Modem for Time Warner?

V

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[H]ard|Gawd
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They are charging a leasing fee, and are unable to provide me with a modem that works properly so far. I had one, it started frequently disconnecting. After letting them fuck with it remotely for 2 weeks off and on, I got it replaced. They sent me home with one that wouldn't even power on. Next day go back to get another, and they give me one that gets OUTRAGEOUSLY bad pings/latency if anything is downloading/streaming, but only using a third or half of the available download and not even a 1/6 of the upload.


So today a tech came out to test the lines, found nothing...of course. Told me he only has refurbs to replace it with. So now I have them sending me one, but they can't even guarantee it'll be new in the box and so far their refurbs have been complete shit.


So, being that they can't provide equipment worth a shit, I want to see if anyone has any brand/feature/whatever recommendations for a Time Warner network modem. My area as far as I know only goes up to 50M down as the highest option, but Im not against buying something a little more expensive for futureproofing or just better results.

Just looking to get something so it's more cost effective to buy and use it...it'd have to last 2-3 years to be a good buy. Plus it screws them out of their leasing fee.
 
I've been really happy with my Motorola Surfboard SB6120 DOCSIS 3.0. It's an older model, and I bought it way before we even had DOCSIS 3.0 here, but I thought it would help me future proof. Just looked, and Amazon says I bought it five years ago. Still going strong.

I've also been on TWC for years. This modem has kept up with recent improvements. When I was upgraded from 15/1 to 50/5 there wasn't even a hiccup and it pulls the advertised speed.

They want you to lease a modem from them, and they may say anything else is not supported. But I've had no issues with this modem on TWC.
 
Purchased new sb6141 (white model) from Amazon last year and been great past 9 months.
 
Also have the SB6141 since early last year and it still works great!
 
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I believe the refurb I have right now is something like that SB6141, it's black but looks damn near identical.
 
I switched to a 6141 (bought of [H]) when TWC upped lease fees. Paid itself back in 6 months and zero issues. Swapping it out / getting it authorized on the network was a simple phone call.
 
Yep, all they need is the MAC address.

Best thing I did was buy an SB6183 a couple weeks ago to replace a shitty SB5120 leased modem.
 
6141 will max out at 100 on TWC, this isn't the limit of the modem, just the limit of what TWC will provision it at. If you think you will get faster than that in the next few years, you need a 6183 to use their Ultimate 200 and 300 plans.

I am using a 6141 I bought at Best Buy and they price matched Amazon.

Also try going to http://192.168.100.1 and you can usually see information on how your modem is connecting. Depends on the modem brand though. With recent Mororola/Arris modem you can see full details on the signal strength for every channel and error log.
 
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Typically any DOCSIS 3.0 modem would work.

From the TWC approved list you have inexpensive options including for example the Motorola SBG6580 Wireless-N Cable Modem Gateway Docsis 3.0 for about $61 (ebay and elsewhere).

Keep in mind you can resell it later to recoup your investment.
 
smangular said:
Typically any DOCSIS 3.0 modem would work.

From the TWC approved list you have inexpensive options including for example the Motorola SBG6580 Wireless-N Cable Modem Gateway Docsis 3.0 for about $61 (ebay and elsewhere).

Keep in mind you can resell it later to recoup your investment.
Click to expand...

But then you are stuck with the not-so-great wireless coverage of that all in one. Also you can't do firmware updates on your own modem, you need to wait for TWC to deploy them. This means the wireless router portion of the modem may not receive and update for a long time, even if it needs one.
 
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Motorola and Arris are generally good bets. With Comcast, I'm using a Arris CM820 that I bought refurbed off ebay a few months back, for a whole $30 shipped.
 
ocellaris said:
6141 will max out at 100 on TWC, this isn't the limit of the modem, just the limit of what TWC will provision it at. If you think you will get faster than that in the next few years, you need a 6183 to use their Ultimate 200 and 300 plans.

I am using a 6141 I bought at Best Buy and they price matched Amazon.

Also try going to http://192.168.100.1 and you can usually see information on how your modem is connecting. Depends on the modem brand though. With recent Mororola/Arris modem you can see full details on the signal strength for every channel and error log.
Click to expand...

This is true. I have the Ultimate 200 package 200/20 and was previously using the SB6141 my speedtests would come out at 98 / 9 on average. I just switched to the SB6183 last night and now getting speeds of 213 / 22.
 
I ended up buying a SB6183. It's probably a model higher than I need, 6141 would probably do what I need. But I figured there's no way of knowing what Time Warner is going to do end up doing upgrade wise once some of the FCC stuff and various other changes end up hitting them and others.

Also got an antenna to try to pick up over the air channels and look into cancelling the TV portion of the package entirely and increase internet package speed. Right now max is 50 in my area, havent seen anything to indicate increases coming. Im hoping a (hopefully) FAILED merger with Comcast will spark some increases but probably wishful thinking.

Next up.......looking into the phone service and seeing how reduce that and get the same or better utility.
 
Nice move! I'm on Comcast with my 6183. Couldn't be happier. I have the 50/10 internet option and I'm getting 60/12 consistently. I have the 6183 paired with the edgerouter lite. Only thing I regret is not getting the in store warranty.
 
Well I bought mine off Amazon, didnt even consider in-store warranty possibilities....that's kind of a good point for anyone who may look at this in the future since modems can die due to things on the cable cos end of things. Time Warner just pisses me off dealing with em, I pray for something that competes with cable speeds to arrive.....but that's probably a "hope I have it before I die" kind of thing.
 
You'll be happy with the SB modem. I got a SB6141 back in November and haven't had any issues with it.

We did however have an issue with Time Warner removing the lease fee. We got our bill this past week and the $8 lease fee was still there. I thought I had checked one of the previous bills, but apparently I didnt. So after a 15 minute phone call they were able to credit us back the lease fee from November - March. I'll check the bill out next month to make sure that it really has been removed!!

So just a quick reminder to follow up to verify that they remove your lease fee next month. ;)
 
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