Best cable modem and wifi router for Comcast

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Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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I'm switching to Comcast as my experience with CenturyLink has been terrible and I'm looking for feedback on the best cable modems and wifi routers for use with Comcast Xfinity.

At present I'm leaning towards the Motorola SURFboard SB6141 with DOCSIS 3.0 for the modem but I'm still looking at wifi routers. I need a router with at least 4 LAN ports but having more than 4 would be nice.

SO, what are my choices?


Brian
 
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Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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ch33zw1z said:
http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/

My setup:
Modem - Motorola SB6120
Router - Linksys E3000

Comcast connection speed 50/10

What's your budget? I think the 6141 will be a good choice, but the router side can vary more.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I'm pretty sure the 6141 is what I'll go with for the modem but, as you say, the router side is more of an issue. I'd like to be under $100 for the router but if there is a compelling reason I could go to $150 or even more. The main variable, beyond ease of setup and reliability, seems to be 802.11ac but I have to confess I'm not 100% up on what 8.2.11ac offers that dual band N doesn't.

As to my setup ... I plan to put the modem/router near my HT setup and plug the HDTV, Bluray player and AVR into the router via the LAN ports.


Brian
 
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Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
3,964
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ch33zw1z said:
Do you already have a couple routers in mind?
Click to expand...

No, not yet. I am looking at the Netgear WINDR4500 (N900) but I am not yet keyed into any other options. The N900 is more than the $100 price point but as I said I could go higher.

And I have pretty well settled on the Moto 6141.


Brian
 
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Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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Well I picked up the Moto SB6141 modem and the Netgear WNDR4500 (N900) router and the comcast guy just completed the install and all appears well. I have the 25Mb service at $29.99 for the first 6 months then $44.99 for the next 6 months. The had an additional promotion to upgrade the service, for 3 months, to 50Mb for the same price. Speedtest over the LAN connection to router is running about 34Mb and over the 5GHz wifi at about 27Mb...


Brian
 
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kmmatney

Diamond Member
Jun 19, 2000
4,363
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Funny - I am just switching to CenturyLink VDSL2 service (40/5) from Comcast. It was just to save money, I never had issues with Comcast. I was also using an SB6141 modem, with a Netgear WNDR2000v2. I was getting speed tests of 55/10 with that setup. So I'm losing a bit of speed going to CenturyLink but will save several hundred dollars over the next year. Now I have to sell off my SB6141...

Anyways Comcast is pretty good - the service was very stable with very few outages. The only problem is that the price is quite high if you don't have TV bundled. With Centurylink I'm only going to be paying $45/mo ($29 for the first 3 months) and get an additional $10 off my DirectTV bill.
 
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KentState

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
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Been rocking a Motorola SB6121 and Netgear N900 for a year and could not be happier. I get 55/12 which is more than the advertised rate.
 
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Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
3,964
2
0
kmmatney said:
Funny - I am just switching to CenturyLink VDSL2 service (40/5) from Comcast. It was just to save money, I never had issues with Comcast. I was also using an SB6141 modem, with a Netgear WNDR2000v2. I was getting speed tests of 55/10 with that setup. So I'm losing a bit of speed going to CenturyLink but will save several hundred dollars over the next year. Now I have to sell off my SB6141...

Anyways Comcast is pretty good - the service was very stable with very few outages. The only problem is that the price is quite high if you don't have TV bundled. With Centurylink I'm only going to be paying $45/mo ($29 for the first 3 months) and get an additional $10 off my DirectTV bill.
Click to expand...

I had CenturyLink for about 16 months and for much of the last 4 months or so I had constant drop-outs. The internet connection would die and sometimes it would come back up on its own in a few minutes but other times I'd need to reboot the modem. I called them and they said they changed some parameters but I still had drop-outs.

I've had Comcast for a couple full days now and have had no drop-outs.

I had been paying about $50/month for 12Mb/sec with CenturyLink and I'm now getting 25Mb/sec with Comcast for $30/month for the first 6 months and then it goes to $45/month for he next 6 months. The installer upped my service to 50Mb/sec for 3 months...


Brian
 
K

kmmatney

Diamond Member
Jun 19, 2000
4,363
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81
Brian Stirling said:
I had CenturyLink for about 16 months and for much of the last 4 months or so I had constant drop-outs. The internet connection would die and sometimes it would come back up on its own in a few minutes but other times I'd need to reboot the modem. I called them and they said they changed some parameters but I still had drop-outs.

I've had Comcast for a couple full days now and have had no drop-outs.

I had been paying about $50/month for 12Mb/sec with CenturyLink and I'm now getting 25Mb/sec with Comcast for $30/month for the first 6 months and then it goes to $45/month for he next 6 months. The installer upped my service to 50Mb/sec for 3 months...


Brian
Click to expand...

I went through a period of dropouts with CenturyLink, which was really bad as we lost our VOIP Ooma home phone as well. The dropouts seem to happen under heavy internet usage, so on a whim I decided to convert the DSL Modem/router into just a router and run in bridge mode. I then used my own router, and after that it was rock solid.

The all-in-one cable modem that Comcast gave me SBG901 (free after rebate) also had dropouts, but this was due to some firmware settings (IP flood detection) and after changing the setting it was pretty stable. I ended up setting it in bridge mode anyways, and using my same Wifi router I had to use with CenturyLink, and I'm using the same router again now that I'm back with CenturyLink. Using your own router does make it easier to change ISPs.

A ran Centurylink and Comcast side-by-side and Comcast does feel faster, mainly due to how they cache a lot of popular sites on their servers. For online gaming, and streaming movies they seem about the same. A ran a few complex VOIP tests to test the overall quality of each line, and the CenturyLink service tested a little better for VOIP usage, due to having no jitter. The Comcast signal usually has slightly lower ping times, though. Overall, I preferred Comcast, but not enough to pay a lot more money for it. Of course after I had already setup the VDSL service and called to quit Comcast, they offered to match the deal from Centurylink. I little too late for them to offer me that deal by then.
 
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C2bcool

Member
Apr 13, 2012
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Just don't get any of the Comcast all-in-one modems, as they suck. They have neutered firmware and are just really terrible.

I had nothing but problems with the SMC (I think thats the brand) Comcast gave me. Terrible WiFi (even in the same room) and dropped signal at least twice a day. I got by own ARIS722 (voice and modem only) and use an Asus Router RT-65N and it works flawlessly at 56/11, which is more than advertised.
 
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