Best modem to pair with Amplifi

What is your provider and service? If available you'd want a DOCSIS 3.1 modem and one supporting LLD (Low Latency DOCSIS), so anything that has been certified after midish last year (Arris SB8200 v2, S33v2 , Netgear CM2500, CM3000, CM3050V , Motorola B12, and your provider is using new enough FW) , although I don't think anyone has really officially rolled out LLD , just parts of the Queue Management, so not particularly important at the moment.
 
Whatever your isp requires--a modem is pretty much a modem.

That's interesting that there is a spec for low latency docsis, but I think it won't do much since you can't really 'speed up' latency. This might just be another idea to compete with fibre that never really goes anywhere like the 2x ethernet ports on the arris 8200 that were supposed to be able to be used in a LAG to get speeds faster than 1Gb.
 
I been with Comcast for over 20 years, i am on the Superfast plan, so the one below the gigabit, so far i have a TP-Link TC7610 paired with an Amplifi HD Gamer's Edition, but i wanted to go from DOCSIS 3.0 to a 3.1, this is what i am looking at now ARRIS S33, this way i can eventually go to gigabit in the near future, what do you think Balkroth ?
Don't play the 'eventually' game with cable modems as manufacturers can drop support for stuff for no reason at the drop of a hat and by the time you want to change, you'll probably have to change your modem yet again.

What problem are you trying to solve by changing the modem?
 
Whatever your isp requires--a modem is pretty much a modem.

That's interesting that there is a spec for low latency docsis, but I think it won't do much since you can't really 'speed up' latency. This might just be another idea to compete with fibre that never really goes anywhere like the 2x ethernet ports on the arris 8200 that were supposed to be able to be used in a LAG to get speeds faster than 1Gb.

No, it's something that is actually being rolled (well, not quite yet) out using Queue management, as one of the bigger latency issues is processing the Queues in the CMTS, so it can be sped up a fair amount. Honestly it's main use is going to be for them running their own CBRS (i.,e LTE) networks to offload some of the MVNO costs they pay to Verizon, as you need a 1<ms latency time for your fronthaul in radio networks . Comcast can pretty quickly roll things out as they already run probably at least 30% of their network on vCMTS , so it's a pretty easy upgrade for them assuming their RPD support it.

He'd definitely want to upgrade his 3.0 modem, especially since it can only bond 8 DS channels, so you'd be pretty stuck even with an upgraded service. I think "future proofing" in the sense of getting a 3.1 modem so it can support OFDM/OFDMA makes sense , and if it's a newer one to support LLD it isn't a bad idea, I think most people should have some form of AQM going in, even if it's not the full spec. I feel that the 8200 can support LAG, it just needs specified in the modem config file, I'll play around a bit with that later.

S33 is a good modem, it's what I use.
 
No, it's something that is actually being rolled (well, not quite yet) out using Queue management, as one of the bigger latency issues is processing the Queues in the CMTS, so it can be sped up a fair amount. Honestly it's main use is going to be for them running their own CBRS (i.,e LTE) networks to offload some of the MVNO costs they pay to Verizon, as you need a 1<ms latency time for your fronthaul in radio networks . Comcast can pretty quickly roll things out as they already run probably at least 30% of their network on vCMTS , so it's a pretty easy upgrade for them assuming their RPD support it.

He'd definitely want to upgrade his 3.0 modem, especially since it can only bond 8 DS channels, so you'd be pretty stuck even with an upgraded service. I think "future proofing" in the sense of getting a 3.1 modem so it can support OFDM/OFDMA makes sense , and if it's a newer one to support LLD it isn't a bad idea, I think most people should have some form of AQM going in, even if it's not the full spec. I feel that the 8200 can support LAG, it just needs specified in the modem config file, I'll play around a bit with that later.

S33 is a good modem, it's what I use.
Interesting to know the details behind it. However, like everything else I've seen in cable Internet over the last 20yrs+, a lot of it never makes it to the customer experience and instead is just used for making more profit.

I've heard the 'bond channels' argument as well, and across all the 5 isp accounts I currently manage and the many more I've dealt with over the years, bandwidth is bandwidth. This was the same argument for t1 lines when they still existed that some how 1Mb speeds on a t1 were better than 1Mb on a cable modem--utter fud in real-world usage.

I still remember when the 8200 came out and everyone was jumping to upgrade to it at $200 a pop vs the 6183 or 6190 which was less than half the price just for the 1Gb+ capability. That capability never materialized and it was money wasted when they had to get the s33 to get >1Gb speeds. There's a lot of games played by the isps and manufacturers to milk out as much money as possible from the customer. I still have 2x 6190s that have an IPsec link across them across the country and they've been just as reliable as any other device. A modem is a modem and bandwidth is bandwidth. 'And peoples is peoples' (I'll see if anyone catches that reference. :D)
 
Interesting to know the details behind it. However, like everything else I've seen in cable Internet over the last 20yrs+, a lot of it never makes it to the customer experience and instead is just used for making more profit.

I've heard the 'bond channels' argument as well, and across all the 5 isp accounts I currently manage and the many more I've dealt with over the years, bandwidth is bandwidth. This was the same argument for t1 lines when they still existed that some how 1Mb speeds on a t1 were better than 1Mb on a cable modem--utter fud in real-world usage.

I still remember when the 8200 came out and everyone was jumping to upgrade to it at $200 a pop vs the 6183 or 6190 which was less than half the price just for the 1Gb+ capability. That capability never materialized and it was money wasted when they had to get the s33 to get >1Gb speeds. There's a lot of games played by the isps and manufacturers to milk out as much money as possible from the customer. I still have 2x 6190s that have an IPsec link across them across the country and they've been just as reliable as any other device. A modem is a modem and bandwidth is bandwidth. 'And peoples is peoples' (I'll see if anyone catches that reference. :D)
Well of course, it's for profit, it's the whole reason when it does finally come out you'll start seeing "gamer tier" or something for them to actually enable it in SNMP/Config files . Cox already has, kinda something for a gamer tier, but it's about optimizing routes (Cox Elite Gamer ) which honestly, is probably a bigger deal than your actual Head End -> Customer latency , that's such a smaller part of your overall latency. Ironically, MSO's are finding it better to just give you better and managed wireless at home as you'll see a better improvement than that then the HE -> CM side of things, heck, bandwidth overall really.

The 'Bonded Channels' matter just because you're limited in your DS capacity with the number of SC-QAM channels , in the US (EuroDOCSIS uses wider channels) you get ~42 Mbps (prob like 37ish with overhead) , so with 8 bonded channels you'd be stuck in the low 300 Mbps downstream speeds , if you had a modem that supported 32 channel bonding, then yea, it'd be fine for 1 gig service. Otherwise agreed, bandwidth is bandwidth.
 
Well of course, it's for profit, it's the whole reason when it does finally come out you'll start seeing "gamer tier" or something for them to actually enable it in SNMP/Config files . Cox already has, kinda something for a gamer tier, but it's about optimizing routes (Cox Elite Gamer ) which honestly, is probably a bigger deal than your actual Head End -> Customer latency , that's such a smaller part of your overall latency. Ironically, MSO's are finding it better to just give you better and managed wireless at home as you'll see a better improvement than that then the HE -> CM side of things, heck, bandwidth overall really.

The 'Bonded Channels' matter just because you're limited in your DS capacity with the number of SC-QAM channels , in the US (EuroDOCSIS uses wider channels) you get ~42 Mbps (prob like 37ish with overhead) , so with 8 bonded channels you'd be stuck in the low 300 Mbps downstream speeds , if you had a modem that supported 32 channel bonding, then yea, it'd be fine for 1 gig service. Otherwise agreed, bandwidth is bandwidth.
If I ever see anything 'gamer tier' I'll probably :vomit:. More fancy marketing words that will probably not translate to anything more than optimized routes because as you've mentioned, that's where the real latency issues come in. And if they tout some sort of managed wireless magic I'll again :vomit: because that's nothing that a nice ethernet cable can't fix, lol.

What this all really looks like is a way to try to compete with fibre and it's symmetrical speeds and low latency, which is pretty much impossible to do on cable the way it's implemented today. And if by some means there is a way, I'm sure whatever modem was purchased to future proof will be out the window as well.

I see what you're saying about the channels, but that's more a backend thing imo because if an isp supports a particular modem at a particular speed, you don't even have to worry about the channels. In fact, these days it's all about isp support when it comes to modems imo. It doesn't even matter if a modem meets the specs--an isp can decide to not support it. At one of my sites with the 6190, it's comcast and they sent a note on how the 6190 isn't supported on the 800Mbs speed tier. Funny how they didn't mention this the whole 2yrs+ that it was on the 800Mbs speed tier that they offered as a free upgrade during the pandemic. I never asked for the 800Mbs speed tier so I simply downgraded to the previous one since the upload bandwidth is the same and that's all I really care about anyways. And I can't tell the difference nor can the wife who is the biggest eater of bandwidth with her work calls.

It seems the isps are in a contest to see who's got the most bandwidth capacity without any regard to improving service overall. And att just upped the game with their 5Gbit service which just rolled out in my area from previously just dsl before. If I put a data center in the basement I might consider the 5Gb service, but that's all I could think it would be good for, lol. I have no idea what else you would use that type of bandwidth for. The latency though would be literally world-class professional gaming level--at least to the first hop. :D
 
Don't play the 'eventually' game with cable modems as manufacturers can drop support for stuff for no reason at the drop of a hat and by the time you want to change, you'll probably have to change your modem yet again.

What problem are you trying to solve by changing the modem?
Well its a DOCSIS 3.0 and i think going to 3.1 is the best thing right?
 
Well its a DOCSIS 3.0 and i think going to 3.1 is the best thing right?
Not necessarily as it's all up to the isp. There were several 3.0 modems that comcast just decided to drop at one point (I think it was netgear and maybe tplink or zoom?). Spec-wise they were fine, but they were dropped anyways, or it was something like that. I was looking one day to see where my 6190 fit in the mix and was surprised to see the others no longer there.

That being said, if the isp supports a 3.0 and a 3.1 that for you are the same price or similarly enough--sure, go for the newer one. But remember that all these tech advances aren't for you, they're for the isp, and there is no guarantee that a 3.1 is going to be any better than a 3.0. Personally, I would just get a used supported modem for the speeds I have or am considering from my isp and be done with it. And then repeat if I want to get something faster/different than what I originally thought, selling off my modem and getting back something for the next upgrade. But this is also just me liking buying used stuff that's still working and pocketing the rest for what I really want.
 
Back
Top