Motorola SURFboard SBG900 DOCSIS 2.0 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway (Black)
by Motorola
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Our Price: $145.72 Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Buy Used: from $58.54 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Motorola SURFboard SBG900 DOCSIS 2.0 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway (Black)
Customer Review: Thank God for no brainer electronics
Summary: 5 Stars
I did my homework before purchasing the SBG900 and read the reviews on Amazon to get a feel for the product. Most of the reviews have been extremely positive, but there have been a couple of questionable ones dealing with certain issues; the range for starters. Would this be a problem in an average size house? The software; would it be too complicated for the average user to adjust security settings, etc., and would it be reliable while running all sorts of programs at the same time without it losing its connection and crashing. Everything about this product has made my life easier because prior to that I had just rented a scientific webstar modem from cox cable which had infuriated me to the point that it was about to become a projectile out the window. It wouldn't work well with my Vonage phone service, it would crash constantly when I was using Vonage while surfing, it wouldn't allow a USB connection from the computer....I could go on. Needless to say drastic measures had to be taken and I purchased the Motorola SBG900 with optimism. I can't explain how easy it was to get everything up and running with this unit. Step by step, unboxed the modem, hooked it up, connected the USB cable to my computer, ran the software, made sure the firewall was turned off for vonage. Called up Cox, registered my Mac ID. started surfing from the USB connection while on the phone. Hung up the phone, activated WEP on my wireless cards and entered the key on the wireless settings in Windows XP, checked the speed online 6.4mb download and 550K upload ( 6mb connection from cox is the plan I'm on ), no complaints there. Took the laptops all over the house, out into the garden and nearly halfway down the street; still had a strong wireless signal everywhere. Ran as many software internet sucking programs at the same time while using Vonage and not once did the modem crash, lose sound on the phone or miss a beat while surfing. Bottom line is if you want to make life easy for you without worrying about separate routers, unreliable and cheap cable modems, then seriously think about buying this product as life is too short and its such a relief when something works straight out of the box and works well.Customer Review: Motorola SBG900
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this device today and feel obliged to write a review as I had used the reviews on this site to make the decision for the purchase. For starters I had a similar experience as most of the other reviewers. To provide a bit of background I was connecting one Macintosh, one PC and a Vonage device to the modem, I use Comcast as my Internet Service Provider(ISP). I am replacing a RCA modem and a Netgear router.
The modem took only a couple of minutes to setup, and similar to one of the other reviewers, I waited for over 15 minutes for registration of the MAC address with Comcast. Once registered I was able to connect instantly with the Macintosh - no issues whatsoever, which I have found to be typical of Apples. I had a bit of difficulty with the PC, not sure why, but the problem literally resolved itself! I suspect this is an issue with my PC, rather than the modem. In any case it works flawlessly now.
I experienced quite a bit of difficulty with the Vonage device and spent about two hours with the tech support. The issue ultimately was the firewall setting on the cable modem. Again, I do not believe this is an issue with the modem but rather an issue that Vonage would likely experience with any device. I believe it was more an issue with poor Vonage tech support.
Here is a quick breakdown:
Benefits: Excellent packaging, ability of one device to take the place of two (router and modem in one), reasonable price, increased speed performance when compared to my previous modem - both in terms of speed and range (which is admittedly a roughly three year old RCA 802.11g model), ability to connect via Ethernet and Universal Serial Bus (USB).
Disadvantages: Would have been nice to have a second Ethernet port, but not really a necessity.
In summary I believe this to be an excellent cable modem and probably the best on the market. The price is reasonable given the functionality and it was great to eliminate the wireless router and accompanying wires.
Customer Review: Solid performer, suprisingly easy
Summary: 5 Stars
I work in the computer/software industry and am generally critical of the cheap throw-away quality of most electronics. I was nervous about this purchase because I had read two other reviewers mention 1) The Motorola SBG900 allocated two IPs from the broadband provider such as Comcast if you connected more than one computer, and 2) the range was poor. I doubted the first, and I live in a small house for the second.
I have been using a DLINK wireless router for the last 1-1/2 yrs. Reliable but it has a high-pitched hum that is incredibly irritating. I returned the first, only to get another with the same whine, so I figured it was a manufacturing/component flaw. I stuffed it in a corner of the basement to keep from hearing it. This was my experience with my DLINK wireless router, not the Motorola.
So here's what I found re: the Motorola SBG900. Powered it up, Comcast prompted me to download their "installation software" when it detected an unknown cable modem, clicked Yes 5 times, and was on the Internet. Then I configured the wireless portion to match the WEP 128-bit settings from the powered-off DLINK (used the same SSID, Shared Key, etc.), activated the firewall, hid broadcast of the SSID, and both my laptop and desktop connected without a hitch. Even I was surpised. Their wireless NICs are DLINK and Intel, so compatibility wasn't an issue. I never even opened the manual which comes on the CD. I was happy to see a number of WPA (next generation) security options when selecting the encryption mode. However, I didn't bother with that now, but may later, since I'm already on 128-bit WEP. Also the range is the same as my older DLINK, so I'm very content with this purchase. Very happy to reduce the clutter by consolidating devices. Even in the world of MIMO and future technologies, 802.11G (54Mbs) is fine for my needs. I recommend this cable modem.
Customer Review: Excellent unit but missing needed features - has limitations
Summary: 4 Stars
To start out with I am a Comcast cable-Internet user and had a very bad or disappointing experience with a new Cisco-Linksys Wireless Cable Gateway unit over several months that constantly "froze-up" on data flow or at least disconnected and reconnected often. After calling Linksys and just getting the old "reset the unit message" (which does nothing to fix this problem) and then reading about how a number of others with this unit and Comcast were having THE SAME experience I was ready to get rid of my new Linksys unit and ordered this.
Once received I definitely liked the compact shape/size and appearance of the unit but getting this up and running was a many hours long task. At least in the Maryland region it was necessary (in spite of all the fancy software that did not finish the install) to CALL Comcast to register and initialize the new unit. Once that was done it was pretty easy (and I do not use the USB connect function, just LAN) to configure using their web interface in the unit for starters, but Motorola's FIREWALL options are VERY different and limited as compared to the Cisco unit. Also this unit has ONLY ONE LAN port for Ethernet so a hub or switch was also necessary. ALso if you need to use VOIP or similar Voice Phone over the Web like we do, the unit did not readily support that. After several hours work then it was ready but I had to use their "unprotected DMZ" function for the phone unit to connect. ALL in ALL a great unit and it is performing very well for WLAN and LAN to Cable Internet as I would want, but you may need a real techie around to both install this (right) and use any safety functions of the firewall, that does not support address based rule lists, only by protocol. Lots of hours but should be well worth it in the long run. Now what to do about that extra switch for the local non-wireless units that I don't want on wireless.
Customer Review: Decent as a modem; wireless drops connections frequently
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this product a few months ago as a 100% mail-in-rebate deal from Comcast for signing on. As a modem, it works fine; my roommate has it hooked up to his desktop and it provides relatively standard speeds through the LAN. Setting it up was a cinch and generally foolproof. Also, the wireless controls are relatively intuitive and the control GUI has an extensive "Help" section to help you figure out exactly what you're doing. Range is relatively mediocre (apartment neighbor gets about two bars through two walls and a closet) and the firewall management could be more automated but is relatively easy to figure out.
The main problem with this modem/router combo, then, is the router itself. If I watch anything that needs the bandwidth equivalent to HQ (not HD) YouTube videos for more than 30 minutes, the router portion chokes and dies, requiring a reset. It also has trouble streaming flash videos and generally gives me a performance, in terms of loading speed, lower than my previous basic DSL (1MB down, 768KB up), which is somewhat inconvenient given that we are currently on Comcast's much faster basic cable package of 16MB down, 1MB up. Also, torrenting (legal, Creative Commons music, of course) at above 200kbps down, 80kbps up is out of the question, unless you want the pathetic thing dying on you after ten minutes. It's forced my roommate and I to go out and buy a separate router, which may or may not resolve this issue.
tl;dr - basically, if you need to use the wireless portion for anything more than very mild bandwidth, look elsewhere. If it's just you and it's wired to it through LAN and you're only really using it as a modem, you should be fine.