Best Xfinity modem right now?

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atarumoroboshi18

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 9, 2013
Messages
286
I've currently got an Arris Surfboard SB6141 and I'm just wondering what is the best upgrade or even IF there is an upgrade. Purchased this years ago and just want to see if an upgrade is possible.
 
Now that DOCSIS 3.1 modems can easily be had for ~$150 or less it makes little sense to settle for less (unless maybe very budget constrained). Comcast is pushing pretty hard towards moving everyone towards DOCSIS 3.1, even for those who do not necessarily need it for their subscribed bandwidth.

Arris is still probably the standard. I'm on Comcast and have a Netgear CM1150V that's been fine (needed telephony support and it was the only option at the time).
 
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BlueLineSwinger said:
Now that DOCSIS 3.1 modems can easily be had for ~$150 or less it makes little sense to settle for less (unless maybe very budget constrained). Comcast is pushing pretty hard towards moving everyone towards DOCSIS 3.1, even for those who do not necessarily need it for their subscribed bandwidth.

Arris is still probably the standard. I'm on Comcast and have a Netgear CM1150V that's been fine (needed telephony support and it was the only option at the time).
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I also need the EMTA function which is needed as my area get poor to none cell reception it is a shame Charter does not allow customer owned EMTA/Modem combos as their rental unit is $10 a month. Who owns Arris now I think Motorola is now owned by Arris and Cisco is now Technicolor I can't keep up with the who owns or buys out who in the tech industry today. I use an Arris TM1602A (Yes the Intel Puma Chipset one!)
 
The best Xfinity modem right now is whatever X-Fi device is in stock in your area. Not because the hardware is something special but because X-Fi is a significantly cheaper option for unlimited service. Slap that bitch into bridge mode and have at it.
 
I'm using an arris SB8200 and once I finally got the right modem. (I ended up with multiple CM8200a that they wouldn't provision, despite being the exact same hardware) things have been flawless and I'm routinely at around 850mb/s of my gigabit ethernet. I'm 90% sure that the missing 150mbps is due to wiring of my house, nothing on their end.

I upgraded from an SB6190 (the intel puma one) that was fine for years, but despite it technically being able to do 1GB down, they wouldn't upgrade my internet past the 500mbps unless I upgraded to docsis 3.1, so now I have it as a backup in case my SB8200 dies out. I'd just go for a docsis 3.1 modem to begin with.
 
Xb7 is the best one on the xfi platform, even has a 2.5gb port for future speed increases
 
Best could be several things. Best DOCSIS support at highest cost? Best cost at lowest DOCSIS support? A good combination of the two?

I picked up a refurbished CM3024 a couple years ago for like $50 and use it with my Xfinity and it works fine. It supports channel bonding and is 24x8 channels so performance is always maxing my connection.

I would only replace the Aris if you have trouble maintaining a suitable level of performance. I replaced my old modem with the CM3024 because the download speeds would often take a substantial hit during busy times (on my ISP before Xfinity). Moving to a device with more channels made a big difference. But each ISP is different and your location matters too.

So again, the decision will need to be based on your Internet experience and not just "what's the best out there" because you would be paying for something that isn't going to make substantial difference.
 
I know Comcast gets a lot of hate but I think their system is the most modern and up to date out of all of the providers!
Charter (The only provider Monopoly in my area other then the DSL provider Frontier) on the other hand still uses Passport this looks straight out of the late 1990's early 2000's when digital cable first became a "thing".

I hate the FCC as they no longer have to provide CableCards! What happens when my HDHR3-CC card fails again the cards do and will fail why I don't know but since the 2014 all digital transition I have been through 3 cards already the actual device is fine other then a failed 5VDC power supply that luckily died passively just stopped providing power and did not take the device with it.
 
Format _C: said:
I know Comcast gets a lot of hate but I think their system is the most modern and up to date out of all of the providers!
Charter (The only provider Monopoly in my area other then the DSL provider Frontier) on the other hand still uses Passport this looks straight out of the late 1990's early 2000's when digital cable first became a "thing".

I hate the FCC as they no longer have to provide CableCards! What happens when my HDHR3-CC card fails again the cards do and will fail why I don't know but since the 2014 all digital transition I have been through 3 cards already the actual device is fine other then a failed 5VDC power supply that luckily died passively just stopped providing power and did not take the device with it.
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You may have to... get with the times. CC are def a thing of the past. Things have changed since then. They were not widely adopted, and I’m not surprised they were basically phased out.

sometimes that sucks.
 
jmilcher said:
You may have to... get with the times. CC are def a thing of the past. Things have changed since then. They were not widely adopted, and I’m not surprised they were basically phased out.

sometimes that sucks.
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Yes I agree but I love my own DVR that I can edit out (the many many many) commercials and then compress into MKV or MP4 Charter only marks the "premium" channels with the dreaded "Copy Never" flag but I don't get the "premium" channels anyway.
I use SageTV (I actually paid for it when it was "Shareware" or what ever they called it maybe "Trial Ware") So I got pissed when it became free as I'm sure many others were.
 
Just a warning in case it happens to you.

When you get the new modem you'll likely need to call Comcast and get it provisioned with the mac address on the modem.

The first person I called to do this entered the MAC address wrong by one letter. This lead to a 3 hour clusterfuck of tech support of which figuring out that all that needed to be changed was a single B to a C.
 
TheSlySyl said:
Just a warning in case it happens to you.

When you get the new modem you'll likely need to call Comcast and get it provisioned with the mac address on the modem.

The first person I called to do this entered the MAC address wrong by one letter. This lead to a 3 hour clusterfuck of tech support of which figuring out that all that needed to be changed was a single B to a C.
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Yes Charter did this with my CableCard so I could not access all channels three days later and many read backs of the card and devices MAC address I got it done.
 
WOW! The difference is staggering. My old modem was seriously hampering me! Getting crazy good download/upload speeds after the upgrade!
 
atarumoroboshi18 said:
WOW! The difference is staggering. My old modem was seriously hampering me! Getting crazy good download/upload speeds after the upgrade!
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Yeah, thats why I upgrade my cable modem every few years or so. The old ones just dont have the bandwidth the newer models have, and will prevent you from getting the speed you pay for.
 
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