UPC Wirelsss switching question

doubledown

Hi all,

A friend of mine has had NTL (now UPC) WIRED broadband for about five years. I have been trying to convince him to switch to wireless so he can get his Wii, PS3 and Iphone working on a wifi network but he seems very reluctant for some reason. He says he rang UPC and they told him he would need to scrap his old contract and set up a new one. This has put him off too. Does this sound right? I thought it was just a matter of getting a wireless modem.

His existing broadband comes in though a tv-type cable, NOT the phone line. Should this make any difference?

Thanks in advance...

kjgf123

Yea all he has to do is get a cable router, i have the same thing done.

Just make sure that you get a cable router and not a modem router.

doubledown

So all he needs is to buy a cable router? Does this connect to the existing modem via Ethernet? Is there a particular one you could recommend?

coylemj

Word over on the broadband forum is that you cannot just go out and buy your own box for UPC broadband, he will need to take the official UPC cable router.

For DSL (phoneline) broadband the boxes are fairly interchangeable, I switched to BT (later Vodafone) from Eircom a few years ago and while waiting for my new BT Voyager router I was able to connect using my old Eircom-supplied Netopia router but apparently UPC will only talk to the routers supplied by them.

If your friend has been paying for broadband for 5 years now he shouldn't have much of a problem convincing UPC to give him a wireless box, in most cases just phone 1908 and ask for the current options in terms of speed. If he does any kind of an upgrade they should give him a free wireless box. He may even end up paying less if he negotiates to move on to one of the current bundles.

Eircom and UPC make a pile of money out of people who just keep paying the same monthly bill for the same service year after year because they never ask for an upgrade or threaten to move to the competition. Tell your friend to phone during business hours (when the UPC loyalty people are working), say he's moving to Sky and can he downgrade his UPC service to broadband only? The call agent will put him on to the UPC loyalty team who will make him a cracking offer which should include a speed upgrade to his broadband service plus a free router upgrade.

kjgf123

coylemj wrote: »

Word over on the broadband forum is that you cannot just go out and buy your own box for UPC broadband, he will need to take the official UPC cable router.

This is only if u have the combined modem and router and since the OP mentioned that their friend is using the old wired modem all they need to do is connect the modem to a wireless cable router with an ethernet cable and install the software.

I have this done and it works for me.

coylemj

I know the functions are different but most people (including me) use words like 'modem' and 'router' interchangably when referring to the same broadband box with Wi-Fi capability so I wouldn't read much into what term the OP used to refer to his friend's box. The fact is that if it's 5 years old he shouldn't have much problem getting a new box, whatever it's called.

dub45

In simple terms UPC supply broadband over cable. They supply and own the modems used for this service. With some of their products UPC supply either a combined modem and wireless router or a separate wireless router which will plug into the modem. It is not possible to purchase your own cable modem for use with upc.

Your friend needs a wireless router to avail of the options you mention in your post. This is often referred to as a "cable" router to distinguish it from products with an integrated dsl modem/router for use with bb supplied over the telephone line (dsl bb).

All of the major manufacturers will offer "cable" wireless routers.

Many are listed here just to give you some examples:

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/catalog/ZKB_01COM/18_NETWORK/14_ROUTER/default.aspx

There are a couple of integrated dsl modem/routers further down the list.

The 'n' standard is the most up to date wireless standard - 'g' would still be the most common.