DSL modem life?

[swoop]

I own a ZTE Corporation ZXV10 W300 Series DSL modem. It is in the process of dying on me. Only one Ethernet connection works. I have used this DSL modem for 1 year and 7 months. There is a one year warranty for this device. In the past, I also owned an AT&T 2701HG-B 4-Port 10/100 Wireless G Router Gateway DSL 2Wire Modem Switch. That one has a warranty of 1 year. This router died after 13 months. There have been other DSL modems dying on me but these two stick out the most. For my next DSL modem, I have decided to rent one from Sonic.net. I choose the Pace 4111N because it appears to be the device Sonic.net recommends the most. I have a few questions:

-Does anyone have any solid numbers on the length of life for a DSL modem from Sonic.net? All the ones I have owned, whether from Sonic.net or not, don't seem to go far beyond 1 year.
-If my DSL modem dies out again on me, will Sonic.net quickly ship me a replacement or do I have to send in my non-functioning edition first?
-Would anyone be able to recommend renting a DSL modem verses purchasing one?

[thulsa_doom]

Well clearly we prefer that you rent our cool Pace 4111N units, but we're biased on the subject.

I don't have numbers handy, but the best longevity I've seen were the old Westell Wirespeed units Pacific Bell distributed back in 2000. Those things were tanks, though feature-poor and stupendously overpriced by contemporary standards.

My Alcatel Speedtouch Home from (I think; it's been a long time) 1999 worked great for me right up until I got a bonded Fusion circuit a couple years back.

As for replacement policy, we ship out the replacement modem and wait for you to return the old one. For warranty replacements we remove the charge for the new modem when the old one comes back. With the rental program we also ship first, receive the suspect modem later. Our priority is getting you back online.

[swoop]

Today I received my Pace 4111N. Everything is operating as hoped. One question I have to ask is on the UPS, there is a button that says "PRESS". Why does this UPS have this button? What does it do?

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rela ... modem.html
From that website, found a person who says they have owned a DSL modem for 4 years. Another person says 5. DSL modems' longevity seem to often fluctuate.

In the rental program, does Sonic.net sell used or refurbished DSL modems?

[dane]

[quote="swoop"In the rental program, does Sonic.net sell used or refurbished DSL modems?[/quote]

It varies, based upon availability. Rented gear is returned when customers discontinue service.

[klui]

I own a ZTE Corporation ZXV10 W300 Series DSL modem. It is in the process of dying on me.
[...]
-Does anyone have any solid numbers on the length of life for a DSL modem from Sonic.net? All the ones I have owned, whether from Sonic.net or not, don't seem to go far beyond 1 year.

The most likely culprit of failed small electronic devices are underspeced wall warts (well, speced so it fails just after the warranty period, they have this down to an exact science!) or underspeced capacitors (with the aforementioned caveat). The easiest is to take the device apart and see if there are any leaky/bulging caps and if there aren't, purchase a replacement wall wart and see if that fixes it. I know that older AT&T 2wire modem/routers were notorious for their shoddy wall warts. Netgear 8-port GS108s switches sold around 4 years ago were like that, too. The 2wire was just a plaything I had no intention of using but the Netgear was brought back to life with another power supply with a higher amperage rating. Still running great after 3 years--the original wart failed after 1 year (it's on 24x7). I had 2 of them, both warts failed after around a year of 24x7 service. One is retired because I upgraded but the other one is still working without any issue.

My old Netopia 3546 is still running great (I would say it has been running for close to 10 years, up 24x7) although it has a bit of a problem with excessive errors once in a while. A monitoring script I got from DSLreports takes care of that. If I could get Fusion but am too far away to get better than 6 Mbps, I wouldn't hesitate to use this device, it's been so reliable, all things considered.

[cduran]

One question I have to ask is on the UPS, there is a button that says "PRESS". Why does this UPS have this button? What does it do?

The "PRESS" button allows you to filp the direction of the prongs on the power supply. Press and hold the "PRESS" button, slide the prongs up then pull the prongs out. Rotate 90 degrees, put prongs back in and slide down until you hear a click. I will say that getting the prongs out seems to be considerably easier than putting them back in.

[rickb]

I just replace my Broadmax modem yesterday (it was still working but may have had some issues) I've had that at least 6 years.

[testy]

My AT&T 2WIRE router/modem has lasted 8 years. Though about a year ago when I connected to the Fusion service I immediately had problems with dropped connections. Though I'm shopping for a new router/ modem, I'm still skeptical. I still think it's likely the Fusion service that's the problem.

[dane]

I hear those old 2Wire units sometimes had power supply problems after years.

If you take equipment from us, we can assure the gear is good, anyway. Do continue to work with support if there is instability.

[brucechill]

[quote="swoop"In the rental program, does Sonic.net sell used or refurbished DSL modems?

It varies, based upon availability. Rented gear is returned when customers discontinue service.[/quote]

I am interested in buying one of the used Pace modems. How can I get on the list to buy one? Thanks - Bruce