTS splitter, and the demarcation point issue probably meant additional fees to setup a new phone jack -- modem in the basement wouldn't work for me and existing lines were in bad places.
Back and Forth
It went back and forth for a few months between cable and DSL. If I need a tech to come anyways, why not get the cheaper service? Maybe I could go with cable and get lucky without having to install a separate drop? Screw it, it's too much trouble?
That loop finally ended when I was just about to pull the trigger -- again -- on DSL and did some scouting in the basement where the line would come in. What I discovered was that there was too much stuff by the service panel and running new lines for a jack would be a lot of cleaning work for me.
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| Three-way Splitter |
The decision was made to just go with cable and hope that a new drop wouldn't be needed. To stack the deck in my favor a bit, a new 3-way splitter was purchased to test the signal strength. I heard that modems were supposed to be on the first split due to their higher sensitivity to signal strength compared to televisions. This usually meant a 2-way splitter with a 3.5 db signal drop on each leg. The only 3-way splitter that I knew of were essentially two 2-way splitters with one 3.5 db leg and two 7.0 db legs. One modem would get a good signal and the other a bad one? Luckily, research suggested that 3-way splitters with equal signal loss on each leg were available. The only ones that I could find locally and were supposed to work with cable at a minimum:
Monster Standard RF Splitters For CATV Signals MKII - 3 Way RF Splitter
Two Gigahertz Low-Loss RF Splitters for TV and Satellite MKII (2 Way Splitter linked)
I was hoping that leaving a slightly better signal on each leg for each modem would help to avoid having a tech show up to tweak it. A $20 trip to Best Buy to get the cheaper splitter and a night of testing lead to success. The current modem worked without issue when it and only one TV were attached -- third leg left unoccupied. Time to put in the order.
All for Naught, Tech Must Come
Policy is policy. Avoiding the visit by a technician was not allowed, even after I told the company that the new modem was getting a good signal on the same line. On the day that the technician showed up, I had everything set up and plugged in with a laptop attached. He stuck around for a whole two minutes and just offered to change out the splitter, which I refused since I blew $20 on the new one. An hour after he left, the service was activated. Success. Both internet services continue to run and we are essentially getting double-billed, but I am happy.
A few hours were spent setting up the router on the day the service was activated. This was my first time ever having to configure my own router -- or buy one for that matter -- despite being a nerd. Have to admit that it was pretty simple since it was a really basic consumer-grade model.
The Damage
Aside from months of overthinking everything, there was in fact a fairly substantial cost associated with having a brand new internet service installed. Instead of renting the modem and router, I decided to get my own. The modem was easy enough as the cable company had a pre-approved list of models.
Finding a router was the biggest challenge. I had never had to shop for a router before as noted above. Either the utility provided one with the modem or someone else took care of it. Trying to take the easy way out by getting a wired-only router proved difficult and fruitless. Most consumer-grade routers these days have wifi built-in, and the few wired-only ones I could find available locally didn't have the features I wanted. Nope, another research adventure had to be undertaken. This one acquainted me with wireless-N, wireless AC, SPI firewalls, NAT, etc., etc., etc. I ended up settling with one of the cheapest ones I could find (Linksys E900 Wireless-N300 Router).
Here's a short summary of what this whole "paying more than I have to" adventure set me back, not counting the monthly fee:
Cable Modem: $ 100
3-way Splitter: $ 20
Router: $ 25
RG6 Coax: $ 8
Activation: $ 50
TOTAL: $ 203 + tax (all in CAD$)
It was fun?
Having a separate personal internet connection is great. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want without having to coordinate with anyone else. The cost was definitely pretty high and could have been avoided, but it was worth it.
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