We recently found out about the new Motorola Surfboard SB6120 SURFboard® eXtreme. This modem supports the new Docsis 3 standard for cable modems. It is also backwards compatible with older systems. It uses a new channel bonding technology to increase bandwidth.
Also Comcast and other ISP’s have been deploying Docsis 3 and Comcast claims they will have it deployed to 100% of the U.S by the end of 2010. We had been using a Docsis 1.1 Linksys BEFCMU10, which is about 6 years old by now. With all these new possibilities and our speedtests showing only 3mb/s download we decided to try the new Motorola out to see if we could get more bandwidth for our money.
As we watched the signal on the modem’s configuration pages (192.168.100.1) it was erratic at first. The modem seemed to need multiple reboots to sync up, not sure if they were still in the process of provisioning or what. During this short time of about 5 minutes or so the bandwidth was really low at around 1mb/s down and barely able to even load the speed testing site. As we continued to restart the modem though it finally synced up and opened the bandwidth up to 20-25mb/s down and 4-4.5mb up this speed was maintained to several locations around the country and the speed increase on downloading files is amazing. The performance boost was far more than we had anticipated, we will be able to move to Comcast’s 50mb down 10mb up service whenever we want, but that would cost $99 per month. Not bad really, but >20mb down / 4mb up for what we already pay (~$65 per month) you can’t beat that!
We have not had any problems with the modem since installing it runs fast and stable for everything we have thrown at it so far. We may be looking into video conferencing, we already were watching streaming video on the 3mb connection we had before, now with >20mb of speed the sky is the limit.
In addition to working great and being very fast, it has a very bright blue light that flashes for the link. Also the casing is well designed and looks good. We like the way it’s built to stand on its end to maximize cooling. The case also appears well ventilated with many vent holes all over on almost all sides.
This router is amazing! We got 30 megs down the other night and more than 5 up. It doesn’t happen all the time but I’ve never seen numbers like this. I love it. Thanks for letting me know about it. My husband is super happy with this new modem and all of the information you submitted was a great help.
Glad to hear it’s working well for you.
It won’t improve you donwolad speeds, paying for faster service from your ISP is the only way to improve that. It should work with any modem and let you share the Internet connection and files and printers between computers.
RT @foxcns: This could be the fastest cable modem in the world today – http://bit.ly/arrCcW
I have my internet pdiovred through ethernet cable. I plug the net cable into a router’s ethernet socket and then plug my 2way ethernet cable into router’s ethernet socket and my PC’s ethernet socket. The router shows that he finds the ethernet, but doesn’t transfer to pc somehow
The Comcast speed test is a complete joke to hide true speeds from customers. Show us speeds from speedtest.net, speakeasy.com or toast.net. Testing connectivity within your own network is totally misleading. If you are having speed issues DO NOT let Comcast get away with having field tech show you this bogus test and stating everything is great.
My office have used the SB6120 model and quite happy with its performance, although we do not employ DOCSIS 3.0. However for home usage I am quite satisfied with my SB5101.
thats not fast for cable wtf! i’m on a cable modem thats 5+ years old (DOCSIS 2 or 1). some stupid speed touch, and i get up to 32 mpbps via speedtest.net all the time. WTF!
Where do you live? If that speed is common in your area I might consider moving there. I did a small update at the bottom I tested my old Linksys cable modem and it does get the same bandwidth as the new Motorola Docsis 3. Apparently Comcast has found a way to give a lot more bandwidth to old modems too. You might get even faster speeds if you try a Docsis 3 modem but it looks like there’s no guarantee.
Docsis 3.0 is the way to go. And I think it is best to buy a cable modem instead of renting one. I rented one for $7 a month for 2.5 years costing me over $150 total when I could have just bought one for around $80. Just again make sure it is a Docsis 3.0 so if you do have really high speed then your cable modem will not hinder your speeds. Thanks for the information, very helpful!
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