ARRIS - SURFboard 8 x 4 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem - Silver

I purchased this modem so that I could stop Time Warner Cable from charging me a monthly fee for their modem. I also purchased a Netgear Nighthawk wireless router to use with it because there is not a built in wireless router in this modem. Motorola does offer another model that has a wireless router built in, but it did not get great reviews and my family is starting to use more and more wireless devices lately, so I decided that a robust wireless router was in order. Also, this motorola modem gets fantastic reviews, while the model with the wireless router built in gets a fair amount of negative reviews. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from buying that model, I'm merely stating why I went with this model. This modem was a snap to set up and start using. I did have to call Time Warner cable and give them the MAC address of the modem so that they could set it up to work with their service, and I had heard that it could be a nightmare (half an hour to an hour on the phone people were telling me), but it only took about 15 minutes for them to get it all set for me. Combine that with the 15 minutes it took me to unpack and connect everything myself and it was up and running in about a half an hour. Once that was done, the modem has been working fantastically ever since. I have had zero issues since installing this modem. As for speed, speed tests (using Time Warners speed test and OOKLA speedtest) before and after installing the modem were about the same. I have Road Runner Turbo, and I think Time Warner has control over the speed, so I can't really say if this modem would be faster for someone who uses a different ISP than Time Warner. My speeds have never been an issue for me. I will say also that we are running more and more devices in my household, and I have not noticed any slowdown in our network using this modem. The one negative I listed in the "what's not so great" section at the beginning is one that I noticed another reviewer wrote and it was one of the only negative things that I saw anyone say, so I'm reiterating it in my review here. The lights on the modem are VERY bright (i've included a photo in the darkness to give an idea of how bright) and the bottom light does always keep blinking (I've read that this may not be the case with certain ISPs, but with mine it blinks constantly), so if you're going to use this modem in your bedroom, you may want to figure a way to put the modem in a cabinet or find some other way to block the bright lights, but for me, I have installed the modem in my basement over my tool bench and I think it's pretty cool to have the bright lights. So for me it's really not an issue, but I'm writing about it to be thorough. I think this modem is great and I have been using it for about a month and a half so far. Also, I entered that I use this in a small home.

I had an issue about months ago with my Motorola SB6121 after some use ... all the sudden I would lose connection for a few minutes then it was back Over & Over & Over .... had them replace EVERYTHING in my house ... new wire from street to house from outside through the house into my office to my modem .... So I told them to just give me one of their junk modems and I was good to go for a while. So I decided well I just had a bad one no biggie ... and now they have the brand new Motorola SB6141 that’s a bit future proof so I thought heck ya let me give that one a try since I don’t want to pay Comcast for their old one they gave me. Bought the SB6141 and 2 days later ... Boom ... drops off for a few minutes then back up, then off for a few minutes then back up .. over and over ... and later in the night it would drop off completely for a while then come back. Weird thing the modem's lights stayed like normal and the signal lights looked like all was good but it wasn't. Hmmmmmmmm So I decided to dig around and research on Comcast /Xfinity and Motorola SB6141 and 6121 modems and Low And Behold there is TONS AND TONS of issues just like mine All OVER the Internet! And reading through a bunch of things I kept seeing this Zoom Modem being recommended and people saying my SB6141 sucked and lost connection constantly and after getting the Zoom Zero issues. So I found it locally here at BB for 70 bucks and thought before I bring more techs out I'll try it. For Days and Days now late at night my internet was DONE ... dropping off, resetting, and losing connection all together. Zoom 5341j has been connected all day and all night and 100% ZERO ISSUES ANYMORE! I know it's only one night (I will be sure to come back and update) but I know Dang well that if my SB6141 was still connected my whole house would have been down again tonight. This Zoom modem I guess works better with connections that are not perfect and may have noise and slight connection issues (not sure what you would call em' I read about what they are but don't remember) ..... Many who have no issues with the Motorola Surfboard line may have rock solid zero interruption or flawed signals .... Many do not and if you have any kind of connection issues or errors or constant reboots or restarts then BUY THIS MODEM! So happy I decided to research and fix this issue myself by finding this new modem. Great looking little no frills modem that just plain Works And when I called to have this thing activated (which took about 5 mins after I got a rep ... very quick and easy) ... he made it a point to tell me that he likes these Zoom modems and knows How Well they work and how stable they are and he gets TONS of service calls for the Motorola stuff but hardly Ever Ever gets a service issue with a customer using one of these modems. Looks like I Finally got a modem that works and works well with all kinds of connections and is Also like the SB6141 Future proof with the 8 Bonding down and IPV6 support! If you are having issues with your cable internet connection where it loses connection many times a day for no reason then comes back like it's timing out and also loses connection all together then Buy This Modem (do some searching on SB6141 (or 6121) Timeouts (it's mostly something called a T3 Timeout seems like) ... you will see what I'm talking about ... you will save TONS of time troubleshooting with Comcast and I think overall just get a better overall cable modem. Hope this reviewed has helped anyone who has the same issue as me ... feel free to comment and I will answer any questions you may have. I will be back with update!

I just received this modem today to replace an aging ubee d3 modem from Comcast and to my surprise unlike the 6121 the 6141 is rock solid! steps to activate: Step 1: unplug all routers, modems, and EMTA's(if applicable). Step 2: Get your new 6141 and do a direct connection to the wall and a direct connection to your computer(Very important!!!) and start it up. Step 3: Let your computer sit for up to 3 minutes then launch firefox or IE(internet Explorer) to get to the Comcast activation page Step 4: Once the activation window is up enter your account number and phone number at the service address, click next Step 5: Once at the replace your current modem with your 6141 click next. Step 6: Once at the ready to activate screen you should only have your 6141 with a ready to activate(if not choose to not activate anything else except the modem). Step 7: Click next and let the modem sit for around 10-15 minutes as it gets updated and the config file is pushed to the 6141 Step 8: after 10-15 minutes click next and your all set and activated! Step 9; reconnect everything back and enjoy super high speeds! For 10 hours now this modem has been rock solid on my Comcast HSI setup. I would highly recommend this modem for super speeds, I once got a peak speed on speed test of 85 mbps with this thing on blast service! Edit 8/4/2013: This modem still rock solid and I have no complaints! With our new double play from Comcast we got a service protection plan for internet so if a tech comes it would be no charge, well I had a tech over to make sure that the modem signals were correct. Turns out the tech said that the signals were way out of specification and so he changed up our wiring outside of the house and now the modem is seeing excellent signal in specification to the network, I would highly recommend you do this to so you can make sure your signal levels are just right. Overall: Still a great buy and would still recommend it! Edit 11/2/2013: Modem is still pumping rock solid power out! I had a couple of disconnects but it turns out it was Comcast fixing an outage in my area. Still recommend it and so far has been the most reliable modem we have had so far! I did some changing of splitter out side: I now have 2 2-way 1ghz splitters, the first one is connected to the line from the street and has the modem on one dedicated port and the second port is connected to my second splitter with 2 cable boxes. Why did I do this? Well Comcast does recommend my setup as now the modem is receiving a higher signal as Docsis 3.0 modems are sensitive to signal fluctuations and also digital cable boxes can be on the second splitter getting lower signal as they are not affected as much by lower signal.

If you want the best cable modem on the market with the fastest possible speed and reliability, this is the modem for you. Comcast is doubling the speed on all of their plans between March-May of 2013 and I bought this modem to take advantage of the faster speeds (DOCSIS 3.0 modems are required for speeds over 36-40Mbps). This modem delivers as promised as I've already seen a huge increase in performance before the speed increase has even gone into effect! Here's some technical information for those interested: This modem not only supports DOCSIS 3.0 which is the latest standard for cable modems but also supports the highest number of simultaneous download (8) and upload (4) channels for DOCSIS 3.0 modems at this time (8x4 channel bonding). Not all DOCSIS 3.0 modems are created equal since older models only support 4x2 bonding (i.e. Motorola SB6121) ! This channel bonding feature is what enables DOCSIS 3.0 modems to attain much faster speeds than the DOCSIS 2.0/1.1 modems that only supported a single channel for download and a single channel for upload. Since a channel is capable of approx 40Mbps (36-38 in real world use), this modem is capable of downloading at speeds over 300Mbps and uploading at over 150Mbps while the old DOCSIS 2.0/1.1 modems are stuck in the 30s. In addition to speed increases, the channel bonding will also make your modem more stable. If the modem encounters a failure to communicate on one channel, your modem won't drop offline like the old modems would since it has somewhere between 1-7 others as well (depending on your provider). Even though Comcast's speed increase has not gone through yet, my modem connected on 8 downstream channels and 2 upstream channels and I immediately saw a 44% increase in download speed and a 25% increase in upload speed. Your cable provider might not offer speeds over 40Mbps just yet, but with this modem you'll be prepared and your connection will likely be more stable if you're coming from a DOCSIS 2.0/1.1 modem. HAPPY SURFING!

I am the Network Operations and Data Center Manager for the City of Cleveland so.. My recommendation on this modem comes with a bit of weight. For some unknown reason about 2 months ago Time Warner cable was giving me disconnects on my leased (4 dollar a month) modem from Time Warner. I have had cable internet from them almost constantly since 1995. I have had probably 4 outages in that period of time. RECENTLY however I was getting disconnects every 30 minutes. I of course have network monitoring equipment and took a look at it. The numbers on my line were all good. I WAS getting good signal. For some reason the modem kept disconnecting. I checked out the cables. the splitter etc. All was fine. Anyhow. my leased modem was docsis 2. and the manufacture date was 2005. Anyhow.. on my old modem I noticed one downstream channel was made.. when it got interrupted the connection dropped. On my NEW Motorola SB6141 I see in the status page 4 downstream channels are created. When one fails the other three maintain the connection. So if you are "frugal" (cheap) like me you will resist buying a modem and just pay your 4 dollar charge. This modem I have had in for a week now. I have my connection monitoring software watching and in the past week it hasnt gone down once. so.. is 99 dollars worth it for flawless connection? I think it is.. so I bought one and am very happy. Also.. another tip. buy this modem.. dont buy the router modem combos.. if your router goes bad in a combo.. you got a dead modem. Keep the modem separate. Motorola makes good products too I have loved their surfboard products for many years. My old one died after 10 years.. I went with the leased nonsense they gave me.. but now I am back to Motorola. oh and it did NOT make my connection any faster.. Some might be buying this thinking it will make your connection faster. I have noticed ZERO difference it just doesnt disconnect.. which is what I needed.

It does what it is designed to do perfectly, which is receive the cable signal from your internet service provider (ISP) and allow you to connect to the internet via a local area access (LAN) cable. It is relatively inexpensive for its performance specifications. It gives you a maximum download speed of 343 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and a maximum upload speed of 131 Mbps. To put things in perspective, I am using RCN as my ISP and the maximum download speed they currently offer is 155 Mbps - this is less than half of the maximum this modem can handle, which means, even if you choose the most expensive internet package from this ISP, this modem still gives you a lot of room for future upgrades should your ISP offer faster speeds. Personally, 50 Mbps is more than enough for our needs. We can stream HD movies and play online gaming on my PS4 at home, at the same time, both of which have high demand for bandwidth. This cable modem handles this task easily. So the occasional checking of emails and shopping online and keeping in touch with friends on social networks aren't even worth a concern. Having your own cable modem (as opposed to renting this equipment from your ISP) saves money in the long run. On my monthly bill, I used to pay $5 to rent my ISP's cable modem. In a year, that cost me $60. So in a little over a year, this modem has actually already paid for itself. The ARRIS SURFboard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem is a modem, not a wireless router. Do not expect to be able to connect to it wirelessly out of the box. For wireless connectivity, you will need a wireless router and connect it to this modem. Set up is very simple: there are only 3 cables that you need to use and they only fit in their specific locations on the device... no need to worry about what cable goes where. Out of the box, attach the power cord (included) to the back of the device and the other end to a power outlet. Next, the LAN cable (included) goes into the back of the device and the other end to the LAN port of your computer. Lastly, the coaxial cable (should come from your ISP - it's a thick cable that comes out of the wall) goes into to the back of the device, the other end should be connected to your ISP's equipment behind your wall. After these physical connections have been made, call your ISP to activate the modem. They will just need the serial number (located on the modem's box or on a sticker on the modem itself). This is just to register your device with them so their network recognizes it and allows you to connect. All this takes about 10 minutes or less. Overall, this modem is highly recommended.

Typically I dont write reviews because I do a lot of research on products before buying them, so generally Im happy with what I get. Now, I bought this product because I was paying WOW cable renting fees for 3 years on a modem. I probably bought 4 new modems with what I was paying to rent. I am tech savy and generally know what Im doing. I've been in school for this stuff for awhile now and end up teaching customer service a few new things. The problem is upgrading to this modem. Its a great modem and can offer higher speeds. I like the multiple channels it provides upstream and down stream. But what it will do is cut out on you (lose internet) for about 1-2 minutes and reboot. This will go on 10-20 times a day, Customer support for this product said to call my internet provider because everything on there end is good. Wow tech would come out and check and said everything is fine on there end as well. I even had the tech rewire, getting rid of all splitters. I still had the problem, I tried to upgrade the firmware, which it said it was already upgraded and still nothing. I've changed my DNS servers and pointed them to open source such as google free DNS (which gave me faster speeds) Again nothing. I broke down and gave up, which I dont usually do since this stuff is what I like to do. (finding the problem and fixing it myself) I went back to Best Buy and bought a new modem (not this one) Havent had a problem!!! Come to find out, this modem biggest problem and reason why its returned so much is because of the lost internet connection. If only i didnt read the Best buy reviews and went with PC world reviews, I would have found out sooner. If you get this modem and start losing signal and then it reboots, chances are its the modem and not your ISP (internet provider)

The modem (as are all modems) was extremely easy to install. Plug in, call ISP and you are good. The speeds are fantastically fast and this modem was well worth the price. ****I purchased this white SB6141 over the black SB6141 for one main reason. If you do your research you will notice that the Black SB6141 are only issued to ISP's from Motorola. Meaning, if you purchase a black model from Amazon (or any store), you are purchasing a used or refurbished product (they also ship in ordinary brown cardboard boxes). The only consumer model of the SB6141 is the white model which ships in traditional packaging. The white model is THE ONLY model that comes with a warranty from Motorola. I know this because I called Motorola twice and spoke to two (2) different reps who said the same thing; "Black boxes are for ISP's and do not have a warranty while the white boxes are for consumers and come with a warranty". Further complicating matters is that the black SB6141's usually have old firmware on them because they were generally made a few years ago. White SB6141 have newer or the newest firmware because they are shipping directly from the manufacturer. Your ISP may or may not flash customer owned modems to the newest firmware. If you purchase the Black model, you might be purchasing a 3 year old modem with no chance of upgrading it (also remember that you cannot flash your own modem's firmware). Do yourself a favor and research this white consumer model over the black ISP model before you pull the trigger. I spent 20 bucks more for the white SB6141 so I could have peace of mind and I would strongly encourage you to do the same.***** The only "con" I have about this modem is that the blue lights on the modem ARE BRIGHT. Seriously, at night, my living room is glowing blue from the lights. I really cannot express enough how bright the lights are. You were warned.