Upgrade the Modem

How to decide if a Modem Upgrade is Cost Effective

Pretty much everybody who bought their PC after 1998 will have a 56K modem. Telephone modems are still limited to 56K, though the V.92 standard added support for call waiting and a few other minor tweaks. In other words, I wouldn't upgrade a modem that's still working, even if you gave me the new one for free! Broadband modems are a completely different kettle of clams. Both cable and DSL modems offer so much gain over the best dial-up modem that it's truly a night-and-day comparison. The issue is the cost. If you already have cable installed and your cable company offers broadband, it will probably cost you $30/month or more, and you usually have to pay over a hundred for the modem. Granted, you'll save whatever you are currently paying for dial-up access, and if you had a separate phone line for the computer that you can get rid of, you'll probably save money by shifting to cable, with the huge performance gain thrown in the bargain.

Telephone companies seem to be more aggressive than the cable companies, and our local carrier, Verizon, actual throws in the DSL modem for free, providing you maintain your subscription for a year. DSL also starts around $30/month, but again, if you had a dedicated phone line for your computer and you were paying an ISP for access, you'll save more than that when you upgrade the modem and get a faster connection to boot.

I have a friend who runs his business out of the house, who had two extra phone lines and two dial-up connections available, at a total cost of around $90/month. He saved over $50/month by switching to a cable modem, which gives him always-on, high speed access. Another friend who is married to AOL recently signed up for their DSL option. Since he was already paying AOL something like $22/month, the additional cost to him was less than $20/month, and he saved more than that by dropping his computer phone line!

If your computer doesn't support USB 2, which wasn't widely available before 2002, you may need a network port to communicate with the broadband modem/router. Some home computers are sold with 10/100BaseT support, it doesn't really cost the manufacturer anything, but some brand names used to use the presence of this "feature" as a way to differentiate between "home" and "office" lines. The cost of a new 10/100BaseT adapter is negligible, you can find any number online for under $10 that work fine, the shipping may cost more than the adapter. I recently did an illustrated guide on how to upgrade a modem.

While all Windows networking can be intimidating to the beginner, the phone company is happy to walk you through DSL setup, because if you can't get it going, you aren't very likely to pay them. How often is it you get to hold the phone company's feet to the fire.

Illustrated guide to replacing a modem