Comcast sent us a letter that we should upgrade our modem to take advantage of the increased internet speed. Our modem was made in 2006, but the thing is, I am happy with the current speed which is 18 Mbps wifi and 26+ wired. So the question is, how much would the speed increase using the newer modem? Is there a way to tell? If it is only 20-30% increase, I don't even care for that, unless I would get something way better than the current speed. Again, I am satisfied with my current set up, just curious of the new technology... Oh yeah, the new modem is min. $60 or needs to be rented from Comcast....
Well after googling the problem and rereading Comcast's letter, it seems that I should get a decent boost with a new modem. Recently Comcast has been upgrading services in California and on the East coast because they want to buy Time Warner and this is all politics. Anyway, only services above 25 Mbps can take advantage of the newer models, because the old Docsis 2 can handle up to 25 the speed. Now it looks like mine is doing just that and topping out just around 25, and anyway a new modem in every 5-8 years isn't such a bad thing. (modem was made in 2006) So I shopped online and the price is around $65 for a new, not refurbished model. Since the local Bestbuy is selling it for the same price, I will just pay the taxes and get it from there, supporting the local giant retailer. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! If I don't get a boost, I will just return the modem but my expectation is that I sould get around 45 Mbps wired. I will report back how it went.... Set up is plug and play except I have to call Comcast and tell them the new modem's MAC number (what is not the Serial number!!) Well, I am curious and excited at the same time. Double the speed for almost free!!!!
OK, got the Motorola modem, gave them the MAC ID and testing the speed right now. It looks like my service is up to 25 and on the wired connection I am getting just a bit more than before , around 29 Mbps. The wifi has been kind of strange, first it looked like it was the same or even slower, around 12-14, but I already measured twice over 20, so I guess that was an improvement. I think with the Docsis 2 modem the max. ever was around 16 or so with wifi... Another thing is that since this modem has 4 channels, during peak times I am less likely to notice speed fluctuation. Or at least that is what I hope for. So overall, as an experience, it looks like I was getting the max. out of my service with the old modem, but the new is ready for the future, and it did improve the wifi connection by 30%...
After testing the speed a few hours later, the wifi is almost the same as the wired speed! I am getting 28 Mbps wifi and the wired is just under 30. So I guess it was worthy to do the upgrade, because pretty much everything we use is wifi now...
The biggest advantage of the DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade is that it can do a faster throughput on the back end (out to and in from the Comcast side of things) as opposed to internally - it's more about the modem speed rather than the router speed (sounds like you have a combination gateway that does both in one unit?) The reason for faster wifi is probably a better standard (wireless N or Wireless AC as opposed to Wireless G) which gives better signal strength, a more consistent connection, and far higher bandwidth Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No, I have this new modem and 2 daisy changed routers, one is only wired, because I think it gives me headaches. I was actually surprised that only the wireless speed increased, because that depends on the router and I didn't change the routers. But I shouldn't complain, after all I got an improvement out of the deal...
Maybe not so odd. Just guessing here... If both routers are trying to serve up wireless, there might just be some inter-router jamming, or just a loss in dB per channel.
Possible, but unlikely - most routers will default to the "least occupied" channel - unless there are a dozen or more routers in close proximity, you shouldn't run into any issues with that.
