Motorola SURFboard SBG900 DOCSIS 2.0 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway (Black)
by Motorola
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Our Price: $246.13 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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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Motorola SURFboard SBG900 DOCSIS 2.0 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway (Black)
Customer Review: Motorola SBG900: Excellent product so far
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought this excellent product! So far, it's working as advertised. We use it with my housemates - 1 desktop connected via ethernet cable, and 4 wireless laptops, one of which is more than >4 yr old thinkpad. It worked so fast without any prolem. Their technical support helped me in setting-up the wireless network via phone conversation without any waiting time.
Thanks for customer reviews from amazon, I get a glimpse on the actual experience of those who bought it ahead of me.
I will write a review again if I find a problem on this unit, which I hope I would not.
Edited: 25 Dec 06
i commented on this product after 1 wk of using it, and now it's almost 4 months and still i'm impressed with it. one review said that the range is not good, but i beg to disagree. it worked even when i'm on the yard and 5 apartment units from where i installed it and there is no degradation in quality. even when i use it simulatneously with my laptop, desktop, 3 housemates and 2 visitors, there seems to be no change on its performance.
i even created a local area network on my computers, and oh boy, it's so fast, i read/write on my next computer wirelessly but as if i'm using my local hard disk when i read/write gigabytes of files on my 2 computers. because of it, i don't need an external HDD to backup my data.
the LAN works impressively even when there is power outage in my internet service provider.
i usually don't write review on other products unless i'm extrement disappointed or impressed. i think it's unfair if i don't share my very satisfactory experience with this product.
Customer Review: Wireless Motorola Cable Modem
Summary: 5 Stars
Motorola SURFboard® Wireless Cable Modem Gateway (SBG900)
I love this item! Setup was hassle free. I will caution those who are not tech savvy to call your cable provider customer support and give them the MAC Address of the device before installing it.. this is especially necessary if you have a phone service like Vonage. Comcast has a special customer support phone option to setup a store bought device.
There was a small glitch with the Vonage service if you turn on the modem firewall. This was easily fixed by making a special entry in the DHCP Leases page in the modem setup (do this BEFORE!! you turn on the modem firewall)... just add the ID address of the voice terminal (usually a copy and paste) then tell it to BYPASS THE FIREWALL. I have contacted both Motorola and Vonage about this workaround and both companies now have it for tech support. They can tell you how to make the change if you have Vonage as a phone service.
Although, if you have a decent software firewall.. you don't need to activate the modem firewall.
I do suggest that you use the WPA Shared wireless access feature. its just a matter of choosing the option setting and password.
The other item... Choose a name for your wireless network, then turn off the name broadcast feature. This will prevent strangers from stealing your wireless access.
The two items in question were not a challenge for me, because I am familiar with this kind of hardware. Which is why I provided the basic information here.
Customer Review: SBGG900 Has a short life
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought my SBG900 slightly over two years ago. It worked flawlessly. After the tricky steps of setting it up and setting up the firewall and all that stuff, it worked like a charm. Very quiet operation. Never one complaint. It actually still works! But a few days ago, my VOIP phone that is connected to it died. I checked with my provider to see if it is the phone adapter and got serveral people to tell me different things. In the end I was recommended to get a new adapter. The adapter arrived, but it still got no signal from the modem. The reason we never suspected the modem was that my wirelss connection to the internet worked fine. So what is wrong? It is the hard-wired connections. Both the Ethernet (connected to the phone adapter) and the USB connections are dead. I tried to connect my computer to the modem with those wires, they are dead.
Two years! That is pretty short if you ask me. I really thought I would get more mileage out of it. Slightly over $100 it cost me, which is more that the $3/month Comcast charged for their modem, which is replaced immediately if it failed!
Another thing: two years is the length of the limited warranty, and I just exceeded that slightly. As if Motorolla knew they only lasted two years!
Bottom line: a piece of electronics should last at least five years. My old 27" Magnavox TV has been around for more than 10 years.
I have an old Dell in my basement that's been around since 1998! I upgraded it and changed a few cards, but it still runs fine!
I hope this is just one bad apple... and other SBG900s are last longer than this one!
Customer Review: Moved From Linksys WCG200 to Motorola SBG900 (A Good Move)
Summary: 5 Stars
I did have a WCG200 Linksys Cable gateway for about 3 years. It appeared that any type of 'load' placed on the modem caused 'dropped' communications. The WCG status screen would report 'Denied' as to what the commmunications status was.
I had a cable company technician come to the house. He said that there are some cable modems that are having 'unidentified issues.'
Due to the 'cable guy' communication, I kinda 'froze' and was wondering if any wireless communications would be OK.
---The web discussion concerning the WCG200 did appear to place many questions about the quality of the device.
Out of frustration, I started looking other cable modems. It did seem that the SGB900 would be worth a 'gamble.'
I have had the SBG900 for about 2 weeks and not a single 'reset'/lost communications/hiccup of any kind.
The coverage is great throughout our single story dwelling. The modem is located on a floor in one end of the house. Communications is still great at the other end (about 70 feet).
--Strength of signal went down one 'bar' according to my HP/Compaq nc6400 machine by moving to the far 'back' bedroom.
The offering of options through the set up/status screens is very good.
Amazon's shipping time was great, also. Very fast.
Will attempt to issue follow up review in a couple of months. Sometimes, time is a great 'teller' of the question 'Should I buy this item?'.
For now, a resounding, "Yes"...
Customer Review: Works Perfectly. What More Can You Ask For?
Summary: 5 Stars
My first experience with a home wireless network was with the Linksys Wireless G Gateway (WCG200). THAT was a depressing ordeal. Getting Comcast to recognize it was a nightmare, and it dropped connections constantly. I returned it and got the Motorola SBG900.
Talk about night and day. The SBG900 setup was incredibly simple. Getting Comcast to recognize it just required a quick phone call. It's been running perfectly since I got it last week. I have an XBox360 connected via ethernet, and a PC about 10 meters away that's connected via a wireless card. I've watched streaming videos on my PC and played XBox Live on the 360, so it's pretty safe to say that I've stress tested the modem. I haven't run into any problems yet.
Are there any downsides? Well, one thing to keep in mind is that you WILL need to physically connect your PC to the Gateway in order to set it up initially. It is also recommended that you configure the security settings via a physically connected computer. If you have a laptop, that's not a problem. But if you have a desktop, you may need to lug it across your home in order to configure the modem for the first time. This isn't a *huge* issue, but just keep in mind that your 5-minute install might turn into a 30-minute install. (By the way, the modem comes with a CD that automatically walks you through the install process).
Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance of this device. My life would have been simpler if I bought it to begin with.