Do cable modems really vary much?

[Nebben]

I'm using some unknown cable modem that doesn't even have a brand name on it, it was obtained free in a signup package with my cable company. It occasionally drops the signal, but I think that may be due to my cable lines. I live in an apartment complex and just yesterday had my lines checked out, and was told that the distribution box was messed up. He fixed it and it seems fine now.

Would it be worth buying a different cable modem, or are they all pretty much the same? I've heard good things about the Motorola Surfboard but if it's not going to make a difference in speed/reliability then I may as well just keep my $60.


Edit: This is what I have now.

Modem Name: Ambit DOCSIS Cable Modem MAC Address: 00:02:8a:59:c2:78
Serial Number: 100040059C278 Boot Code Version: 3.11.1
Main Image Version: 2.22.2008 Hardware Version: 1.8
Web Based Configuration Pages Version: 1.0.1

 

[T2urtle]

i have a surfboard. mines was free from bestbuy. only problem i have with mines is that sometimes just goes to standby mode out of nowhere.

speed wise from my old toshiba one and the moto. i didn't noticed 1 speed diffrence. Just that the moto requires reboot when you put it on a diffrent computer.

 

[w0ss]

Comcast has a page somewhere on there site with modems that you need to take advantage of there recent speed upgrade. I would say if it is working leave it alone. My old cable modem was not up to the 6meg upgrade so I got a new one.

 

[zaptone]

this is interesting

never really thought much about the modems

can they really make a difference?

 

[sswingle]

Should be fine, keep it until it dies, or you notice its slow.

 

[jkoon]

Usually your ISP caps your bandwidth at a much much lower speed than the cable modem is capable of so I doubt getting a new modem will make much of a difference.

 

[RossGr]

Originally posted by: w0ss
Comcast has a page somewhere on there site with modems that you need to take advantage of there recent speed upgrade. I would say if it is working leave it alone. My old cable modem was not up to the 6meg upgrade so I got a new one.

A second to this, we began to have frequent loss of connection after the speed upgrade. Called in a tech to look at why. As soon as he saw our ~5year old (I started when it was @home) modem he said he had found the problem. The new modem is 1/2 the size and we have not had a single loss since.

(Of course it took a 1/2 day of frustration to convince it to see my router!)