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tkmd · Nov 4, 2007, 07:45 AM

My old one is dying and the busy light is always on, funny at first I thought that someone was using my internet! So I need to buy a new one and I dont want rent some piece of junk from the cable company - any suggestions on fast modems?

macroy · Nov 4, 2007, 09:20 AM

I had a Motorola Surfboard for like 10 years... the only one I've ever purchased for myself. I don't know how it ranks with the rest... but it served its purpose when I was with Comcast. VZN gave me a ActionTech Modem/Router with their FiOS, and that works fine too....

I actually never gave those things a thought. I guess today, I'd look for one that has a router/modem built in so you're only dealing with one box. But then I'd pay more attention to the router/firewall features. The Cable modem should suffice as long as it accommodates your subscribed speed (which I believe all should unless you have a business class service).

tkmd · Nov 4, 2007, 09:39 AM

I had a Motorola surfboard which had stopped working after 2 years. So I had gone out to best buy and bought another cable modem (again a Moto surfboard) not really thinking about performance/ reliably issues. That one worked fine until this fall when the "busy" light started to flash more often - now its on all the time. At first I thought someone was on my network. After encrypting the signal and still seeing the same "busy" light I thought that perhaps some "bit torrent" activity had fried the internals.

Video ichat is horribly choppy but the internet (as far as web pages are concerned ) is ok . Although sometimes there is a weird pause to page loading. Point is - I think that it could be my modem. I have read good reviews about the moto surfboard but I thought maybe someone out there has some better information or perhaps some site I can go to to read some reviews....

zerostar · Nov 4, 2007, 11:03 AM

did you try running a speed test? If the modem syncs up on the system it is probably fine, try Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test and let us know the results.

Have you done Video iChat before? Perhaps when you cycled the modem it provisioned wrong.

The busy light will blink when there is certain activity on your node, and that probably includes many streets and houses nearby.

mduell · Nov 4, 2007, 11:14 AM

Moto Surfboard 5101
Although the price is up about $10 since I bought my 5120.

Big Mac · Nov 4, 2007, 03:30 PM

Another vote for the Surfboard.

tkmd · Nov 5, 2007, 08:39 AM

[/URL]

Originally Posted by zerostar

did you try running a speed test? If the modem syncs up on the system it is probably fine, try Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test and let us know the results.

Have you done Video iChat before? Perhaps when you cycled the modem it provisioned wrong.

The busy light will blink when there is certain activity on your node, and that probably includes many streets and houses nearby.

Here are my results

CMYKid · Nov 5, 2007, 12:32 PM

ditto the Surfboards, and I think dLink makes one thats virtually identical. Anymore I dont thinkn there's much difference, I've A to B'd three of four and not found differences in speed, latency, etc.

If yours is going south I've a brand-new one that I'll sell you. I was going to use it at home but they wouldnt let me self-install so I got Clearwire instead.

mduell · Nov 5, 2007, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by tkmd

Here are my results

That's pretty slow for Comcast on the download... I have the basic 6Mbps package with PowerBoost (12Mbps for the first 15MB, which basically covers this test).

tastethepain · Nov 13, 2007, 01:44 PM

I swear by Linksys' cable modem. I put zero faith in their new all-in-one firewall-wireless gateway-cable modem, the WG200 or whatever. I wouldn't get that.

However, their cable modems are rock solid. On the other hand, getting a brand which the cable company supports means that the cable company will usually push firmware upgrades to the cable modem invisibly to you.

Curtis