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modem review and showdown

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you can obtain the skill to test it. I think the main problem for @thiggins is just obtaining the gear required as he doesnt buy them, he gets them gifted/loaned.

For fibre optics you dont need something like a DSLAM because of the nature of it, you can just plug 2 fibre modems together and actually start testing. Essentially a fibre optic modem only requires a converter which would have a spec of range and throughput so not much testing needed here but for fibre optics the cable used and how it is used matters more. This holds true even for GPON or GEPON.

Cable and DOCSIS and DSL are the complicated ones. If you want to test 100m+ of cabling just buy 100m+ of cable and connect one end to modem and other end to a DSLAM maybe? By rolling the cable and making it compact it should fit into your house. Many of the monopolised ISPs use cable and DSL so this is one of the reasons for the difficulty/limitations.
 
@System Error Message - you seem to be the only person really concerned about this... perhaps this is an opportunity for you to build a test lab and take things forward.

;)
I have an electronics and computing lab kinda, just dont know the tools needed. Problem for me is space, i mean what do i do with the test device after testing? I already have really good gear to use myself.
 
That's a generalization and a cheap shot... might want to go back and edit that post.
Ok than i will correct it, he doesnt buy all the tools as some are expensive*.

Sorry im not trying to offend or go against @thiggins but i know that the contributors in this forum have their lives to live and sponsor their own hobby despite their limited time and budget so other than what is commonly available (other than the router tester that @thiggins got) he hasnt yet needed to get other hardware for testing other than his enclosed faraday cage.

The main question i have right now in this thread is what is needed to test a cable/DSL modem? DSLAM for DSL? what for cable? what else do i need other than those? A multimeter? An Oscilloscope? Noise cancellation/Noise generation circuits?
 
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SEM you are correct that I do not have the $100K+ it would cost to buy the Veriwave, Octoscope, Ixia and QACafe equipment that my test partners have loaned. But it is common practice for manufacturers to do long term loans or donate test equipment to legitimate and respected publications.

My "problem", and that of most publications today is that advertising revenue continues to decline and the majority of people are unwilling to pay for content. SmallNetBuilder is fortunate to be able to continue to operate and do the testing we do largely due to the generosity of partners like those named above.

If you want to get into the product review business, stop making excuses and take your shot.
 
@thiggins im asking what do i need exactly in order to be able to review a modem. For example for DSL could it be hooked up as modem -----DSLAM ---ethernet to PC? I dont intend to get into it as a business, its more for fun to find out the science and facts behind it and than publish it. and i dont plan on getting any ad revenue or donations for it.

Am i missing another form of internet? I know the mobile wireless internet requires a license which is very expensive so definitely cant do that but other than DSL (ADSL- VDSL) and cable (DOCSIS) i hope i am not missing other forms of internet. I know theres fibre optic but fibre optic is dependent on cabling.

Im not making excuses, i am asking what do i need to start testing these? As sfx has mentioned you cant simply take 2 modems and connect them together. So if i know what i am missing and only need to obtain a few more items in order to test than i could order them and start testing.
 
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I've been following this post and even added to it.

My viewpoint, maybe overly simplistic, is we see many posters saying why spend $10 +/- month to rent a modem when you can buy the same for on average 6 to 8 months rental.

So, given the above how to choose an item to buy? Simply purchase the same model that is rented? From lots of reading I've learned having 8 channels is good, 16 channels better.

Maybe simply having a read only sticky for the newbies with a chart showing your provisioned speed is X so a modem with Y channels is ideal.
 
@thiggins im asking what do i need exactly in order to be able to review a modem. For example for DSL could it be hooked up as modem -----DSLAM ---ethernet to PC? I dont intend to get into it as a business, its more for fun to find out the science and facts behind it and than publish it. and i dont plan on getting any ad revenue or donations for it.

Am i missing another form of internet? I know the mobile wireless internet requires a license which is very expensive so definitely cant do that but other than DSL (ADSL- VDSL) and cable (DOCSIS) i hope i am not missing other forms of internet. I know theres fibre optic but fibre optic is dependent on cabling.

Im not making excuses, i am asking what do i need to start testing these? As sfx has mentioned you cant simply take 2 modems and connect them together. So if i know what i am missing and only need to obtain a few more items in order to test than i could order them and start testing.

Good place to start...


The hard part is defining requirements, building test cases around those requirements, and documenting the results - the actual gear can be found/acquired/borrowed as needed, but the hard stuff is defining what is to be tested in the first place.

Tim has done a great job with this stuff.. and he's built partnerships with the test equipment vendors, which benefits all.
 

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