Time Warner Cable - Legacy → Netgear, Linsky, Motorola modems bad

National RR just told me that an alert just came in saying the Netgear, Linksy and Motorola modems are having severe problems with the speed upgrade. Anyone else know anything about this? This includes the Surfboard 5100 that I exchanged my 4100 for because my speeds have been so bad since the upgrade.

I would question the source. The SB5100 works just fine. I get 5000/512 like clockwork.

Well, my speeds are in the 400-500kbps range with an occasional 1500 to 2000kbps and a rare 4000kbps. I had been getting 2600-2800 regularly before the upgrade. I was told all these modems are being recalled. The tech said that they were unable to take the firmware upgrade that was pushed for the speed upgrade. He said the 3100 is the worst and that the notice on the 5100 just came in.

He also said that RR is admitting widespread instability throughout the network and major problems from the upgrade. I know I wish we had never gotten the upgrade. Our franchise has gone in the toilet since the upgrade. Even the addition of a third "emergency" dns server hasn't really helped.

The Netgear and Linksys cable modems (which few users seem to be happy with) are not distributed by any RR franchise that I am aware of, only sold at retail to those who prefer to own their own DOCSIS equipment. Many RR systems don't even allow customer owned modems, so this should be a non-issue.

Call me a hypocrite, but I developed a bias to the RCA modems that HVC was deploying (thanks to Vonage) and bought my own Surfboard 5100. It DOESN'T work any faster than the DCM315 it replaced. Connections appear to be more stable, but that's probably due to RR scaling back system maintenance during the winter months here.

Netgear has been distributed for some time in Hawaii but in a limited manner. About 50% or more of all RR franchises allow you to buy your own modem. Hawaii is not one of them and I don't know anyone with a Linksy modem. Mostly Toshibas here and I was told to get the Scientific Atlanta. That is the modem (2 models) Oceanic is currently distributing. They are getting no more 5100's.

My Motorola 4200 is working fine here in Michigan...

Having just tested all the above mentined modems, I can attest that they work fine at the 5mbps speed. Not sure who you talked to but thats not the case.

Whoever told you that is not the sharpest marble. Im a tech at the national desk. We had an issue with some of the Ambit modems from Kansas City but that was a manufacturer issue (Ambit). They has recalled them and provided Road Runner with functioning modems. The Motorolas and Netgears are definitely working because I troubleshoot them everyday. When it comes to Linksys there are only two modems of theirs that we support and next to nobody has them. The Linksys routers we obviously dont support (unless they are from RR).

My 5100 works fine in KC area. Depending on the network, I get 4700 t0 4800 without any trouble.

I have seen no issues with any of those modems in regards to the speed increase. Whoever told you this was full of it!

Exchanged my Mototrola cablesurfr yesterday, after 6 years of faithful service. The woman had a STACK of older modems behind her, all from that morning. I'd say something went wrong in this area(pinellas county FL). 3 others were exchanged while I was there, as well as over a dozen behind the counter. The center had been open for 1.5 hours...

Mine was replaced yesterday by a tech who had a list of modems "incompatible" w/ the speed upgrade. Replaced my Toshiba PCX1100U w/ a Scientific Atlanta Webstar. Still seem to be having packet loss and connectivity issues tho.

dekk, did you mean Cybersurfr modem? Those must be returned because those are not DOCSIS modems. If you had that modem, you had been on a separate network from those with DOCSIS compliant modems. The Cybersurfr was the first used in RR networks and is still around but most franchises are rapidly bringing about its demise by switching all customers to the DOCSIS network as quickly as possible. The Cybersurfr cannot achieve the new speeds. It was fine on the 3000 speed though.

aggrophobik I tend to think the National RR tech who told me these modems are bad for the new speeds was wrong (at least in the case of the Surfboard). I still have issues though but I don't think exchanging the Surfboard for the Scientific Atlanta Webstar will help. I'm hoping the new node my area is getting tomorrow will fix the problem. The tech who was out here Tuesday said he gets the new speed and gets it on an ancient Toshiba 1100 (not the 1100U but the really old 1100). He has no issues so if everything is working correctly it probably doesn't matter what modem is used. When there are problems though then the brand and model of the modem may make a big difference or may not.

Just out of curiousity. Is this a regular WebSTAR modem or a wireless router combo unit? I assume it's just a regular modem since that's what you had before. One of the available firmware versions for the router combo has some serious bugs.

As far as I can tell it's just a modem.