Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem
by Motorola
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List Price: Our Price: $46.95 You Save: $23.04 (33%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $22.25 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem
Customer Review: Challenges
Summary: 4 Stars
When Comcast raised the lease rate for our cable modem, we decided to buy one of our own. This one was reasonably priced (used), and was on Comcast's list of approved models. It is a DOCIS 2.0 model. There are rumors that Comcast will soon provide DOCIS 3.0 service...if you have a DOCIS 3.0 modem. But I decided that the possibility of wanting the newer standard later was not worth the large difference in price now. (DOCIS 2.0 modems will continue to work once DOCIS 3.0 service starts, just not at the higher speed.)
No documentation came with the SB5101, though it's easily available online.
Installation went fairly smoothly. Just pay attention, as I did not, when Comcast's self-install instructions tell you to connect your computer directly to the modem -- connecting though a connected router and/or WLAN does not work!
Like a previous reviewer, we had been having problems with our leased modem latching up and needing to be reset, sometimes almost daily. Also like the previous reviewer, the SB5101 did not completely solve this problem -- but it did improve it quite a bit. The daily ritual of resetting the modem is now more like a weekly one.
The most-annoying part of the process was waiting in an absurdly-long line at the Comcast office to return the leased modem. (That said, the people at our local office always provide good service, once you get to see them.)
Payback on the purchase price will take 4-5 months -- which we thought reasonable.
Our family is satisfied with this product.
Customer Review: Plug it in, and forget it!
Summary: 5 Stars
As an FYI, Amazon has this product listed 3 different ways as "Motorola Surfboard Broadband Cable Modem SB-5101" and as "Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem" and as "SURFboard Cable Modem". All are listed at 3 different prices, too!
I did a little bit of homework, and the Motorola seemed to have good reviews. This product is supposed to be the same in function as the SB5120 except that the SB5101 uses a slightly different chip set.
I chose to buy a cable modem so that I could replace the rental unit from the cable company. Make sure your cable company supports this cable modem before buying!
For my setup, I have my cable service from the evil Comcast, my cable modem, and an older Linksys wireless router. The day my Motorola cable modem arrived, I took it out of the box, glanced at the Quick setup guide, and plugged it in. I called Comcast, navigated through their Byzantine automated phone menu system, and read off the MAC ID to the tech services person. He did some stuff on his end to first recognize the new cable modem. Then he had to do some other configuration on his end because of the router. Once that was done, viola! We've been using the cable modem for the past week or so without incident.
To me this is the best kind of electronics product. It takes ~30 sec to hook it up, and once it's done, you can forget about it. It took longer to open the package (and much longer on the call with Comcast) than it took to hook it up.
Customer Review: Plug it in, and forget it!
Summary: 5 Stars
As an FYI, Amazon has this product listed 3 different ways as "Motorola Surfboard Broadband Cable Modem SB-5101" and as "Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem" and as "SURFboard Cable Modem". All are listed at 3 different prices, too!
I did a little bit of homework, and the Motorola seemed to have good reviews. This product is supposed to be the same in function as the SB5120 except that the SB5101 uses a slightly different chip set.
I chose to buy a cable modem so that I could replace the rental unit from the cable company. Make sure your cable company supports this cable modem before buying!
For my setup, I have my cable service from the evil Comcast, my cable modem, and an older Linksys wireless router. The day my Motorola cable modem arrived, I took it out of the box, glanced at the Quick setup guide, and plugged it in. I called Comcast, navigated through their Byzantine automated phone menu system, and read off the MAC ID to the tech services person. He did some stuff on his end to first recognize the new cable modem. Then he had to do some other configuration on his end because of the router. Once that was done, viola! We've been using the cable modem for the past week or so without incident.
To me this is the best kind of electronics product. It takes ~30 sec to hook it up, and once it's done, you can forget about it. It took longer to open the package (and much longer on the call with Comcast) than it took to hook it up.
Customer Review: Plug it in, and forget it!
Summary: 5 Stars
As an FYI, Amazon has this product listed 3 different ways as "Motorola Surfboard Broadband Cable Modem SB-5101" and as "Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem" and as "SURFboard Cable Modem". All are listed at 3 different prices, too!
I did a little bit of homework, and the Motorola seemed to have good reviews. This product is supposed to be the same in function as the SB5120 except that the SB5101 uses a slightly different chip set.
I chose to buy a cable modem so that I could replace the rental unit from the cable company. Make sure your cable company supports this cable modem before buying!
For my setup, I have my cable service from the evil Comcast, my cable modem, and an older Linksys wireless router. The day my Motorola cable modem arrived, I took it out of the box, glanced at the Quick setup guide, and plugged it in. I called Comcast, navigated through their Byzantine automated phone menu system, and read off the MAC ID to the tech services person. He did some stuff on his end to first recognize the new cable modem. Then he had to do some other configuration on his end because of the router. Once that was done, viola! We've been using the cable modem for the past week or so without incident.
To me this is the best kind of electronics product. It takes ~30 sec to hook it up, and once it's done, you can forget about it. It took longer to open the package (and much longer on the call with Comcast) than it took to hook it up.
Customer Review: Motorola Cable Modem SB5101
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not an expert on cable modems and I have only had this product for about one month, so I can't comment on the technical features of the product compared to other cable modems on the market. I purchased this modem because my ISP did not provide a free modem with the installation of new internet service and I did not want to rent for $5/month, figuring that I'd pay off this one in less than a year of rental of their modem. The technician who installed the internet service plugged this modem in and it functioned flawlessly right out of the box with no setup required. My ISP does not use static IP, but rather the address is different each time I log on, so I can say that this modem functions with no problems under those conditions. My download speed is rated by the ISP at 1MB/sec and I have had no problems with speed or other issues when connected directly to my Apple MacBook Pro. I have not yet installed the wireless router (Airport Extreme), but I don't expect problems there either. All in all, the product appears to be easy to use and I have had no surprises or technical issues at this point, one month into it's life. If you have to purchase your own cable modem, this would probably do the job for you. I should caution that if your download speed is very high, you might want to buy Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem this on a trial basis to make sure it will handle the very fast speeds.