A New Cable Modem Can Make A Difference

[buddy222]

I stated in a previous post that comcast upgraded me to  6mbs down 768 up. I could never get above 4.9mbs using the SB4100 or the SB4101. Comcast tech came over & tested my computer & SB4101 modem which produced the same similar outcome by only seeing 3.9mbs down. He then setup the SB5120 modem that I bought at BestBuy & the test results were astounding producing 20mbs. . 15mbs. . bursts. He then registered the new SB5120 MAC address with comcast & took back the leased SB4101. My speed down now consistently varies from 6.5mbs to 15mbs  with 703 to 734 up.  Bottom line is in my case the modem upgrade made all the difference 

[FallowEarth]

Good show.  The 5100 series are proving to be very good quality modems.

[pitbull481]

Welcome to The Forum buddy222

mine also went sky high when i bought my new modem (motorola sb5120). i had a linksys

[calgon]

after reading about a new modem possibly making a difference in speeds, i had comcast swap out our old one for the 5120.  (we pay the $3 monthly rental fee)

it worked great initially - the first few hours, and although only a marginal increase on upload, DLs went up nicely.

for some reason (which i will reveal in a sec) the next day the speeds were halved.  this went on all weekend, and we spent a LOT of time on the phone with comcast internet techs. 

no one seemed to be able to tell what was wrong....someone eventually said they could set up an appt with the TV side of things to check that line....we were doubtful, but ready to try anything at this point. 

the more i thought about it, the more i figured it HAD to be something they did one of the first 2 times i had talked to them after getting the new modem online. (they make you call in with the macID and have to reset your account - and for whatever reason i had to do this twice because the first one didn't 'stick')

we kept telling them, you've got us on the wrong tier.  no, all looks good they'd reply.

so i thought this a.m. i'd give it one last shot before they wasted my and their time sending out a TV technician.  i explained the whole thing and the girl (who admitted whe was new)  found the problem right away.  ((this is after my husb and myself talking to no less than 5 other techs over the weekend trying to figure out what was wrong.))

turns out, they had not removed the old modem number from their system, and we had two accounts set up....it was showing that we were paying for upgraded speed, but the old acct and old modem were still active, thus nicely halving our bandwidth.

so, a word to the wise when swapping out modems - make sure they know to remove your old info......

also,  i had called several times asking about swapping a modem, and no one ever mentioned that there was a charge for them to come to the house until i got one csr svc rep with a major attitude. i was gettting frustrated (whole nother story, they had been out of modems for a while unbeknownst to me, and i had actually driven to their office only to be told they didn't have modems, then they sent a tech out and HE didnt have any modems either) so this girl insists they will charge me for a tech to come out again with a modem....i was a bit peeved by then, but luckily got hold of someone else who listened to the whole sorry story again and advised he would definitely waive the trip charge. 

i mean, c'mon! it certainly wasn't MY fault they were out of new modems - and i HAD driven to their office first.

all in all, the tech reps seem a bit clueless (is it me or do they think WE are all idiots), but it is always nice when you finally get one who can make the magic happen.  we've had about 3 of those in the last 15 we've talked to over the last several months of trying to get our speeds up.

[pitbull481]

Welcome to The Forum calgon 

[sunrisesplicer]

Hey all.

I know for a fact that Comcast is trying to eliminate "noise" from their networks. I'm talking 'Ingress'. Loose connectors, dry,cracked coax (exposed shield), water damaged coax, coax not properly grounded. This problem exists EVERYWHERE in the system(since the networks are up to 20 years old). If you understand broadband and frequency and spectrum, all those conditions allow 'Ingress or noise' into the system. There is somewhat a tolerance for this bad signal, but in order to speed up the network these bad noise levels must be lowered. So get new wires, tighten all connectors, and use RG-6 or RG-11 quad shield coax cables.(underground drops almost always crap out after 3-4 years.( water ALWAYS finds a way in). The networks can go just as fast as fiber optics because most cable TV networks are fiber and the mileage of copper coax from the nodes is not a big deal.

Randy

[buddy222]

Since trading out my SB4101 this past Aug  with my new SB5120 . . My speed has been consistantly improved averaging 7-10mbs down / 710-734 up using Speakeasy Wash. DC & New York servers. Giganews server shows up to 15mbs down with their 3.1mb download file.

My power levels are shown below:

Downstream  Value

Frequency 723000000 Hz 

Signal to Noise Ratio 35 dB 

QAM 256

Network Access Control Object ON

Power Level 6 dBmV  The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading 

Upstream  Value

Channel ID 6

Frequency 20000000 Hz 

Ranging Service ID 2064

Symbol Rate 2.560 Msym/s

Power Level 54 dBmV  (normally this runs at 50 dBmV)

Again by changing cable modems did improve my throughput with Comcast.

[Boobie]

after reading about a new modem possibly making a difference in speeds, i had Comcast swap out our old one for the 5120.