Is it worth it to upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0?

[glen]

I am on Comcast, and I have a DOCSIS 2 modem.
Here are rough average speeds:
20 Mb/s down
5 Mb/s up

For only few more dollars per month and the cost of a new modem, I can go to DOCIS 3.
Will I really get faster speeds? Comcast keeps telling me it has the potential to get higher speeds. Well big deal. What is the real world experience with the DOCIS 3 upgrades? Is there anyway I can tell BEFORE I upgrade?

 

[glen]

Actually, this is what I am getting today:
9/17/2011 7:04 PM GMT
25.21 Mb/s down
4.18 Mb/s up
35 ms ping

 

[Emulex]

if you don't have a noisy signal and can deal with longer retrain times (4 down 1 up versus 1 up/1 down= more time) then yes they want everyone on D3.

having 20 retrains a day on D2 would drive you crazy on D3 due to the longer retrain process. early comcast firmware would retrain when 1 (of the 4) down dropped - rather than running on 3/4 and retraining that single channel.

I get about 76-80 down and 12-13 up

 

[Despoiler]

I had a Motorola 5120 with 25/2 service. DOCSIS 2.0 can handle 25m. I upgraded to a Cisco DPC-3010 (amazing modem). I then had headroom and got bigger burst rates before the cap kicked in. The connection was more stable. Like not running ragged. The reason is because they had channel bonding enabled even at the 25m speed. It does make a difference. What ever you do don't get a Motorola DOCSIS 3.0. Lots of firmware bugs they or your carrier might not be quick to fix. I had to sell mine.

 

[glen]

If I do upgrade, are all DOCSIS modems basically the same?
Can I still use my linksys N router?

 

[ImDonly1]

If I do upgrade, are all DOCSIS modems basically the same?
Can I still use my linksys N router?

Yes your router will be fine. Unless you sign up for a package that offers more than 100 mbps downstream. Then, your router probably doesn't support gigabit WAN and you would need a better one.

Most modems are the same, just brand. With brand comes reliability. Some have more RAM than others. There are also newer D3 modems that are supposed to do 8 channel bonding, but I am not sure if those are out yet in retail.

If buying a modem, you don't have many choices, many D3 modems are not available for puchase, but to rent only. The most popular to buy, in my opinion, are the motorola modems. There is also the cisco dpc3000, but it is not supposed to be sold to the public, unless that changed since the last time I checked. You can probably still buy one, but I am not sure if comcast will activate it would have to check on that. The dpc3000 has more ram than the motorola sb6120 I think, not that it would make a noticable difference.

There is also a zoom 5341, but I am not sure how I feel about zoom yet.

And lastly, depending on your signal, docsis 2.0 can probably do about 35 mbps. Only reason to buy a docsis 3.0 modem is if you really need it for a high speed tier, want to take advantage of channel bonding to help with congestion, etc, or can get it cheap and stop paying the modem rental fee.

 

[notposting]

DOCSIS 3 can go faster. Can your checkbook though?

I did buy the Motorola SB6120 though just to avoid the modem rental fee.

 

[MtnMan]

Also bought a SB6120 because charter was increasing their modem fee to $7/month.

Also keep the proof you returned their modem so when they fail to remove the fee from your bill, you have proof they have the returned modem.

 

[glen]

There is also the cisco dpc3000, but it is not supposed to be sold to the public, unless that changed since the last time I checked. You can probably still buy one, but I am not sure if comcast will activate it would have to check on that. The dpc3000 has more ram than the motorola sb6120 I think, not that it would make a noticable difference.

now I am interested.
Why not sold to public?
Why would Comcast possibly not activate it?
What does ram do on a modem (I did not even know they had ram?)

 

[JackMDS]

If you get 20 Mb/s down - 5 Mb/s up.

I doubt that any other Modem will do better.

 

[ImDonly1]

now I am interested.
Why not sold to public?
Why would Comcast possibly not activate it?
What does ram do on a modem (I did not even know they had ram?)

Not sure why, lots of modems are not sold to the public. Cisco just didn't want to sell them retail.

Since it was not available to the public, you would have to buy one from a weird source. They are easier to buy than they used to be, but still not like the Motorola ones you can buy at BestBuy. In the past, when someone was selling a DPC3000 it was probably one that belonged to Comcast. Since you were not supposed to be able to buy one, how did you get it? And therefore, Comcast wouldn't activate it I think. They assumed it was stolen or something.

Now, I am not sure if you can bring your own DPC3000 to Comcast and activate it. Things may have changed. I think you might be able to bring your own DPC3000 to Comcast. Call and check.

The SB6120 has 16MB of RAM and the DPC3000 has 32MB. I don't think anyone looks at the amount of RAM though as it doesn't really matter. I think it may play a role in the amount of connections the modem can do. Also, the SB6120 just received a firmware update to support IPv6, not sure if the DPC3000 has support for it.

Check the forums, comcast forum, on broadbandreports.com

 

[lamedude]

You may get faster powerboost speeds but sustained speeds (15/2 for the performance tier) will remain the same. It may help with slowdown if your speeds drop during peak hours due to congestion. If go to a faster tier a D3 modem will probably be required.
The DCP3K is on the list but doesn't support IPv6 according to it.