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Retiring older cable modem.... any advantages?

K

Ksyder

Golden Member
Hi all,

My family has a Motorola SurfboardSB4100 cable modem-

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-DOCSI.../dp/B00005T3T6

The same modem has been installed for probably 7-8 years, ever since they got broadband internet. I've been thinking of upgrading the house network for them, and wondering if there would be any benefit to retiring that old cable modem for a newer one that is not provided by the cable company.

The Surfboard works fine, never had a problem. Would there be any advantage to replacing it when I replace the router?
 
You could get better performance, likely actually. I would use what the cable company provides as they test and support those with their system.

That's a DOCSIS 1.0 modem, pretty ancient. Most likely only a 10/half duplex regular ethernet.
 
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If you plan on getting a higher-speed service tier, you will likely need a DOCSIS 2 modem. That old modem might serve up to 9 or 10Mbps which is what my surfboard SB3100 could handle. When I wanted 20Mbps though, it had to go. I had it 9 years with no troubles.
 
I just did this yesterday. Have Suddenlink for cable internet service and recently boosted my speed from bottom of the barrel 1.5 to 10MBPS (20MBPS is max in my area). When I did a speed test, I was surprised to see I was only getting 2-4MBPS. The modem was simply too old to do the faster speed. After the tech swapped it out, I was getting the appropriate speed.
 
eersnherd said:
I just did this yesterday. Have Suddenlink for cable internet service and recently boosted my speed from bottom of the barrel 1.5 to 10MBPS (20MBPS is max in my area). When I did a speed test, I was surprised to see I was only getting 2-4MBPS. The modem was simply too old to do the faster speed. After the tech swapped it out, I was getting the appropriate speed.
Click to expand...

That's a combination of 10/half ethernet as the best you can get out of it is about 3-4 Mbs. Half-duplex and all. Combined with docsis 1.0 it just isn't going to be very fast.
 
Surfboard 4100 is fine. Docsis 1.1 and 100Base-T ethernet. 38 Mbps down, 10 up.

Unless their package is more than that, no need to change. You could also get a replacement modem from the cable co most likely.
 
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