Irishscribe wrote:
Then came the kicker: the rep said he could get me better speeds by updating my Gen2 modem. I said great, only to hear that the rep just discovered that he couldn't update the router online--they'd have to send me one. AT A COST TO ME OF $105.00. I was incredulous and told them that there was no way this bait and switch could be happening. I was very upfront with the sales reps explaining that I was hugely skeptical of Verizon's 50 mbps residential speed clams, yet I was assured that I would get MUCH better wifi speed under the 50 mbps plan than under the 25 plan. And now the tech reps wanted me to pay them to upgrade a modem and they still could not guarantee me that I would get any better speeds than I got under my 25 mbps plan that they eliminated.
So, a supervisor finally came on and agreed to send me the Gen3 Actiontec router for free, but my understanding from reading up on this new router is that it is unlikely to significantly improve speeds over those that I had received under the old plan. What a mess. I feel like I'm getting scammed. I really wonder if that's true or not.
Have no idea what modem you are talking about or what gen2 and gen3 mean but assume you might be talking about a router and that the gen refers to some version.
The real issue you have is that you are connecting by wireless and the older routers only supported wireless g which specifies a max of 54 Mbps which meant that on a good day with good signal you might get around 25 Mbps, The newer routers support wireless n whi can provide up to 150 Mbps which means that with a good signal you shoule be able to reach the max of your package.
However Verizon doesn't really support wireless. They will provide you a router that is sufficient to support a wired connection that can manage you package max bandwidth. If your package was one of the quantum packages over 100 Mbps they would provide you with a newer version router that also would have a wireless n capability.
Other issues are that typically the wireless capability of the Verizon routers is somewhat problematic and the price to purchase an upgrade from Verizon is as you've discovered outrageous.
You can get a perfectly fine Access point or router for less than $30 and it typically will have a far better signal. I think the cheapest one I have is a Tenda that I paid $12 for on Merit line and I've never had any issues with it.