I have been a Comcast high-speed Internet customer for about 5 years. The modem Comcast provided as part of a package deal was a Motorola Surfboard 4100. About 4 months ago, I noticed that I was getting barely more than 1/2 the speed I was paying for, which was 6Mbps. I complained to tech support. They sent a technician out and within 3 sec. after walking into my office, he said, "Oh...I know exactly what the problem is; you have an 'end-of-life' modem. You need to upgrade to a 2.1 DOCSIS modem, and I would recommend a Motorola Surfboard as one of the best." So I got on my favorite shopping site, Amazon, and bought one. Not only did it work perfectly from day one, my average download speed on Speakeasy.net is ~22Mbps -- almost 6 1/2 times what I was getting with the old Surfboard -- and the upload speed increased from ~364Kbps to ~1.6Mbps.
Would other brands do as well? Probably, but I stuck with Motorola because the last one was 100% reliable; never had a problem. The only reason it was not delivering the speed is because Comcast's system had changed and the old modem's software could not keep up with it. I also like the fact that Motorola moved the standby button to the top where it is more easily accessible. I have a new Vista computer and have to put the modem on Standby after putting the computer to sleep, because (not sure why) Internet activity tends to wake it back up.
I found it disappointing that Comcast apparently does not alert its customers when their modems are obsolete. If you're having a similar problem, check with your ISP. If you need to upgrade your modem, I highly recommend this one. Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem
Very simple to install (just plug it in), fair price, everybit as fast as the modem I was renting from my cable internet supplier for $3.00/month. You have to call your internet provider so they can do whatever they do to activate the modem in their system, which is easy enough--the tech guy I was talking to basically informed me that this is one of the best on the market.
I bought this modem because my other one started to drop my internet connection. After replacing my router several times, we finally figured out that the modem may be the issue. I have been using this modem for a month and half so far and I still drop connection from time to time. So, I'm not sure if it is the modem, the router, or Comcast. My bet is on Comcast. I didn't have any issues until they took over. The modem was easy to set up, except the part that I had to call Comcast to get it assigned to my account. That took over an hour. So, be prepared to spend time with your cable internet provider to assign this modem to your account before it will work. Hopefully, I can get everything running smoothly again soon.
The modem works as well as the other Amazon reviews suggest. However, ISP Comcast was a nightmare unto itself. Two "technicians" swore that because I purchased the modem (and didn't rent it from Comcast), I would have to wait until one of their mobile technicians could complete the setup! Fortunately, I made a third call and actually (imagine!!!) reached someone in the United States who logged the modem's MAC ID and I was underway without even having to reboot or having to resort to the installation CD. The modem is noticeably quicker than the 3Com it replaced.
Our 'Terayon' modem that came with our 'Adelphia' broadband cable connection died after 2 plus years, so my cable/internet provider swapped out the defective modem for this new 'Motorola'. I was a bit leery and concerned about having to hook up another modem for fear that something would surely go wrong with the hookup on our 2 PC router network, and I would have to call a tech or a consultant. It took about 3 minutes to open the box, hookup the power, cable, and ethernet connectors, and attempt to go online. There was NO software installation, and NO reprogramming or changing any parameters or network settings. NONE! The modem instantly powered up and magically recognized the network and cable data signal, and I was good to go! 'Plug and play' heaven! And the performance is better than the older 'Terayon'.
This modem blows my old Toshiba out of the water. I have a home network and internet phone too, and even when my Toshiba modem was newer, I still had to powercycle / reset it (and my router) every couple of days. However, I have had the motorola for over 2 weeks now and have not had to reset anything on the network. Very solid, and installation was easy. I highly recommend this modem. - Broadband - Comcast - Surfboard - Motorola'
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