(AU only) Telstra sent me a new cable modem. Thanks. But why me? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 12:36:01 am
content: /.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 12:55:20 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on August 24, 2016, 12:43:09 amSounds right. It also covers the neighbour not knowing about it yet. Their time will come.Once you've received the new modem, they will set a 2 month timer - and if the new modem hasn't been installed, they will kill the provisioning of your current modem.But handing out modems doesn't seem to be a problem for the telcos....I have a friend (with Optus) who had an intermittent problem. New modem gets sent out - complete with the 'self installation' kit (a punched metal spanner for the coax nut. Had me laughing for the rest of the week.) Problem persisted. Only then did a crew come out and find a fault in the tap off the main cable across the street. A little while later they moved - and when the new installation was done, they got a new modem. Exactly the same model as the one from the old address.... and Optus has never shown any interest in retrieving any of them.They even tried the femtocell 'service' when it was offered. They found it was useless, cancelled it and wanted to return the box. A return satchel was supposedly going to be sent out - but it never was.Clearly, any gear sent out to customers is considered a consumable.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 12:58:35 am
content: I deleted the post, in case it was wrong, or based on the wrong/old information.They are about to release a new thingy...http://techau.com.au/telstra-launching-gateway-max-2-faster/So maybe that has something to do with it ?(7) Or they had a big pile of the older version, and they needed the warehouse room, so they sent it out, to the op ?

author: C
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 12:59:41 am
content: Your old modem might not support IPV6Most old modem use one tv channel for shared download & one low frequency channel below tv for shared upload.Newer modems use many channels for download & upload.This allows higher speeds & better chance of keeping your speed high.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 01:09:11 am
content: Regarding being "re-supplied" with modem from telco, I'm with optus and when I rang to inform them my modem was dead after a line problem, Telstra fixed the line but still no access, tried an old dlink I had lying around and it worked. Optus told me the warrantee had run out and I had to buy one my self.Wilfred, me thinks asio is on to you

author: RGB255_0_0
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 01:11:06 am
content: Older modem may not support the DOCSIS version required with the upgrade is my assumption.

author: apelly
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 01:22:46 am
content: Or it was shipped with vulnerable firmware, that they hacked about and telstraized, and now it's being exploited in the wild, sending spam and mining bitcoins, but they've lost the source and/or the expertise so they can't issue a firmware upgrade.And they won't tell you or admit culpability, but they secretly turned off your traffic monitoring so you wouldn't notice.

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 01:29:22 am
content: Telstra Air? All modems run a (second) wifi hotspot that any other Telstra customer can use to browse the web.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 02:08:41 am
content: They upgraded the service here a few years back and my old modem stropped working. They had apparently sent a notice or two in the mail, but anything I get from them goes directly to trash and I missed it. I guess if I'd been leasing a modem from them they would have just sent a new one.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 04:14:50 am
content: Why fix that isn't broken? Just keep it on hand until your current one stops working after their upgrade then swap it over.

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 05:23:05 am
content: Quote from: RGB255Correct PLUS. I had mine sent several weeks ago, and put it on my to-do list. A week later, they emailed me to change over. Back on the to-do list.A week later, more emails, SMS etc and they were getting pushy. Then came the "we're cutting you off" phone call ! so I figured I better do it.It went first time, no hassles at all. They even give you a tech hotline if you want one while you do it.It appears they are rolling out different suburbs / nodes at different times, and want to finalise the switch over before doing the next.I had a few weird glitches for a week, intermittent, but then it settled down fine. I guess there were others in my area with a to-do list :-)Last time they did a major DOCSYS infrastructure rollout / update, they tried to make users pay !! and blame it on the users. That's another long story :-)There's nothing sus about it, as others have said, a free update to the newer protocols.The silly part was, they included a free return sachel .. app 1.5M x 1.5M thin flimsy bag. I had to wrap it around the old modem a few times, cut out the return sticker,and re-taped it down. No idea who thought that was suitable. It's all good.

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 06:01:59 am
content: Quote from: wilfredActually, I had to do the power-off thingy a couple times (those glitches I sopke off), and now that you remind me, it must have been quite COOL, as I am sure I would havenoticed. I always noticed the old one ran quite warm. I'll check tonight. It is a big unit, with heaps of ventilation .... ooo, I found another use of my Flir E8 errr I meant E4Edit: Just checked, cool as a cucumber. Heaps of ventilation slots, even along the top.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 12:46:43 pm
content: I'd just regard it as a spare modem. I got a spare optic fiber modem and a spare router in a similar manner.

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 01:56:26 pm
content: Quote from: nctnicoExcept in our case, the "old" modems will be taken off-line and not usable at all.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2016, 02:53:58 pm
content: Maybe they're phasing out DOCSIS 2.0 if that's what the old modem is?

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2016, 07:22:40 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on August 24, 2016, 02:53:58 pmBy memory DOCSIS 3.0 is just multiple simultaneous DOCSIS 2.0 style streams. Someone here might know better.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2016, 06:13:32 pm
content: LOL, who knew? The guy that invented the internetHadn't heard of DOCSIS, second hit in google...http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/archive/qas-docsis-3.1Quote

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 26, 2016, 08:43:41 pm
content: On the other end of the world, but my telco will by default send you a new modem as the first thing at the slightest hint of an issue with your line if it's older than 3 years, so I wouldn't be surprised if they also did it preventively after some more time.They must have stats that suggests it costs them less to swap a working modem before it fails than to try to troubleshoot issues that *may* stem from a faulty old one (not surprising). Also, newer ones may be more sensitive and/or use more channels and be able to work acceptably well with a shitty line, in this case the $50 or so a new modem costs them is with no doubt WAY cheaper than reworking the entire line to get acceptable signal quality for an old one.Can't complain about it, since this practice means my modem always has spare capability for speed upgrades. I just went from 40 to 100Mbps (for free) and they wanted to sell me a new $100 modem that is "required to have the best performance". Before accepting I did a quick search that showed my current one was good up to 450Mbps, so I unchecked the box and as expected my current modem does the 100Mbps just fine. This modem was replaced about 2 years ago following a service call, and should that not have happened I wouldn't have had a choice but to buy their new $100 modem since the old one definitely wasn't up to speed.