Thank you Jeff Liebermann for being a technical wiz-kid genius!
I just want to shout out to Jeff Liebermann for suggesting the Costco cable modem (Motorola/Arris SB6141) for about $85 out the door, and again thanks go to Jeff for suggesting I ask for a discount on the Comcast $50 "installation fee".
I hooked it up with a $1 CATV cable from Goodwill and then called Comcast who first wanted to charge me $50 for installation, and then $15 when I argued for free and then the guy used a "promo code" to get me down to $6 for their "installation" fee.
I couldn't get him any lower than $6, so I took that.
In ten minutes it was working fine. They did everything over the wires.
They charge about $45 monthly (I don't know what the taxes will be though) for 45Mbps down and 5Mbps up.
They try to talk you into 100Mbps down and 10 Mbps up for $50 but we tested it at 90Mbps out the modem RJ45 to a laptop and about 60Mbps using the 2.5GHz WiFi out of the router attached to the modem using speedtest.comcast.net as our test web site (and Firefox 39.0.3).
The only router Costco had was too expensive though (at $130 + about $13 tax for the Netgear Nighthawk AC1750). So, at Frys, I bought a $75 TP- Link Archer C5 (do you think that was a good tradeoff?) for roughly about half the price.
With Jeff's suggested Arris/Motorola cable modem from Costco, the $85 out the door will pay for itself in a few months:
- Saved minus = on installation fees (but I had to supply a CATV coax cable so let's call that a savings to make the math easy).
- Saved each month on modem rental fees
- I get a GREAT modem (fast!).
So, in the first month, I saved about half the modem cost alone, at about $40; and in the next four or five months, the modem is paid for. Then, each month, the modem, in effect, saves me another $10 every month.
You can't beat that equation! Thanks Jeff for being so smart! Santa Cruz is lucky to have you!
I bought the following, but will return the Costco router I think:
TP-Link Archer C5 router ($75 at Fryes) Netgear Nighthawk AC1750 router ($130 at Costco) Motorola/Arris SB6141 cable modem ($75 at Costco)
Only question left is whether the Costco router is worth it for just two kids sharing an Internet connection away at school.