Topic 'Which Cable Modem?' in forum 'Comcast HSI' - dslreports.com

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:54:39 EDT

telcodad posted : In case anyone is looking to get a Motorola SB6121 modem, RadioShack has it on a Black Friday sale, in store, through tomorrow for only $69.99: »www.radioshack.com/product/index···12075979

That's $10 less than on Amazon (»www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-S···04XC6GJ0) right now.

Moto SB6121 Black Friday Sale

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:10:46 EDT

noc007 posted : telcodad and graysonf, thanks for the info and links. I went ahead and picked up a 212 from Amazon. I need to check my UPS to see if it has the coax surge protection as well or make it a requirement for my next UPS purchase; it sounds like they've done a better job with them today. I tried to use the coax surge protection on a UPS over a decade ago and all it did was make the service unusable so I've been ignoring them all this time.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:59:28 EDT

Jodokast96 posted : As a new user myself, I went with the Zoom as recommended by many here. Not a lick of problems with it so far.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 11:33:05 EDT

PeteC2 posted : As of right now, I don't see a better option than the Zoom 5341J. Amongst the easily obtainable D3 cable modems with 8 x 4 configuration, it is one of the least expensive, and at the same time, most Comcast-friendly modems.

Not to knock the Arris, Motorola, or Cisco D3 modems, but from what I hear and see, the Zoom has had the least amount of issues.
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Deeds, not words

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:17:32 EDT

graysonf posted :

said by noc007:

A little OT:
Does anyone know if the 5341J will take the hit on a lightning strike or a surge instead of passing the surge on? Back a few years ago I had one of the popular Moto D2 modems. Had a lightning storm and my router's WAN interface was fried; the modem still worked like a champ, but my more expensive router paid the price.

I don't know.

I have the incoming coax on a surge protector ahead of the modem. Maybe it will work, maybe not.

It hasn't affected the signals in a negative way other than about a 1dB insertion loss.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:13:13 EDT

telcodad posted : Also see this recent thread: »sb6141, sb6180, zoom5341, dpc3010

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:06:14 EDT

telcodad posted :

said by noc007:

I have my Moto SB6121 plugged into an APC UPS, and replaced my ground block with a TII model 212 coaxial surge protector: »www.digicomm.com/tii210.pdf

Haven't had any problems yet with lightning storms.

See also: »Re: Anyone had their own cable modem bricked by Comcast?

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:13:12 EDT

noc007 posted :

said by TurdFerguson :

said by andyross:

Technically, ALL D3 modems are supposed to support IPv6.

Except when they don't! It's a big problem.

This. The SMC D3G I lease for my business line doesn't support IPv6. SMC and Comcast really should be smacked for this.

A little OT:
Does anyone know if the 5341J will take the hit on a lightning strike or a surge instead of passing the surge on? Back a few years ago I had one of the popular Moto D2 modems. Had a lightning storm and my router's WAN interface was fried; the modem still worked like a champ, but my more expensive router paid the price.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:45:11 EDT

milliepuppy posted : i know every install is different but i just switched from a SB6121 to the 5341J .. and OMG what a difference.

my levels, like yours are on the hot side ... and the zoom really does feel snappier ... especially remoting into machines on my home network from outside ... overall throughput is the same but applications seem much more responsive .. just my $0.02.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:36:36 EDT

andyross posted :

said by shane:

Hey, here are the signal levels you requested earlier. Whenever the tech was out to install the modem, he said my line was running a little "hot" and had to put filter on it to tone it down some. How's it looking?

Downstream
DCID Freq Power SNR Modulation Octets Correcteds Uncorrectables
Downstream 1 1 549.00 MHz 6.60 dBmV 37.09 dB 256QAM 1404516763 33 0
Downstream 2 5 573.00 MHz 6.07 dBmV 37.36 dB 256QAM 534305979 43 0
Downstream 3 6 579.00 MHz 6.15 dBmV 37.94 dB 256QAM 638812348 38 0
Downstream 4 8 591.00 MHz 6.34 dBmV 38.26 dB 256QAM 608928800 35 0
Reset FEC Counters
Upstream
UCID Freq Power Channel Type Symbol Rate Modulation
Upstream 1 12 36.00 MHz 39.75 dBmV DOCSIS2.0 (ATDMA) 5120 kSym/s 64QAM
Upstream 4 11 30.00 MHz 38.75 dBmV DOCSIS1.x (TDMA) 2560 kSym/s 16QAM

Very good levels. Still a bit on the strong side, but should be OK.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:28:09 EDT

anon posted :

said by andyross:

Technically, ALL D3 modems are supposed to support IPv6.

Except when they don't! It's a big problem.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:58:08 EDT

shane posted :

said by andyross:

Do you have Internet only, or both Internet and phone? If you have phone service, it's difficult to buy your own right now, as you had to get a specific model, at full list, through selected Best Buy locations.

For Internet only, the most common retail-level modems are the Zoom 5341H (4 downstream), Zoom 5341J (8 downstream), Motorola SB6121 (4 downstream), and Motorola SB6141 (8 downstream.)

There have been issues with the Motorola's in areas with bonded upstream where they tend to T4 and lock out one of the upstream channel, usually in 3-channel mode. They may also reboot if one of the upstream channels has issues. The Zoom's seem to be better, but I've heard of a few issues with some of them, too.

The Cisco is a bit rarer and there isn't as much info about it.

If you can, post your signals so we can see if there any issues you should have taken care of first.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:08:58 EDT

Wayne99021 posted : Another excellent choice, but a little more money is the Motorola SB6141. 8 channels down and 4 up.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:08:49 EDT

andyross posted : Technically, ALL D3 modems are supposed to support IPv6.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:34:19 EDT

jlivingood posted :

said by shane:

If I purchase my own modem, are they any recommendations as to which modem I should get? I know I need to get a Docsis 3.0 modem. Are some better than others though, and any particular ones that would be recommended specifically?

Get a D3 device that supports IPv6. See »mynewmodem.comcast.net
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JL
Comcast

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:46:29 EDT

cooperaaaron posted : Using a 6120 here, no issues.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 11:36:33 EDT

grcore posted : Had a 6120, but have been having T3 and T4 issues since the last firmware update. Comcast is supposedly coming out with an updated firmware, but till now its all vapor.

Switch back to the 5100 for now, maybe sometime in the future I can switch back to the 6120.

I cant recommend the 6120 until these issues are resolved.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 11:23:30 EDT

PhReE5 posted : I am using the Linksys/Cisco DPC3008 and there is a somewhat newer firmware out that seems to have resolved the dropping connections issue. I havent had any problems with it myelf.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:59:51 EDT

shane posted : I'm internet-only. Thank you for the info. I will post signal levels when I get home tonight.
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Computer Help Forum :)

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:53:06 EDT

andyross posted : Do you have Internet only, or both Internet and phone? If you have phone service, it's difficult to buy your own right now, as you had to get a specific model, at full list, through selected Best Buy locations.

For Internet only, the most common retail-level modems are the Zoom 5341H (4 downstream), Zoom 5341J (8 downstream), Motorola SB6121 (4 downstream), and Motorola SB6141 (8 downstream.)

There have been issues with the Motorola's in areas with bonded upstream where they tend to T4 and lock out one of the upstream channel, usually in 3-channel mode. They may also reboot if one of the upstream channels has issues. The Zoom's seem to be better, but I've heard of a few issues with some of them, too.

The Cisco is a bit rarer and there isn't as much info about it.

If you can, post your signals so we can see if there any issues you should have taken care of first.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:08:11 EDT

FBGuy posted : I've had great performance with my Motorola Surfboard 6120. The new model is the SB 6121.

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:05:01 EDT

shane posted : Does anyone have any opinion on the Cisco DPC3008? The company I work for (a retail store) sells these modems. I read some reviews on line and have seem mixed reviews...some about connections dropping multiple times a day, slow speeds...etc. Most of those reviews were from several months ago though.
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Computer Help Forum :)

Re: Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:55:44 EDT

graysonf posted : I bought a Zoom 5341J. No problems with it.

Which Cable Modem?

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:14:08 EDT

shane posted : Good morning,

I just had Comcast HSI installed a couple of days ago. I went for the 20Mbps (with PowerBoost) Performance package.

For now I went ahead and leased the modem, but I plan to purchase my own modem within the next month or two to save the $7/month fee.

The modem they installed was an "Arris" modem. It seems to be working okay, and I'm getting my full download/upload speeds.

Are these modems any good?

If I purchase my own modem, are they any recommendations as to which modem I should get? I know I need to get a Docsis 3.0 modem. Are some better than others though, and any particular ones that would be recommended specifically?

Thank you for the assistance.

I'm new to Comcast. My last experience with cable broadband was Charter back in the 1.5Mbps days. I've been using DSL the last few years.

Thanks again.
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Computer Help Forum :)