Need to get a new cable modem


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So apparently yesterday afternoon we had one of our typical Florida thunderstorms that rolled through the area and according to what I am being told there was lightning in the immediate area which somehow struck the cable line and by extension the modem, however the router and NAS drives were not affected (all plugged into a UPS/surge protector), so we're using an old backup modem in the interim. Regardless of what really happened (I'm not 100% buying the lightning story) I need to buy a new modem, I have found 3 that I like and they all say that they work with Comcast/Xfinity. So is there any differences between these 3 modems?

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-TC7650-Download-1000Mbps-Certified/dp/B06Y4TG6KN/

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Cable-Download-680Mbps-Certified/dp/B01CVOLKKQ/

https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Certified-Comcast-Xfinity-Refurbished/dp/B0741FKSZ8

 

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They make another boo-boo? And that's their cover story? :laugh:

 

I don't trist TP-Link, but that's just me... (Just ignore me.)

 

That Linksys looks OK.

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TP-Link has good modems; I have the TC-7610 at home right now and it's rock solid; their Wifi routers I agree with you though.

 

Both those TP-Link modems should do you justice; the top link is just the higher model of the 2nd link; which would be best for you would depend on what speed of service you're paying for.

 

That linksys should be solid too, it was released last year and Belkin has been doing a good job with the Linksys products from my experience (better than Cisco did lol)

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i recently found that "certified" modems are those that have their firmware hijacked by the ISP. that means you dont control fw updates or the administration.

 

that said, your ISP should have a compatibility list which may contain modems that dont have the "certified" brand.

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17 minutes ago, Jason S. said:

i recently found that "certified" modems are those that have their firmware hijacked by the ISP. that means you dont control fw updates or the administration.

 

that said, your ISP should have a compatibility list which may contain modems that dont have the "certified" brand.

you can still change the default password but not much else on the Certified modems; but how much configuration do you need modem side? the modem control panel is mostly for information and diagnostic; most of the security configuration is going to be on the router side when you plug one into it.

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Just now, Brandon H said:

you can still change the default password but not much else on the Certified modems but how much configuration do you need modem side? most of the configuration is going to be on the router side when you plug one into it.

youre right. i just remembered i was confusing the certified modem w/ the certified routers. some companies will provide lists for both. a coworker wanted to update his router firmware to patch that VPNFilter exploit when he found he couldnt b/c the ISP had hijacked the router firmware.

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3 minutes ago, Jason S. said:

youre right. i just remembered i was confusing the certified modem w/ the certified routers. some companies will provide lists for both. a coworker wanted to update his router firmware to patch that VPNFilter exploit when he found he couldnt b/c the ISP had hijacked the router firmware.

yeah i just finished dealing with that with Century Link with their proprietary modem/router combos. a pain for sure. so glad to be back on Cox where I can both use my own purchased modem without renting and connect my wifi router of choice.

 

used to have an old DOCS2 modem/router combo back in the day on cox too; never received firmware updates that I could tell. never falling for the allure of the modem/router combos again.

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Make sure its on their list of compatible, or they can just point fingers at it and say that is the problem.

 

Also yeah if possible stay away from the puma6.. Then again I had to buy one because it was the only one on isp list that could do the 500/50 was getting.  I have not had any issues with it.  But will prob update to docsis 3.1 as soon as listed on the isp list.

 

While you might get away with getting something not on the isp list - your problem will come down if there is any issue they are just going to say its your modem and you will no leg to stand on, etc.

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at this point you should be looking only at DOCSIS3.1 modems comcast is almost completly DOCSIS 3.1 now, Motorola MB8600 is a great modeme to get on comcast and will support Gigabit

 

and it is NOT  a Puma6 chip either

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19 hours ago, neufuse said:

at this point you should be looking only at DOCSIS3.1 modems comcast is almost completly DOCSIS 3.1 now, Motorola MB8600 is a great modeme to get on comcast and will support Gigabit

 

and it is NOT  a Puma6 chip either

Comcast I thought was still limiting DOCS3.1 to their rented modems last I heard. A couple different ISPs are doing that and it's an annoying and stupid practice...

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17 hours ago, BudMan said:

Make sure its on their list of compatible, or they can just point fingers at it and say that is the problem.

 

Also yeah if possible stay away from the puma6.. Then again I had to buy one because it was the only one on isp list that could do the 500/50 was getting.  I have not had any issues with it.  But will prob update to docsis 3.1 as soon as listed on the isp list.

 

While you might get away with getting something not on the isp list - your problem will come down if there is any issue they are just going to say its your modem and you will no leg to stand on, etc.

Each one I found in my list is on the approved list.

Our Comcast speed is 100 Mbs, and at this time we have no plan on upgrading.

@neufuse The Motorola you suggested is $158 on Amazon, and it's still Docis 3.0 how is it any different then the ~$80 I found from TP-Link? I really would like to know, I have no problem spending the extra cash, I just want to make sure it is worth it.

Edited by jnelsoninjax
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The one he recommends is 3.1 not 3 like the tplinks you listed.  And its 32x8 channels vs the 24x8 you listed.

 

Is it worth the diff in cost?  You say you have no plans but what about say next year?  if your not going to upgrade over 100.. Might as well just get that 40 dollar tplink model.

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On 6/14/2018 at 10:13 AM, fusi0n said:

Stay away with anything that has the Intel Puma 6 chipset. The CM600 seems to be the best modem out there right now. 

Probably most recommended modem on Comcast's and Charter's part of the forums at http://www.dslrepports.com.

 

Just picked up one myself a while back.

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5 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Each one I found in my list is on the approved list.

Our Comcast speed is 100 Mbs, and at this time we have no plan on upgrading.

@neufuse The Motorola you suggested is $158 on Amazon, and it's still Docis 3.0 how is it any different then the ~$80 I found from TP-Link? I really would like to know, I have no problem spending the extra cash, I just want to make sure it is worth it.

no it's not, it's DOCSIS 3.1 not DOCSIS 3.0 look closer

 

and you might have no plans to upgrade your speed, but comcast does...

 

just this past year in my area they raised speeds to 200Mbit as the base tier instead of 100Mbit.... 400Mbit as the extreme tier and 1Gbps as the high tier

 

comcast also has plans to go full duplex with upload / download which will require DOCSIS 3.1 modems... this will allow symmetric speeds, that's to start next year for initial roll outs and 2020 for mass deployment... 

 

you are future proof with a D3.1 modem

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5 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Our Comcast speed is 100 Mbs, and at this time we have no plan on upgrading.

This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a consumer. When purchasing new equipment you always need to think down the road, you aren't just buying equipment for now but for the future as well. There is no reason not to get 3.1 at this moment, whether you have it or not/plan to upgrade or not.

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5 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a consumer. When purchasing new equipment you always need to think down the road, you aren't just buying equipment for now but for the future as well. There is no reason not to get 3.1 at this moment, whether you have it or not/plan to upgrade or not.

yeah, and comcast has OFDM channels enabled in almost their entire foot print... if you have a D3.1 modem you can use them which means WAY less congestion...

and D3.1 supports AQM which is a type of QOS to mitigate latency and keep devices working better during peak times

 

that MB8600 modem also has 4 ports on it, not for a switch port but for line bonding... this modem can support up to 4Gbps speeds when you do LACP with it via 4 ethernet cables (since for some reason we have no modems with SFP+ or 10GigE copper ports, or 2.5 / 4Gbps ports yet....)

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Hello,

 

I just wanted to add a recommendation for the ARRIS (formerly Motorola) SURFboard cable modems.  You will see modems being listed as either "Motorola SURFboard" or "ARRIS SURFBoard" cable modems.  ARRIS always made these devices, and licensed the Motorola name for branding purposes, but ceased that agreement in 2016.  Motorola cable modems made after 2016 are manufactured by Zoom Telephonics, and possibly other companies, according to http://arris.force.com/consumers/articles/General_FAQs/Motorola-Zoom-ARRIS-Branding-Name.

 

Have you looked into whole home surge suppression with lightning gas arrestors for your electrical, telco and cable?  I have been thinking of doing this for my home.  Right now, I disconnect sensitive electronics and cable when a storm approaches.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

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23 minutes ago, goretsky said:

Right now, I disconnect sensitive electronics and cable when a storm approaches.

Can't be too often my Southern California friend, haha!

 

Now regarding the gas arrestors, I wasn't really all that familiar with this term so I just looked into it and it is a rather fascinating subject.

 

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Still using a Netgear C7100V Docsis 3.0 Gateway here, currently no plans to upgrade to anything Higher than Extreme 150 at this point, if Comcast does upgrade it for free to Docsis 3.1 type speed, then maybe would rent a gateway again for our triple play, but so far really liking the Netgear C7100V 

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35 minutes ago, goretsky said:

Hello,

 

I just wanted to add a recommendation for the ARRIS (formerly Motorola) SURFboard cable modems.  You will see modems being listed as either "Motorola SURFboard" or "ARRIS SURFBoard" cable modems.  ARRIS always made these devices, and licensed the Motorola name for branding purposes, but ceased that agreement in 2016.  Motorola cable modems made after 2016 are manufactured by Zoom Telephonics, and possibly other companies, according to http://arris.force.com/consumers/articles/General_FAQs/Motorola-Zoom-ARRIS-Branding-Name.

 

Have you looked into whole home surge suppression with lightning gas arrestors for your electrical, telco and cable?  I have been thinking of doing this for my home.  Right now, I disconnect sensitive electronics and cable when a storm approaches.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Interesting info, I will look into the ARRIS modems as well. As for whole house surge protection, it's a mobile home, and I am not sure if it is possible, never looked into it, but we have a service call from Comcast tomorrow and at that time we are going to see about getting some coax cable so we can run from the UPS to the modem as an extra protection. I am looking into purchasing the modem in the next few weeks and I have been enlightened as to how much has changed in a few years, so I know that I need to get DOCCIS 3.1 for future-proofing.

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On 6/14/2018 at 7:30 AM, Thayios said:

Just picked up the CM1000, zero heat issues and has been stable. 

We also have the Netgear CM1000.  It has been very stable.  Funny story, but a year ago we had lightning strike our fence about 30 feet from the cable modem.  It stopped working at that time.  It was a CM1000, and we had liked it so much we bought another CM1000. 

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Hello,

Oh, I also live in Colorado, sometimes.  There is a lot of lightning during summer months across the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains over what is is known as the Front Range.  What happens is that warm, humid air moves steadily westward across the Great Plains, where all of a sudden it rises thousands of feet into the air over the span of a few miles where the Rockies protrude from the earth's crust, a process called orographic uplift.  This causes the warm, humid air to rapidly chill, and the water molecules suspended in the air become less energetic and form into clouds, which build up into massive thunderheads in the sky, with lighter positively-charged particles moving upwards, while the heavier negatively-charged particles sink towards the bottom.  Eventually a spark in the cloud occurs, and sometimes it even makes it to the ground if there's something with enough of a positive charge sticking out, like a tree or a roof or a golfer.

In the mid 1990s I was working at a dotcom startup in Woodland Park, Colorado (also the place where I discovered and started reading Neowin), and we were located in a series of office on the second floor of a strip mall, and lightning grounded out on the building.  The flash and the boom were simultaneous, and the building (15,000 square feet) shook as if a truck had hit it.  All of the monitors (CRTs, this was the mid 1990s, after all), flickered as if they were degaussed.  The lightning had grounded out through the building, and Ethernet cable that we had run through PVC conduit to each office had taken a hit and melted into the bottom.  A few Ethernet hubs and switches lost ports, but I don't recall any NICs having to be replaced.  For a while, I'd walk by the server rack in our main office and there would be Ethernet hubs with black tape over the dead ports.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

5 hours ago, Circaflex said:

Can't be too often my Southern California friend, haha!

 

Now regarding the gas arrestors, I wasn't really all that familiar with this term so I just looked into it and it is a rather fascinating subject.

 

 

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