Comcast Modem Help, Please.

[Pork Chop]

Here's some detail to hopefully clarify what I would like to ask...

For the past 8 years I have had a leased Motorola Surfboard SB4200 Cable Modem. My neighborhood was wired in 1999, and I am told we have the last/greatest connection, such as DocSys 3.0, Cable TV digital conversion complete, etc. (I do not have Comcast for TV, btw). About 3 years into having this setup, I lost my internet connection and called Comcast. The tech did his thing with whatever they do to see where the trouble was. He thought it was my router, and was going to have it swapped out. It turns out my router was fine, and there was an outage in my neighborhood. During the conversation, he mentioned that the modem had a 3-4 life expentancy, but no need to swap it out as long as it was working fine. Fast-forward to 2012... I still have the original router, and it seems to be working fine. But...

I have called Comcast on occassion, inquiring about whether or not I need to upgrade my modem. They have always responded that my router is up to date via firmware updates, and that with my service plan, a router upgrade would not make a difference. I have Teleworker- 6Mbps down/512Kbps up (Comcast claims that I ACTUALLY get double that.) The latest speedtest I ran gives 18.67Mbps down/ 2.07 up), (pretty nice, huh?).

Now that I've bored you to sleep with the stupid details, my question - Is Comcast correct in telling me a new router would not improve my connection, or is it worth upgrading the modem to the latest/greatest? The most demanding tasks IMO are streaming Netflix, HD via wireless, and A LOT of Live Meeting and downloading of apps for work.

If you are still awake, any input/opinion on the modem choice is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[yaz96]

Well, you are obviously getting more speed than you are paying for, so the modem seems fine.

BUT, you could save yourself a bunch of money by purchasing your own modem, and not paying them every month. (8 years worth of rental fees...yikes!)

Here are a couple options for the latest and greatest DOCSIS 3.0 modems for Comcast -

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB61...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1327682771&sr=1-1

Amazon.com: Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem: Electronics

or wireless -

Amazon.com: Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem: Electronics

Buy one and save yourself some dough.

 

[berck]

I'm with yaz. I just purchased the SB6121 and its working great. I have similar speed issues. They say I get 16Mbps, and I see it regularly boost into 20-25Mbps range. Although they charge a $7 lease fee, I've been told they only drop $5 off the fee. Something about a $2 discount for the lease of the modem. I'll see soon.

 

[yaz96]

I'm with yaz. I just purchased the SB6121 and its working great. I have similar speed issues. They say I get 16Mbps, and I see it regularly boost into 20-25Mbps range. Although they charge a $7 lease fee, I've been told they only drop $5 off the fee. Something about a $2 discount for the lease of the modem. I'll see soon.

I get the entire $7.00 off.

 

[mcintire123]

Is getting a higher speed than advertised really and "issue"? I get higher speeds than advertised to, seems like the first thing Comcast has done right.

 

[Pork Chop]

Thanks for the feedback. Leasing vs. owning is not an issue for me. All charges are paid by the company I work for. In fact, over the past 8 years, the monthly rate has dropped (now <$50/mo w/ no extra lease fee) and the down/up speed has increased. Originally, I think the monthly fee plus lease was close to $70/mo.

Is my modem or my current service plan the weaker link in this setup? I don't want to ask Comcast to swap out the modem, or buy my own modem if the net result would be the same speed and performance I am getting now.

 

[yaz96]

Thanks for the feedback. Leasing vs. owning is not an issue for me. All charges are paid by the company I work for. In fact, over the past 8 years, the monthly rate has dropped (now <$50/mo w/ no extra lease fee) and the down/up speed has increased. Originally, I think the monthly fee plus lease was close to $70/mo.

Is my modem or my current service plan the weaker link in this setup? I don't want to ask Comcast to swap out the modem, or buy my own modem if the net result would be the same speed and performance I am getting now.

What are you looking for? I don't understand.

 

[mcintire123]

I suspect your connection problem is your router. I had alot of problems like that with Linksys routers after they turned a year or two old, really seem like junk anymore so I quit buying them. Got a netgear and it lasted just fine two years but now Comcast gave me an Arris TG852 gateway that has built-in wifi so retired my router.

IMHO your router is probably cutting out the connection not your gateway.

On the perfomance side I would be happy with what your getting especially if your getting double your advertised speeds. When it comes to your gateway being a DOCSIS 2.0 that is fine when your not running it at high speeds. DOCSIS 3.0 only matters when you start pushing over 39MB/s (I think, may be wrong).

Im with Yaz on this, I don't see where your seeing a problem with performance, like I said if you are getting double your advertised speeds then , uh , what's the problem with that?

 

[Pork Chop]

No service issues or complaints, just wondering whether a new modem would be a waste of money.

 

[harshness]

You would probably be wasting your company's money changing out your router. You could ultimately save them money by purchasing, but they may benefit more from leasing.

I've heard rumors (but cannot substantiate) that the DOCSIS3 modems don't get as much improvement from SpeedBoost.

 

[mcintire123]

No service issues or complaints, just wondering whether a new modem would be a waste of money.

If you don't have to pay your rental fee I wouldn't worry about it, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I wonder who ever came up with that saying.

And I know that wikipedia isn't much of a place for facts, but here is what it has to say on the DOCSIS side...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

IMHO DOCSIS 3 is more for future use than what the average person deals with right now.

 

[Pork Chop]

FWIW, the verdict is in, sort of...

When it comes to your gateway being a DOCSIS 2.0 that is fine when your not running it at high speeds. DOCSIS 3.0 only matters when you start pushing over 39MB/s (I think, may be wrong).

I took this as meaning a new router would not make a difference, which is basically the question I was asking. I also did a bit of research on the web. Some of the comments on this forum had differing opinions on the usefullness of upgrading to D3 at lower speed tiers:

Should I try to get a docsis 3.0 modem from comcast - Comcast HSI | DSLReports Forums

My gut feeling was that I would probably not see a big, if any difference. But I caved into tempation and bought a SBSB6121. After installing, here is what I have observed in the 1st few hours:

- Speedtest: 12.76 down- actually lower than last time, but still 2X what I am paying for - 39.5 up - that's almost 20X faster than before (#'s were similar for modem to PC vs. modem to router to PC).
- VOIP (Ooma): voice delay issue MAYBE slightly better- not bad to start with
- Netflix streaming via Wireless N: Loaded the episode much quicker than before, and MAYBE a slightly better picture quality.
- LEDs on the modem show bonded up and down channel connections (apparently a good thing for avoiding traffic during peak usage times)

If nothing else, I feel that I have accomplished a couple of things that make the investment worthwhile- future-proofed my setup, own my own modem (in case I lose my job/reimbursed internet costs), and peace of mind that I have lowered the risk of having less than optimal performance and stability from my modem.

If anybody reading this has similar concerns, I would say it is worth it to upgrade.

Thanks again for the feedback in helping me to decide.

 

[dan188]

in your download test you could be seeing the speedbost speed. I have a 15 mbs speed and when I test speedboost kicks in and gives me a 30mbs rating

 

[The Insider]

Just so we are clear. Running a speed test when your provider offers a "powerboost / speedboost / turboboost / insert marketing name here" type of offering such as time warner, comcast, bright house etc is not an effective way to measure your connection. As a speed test is a short burst and with the "power boost" you will see much faster speeds for those few seconds then you would for a sustained download. To truly test your connection you need to simply download a large file from maybe microsoft or download.com or other sites you know to be fast. That will be a better judge on your connection speed. The larger the file the better.

 

[dan188]

Just so we are clear. Running a speed test when your provider offers a "powerboost / speedboost / turboboost / insert marketing name here" type of offering such as time warner, comcast, bright house etc is not an effective way to measure your connection. As a speed test is a short burst and with the "power boost" you will see much faster speeds for those few seconds then you would for a sustained download. To truly test your connection you need to simply download a large file from maybe microsoft or download.com or other sites you know to be fast. That will be a better judge on your connection speed. The larger the file the better.

thats what I was tring to say about these powerboost etc. thanks.

 

[dan323]

There is an old suing the is Very true. ( if it ain't broke don't fix it ). You may end up with something you don't like. I am going through that right now with Dish. Good luck.

 

[BlueEos]

There is an old suing the is Very true. ( if it ain't broke don't fix it ). You may end up with something you don't like. I am going through that right now with Dish. Good luck.

In the Air Force, we said DFWIIIAB!