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Another IT Service Call


raymac46

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My neighbor brought his friend - a retired police officer - over to see me last week. The friend wanted advice on backing up data and installing a Roku box to get Netflix. After talking to him I figured there was no way it would be DIY so I went over there this morning.

 

He's got a nine year old HP desktop with Vista installed. I had forgotten just how brutal Vista is - all kinds of security checks, slow, confusing menus. But I got down to work.

  1. We went to Netflix Canada and set up an account for him.
  2. I unpacked the Roku, plugged it in, set it in place, connected the HDMI cable.
  3. I showed him how to change input source from his cable box to Roku. And back of course.
  4. He has an old Bell Canada DSL modem/router. His kids set it up and just used the old 26 character WEP key that was the router default. I didn't change this because I would have had to reconfigure all his devices.
  5. The Roku is in the basement some distance from the router. I hope he won't have too many problems with wifi transmission. We'll see.
  6. After putting in the key we got connected. Then I had to go back to the PC and set up a Roku account - this is new. After that we got the channels he wanted installed on the Roku box. Mostly YouTube and Netflix. He and his wife have separate viewing accounts which you now change with a new Netflix button on the remote.
  7. For backup I advised him to buy a small external drive - he has a Western Digital My Passport. We plugged it in. Vista complained it was't working but it was. I suspect Vista drivers may be a bit antiquated when it comes to USB.
  8. Installed AOMEI Backupper and configured a backup that did his Photos, Documents and Music.
  9. We ran the Backup and I showed him how to do an Incremental backup once every couple of weeks.
  10. Disconnected the external drive and he put it away safely.

If he has problems I can always increase the power of his router wifi broadcast (I think.)

This is quite typical of the stuff I get myself into with folks in my neighborhood. it's a little different than coming here where some people are running bleeding edge distros and the latest hardware, or at the very least know how to do a backup.

I told my "client" maybe he should think about a new desktop. Don't know if he thinks he needs it (He sure does.)

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securitybreach

If the signal is not great, perhaps you should get a cheap router and run it as an extender or just buy a wifi extender. The first method basically daisy-chains two routers together to extend the signal.

 

Also if you didn't already, you may want to change the default channel on which the wifi is broadcast so there will be less interference from neighbors (channel 11 is the one I always choose)

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He's on Channel 6 now. My preferred solution would be a range extender. I've fooled around with these routers before and it's pretty difficult to kill DHCP in the head end, so you end up with a router network inside a network. I may lend him a spare range extender I have here now.

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In Canada neither of the major ISPs will sell/rent you a simple modem where you can hook up your own router.

They prefer to send you a gateway that'll do both. Nice in theory but the router portion really sucks. My ISP (Rogers) will put their gateway in bridge mode for you so you can hook up your own router and that is what I do. However Bell will not allow you to go into bridge mode with their gateways so you are stuck. Another reason to choose Rogers in my opinion.

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securitybreach

In Canada neither of the major ISPs will sell/rent you a simple modem where you can hook up your own router.

They prefer to send you a gateway that'll do both. Nice in theory but the router portion really sucks. My ISP (Rogers) will put their gateway in bridge mode for you so you can hook up your own router and that is what I do. However Bell will not allow you to go into bridge mode with their gateways so you are stuck. Another reason to choose Rogers in my opinion.

 

They do the same in the USA but I choose to buy my own modem and router versus renting one from them. They just ask for the mac address and model (model is just make sure it is compatible) of your modem and no more monthly rental fee.

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They just ask for the mac address and model (model is just make sure it is compatible) of your modem and no more monthly rental fee.

Unless your ISP is Comcast, in which case they'll probably continue to insist that you owe the modem rental fee.
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securitybreach

They just ask for the mac address and model (model is just make sure it is compatible) of your modem and no more monthly rental fee.

Unless your ISP is Comcast, in which case they'll probably continue to insist that you owe the modem rental fee.

 

Actually, I had Comcast before I moved here and I used by own Modem and Router...

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There have been cases of people using their own equipment either being billed for monthly modem rentals for a Comcast modem they didn't have or being billed for the cost of the modem they didn't have when they closed their accounts and didn't return the supposed Comcast equipment.

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securitybreach

Well when I return equipment to any cable or internet provider, I always get a receipt in case they try to screw me. Never had it happen yet, for equipment anyway..

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Let me tell you my Rogers cable router story.

When I first got Rogers Cable I had a DOCSIS 2.0 modem and attached my own router. After Rogers "upgraded" my account I was supposed to get 80 GB per month of bandwidth. However I only was allotted 60 GB.

Contacted Rogers and they told me I had to get a newer DOCSIS 3.0 modem & pay an additional $2 per month. Since I would also get higher speeds I thought it was worth it.

Of course any DOCSIS 3.0 unit you could get was a gateway with pathetic router performance. No problem though you could install the gateway and router and then call Rogers to dumb down the gateway and all would be well.

So I made my 40 mile round trip to the nearest Rogers office to trade modems. The one I got looked a bit scruffy but the boys at the store vouched for it. I brought it home and hooked it up and called Rogers. The tech spent 30 minutes trying to get it into bridge mode and then he said it was probably defective.

So another 40 mile trip and this time I insisted on a new gateway.. This one was put in bridge mode by the tech in 30 seconds. He even told me he saw the modem hand off control to my router,

He asked me what I had for an internal router. DIR-845L I said. A good one, he said. I use that myself at home.

Rogers techs don't even use their own gateways. Does that tell you something?

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securitybreach

I did have the DIR860L until I upgraded. Now I have a ARRIS SURFboard SB6190 DOCSIS 3 modem and a TP-LINK AC1900 Archer C9 Dual Band Wireless Wi-Fi AC Router.

 

I never had any issues with the DIR860L but I needed higher bandwidth for streaming 4k throughout the house. I also had to upgrade the old SURFboard modem when I upgrade my internet speed.

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