Personal computing discussed

Moderators: renee, Steel, notfred

 
Omniman
Gerbil XP
Topic Author
Posts: 316
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:24 am
Location: White River Junction, Vermont

Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:07 pm

Can anyone recommend a good modem to replace my Comcast broadband modem so I don't have to pay the stupid rental fee. I was looking around and I saw some that were router and modem all in ones. Any of those that can be recommended?
Intel i7-7700, MSI Trident, 32GB DDR4 2133mhz, Geforce 1060GTX, and Samsung Evo 1TB.
 
JJCDAD
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1867
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:11 pm
Location: Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.
Contact:

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:23 pm

I think the Motorola SB6120 or SB6121 are the best DOCSIS 3.0 modems around. Never had much luck with the modem/router gateway devices.
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:43 pm

JJCDAD wrote:
I think the Motorola SB6120 or SB6121 are the best DOCSIS 3.0 modems around. Never had much luck with the modem/router gateway devices.

I bought an SB6120 to replace my dying SB4200. Great modem. It will push uplink signal through crappy wiring like no other. And yes, I also subscribe to the KISS principle, i.e: a duty for each box and a box for each duty.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
JustAnEngineer
Gerbil God
Posts: 19673
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: The Heart of Dixie

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:25 pm

JJCDAD wrote:
I think the $83 Motorola SB6120 or $88 SB6121 are the best DOCSIS 3.0 modems around.
QFT.

If you need a router, add a separate box.
$45 TRENDnet TEW-639GR
$70 D-Link DIR-655
· R7-5800X, Liquid Freezer II 280, RoG Strix X570-E, 64GiB PC4-28800, Suprim Liquid RTX4090, 2TB SX8200Pro +4TB S860 +NAS, Define 7 Compact, Super Flower SF-1000F14TP, S3220DGF +32UD99, FC900R OE, DeathAdder2
 
LoneWolf15
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 963
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:36 am
Location: SW Meecheegan

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:53 pm

I'm running the SB6120, and it's been a doggone good modem. Better yet when you have full DOCSIS 3.0 (I've run it under 2.0 and 3.0).

It's what I replaced my Comcast SB4200 with.
i9-9900K @4.7GHz, GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, 2 x 16GB G.Skill RipJaws V PC3000
Corsair 650D, Seasonic 1Kw Platinum PSU
2x HP EX920 1TB NVMe, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB 2.5", NEC 7200 DVDRW
Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super Gaming OC, Dell S2719DGF 27" LCD
 
Omniman
Gerbil XP
Topic Author
Posts: 316
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:24 am
Location: White River Junction, Vermont

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:33 am

I went ahead with the SB6121. It would be nice to see some speed increases too since my modem I currently have is an old Motorola Surf or whatever they call them. Thanks everyone for the responses!
Intel i7-7700, MSI Trident, 32GB DDR4 2133mhz, Geforce 1060GTX, and Samsung Evo 1TB.
 
thegleek
Darth Gerbil
Posts: 7460
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2003 11:06 am
Location: Detroit, MI
Contact:

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:10 pm

i miss old modems... 300 baud.. 1200.. 2400... 14.4k....28.8k.... 56k.... sigh.... the ole' bbs days will never exist again. :cry:
 
JustAnEngineer
Gerbil God
Posts: 19673
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: The Heart of Dixie

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:19 pm

thegleek wrote:
sigh.... the ole' bbs days will never exist again. :cry:
Isn't that what this forum does? What does phpBB stand for?

I have no nostalgia for 110 baud connections to CompuServe using a VIC-20. I've got an 18,000,000 bit/second connection now and I don't want to go any slower.
· R7-5800X, Liquid Freezer II 280, RoG Strix X570-E, 64GiB PC4-28800, Suprim Liquid RTX4090, 2TB SX8200Pro +4TB S860 +NAS, Define 7 Compact, Super Flower SF-1000F14TP, S3220DGF +32UD99, FC900R OE, DeathAdder2
 
LoneWolf15
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 963
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:36 am
Location: SW Meecheegan

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:06 pm

thegleek wrote:
i miss old modems... 300 baud.. 1200.. 2400... 14.4k....28.8k.... 56k.... sigh.... the ole' bbs days will never exist again. :cry:


My Courier V.Everything external is still in a box downstairs, complete with its gold SysOp deal plate. It used to sit on top of my massive AOpen HX-08 full tower.

I cannot, will not, get rid of it due to sentimentality.

Image
i9-9900K @4.7GHz, GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, 2 x 16GB G.Skill RipJaws V PC3000
Corsair 650D, Seasonic 1Kw Platinum PSU
2x HP EX920 1TB NVMe, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB 2.5", NEC 7200 DVDRW
Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super Gaming OC, Dell S2719DGF 27" LCD
 
just brew it!
Administrator
Posts: 54500
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 10:51 pm
Location: Somewhere, having a beer

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:16 pm

I still have a 300 baud acoustic coupler somewhere in the crawlspace.

Edit: Here's a pic of it I posted in a forum thread several years ago:
Image
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
ShadowEyez
Gerbil XP
Posts: 348
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2003 12:31 pm

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:38 pm

I recently got a zoom dosics 3 modem for comcast and it works as well. The moto 6121 was expensive for a on/of switch and a high end transmitter
The finest tools are forged from the hottest fires
 
Waco
Maximum Gerbil
Posts: 4850
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:14 pm
Location: Los Alamos, NM

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:23 am

You can get a Surfboard 5101U for ~$25 on Ebay. I just sent one to my mom this week since hers died and she started renting one from Comcast.
Victory requires no explanation. Defeat allows none.
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:41 am

just brew it! wrote:
I still have a 300 baud acoustic coupler somewhere in the crawlspace.

Edit: Here's a pic of it I posted in a forum thread several years ago:
Image

Good luck finding a phone that will fit in the coupler. :wink:
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
LoneWolf15
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 963
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:36 am
Location: SW Meecheegan

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:26 am

TheWacoKid wrote:
You can get a Surfboard 5101U for ~$25 on Ebay. I just sent one to my mom this week since hers died and she started renting one from Comcast.


The 5-series is only DOCSIS 2. If you're not in a DOCSIS 3 area, that's fine, but if you are, you're short-changing yourself when it comes to performance and continuous throughput.

For your mom, this probably isn't a big deal. For you, or other enthusiasts, it is. also, the Surfboard 6 series has a better case design that keeps the internals cooler.

ShadowEyez wrote:
I recently got a zoom dosics 3 modem for comcast and it works as well. The moto 6121 was expensive for a on/of switch and a high end transmitter

The USR Courier V.Everything was expensive for a box, too. While I can't comment on Zoom Telephonics' current reliability (they were decent in analog modem days until their final year or two when they started watering down their products), people buy the Motorola for the same reason they bought USR's Courier. Guaranteed compatibility and support with most cable services (Comcast, for example, doesn't officially support all modems), and long-term reliability.

$80-90 for a Motorola cable modem doesn't bother me considering I'd have paid more than that this year for monthly rental fees from the cableco for theirs. I can justify it no problem. Heck, a Courier V.Everything was $200 back in the day, but for something you use every day of the year, something you can count on is worth it.

Nothing against the Zoom, btw --I just think "expensive" is relative for something you use all the time for a service you don't want to be without.
i9-9900K @4.7GHz, GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, 2 x 16GB G.Skill RipJaws V PC3000
Corsair 650D, Seasonic 1Kw Platinum PSU
2x HP EX920 1TB NVMe, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB 2.5", NEC 7200 DVDRW
Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super Gaming OC, Dell S2719DGF 27" LCD
 
LoneWolf15
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 963
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:36 am
Location: SW Meecheegan

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:35 am

Btw, nice shot JBI. It makes me think of that phone trace scene in "Sneakers", as silly as that might have been. I still like that movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VlyZIywY9c
i9-9900K @4.7GHz, GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, 2 x 16GB G.Skill RipJaws V PC3000
Corsair 650D, Seasonic 1Kw Platinum PSU
2x HP EX920 1TB NVMe, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB 2.5", NEC 7200 DVDRW
Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super Gaming OC, Dell S2719DGF 27" LCD
 
spartus4
Gerbil
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 7:59 pm

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:57 pm

I think they should do a reality TV show with a bunch of teenagers living in a house and all they have is technology from say '80 to maybe '90. I think it would be hilarious. I know there would be a lot of screaming. It might help kids understand why some adults are tech dumb.
AMD X6 1055T, Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3, 8GB, 2x 1TB Seagate R-0, PNY 550 Ti 1GB. 27" Aluminium iMac i5, 8GB, AMD 5850 1GB. 24" Aluminium iMac 2.93GHz, 8GB DDR3, 3TB HD. 13" MacBook Pro 2.53 Ghz, 8GB DDR3. MacBook(late 2009) 2.26, 8GB DDR3.
 
just brew it!
Administrator
Posts: 54500
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 10:51 pm
Location: Somewhere, having a beer

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sun Nov 06, 2011 10:08 pm

spartus4 wrote:
I think they should do a reality TV show with a bunch of teenagers living in a house and all they have is technology from say '80 to maybe '90. I think it would be hilarious. I know there would be a lot of screaming. It might help kids understand why some adults are tech dumb.

Y'know what my kids say when our Internet isn't working? "Oh, crap... we're Amish!" :lol:

It sometimes amazes/bothers me how dependent I've become on it too, even though I grew up in the pre-Internet age. We had a few weeks recently where our Internet was really flaky, and I was like... "OK, do I grab the netbook and go use the WiFi at the local McDonalds to pay the bills, or do I do it from work tomorrow?" (No wonder the Post Office is in trouble...)
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
ShadowEyez
Gerbil XP
Posts: 348
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2003 12:31 pm

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:58 pm

LoneWolf15 wrote:
TheWacoKid wrote:
You can get a Surfboard 5101U for ~$25 on Ebay. I just sent one to my mom this week since hers died and she started renting one from Comcast.


The 5-series is only DOCSIS 2. If you're not in a DOCSIS 3 area, that's fine, but if you are, you're short-changing yourself when it comes to performance and continuous throughput.

For your mom, this probably isn't a big deal. For you, or other enthusiasts, it is. also, the Surfboard 6 series has a better case design that keeps the internals cooler.

ShadowEyez wrote:
I recently got a zoom dosics 3 modem for comcast and it works as well. The moto 6121 was expensive for a on/of switch and a high end transmitter

The USR Courier V.Everything was expensive for a box, too. While I can't comment on Zoom Telephonics' current reliability (they were decent in analog modem days until their final year or two when they started watering down their products), people buy the Motorola for the same reason they bought USR's Courier. Guaranteed compatibility and support with most cable services (Comcast, for example, doesn't officially support all modems), and long-term reliability.

$80-90 for a Motorola cable modem doesn't bother me considering I'd have paid more than that this year for monthly rental fees from the cableco for theirs. I can justify it no problem. Heck, a Courier V.Everything was $200 back in the day, but for something you use every day of the year, something you can count on is worth it.

Nothing against the Zoom, btw --I just think "expensive" is relative for something you use all the time for a service you don't want to be without.



When I was looking for a new cable modem (got sick of paying comcast $5/month for theirs and wanted dosics 3) I narrowed down to either zoom or the motorola. They both had similar specs and reviews, and the zoom was the least expensive one at the time, but specs and assumed reliability were equal. In the few months I've had it, it's been hassle free.
The finest tools are forged from the hottest fires
 
Steel
Global Moderator
Posts: 2330
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:42 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
Good luck finding a phone that will fit in the coupler. :wink:


http://www.amazon.com/Novophone-Retro-C ... B000GQ0TBS

:D
 
Turkina
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 607
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2003 10:02 pm
Location: Philly

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:46 pm

Holy crap JBI - you could accidentally dial into NORAD with a setup like that.
I'd recommend going straight for the tic-tac-toe.
 
StuffMaster
Gerbil
Posts: 49
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:41 am

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:38 pm

Turkina wrote:
Holy crap JBI - you could accidentally dial into NORAD with a setup like that.
I'd recommend going straight for the tic-tac-toe.


That might ruin his game of thermonuclear war though! I say save the tic-tac-toe for later.
 
just brew it!
Administrator
Posts: 54500
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 10:51 pm
Location: Somewhere, having a beer

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:44 pm

There's the carcass of an old IMSAI somewhere in the crawlspace too, to go with that old school modem... :wink:
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
LoneWolf15
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 963
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:36 am
Location: SW Meecheegan

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:35 pm

just brew it! wrote:
There's the carcass of an old IMSAI somewhere in the crawlspace too, to go with that old school modem... :wink:


Let me guess, it's lying next to a pile of MFM and RLL hard drives, a Hercules CGA card, and a 5.25" single-side floppy drive. And if we dig further, maybe we can find an eight-bit ISA RAM expansion card for those who found that 256k just wasn't enough.
i9-9900K @4.7GHz, GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, 2 x 16GB G.Skill RipJaws V PC3000
Corsair 650D, Seasonic 1Kw Platinum PSU
2x HP EX920 1TB NVMe, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB 2.5", NEC 7200 DVDRW
Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super Gaming OC, Dell S2719DGF 27" LCD
 
just brew it!
Administrator
Posts: 54500
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 10:51 pm
Location: Somewhere, having a beer

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:08 pm

LoneWolf15 wrote:
Let me guess, it's lying next to a pile of MFM and RLL hard drives, a Hercules CGA card, and a 5.25" single-side floppy drive. And if we dig further, maybe we can find an eight-bit ISA RAM expansion card for those who found that 256k just wasn't enough.

I actually threw most of that stuff out the last time we moved... :wink:
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
Aranarth
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1435
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:56 am
Location: Big Rapids, Mich. (Est Time Zone)
Contact:

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:28 pm

LoneWolf15 wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
There's the carcass of an old IMSAI somewhere in the crawlspace too, to go with that old school modem... :wink:


Let me guess, it's lying next to a pile of MFM and RLL hard drives, a Hercules CGA card, and a 5.25" single-side floppy drive. And if we dig further, maybe we can find an eight-bit ISA RAM expansion card for those who found that 256k just wasn't enough.


Darn I already got rid of my Tandy 1000 hx. :((
I miss my insta boot! The Tandy had a 32k rom chip that was set as drive c: that booted the machine straight to Dos 2.11 and even had a simple word processor etc loaded on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_1000#Tandy_1000_HX

(and you thought ssd's were new :D)
Main machine: Core I7 -2600K @ 4.0Ghz / 16 gig ram / Radeon RX 580 8gb / 500gb toshiba ssd / 5tb hd
Old machine: Core 2 quad Q6600 @ 3ghz / 8 gig ram / Radeon 7870 / 240 gb PNY ssd / 1tb HD
 
LoneWolf15
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 963
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:36 am
Location: SW Meecheegan

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:53 pm

Was it TANDY-DOS?

My college suitemate had one of those my freshman year. Oh boy! Tandy DeskMate! :)
i9-9900K @4.7GHz, GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, 2 x 16GB G.Skill RipJaws V PC3000
Corsair 650D, Seasonic 1Kw Platinum PSU
2x HP EX920 1TB NVMe, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB 2.5", NEC 7200 DVDRW
Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super Gaming OC, Dell S2719DGF 27" LCD
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Comcast Replacement Modem

Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:27 pm

Was surprised to see that the downstream link LED on my SB6121 had changed from green to blue. Looks like DOCSIS 3.0 (at least downstream) has finally made it here to the wilds of Vermont.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
GZIP: On