so the time has come my motorola surfboard 6121 has died , yes died comcast and i have tried everything , arris and i have tried everything. its been limping along for at least year. it is retail bought not rented. and so i must replace. things like this i usually research however this is a today buy. as in walk into best buy on my lunch break ( because my choices are best buy, walmart or rent again from comcast) and walk out with a modem 20 mins later. im looking online and id like to stay right around the 100/120 range for a purchase price. i like the simple and size of the 6121 , cant really screw up 3 slots.they have new versions of it with the branded arris the 6183, the 6190 or the 8200. which one should i replace with? the 6121 lasted me close to 8 years. should i expect the same out the newer ones? is there a brand im completely missing because i want the "plug & play", stuck in my ways, less is more approach? im in the boat of it if it aint broke dont replace it hence the reason i kept plugging away with the 6121. no i dont want to tether or hot spot or change the set up just switch out boxes.
my current set up
isp: comcast with package speed of d/l speed 3 Mbps and u/l speed of 768 Kbps not alot i know but serves its purpose
modem: motorola surboard 6121 item to be replaced
router: netgear rangemax n600 purchased end of 2018
what uses it: 1 laptop; 1 chromebook; 2 smartphones; 1 xbox 360; 1 xbox 1; 1 wireless printer
EDIT: forgot to add my camera... 3 wireless smartphones i use as a cctv cameras around my house.. so 5 smartphones connected
@st3fx thanks for the links! they came in very useful. the sales person was quite surprised at my asking for comcast modem. turns out my area is high in at&t internet traffic and they use 8x4 modems yet and my store had a ton of those like 2 rows. it only had about 4 options to choose from from anything above that. 2 non combo and 2 combo ( with router built in) i did end up going with the motorola and it was further onsale for $55. i was surprised as i bought the previous one for close to $100. goes to show how much tech is changing causing lower prices.
@ghoul31 i wish i had the ability to do that if i had time to wait for it i wouldve ive bought many a wifi routers that way. unfortunately time was not on my side this time due to needing access for work weve suddenly got slammed with workloads the last 3 weeks.
have you been grandfathered to the 3 Mbps plan? I had the 3 too and I foolishly left it . when I signed up again, there was no 3. no matter how many reps I tried, no more 3 (at least in my area). and the 3 was perfect for my needs too...
@dst11 i believe i am grandfathered in. im pretty much old school with comcast. i dont subscribe to bundles or take offers to switch my service (although they try hard) saying no gets easier with time. i dont play the switching companies game either. i dont auto pay but use my online account regularly, i do sometimes pay it online, most times i send it in. i dont have the voice remote or the ability to connect my security camera or stream on the go. i do have access to the hot spots though. i pay what they call full rack rate, i dont understand the term but each cs rep calls it that. i also have cable but no bells and whistles no hd no dvr no sports packages no hbos i have 1 on demand station and 47ish channels not just basic and locals but i get tnt tbs amc mtv nick espn food network disney. when i called comcast up 12 or so years ago i told the rep i have this amount of money to spend a month tell me the best out the door same every month price. so they gave me like 2 choices and i picked what i thought was good and we live with it & it does fit out needs nicely. however we have a rule: if my bandwidth is interrupted someone else in the house gets kicked off ( kinda a i pay the bill so suck it up). its only happened like 3 times in 12 yrs & each time it was slowness on comcasts part right before a major outage. im also a remote nazi i refuse to pay for them to ship me a new remote and the nearest service center is 50 miles one way. ive driven it before for the remote and at that time i replaced all 3 even though only 1 went out. 8 yrs ago i turned in the rented modem and got my own. i have 3 tvs hooked up, living room, 1 bedroom and basement. i do pay for one converter box for the basement tv. most people in my town shun comcast because they charge a franchise fee on the bill ( i learned today alot more shun it than i originally thought) so alot of people are stuck with slow speeds. but i wont buy service from at&t ever again so that leaves me with comcast. less people using it the faster it is for me
