Qwest wireless broadband is not (fully) Mac compatible
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Who knew that Qwest was still around? I sure didn’t. But at any rate, it seems the folks at Qwest deny the existence of Mac computers and if you have a Mac, let this serve as a warning not to sign up for Qwest broadband.
These people decided that they wanted to share an Internet connection with the whole house and so decided to sign up for Qwest and get a wireless modem. I’m going to stop right there for a minute and take you on an aside.
It’s far easier (but not necessarily cheaper) to get a standard modem and buy a wireless router separately. But I suppose that isn’t the point.
Basically I feel it is all but pointless to accept a wireless router from the company that is providing the service when a router from NetGear, Linksys or D-Link will do the job just as well, if not better (usually better).
Either way, it ended up costing these people extra time and money after Qwest decided that it was not going to handle the problem of dealing with Mac users. If you want the details then head on over to The Consumerist.
Seriously, don’t buy a wireless modem from the broadband company itself, it’s bad for your health (and it’s stupid to do so). After all, I think this is what really matters in the story, had they gone with just a standard modem and a router from a third party, all this could have been avoided, sorry folks, but it could have.
Another aside, most routers can be logged into and set up manually without the installation disc, which in this case, was not Mac compatible, I’m wondering if the manual was even removed from the plastic wrapping.
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November 7th, 2007
“It’s far easier (but not necessarily cheaper) to get a standard modem and buy a wireless router separately. But I suppose that isn’t the point.”
Perhaps they thought it would “just work” like plugging in a Japanese camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0qbP-rIpRg
January 3rd, 2008
You probably won’t even read this, but …
“Who knew that Qwest was still around? I sure didn’t.”
You must not live in the southwest, or pay any attention to companies outside your bubble.
“It’s far easier (but not necessarily cheaper) to get a standard modem and buy a wireless router separately. But I suppose that isn’t the point.”
As someone who does tech support and DSL installs, this makes me laugh. It’s not at all easier to put one router inside the other to someone who is not trained in networking (the modem acts as a router). What if the modem and router both use the same subnet and gateway for the LAN? How is the average home user supposed to understand why that won’t work and how to fix it?
“Seriously, don’t buy a wireless modem from the broadband company itself, it’s bad for your health (and it’s stupid to do so). After all, I think this is what really matters in the story, had they gone with just a standard modem and a router from a third party, all this could have been avoided, sorry folks, but it could have.”
Yeah, and either way they have to hire a tech to come out and do it for them. Adding a router is going to increase their costs and cause more potential problems down the road, if something goes wrong. Sure, they could do it themselves, but people can also change their own oil, although most people don’t.