Is it the modem or Comcast

Joined
Nov 23, 2003
Messages
2,477
Location
WA
I have an Arris 6190 Surboard right now. This is my 4th Surfboad, the first few were Motorola ones. I have been having a problem with my modem or Comcast rebooting itself. The strange thing is it always happens around 9:30pm or 10:30pm. It’s not every night, it hardly ever occurs during the winter. As soon it starts heating up, it happens. I had Comcast come out last year and they said nothing is wrong on their end. I just don’t believe them. Why only at those time ranges I lose the internet. Are they doing updates and it is done back at their HQ three hours ahead of me? Just to point out, the Comcast box is on top of the power poles in my neighborhood if that is a problem or not.

I was thinking maybe it‘s time to fork out some money for a higher price modem and router. What are some good ones in the sub $200 range. I will see if a better modem solves the problem.
 
You have the dreaded Intel Puma chipset in that modem. Do a search on Google and you'll see what I mean.

Did Comcast supply the modem or did you buy it yourself? Either way, get a new model of modem.
 
Check your power levels and the logs. I had a problem once where my downstream and upstream power levels were very high causing it to have T4 timeouts and reboot. Turns out a squirrel ate the line… took a few calls to comcast to send a guy out as they kept blaming my equipment and the coax in my house.
 
I have been having a problem with my modem or Comcast rebooting itself. The strange thing is it always happens around 9:30pm or 10:30pm.
Internet traffic peak hours
The internet sees the most traffic between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Everyone gets home from work or school and starts digging into their daily dose of streaming, games, social media, etc. These peak hours are when you are most likely to experience network congestion.
 
You have the dreaded Intel Puma chipset in that modem. Do a search on Google and you'll see what I mean.

Did Comcast supply the modem or did you buy it yourself? Either way, get a new model of modem.
I always buy my own modem. So buy one with an Intel chip in it?

What about this one? $54 off right now.

Modem
 
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Get the SB8200 if you don't care about the 2.5GbE connection. Avoid Intel modem chips at all possible.

All the DOCSIS 3.1 modems use the Broadcom 3390 chipset. I've been rocking my day one SB8200 still to this day.
 
I would be suspect of your modem.I just replaced my SB6190, it started acting strangely mostly latency issues before it went dead. It was only 6 months old. The SB6190 has had a bad track record with the Intel chipset which it has. If you require high bandwidth, go with a DOCSIS 3.1 compliant modem. If your bandwidth is under 500 MBPS , just get a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, they are half the money of a 3.1.
 
I have a business class Comcast account and in order to get the best contract rate I had to rent their modem. Even with the rental fee its cheaper than just paying the normal monthly rate, This is despite the FCC rules where they cannot require you to rent their modem.
 
I have an Arris 6190 Surboard right now. This is my 4th Surfboad, the first few were Motorola ones. I have been having a problem with my modem or Comcast rebooting itself. The strange thing is it always happens around 9:30pm or 10:30pm.
I was thinking maybe it‘s time to fork out some money for a higher price modem and router. What are some good ones in the sub $200 range. I will see if a better modem solves the problem.
Its not your modem, the Arris 6190 is a good modem. I happen to have purchased one a while ago.
Are you sure its not your router rebooting itself?
I agree with you, I think its your provider.

If your willing to spend money, keep the 6190 and plug in a new router. I dont agree about the chipset in the 6190 modems they are fine. WIth that said I never say never on any electronic.
I would suggest a new router = $99 Motorola (owned by Lenovo) router that is simple, incredible range performance, been around a while now and wont have AX (big deal), and dead on reliable. Price cant be beat.
Motorola MR2600

If you think its the modem you could always rent their modem and see if the issue persists. If it does, you dont have to feel you need a new modem.
 
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While I wouldnt doubt its comcast.. your modem is CRAP. Upgrade that regardless then continue on to see if issue persists.
I'd suggest getting docsis 3.1 now. Unless you are in rural area < 100mbits plan with no hope of upgrade within 5 years.

Puma chipset is junk and many overheat badly besides the random latency issues.
 
I will be picking this up after work, great price. If I have the same problem, I will upgrade my router also like alarmguy said. I did notice my 6190 does get hot.

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Is it possible there is water getting in your cable lines. My brother encountered similar issue that was remedied by replacement of chewed cable line to house. Winter it was non issue because it froze and sealed cable.
 
I have the 6186 and yes these models were plagued with problems but I haven't experienced any of them and have been running it for several years and all of my issues have been Comcast. I could make the 2.5g work but my internet is only 1g but sometime this year I will have access to fiber and as long as it's working it doesn't make sense for me to upgrade at this point.

If I had to guess it's most likely your service, the only issue I've ever had with any of my equipment was when a power adapter failed but was able to reuse the one from the old modem.
 
Someone at Comcast knows if they're sending a reboot command, or if they're doing an update that the modem requires a reboot for. But, good luck finding that person.

Look at the logs as suggested, or call and dig and dig with Comcast until you get ... nevermind. That will never happen.
 
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