Some of the comments here about ISP behaviour are crazy. Australia has had our fair share of fucking up the national internet infrastructure but at least I can pick pretty much any ISP and use any router I like. Haven't used an ISP supplied router in something like 15 years.
All over the US I have always been able to use my own cable modem and router. OPs situation is unusual, I am guessing its some bundle they have for a discount but if they were paying standard (ie ripoff) rates they could use their own equipment.
This thread made me realize dslreports.com has "closed".
Used to be you could find out there what works and what doesn't down to the chipset variations. My experience was same as yours, as long as I matched provider capabilities, it worked.
> This thread made me realize dslreports.com has "closed".
Yeah. I saw it mentioned in a response to Karl Bode (TD). Sorry to see it gone.
I joined in DSLR in 04 and dumped more hours there than anywhere else, ever. It wasn't the same after the database crash in the mid 10s. When they shuttered the new-music thread, I finally moved on.
I've never had an issue with using my own hardware here. It's definitely one of the only good things about australian internet.
Regionally is a total crapshoot as to ISP choice, in my experience. Even in the massive regional cities it's often appalling. People living in rural or remote areas might as well not exist. If I moved somewhere that only telstra serviced I'd seriously consider just not having internet at all. It's roughly equivalent in internet access as paying telstra but it sure is cheaper!
> Some of the comments here about ISP behaviour are crazy.
It depends on the ISP. Over 25 years of IT support I've had to fight with about 30% of them to bring in my own device.
Most notable screwery was with Verizon DSL. They'd lease a new public IP every time we tried an incoming connection. As fast as I could record the new IP in the remote config and reconnect - my IP would change. I was able to push it past six changes/min.
I mean technically in Australia these days the nbn box is the "modem" for all intents and purposes, if you have fttp.
You don't actually need a secondary modem and can plug your pc directly into it, takes a lot of the pain out of it and reduces the need for ISP supplied modems.
