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baess
Member
2012-Sep-7 4:12 pm
Purchase modem for Chicago area HSII think my father (83 yo) is finally going to let me get him on the internet. He currently has Comcast cable, assuming it won't be too bad in terms of upcharge he will add HSI service. I can't see him needing anything more than Performance.
I'd like to avoid renting the modem and purchase like I did with my ISP. I use the SA DPC 2100r2 and find it perfectly good, especially for less than $20 off eBay. Will that DOCSIS 2 modem work with Comcast Performance? If no (or even yes), what other modems would be an option? Unless it is necessary a DOCSIS 3.0 (e.g. SB61621) would be overkill imo.
He lives in the NW 'burbs of Chicago if it makes a differerence.
Thanks |
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With Comcast moving to DOSCIS 3 overall A Motorola Surfboard is probably your best bet SB6120 or SB6121. They're about $80 on Amazon and you know they'll work for the foreseeable future. |
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The problem with the 6120/6121/6141 has been some weird issues with T4 timeouts now that upstream bonding has been enabled, mixed in with a recent firmware update. Some people seem to be having alot of problems.
A D2 modem is fine for Performance, as it's only about 16/2 raw speed (24/4 powerboost). Being D2, it's possible there could be brief (5-15 sec) outages if Comcast decides to do some Dynamic Channel Change commands to move it to another frequency.
The Zoom 5341J has been rather popular lately. It's cheaper than the Motorola, and supports 8 downstream. |
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 SuperNetGo Ninja,Go Ninja Go..
Premium Member
join:2002-10-08
Hoffman Estates, IL |
to gwbuffalo
said by gwbuffalo:With Comcast moving to DOSCIS 3 overall A Motorola Surfboard is probably your best bet SB6120 or SB6121. They're about $80 on Amazon and you know they'll work for the foreseeable future.
+1 |
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 EGThe wings of love
Premium Member
join:2006-11-18
Union, NJ
1 recommendation |
EG to baess
Premium Member
2012-Sep-7 5:01 pm
to baess
Be careful about buying a modem off of E-bay. They sometimes wind up as being listed as un-returned / stolen in Comcast's database and they won't provision them for service. |
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baess
Member
2012-Sep-7 5:52 pm
Like I mentioned I think any D3 modem would be overkill for his needs. Of course if D2 modems will not always be viable even for lower speeds I may have to rethink it. Also hearing about potential issues w/the SB6120/1 make me nervous about shelling out $80. My own ISP had issues with the same modem when they moved to DOCSIS 3. The only people who got satisfaction had to get a specific firmware update that they don't seem to be giving to everyone. Not sure how Comcast is handling it. I have an old SB5100 that I had to give up because my ISP wouldn't update it but I remember people here saying it should work w/ Comcast. And it is listed here: » mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/ so that might be an option. The DPC2100r2 is also listed and I would buy from a trusted source so hopefully there wouldn't be any issues with it being a non returned modem. Feel free to keep giving your thoughts. I appreciate it. |
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According to the Comcast approved list the SB 5100 should work fine on performance tier.
I see you mentioned the SB61xx modems having trouble with DOCSIS3.
Maybe I am lucky, but I had the SB6120 for 2 years and now have had the SB6141 for a month and not one problem.
I see things about T4 time outs. Looking at my logs, I have not had any. Now DHCP renew warnings is a different story as I get one of those every 5 days like clock work. |
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 jaynicklit up
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06
Sterling Heights, MI |
jaynick
Premium Member
2012-Sep-7 8:56 pm
said by Wayne99021:Maybe I am lucky, but I had the SB6120 for 2 years and now have had the SB6141 for a month and not one problem.
I see things about T4 time outs. Looking at my logs, I have not had any. Now DHCP renew warnings is a different story as I get one of those every 5 days like clock work.
I second the SB6141. Mine has been up 25 days and no T4's only the DHCP warning every 3 days for me. Rock solid. |
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to andyross
Never had a problem with my 6121, and it's been running non stop for 2+ years. |
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baess
Member
2012-Sep-7 11:20 pm
I just can't see spending $80-100 on an SB61xx, especially if the 5100 I have will work for Performance.
Once bitten, twice shy. Way back when I bought the 5100 it was $60 or so. Modem rental from my ISP was $3. I think I made the money back before they no longer supported it...but it was close. And since then it has gathered dust on a shelf. Maybe it will have another life. |
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to cooperaaaron
I mentioned the 612x issues. I have a 6120 and started having T4 issues. In my case, it was mainly signal levels, as upstream is limited to 51dB with 3-channel bonding (54dB for 2-channel, and 58dB for one channel.) A tech came out and checked things. It helped signals a tiny bit, but mainly seemed to make it more stable. Some cooler weather seems to have been the biggest help (July was super-hot here in Chicago.)
As mentioned by others, avoid buying used modems on eBay or Craigslist, as many may be stolen or have other issues. I would still go for a D3 modem. If you are wary about the Motorola's, consider the Zoom 5341. The 5341J upports 8 channels down. The older (5341H?) is only 4-down, but you may be able to find it cheaper. |
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 tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA |
to baess
said by baess:I have an old SB5100 that I had to give up because my ISP wouldn't update it but I remember people here saying it should work w/ Comcast. And it is listed here: »mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/ so that might be an option.
It will work for awhile, jlivingood  (a comcastVIP from national engineering) recently posted a thread recommending people upgrade to D3 now, as D1.1 is going out this year and D2 will only really work for economy tier for maybe a year or 2 more. so go ahead and start him with the 5100, but If he likes it he'll need one of these » mynewmodem.comcast.net/ pretty soon. |
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baess
Member
2012-Sep-8 12:23 pm
said by tshirt:It will work for awhile, jlivingood (a comcastVIP from national engineering) recently posted a thread recommending people upgrade to D3 now, as D1.1 is going out this year and D2 will only really work for economy tier for maybe a year or 2 more.
Comcast is going to replace all their rental D2 modems that current customers currently have in the next year or two? What speed tier is going to be their lowest? My ISP has said D2 will be around for quite awhile. Of course if someone wants higher speeds D3 will be needed. |
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 Chris 313Because It's Geekier
Premium Member
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA ·AT&T FTTP
 ·Comcast XFINITY
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said by baess:said by tshirt:It will work for awhile, jlivingood (a comcastVIP from national engineering) recently posted a thread recommending people upgrade to D3 now, as D1.1 is going out this year and D2 will only really work for economy tier for maybe a year or 2 more.
Comcast is going to replace all their rental D2 modems that current customers currently have in the next year or two? What speed tier is going to be their lowest? My ISP has said D2 will be around for quite awhile. Of course if someone wants higher speeds D3 will be needed. According to this: » Here's Comcast's Coming Speed, Pricing Lineup [141] comments and » /r0/do ··· BKd4.jpg and » [Speed] Heads-Up: Time to Replace Your DOCSIS 1.1 ModemIf that picture is to be trusted as well, 5/2 is the lowest you can go and would work with a D2 modem since those numbers are well within limits. If memory serves, Jason said that unless you wanna stick with Basic for a good while, you really should look into getting a D3 modem from the beginning. Performance would be 25/5 or better, they recommend a D3 modem for that on up. Here's a good one: » www.amazon.com/Zoom-DOCS ··· le+modemHere's another as well: » www.amazon.com/Motorola- ··· a+sb6141Both are future proofed to like 300, not that Performance would see 300 for a LONG time. Both do 8x4 channels as well. It'll be a set up and hopefully forget it scenario. |
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tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
2 recommendations |
to baess
The thread is here. » [Speed] Heads-Up: Time to Replace Your DOCSIS 1.1 Modem But the basics are D1.1 will be gone by years end, D2 will likely only support economy tier within a year or so, and beyond that the future will be D3 and up. So yes over the next few years, modems, gateways, eMTA's, cable-phones and eventually all cable boxes and other equipment home security and other equipment will be upgraded or replaced to D3 standards. A massive undertaking, it not only frees up more channels, but makes the network much more efficient to operate and provides bandwidth for new services. ComCast has lead the charge in North American cable to become D3, IPv6, and DNSSEC compliant(the last two surpassing telcos and many FTTx providers) and remain competive with most other HSI providers. |
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baess
Member
2012-Sep-8 3:14 pm
Sorry I can't resist but if Comcast is just going to landfill all those old modems and other hardware and replace them with new models no wonder their service is so pricey. said by tshirt: A massive undertaking, it not only frees up more channels, but makes the network much more efficient to operate and provides bandwidth for new services.
ComCast has lead the charge in North American cable to become D3, IPv6, and DNSSEC compliant(the last two surpassing telcos and many FTTx providers) and remain competive with most other HSI providers.
I have 15/2 service which is more than I even need. Good thing my ISP isn't going to force me to either downgrade or upgrade which it seems Comcast will do to anyone who has Performance. My ISP has 30 and 50Mbps service available for those who want to pay more (and use a D3 modem) and lower tiers (2 and 15 Mbps) for those who don't (and want to continue to use a D2 modem). Bringing it back to topic I would think my father would go with Economy, hoping the SB5100 works to save $7, and that they always offer that service. |
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ctggzg
Premium Member
join:2005-02-11
USA |
to baess
DOCSIS 3 is still a waste of money. You can get a new, quality DOCSIS 2 modem for $25, and by the time you might actually need D3, prices should be down. You'd end up spending less AND have a newer modem. |
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EGThe wings of love
Premium Member
join:2006-11-18
Union, NJ
2 recommendations |
EG
Premium Member
2012-Sep-8 4:49 pm
said by ctggzg:DOCSIS 3 is still a waste of money.
by the time you might actually need D3, prices should be down.
Not if you have 50Mbps..........  |
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tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA |
to baess
said by baess:Sorry I can't resist but if Comcast is just going to landfill all those old modems and other hardware and replace them with new models no wonder their service is so pricey.
That is part of the price of progress. and economy is generally only $10-15 less than performance for 1/2- 1/4 the speed will fill the needs of lower usage users It really just competes with faster DSL, slow DSL can still low ball with a "Price for life" * ** *** ) the same $7 gets you whatever modem you need and less than $90 gets you a top of the line D3 modem of your own (1 year payoff is pretty decent) ComCast has already spent far more preparing for this, it more of a logistical problem to order receive warehouse ship to or install for each customer who rents, plus clearly giving them the option to buy well before hand. Clearly the demand for even faster speed is expected by many if not today within a few years. Considering all the things it can help you do (and general save money doing them) for many HSI is a bargain at performance or above.  Price for life is *the life of the remaining life of the existing wire plant, don't expect a rush to repair damaged or stolen lines.  ** many find their lifetime shortened( sometimes tragically) by having to jump through all the hoops for "price for life" low rate DSL  and to cap it all *** I actually received a "price for life" DSL promo flyer which in very fine print defined "for life" as "UP TO FIVE YEARS"  99 out of 100 doctors surveyed recommend avoiding that deal. |
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to baess
D1.x is being deprecated because it only supports 16QAM upstream. Upstream is the bottleneck these days, and Comcast would like to eliminate 16QAM and use all 64QAM (although 16QAM may still be required on the lowest upstream frequencies due to high noise.)
D2 is capable of up to 38M down, the limit of a single channel. Even for Performance, it technically more than enough. Even streaming isn't too much of stretch as that tends to top out at 6-8M, and even then tends to be stop/start.
I don't see D2 being outright dropped anytime soon, as in many, many years. They can just use DCC's to shift the downstream around if a single channel gets too busy.
Also, as far as Comcast rentals, they seem to be pushing gateways these days (modem/router in one). It makes it 'easy' for the customer, but I'm quite certain they would have access to the router side to help the customer configure it, and that could be a privacy/security issue. |
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