DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modems - Motorola SB6120

[mphxaz]

Not sure if this would be a topic folks are interested in but the possibility of speeding up the ability to download videos and other internet feeds to our HDTV’s, PC’s, Mac’s, etc. could be interesting to some.

My old D-Link DCM 202 cable modem started acting up this past week, dropping connections multiple times per day and overall wreaking havoc with my home network. I replaced it with a new Motorola SB6120 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem and have been very pleasantly surprised by the increase I have received in internet download & upload speeds. I’m on the Cox Premier Internet plan (held over from the old bundling specials) and have gone from approximately 14/15 Mb/s downloads to from 21 to 26 Mb/s downloads (wired Gbit) since changing modems. Downloads on Wireless N PC’s are now in the 14 to 17 Mb/s range. Unfortunately my DCM 202 was too ‘sick’ to get a good upload speed test before the swap, but my uploads on the Motorola SB6120 have ranged from 2.30 to 2.39 Mb/s on both wired Gbit and wireless N.

One other really nice feature on the Motorola SB6120 is a Gbit Ethernet WAN port that you connect to the WAN port on your router. I’ve coupled mine with a D-Link DIR-655 wireless N router which also has a Gbit WAN (& Gbit LAN Ports) which gives you a total wired Gbit LAN to your Gbit enabled PC’s & Macs.

Installation was really plug & play with a call to Cox to register the new MAC address for the SB6120 cable modem taking longer than the actual physical installation (The SB6120 is on the Cox recommended modem list). No changes were required on the D-Link DIR-655 router (Firmware Ver. 1.21) and so far I have seen no issues.

Prices for the Motorola SB6120 seem to be $99 both locally (@ Frys & BB) and on the internet. No specials that I found over the New Years Holiday. There are plenty of customer reviews of the SB6120 on both Amazon & BB for those interested in seeing more opinions from Phoenix and other areas of the country.

Below are my current network attached systems and all have been up and running with no issues.

Network Attached Systems:
Wired Gbit: 1 Win 7 PC, 1 Win XP PC, 1 Win XP Pro Laptop (Work using VPN)
Wired 10/100: Canon MF4270 Printer
Wireless N: 1 Win 7 Laptop, 1 iMac, 1 MacBook.
Wireless G: 1 Win XP Laptop

[Carter]

Thanks for posting this. I have been thinking about getting a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and was wondering if there would be a bump in performance.

[mphxaz]

No Problem, Thanks!
Download & Upload speeds are remaining the same so far. Also I've consistently had a Blue light on the Receive indicator which means I've got a download connection with "bonded channels". The Send indicator has remained Green (connection established but not bonded).

I just got back from BB after getting a price match to $84.99 that they have on their website today (1/4/10). I'm not sure if the current sale is part of their Sunday & Monday "New Year / New Gear" online sale or not. I didn't see the SB6120 on sale in their Phoenix Sunday newspaper ad, it was just on their website.