Cable modems

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buck91

buck91

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Been running my own modem and router with Comcast for a few years now, and between the router improvements and soem connectivity issues with my modem I'm looking to upgrade. Ordered a new router already but looking at modems...

Currently running a Motorola SB6121. It worked well for about two years but ever since comcast increased "blast" tier to 75mbps it has had a ton of connectivity issues requiring multiple restarts per day. Looking at their guide, the SB6121 is comcast compatible but not recommended for blast speed. Their SB6141 is, though.

What are some good options for economic cablem modems? I would be OK spending less now and replacing in another two years, also. Currently looking at either Motorola SB6141 or TP-Link TC-7610. The TP-Link is significantly cheaper...
 
I've had my SB6141 for over two years now with no issue. What's the price difference you're seeing? I bought my SB6141 on eBay for under $60 shipped in 2013.

I don't know about the TP-Link, but I know there are other guys on bitog that have used a Zoom cable modem with good results.
 
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I don't think you can go wrong with a Motorola modem. I've had my SB6121 for 4 years now. Used it for a few years at my place, and now my parents are using it at their house. No issues whatsoever.

For routers I usually go with Netgear.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-AC3200-Tri-Band-R8000/dp/B00KWHMR6G?tag=viglink21505-20

That is my router and cable modem. Could not be happier.


That looks nice, but that router might be a LITTLE bit more than he wants to spend
lol.gif
 
+1 on the SB6141. That's what we have and it works great on Comcast. Motorola knows how to make a great cable modem, they have been doing it well for ages.
 
Originally Posted By: buck91
bdcardinal, what does your SB6183 offer over the lower priced SB6141?


I was able to download a 3GB version of Windows 7 Pro in about 5 minutes.
 
I wonder if a refurb unit is acceptable for something like a cable modem. $24 cheaper for the SB6141...
 
Have had mine almost a month now, I believe. No issues yet. Well, though I had an issue but turns out my UPS died.

I don't have any experience with Comcast, but I wouldn't put it past Crime Warner to purposefully do things that would make your modem disconnect so they can rent you one of theirs and mysteriously fix the problem.
 
Pardon my ignorance but could someone recommend a good cable modem to buy. I currently lease a Ubee modem from Comcast/infinity for $10 a month and $12 monthly for an increase internet speed.

My question is if I buy my own modem what do I have to do if anything to make it function with the Comcast cable signal?

We tend to be about 10 years behind the technology curve.

Thanks
 
I think all ISPs might need you to call when you need to activate them and they can walk you through it. Nothing special otherwise, AFAIK.

When TWC upgraded our modem to a new one, they sent it in the mail and one was supposed to be able to set it up online, but it didn't work for me and I had to call tech support and they did it remotely.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird

When TWC upgraded our modem to a new one, they sent it in the mail and one was supposed to be able to set it up online, but it didn't work for me and I had to call tech support and they did it remotely.


I recently went through this nightmare with Xfinity. First I tried following their instructions, and doing it online once the new "gateway" was hooked up, and I was connected to its wifi.

Called tech support, thinking I would just have to give them the new mac address, and I'd be good to go. Not so much.. Long story short, after an hour on the phone, things were finally up and running. Don't exactly know what went wrong, with the new xfinity gateways, you connect to them through 10.0.0.1. For whatever reason, my new gateway was taking forever for myself and the tech person to access, and wouldn't let us in for awhile.

As for Santiago's question, I like Motorola cable modems. I think any motorola cable modem that is docsis 3.0 compatible should work just fine. The reason I went with a new gateway from comcast even though my old eMTA was still docsis 3.0 compatible is, I hear having an increased number of downstream and upstream channels can give you faster speeds, if your cable signal isn't the best. My old arris tm722G only had 4 downstream channels, whereas the new arris TG1682G gateway appears to have 24 downstream channels, though only 16 are being used right now. From what I've briefly read, when there are more channels available to "bond", this can give you faster speeds with a weaker signal.

A decent read on the subject. I know the source is random, but the info is still good I think.
http://oddballupdate.com/2012/11/docsis-3-0-channel-bonding-and-you/
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
When I hooked up my new modem, I was able to do everything through my ISP's webpage.


Did the same thing with Charter about a month ago when my modem died. I installed a new Motorola 6141, and just went to their page in the new modem instructions self install, and it worked great.
 
Originally Posted By: santiago
Pardon my ignorance but could someone recommend a good cable modem to buy. I currently lease a Ubee modem from Comcast/infinity for $10 a month and $12 monthly for an increase internet speed.

My question is if I buy my own modem what do I have to do if anything to make it function with the Comcast cable signal?

We tend to be about 10 years behind the technology curve.

Thanks


Am Arris/Motorola 6141 would be my pick, and that's what I bought recently. Walmart did have the Motorola 6121 on clearance for $53 about a month ago. Their website does not show clearance price, and you will have to go to the store. If you want to be future proof for a long time, and have need for the fastest speeds available, then the 6183 would be good too.

You can either call them, or use the new modem self install instructions to have your modem provisioned.
 
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