Cable Modem

I'm really frustrated with our cable modem. For the longest time I trusted LinkSys as a provider of networking equipment, like network cards, hubs, routers, and other equipment. They had low prices and the equipment worked well. This cable modem has changed all that. I have the BEFCMU10 (version 2) cable modem. It works fine, as long as I don't stress it out. If I try to do too many things at once, it crashes. If I go to Fark and checkout a photoshop contest, it crashes. If I write a program to scan for web servers, it crashes. And when the modem crashes, I have to go down to the basement and physically unplug it from the wall in order to get it to reset. Sometimes, when the modem boots back up, it gets a new IP address. When this happens, I have to reboot the router and all of the computers in the house as well to give them access to the web again. It is a real pain, and I'm tired of it happening.

I've read several posts on the web indicating that this is a well known and common problem for folks using the modem. Unfortunately, LinkSys hasn't posted a fix for it, and it doesn't look like they are going to. So now I'm checking out eBay for a new modem. My dad has the Motorola modem, and my friend Jason uses the Toshiba. Neither have had any trouble at all with their equipment. I found listings for modems for under $20 bucks at eBay, and I think I'm going to get one. It just isn't worth the hassle of rebooting the modem all the time.

On top of the problems I've had with the LinkSys modem, here at work we were using a LinkSys wireless access point for a while. It was a piece of junk. The signal strength was terrible, and it constantly dropped connections, or actively refused new ones. It was a real pain. We eventually switched over to Netgear equipment, and haven't had any trouble since. Sorry LinkSys, your quality issues have lost you another customer.