Road Runner's TOSHIBA vs. RCA

[Roy Batty]

First of all, I would like to apologize if I am posting this in the wrong board, but I am a complete newbie (this is my first post) and quite clumsy when it comes to network discussion.

I live in midtown Manhattan, and moving to a new apartment.

In both apartments I've got Road Runner as my ISP, but whereas in my old apartment I have a Toshiba PCX2600 cable modem, I have been provided one of those new RCA little boxes (I don't remember the exact model, and I don't have it with me right now) for my new apartment's connection.

As my knowledge of this stuff is pretty much inexistent, is there any substantial difference between the two? The RCA looks pretty ugly and bulky in comparison to the sleek, stylized Toshiba, but maybe it's better or more reliable. But I wouldn't make this just a matter of aesthetics, of course. ;-)

Should I keep the Toshiba, or settle for the RCA instead? In case it holds any relevance, I have it hooked to my iMac G5 throught the ethernet port, not usb. I have tested speed on both by visiting www.speakeasy.net, with results very close to the 5MB download / 384kbps upload provided by Road Runner for my area.

Thanks a lot for any advice you can provide.

[YeOldeStonecat]

When I was shopping around for cable modems, when I recently switched from DSL to cable in my home....I did a bit of poking around looking for what was considered to be the best cable modem.

Motorola Surfboard 5120
and
that Toshiba you mentioned.

First...check to see if your ISP supports that modem...and that they can provision it.

[Roy Batty]

Thanks for the reply, Stonecat.

As I mentioned in my original post, both modems belong to a Road Runner installation, so the Toshiba is indeed supported.

I was thinking of just switching one for the other, thus keeping the Toshiba and returning the RCA upon cancellation of my previous connection in my old apartment.

[ErikD]

I have RoadRunner and that tiny RCA modem. Never had any problems myself caused by the modem. In fact it replaced a highly regarded Motorolla modem that had been giving me problems.