Motorola SB 6141 vs 6121 vs 6180?

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Jul 9, 2001
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Motorola SB 6141 vs 6121 vs 6180?

Seems like the 6141 & 6180 are different ( 8 down/4 up) than the 6121 (4 down/4 Up).

Real world differences? Why the seperate models? Which is better?
 
Feature wise they appear to be identical. If I had to guess the 6141 uses the Texas Instruments chipset and the 6180 is Broadcom, ala the SBG6580 minus the built in router.

We've tested neither on our plant, so I can't say which is better. I'm assuming the 6141 is going to be more prevalent in the future, i.e. better supported by your cable company..
 
With the past Surfboards....I've had a preference for those based on the TI chipset, and reviews of them in the past had them performing better than Broadcom based ones. Caveat being..they were less tolerant of poor quality lines/signals. But on a clean line..they led the performance charts.
 
The only previous TI based Surfboard I'm aware of was the SB5120 and that thing was a piece of garbage, they just didn't last. No other way to put it than that. On the other hand the 5100 and 5101 series were Broadcom and very solid. I dont recall who made the guts of the 4100 and 4200 series. TI has come a long way.
 
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The only previous TI based Surfboard I'm aware of was the SB5120 and that thing was a piece of garbage, they just didn't last. No other way to put it .

How many did you have fail on your to support the claim that there was no other way to put it except they were garbage? Used a 5120 myself for a long time until I went to U-Verse. Problem free as could be...across 2x different ISPs to when I moved. I've installed/supported lots of 5120's for clients too...no issues.
 
Many

I should clarify, I work for a docsis isp so I'm privy to more equipment volume than most and the technical issues that the average person might not be aware of.
 
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Well I guess your several hundred thousand will trump my measly couple of hundred. Also re-sold and worked with a few smaller cable ISPs in my area...so have some experience, but of course not as much as you "claim". But my couple of hundred..did danged well. Lotta long threads about the 5101 vs 5120 over at dee ess ell reports by many clearly experienced ISP techs.
 
I'd say experience with thousands of modems not hundreds of thousands. I've encountered enough issues with the 5120 in my experience to label it as I have. I've just known it to be problematic. Well, that's just like my opinion, man :)
 
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