Home > Consumer Reviews > Actiontec USB & Ethernet DSL Modem

Replaced my 9-year-old Alcatel 1000 modem sitting in front of a Linksys Wireless router. Works fine now, but here was my experience for the rest of you trying to avoid paying your service provider for the installation and an overpriced modem...

1. The Alcatel was so old that the physical wires in the RJ45 jack were different than was expected w/the new Actiontec (and apparently any modem more modern than the Alcatel). Thank goodness, an AT&T phone tech pulled that one out of some obscure corner of his head based purely on the flashing DSL light on the Actiontec, a modem he had never heard of. Took some wiggling around, but I managed to switch the wiring from the two outer contacts to the two inner, and got the DSL to sync.

2. The virtual circuit and virtual path settings were 0 and 35 by default on the Actiontec (not that I knew what that was before this exercise). The Alcatel wanted 8 and 35. Unfortunately, this is something set at the central office at AT&T, in my case specifically for the Alcatel. But it turns out you can change the setting on the Actiontec itself using their web interface, which I did. Reset it, and like magic, all four little lights glowed bright green, including the one saying I was connected to the Internet.

3. Sadly, the story was not over at that point. I could not figure out any way to get to the Internet. No gateway ping, no nothing. I finally figured maybe something was screwed up on the AT&T side. Sure enough, the next AT&T tech I talked to found that someone there had reset my account from a static IP address (something they used to hand out years ago) to PPPoE. They reset that back, and I could connect.

4. Next adventure: getting it to work in front of my Linksys router. Long story short, although this device is also a router, the only way I could get it to work was to use the Actiontec as a dumb modem. In the end that's fine. Took a bit of Googling to sort it out, though, which might be tough if you don't have an Internet connection. The Actiontec docs and web site are non-existent on the topic.

In hindsight, I could have saved some hassle by asking AT&T what modems they supported, because this wasn't one of them. Consult your ISP! Still, AT&T technical people were -- to my surprise -- fantastic and worked with me to sort out the issues regardless. A brief interlude with Actiontec support was the usual useless rote recommendations and "try this" scripted stuff without any noticeable knowledge before I gave up there. Maybe the out-of-box install and configuration will work for you, but it was obviously a lot more complicated than that for me, and I entered into it expecting no problems. To be fair, though, the problems were not Actiontec's, which is why I'm rating it three stars. Good luck!

When I signed up for DSL, my vendor (AT&T) shipped me a free DSL modem. While the provided modem worked most of the time with a computer, it did not reliably run with a router attached. I reconfigured it for a bridged mode and that seemed to improve. However it was still slow, slow to connect as it did not seem to keep connected. The documentation was very dated, with nothing updated on the Internet. The support for that modem really didn't exist from the vendor either. However when I purchased the Actiontec modem after reading the reviews, I was hopeful that it would solve my DSL reliability concerns. When it arrived, I simply followed the instructions which really consisted of plugging it up and turning it on. It self sensed my AT&T vendor by configuring the DSL network settings and began to work. I did nothing. It just worked and is still working. Much faster than the old modem too. I have to say that this new modem looks a bit cheap and flimsy, but it is not and it works beautifully.

I use this modem with bellsouth internet service and it has been working great. If you are looking for a reliable, easy to configure and use, top quality DSL modem at an affordable price this is the one.

I recently purchased an Actiontec modem here to replace my Cisco 678 that served for 8 years before dying. I really liked the Cisco 678 for it's features, but this Actiontec modem is just as good if not better. The Actiontec is very easy to configure with most web browsers. The unit is very affordable. Its nice to see you can finally purchase a decent DSL modem from someone besides the DSL provider.

I was in need of DSL modem to go with a Linksys WRT54GL router I had just purchased to replace an old 2-Wire wireless router/DSL modem combo. I called my carrier, Centurytel, to see about buying a modem and was astonished to learn that they no longer sell the modems, they lease them to the tune of three dollars a month. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what a rip-off that is, so I thanked the agent for his time and hung up the phone.

I read an Amazon review of the Actiontec modem from another Centurytel user who described how well it worked, so I decided to take the plunge and order one.

I decided to try the modem by itself first without the Linksys in case there were problems. They would be easier to isolate this way. I ran the guided setup program and had the modem working in no time flat. The guided setup was a little confusing at one point with two choices for Centurytel in the menu. There was no explanation for what the difference between the two was. After some testing I found that option 1 connected and option 2 did not, so the choice then became clear.

After testing the modem by itself, I reset it to factory defaults to prepare it for connection to the Linksys. (I probably didn't need to reset, but I wanted to start fresh.) I changed the VC settings to 8/35 to match Centurytel's requirements and set the modem up for bridging. I connected it to the Linksys and configured the Linksys for the internet connection. I was able to establish a connection on the first try.

The Actiontec/Linksys combination has been working for several days now without the slightest hitch. Performance is very good, as close to the advertised speed of my DSL connection as one could expect.

There's really only one minor complaint I have with the Actiontec. I would have liked to have seen a quick start guide included for users who are going to be using the modem to connect to a router in bridged mode. I have to believe this is the configuration that is used by many, if not most, users. The guided setup CD is not needed for the bridged configuration. In fact, the guided setup makes no mention of the possibility. A card with a couple of steps for setting up bridged mode would have been very helpful. If I hadn't done some internet research on what was required before the modem arrived, I would have been at a loss for what to do.

That being said, I am very pleased with the Actiontec and highly recommend it. It sure beats forking three dollars extra a month over to Centurytel!