[NCLUG] dsl modem for qwest & frii

[Marcio Luis Teixeira]

On Wednesday 12 June 2002 12:01 am, Sean Reifschneider wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 11, 2002 at 04:21:58PM -0600, Daniel Herrington wrote:
> >Does anyone have any recommendations for inexpensive dsl modems that
> >work well with a Qwest DSL to FRII ISP setup?  Qwest wants $295 minus
> >$150 rebate for a Cisco 678, which seems a little steep to me.
>
> You can get them on ebay for quite a bit cheaper than that.  Just be an
> informed shopper there -- apparently people get screwed there.  I haven't,
> however.

I bought a cable modem on eBay (not a DSL modem, though). I got a great deal, 
spending a little over $50. I personally had excellent experiences with eBay. 
In fact, the first modem I got didn't work, but the guy who sold it to me 
actually took it back and sent me a replacement one free of charge. Most 
people on eBay will go out of their way to make sure you're satisfied.

So my experiences with eBay so far have been very positive (and I've done 
about 100 transactions so far). My advice is to use common sense. Only buy 
from people with high feedback scores (I suggest over 50, at least) and 
review their feedback before bidding. Also, know what you want to buy ahead 
of time. Figure out what modems Qwest supports and then shop for that 
specific model.

I don't think you can go wrong on eBay, unless you pay too much for something 
that doesn't work for you and that no one else wants. See the completed 
auctions went for and try to get an item below the average selling price (you 
can manage this by "sniping" an auction) . That way, even if you end up with 
a modem that doesn't work for you, and you didn't pay too much, you almost 
always can relist the item and get back what you paid for it.

There's a myth that you can't return items purchased on eBay -- but in fact 
you can -- you just have to sell it to someone else! (and I've actually made 
money by "returning" items in this way -- try doing that with your local 
merchant! :)

Anyhow, sorry for the shameless plug for eBay -- if the new spam catcher is 
any good, I bet it will filter this message out :)

Marcio Luis Teixeira
Member, eBay Addicts Anonymous