No, I did see your post. I was agreeing with you that it doesn’t make sense that comcast is requesting the change. And yes, of course the better router with more channels could help. Did you contact them directly? I’m curious how they can justify asking you to get a new modem when yours is already docsis 3.0. I know when I had home phone service with them they claimed I had to use their special modem. But I got rid of that because I didn’t need it. I’m done with Comcast. I am hoping Google Fiber or maybe Verizon Fios comes to my area so I can leave Comcast for ever.
Yea i’d love google fiber or even Fios as well but I am a bit too rural … im guessing maybe 10 more years… unless the local town decides to run their own … (Though I am not a fan of Verizon either… the same people who failed to update my cell phone billing address after we moved, despite my repeated change of address filled out on the bill itself where it asks if you have a change of address, including new address STAPLED to my check with a letter stapled to that informing of my change of address and repeated calling of their customer service) … fortunately a friend who lived at my old apt would forward them long after the US postal service stopped)
No I didnt contact them… as I said the chance to get the 6183 came up and I figured at some point i’d need to upgrade anyway and it was a good deal (like $50 US) …
Funny you mention the phone … I had thought to keep it but when I asked what just having internet and phone (no triple play) would cost it was outragous … so I dropped the phone and went with internet only … shortly after I got my own consumer owned modem … they jacked up the fee like $7 (which isnt much different than what I had been paying renting the modem only) … they get you coming and going.
You should have heard the conversation with the Verizon customer support when I finally called to cancel our cell service the reason why I was canceling “failure of verizon to update my billing address to our new address” … and yes… I did actually cancel because of that.
Yes, I’m guesing Verizon isn’t much better than Comcast, but I am done with them having the only cable internet in most areas. Wide Open West (Wow Way) is an excellent cable company, but they are only offered in a few states and a few cities in those states. I had them before I moved and they were better than comcast and less expensive. You got a great deal on that modem!
See why I just got it… lol!
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I have the 6141 and I haven’t gotten an email or letter from Comcast yet, but I’m capped at 100mbps which is well within the abilities of the router. If I do get the letter, I assume I can just disregard it . . .
Yeah, I don’t anticipate gigabit service in my area any time soon. The 6141 supports up to 343mbps. I think most people should be fine with it, as long as it continues to be supported by the OEM.
As I understand it its not a question of speed but of support… comcast will no longer be updating these modems and they could stop working at any time in the future (comcast/your ISP applies updates to the firmware)… so you could (in theory) find it just stops working because they have updated something on their backend and will not be deploying the matching update for your modem… but I would hope they do send you a letter before then
Uhhh…no? That’s not the case at all. It’s reliant on the OEM (Motorola). They said they will try to support customer owned 6141s as long as moto does.
Per the article @jvh4 linked
W]e recently moved the SB6141 to end of life status for customers who have been leasing that particular modem from us. We will be swapping that device with newer models for no additional charge (for leased customers) as needed. For customers who have either already purchased the SB6141 or are considering buying one, we continue to support the device and we’re working with the manufacturer to ensure it continues to receive regular firmware updates that keep it running well. However, if they are unable to continue to provide regular firmware updates (such as bug fixes), then we may also consider moving the retail version to end of life status as well."
Yes it’s what I was referring to. But it is Comcast themselves that apply updates and configuration changes to customer modems. That was my point. When they stop applying updates then it should be replaced.
End users do not apply firmware changes or configuration updates.
Yea, I asked a tech one day that came out how often they do that at TWC, he said never 
So I wonder how often Comcast does
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I have Comcast only because in my area there is only the choice of the “two evil giants,” AT&T and Comcast which results in a strangle-hold, illegal trust-like grip on consumers. Everything was working as well as could be expected (for Comcast) up until 2AM last Friday when my Internet suddenly went dead. My computer was receiving the router and modem just fine, all lights on as normal, but I could not open any webpages. Just an error message page from Xfinity.
I called and I was told that my modem was “end-of-life” (Motorola Surfboard SB 6121, DOCSIS 2.0) and was no longer being supported, so it was REMOVED FROM MY ACCOUNT! THEY CUT ME OFF! I only bought it ONE YEAR ago. Hell, my cell phone is SEVEN years old and still works fine!
I was told my options would be to rent a newer one from them or go buy a new one. UNACCEPTABLE for Comcast to dictate to me how I spend my money. Mind you, I am still paying for my Internet service, which I am not getting. A new modem costs $125. To rent from Comcast is $10/month. So If I buy one, it won’t pay for itself for 12.5 months. By then, are they going to cut me off again and force me to buy yet another newer modem!!!
First they told me they could not put the modem ID numbers back in my account by phone, that I had to drive across town to a Comcast store with my own modem and have it done there. After my threats of leaving Comcast for AT&T, they agreed to put my modem ID numbers back in my account and tried unsuccessfully to get a signal to the modem.
After many aggravating hours over four days (I’m talking like full-time job hours!) I managed to get on the phone with a reasonable Level III Technician who told me he agreed that it should be up to the consumer when to replace their own equipment, especially if it was still working. He got the ID number replaced again, but still wasn’t able to get it connected. Finally, I was scheduled to wait two days for 2 service techs to come out to the house to investigate my lines. But my lines were all BRAND NEW from the utility pole all the way to the modem, as I had replaced the roof on my house three weeks earlier and all the lines had to be cut and replaced (by Comcast).
SO…AND HERE’S WHAT YOU ALL SHOULD DO…I filed a complaint with my State Attorney General Consumer Protection Division AND the same with the FCC!! I said it was fraudulent business practices to cut off paying customers from services in order to coerce them into renting or buying new equipment at Comcast’s discretion. In addition, that since there are only two providers in my area, it is still not unlike an illegal trust situation. Apparently, the FCC agrees that I have a case. They immediately forwarded my complaint to Comcast. Within hours, I had the “Indian call center” contact me to offer me a credit to my account and to attempt to restore my service at once. It so happened that the service techs showed up just at the same time. They found filters were installed on my lines and removed them, then they found that the ID number the phone techs put in was one digit wrong!!! I only repeated the correct numbers about 8 times!
End of story, they got everything running. Speed test shows I’m getting 57 mbps while I’m paying for 75 mbps, but you all know that’s to be expected. I may go out and buy the SB 6190 (DOCSIS 3.0) when I can afford the $125, when my new job starts in a couple of months – BUT THAT’S UP TO ME!
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Comcast and all these other companies are using PUBLIC land to route their cables through the streets. The “right-of-way” land (3 to 5 feet from street to property\home) are PUBLIC. So these companies are using public assets to conduct their business.
That being the case, the FCC should come down bloody hard on these companies the way they act!!! Just as we are using their products for access, they are using OUR resources and assets (public access land) under government purview.
Their egotistical arrogance is astonishing! No wonder people want to escape their iron tentacles and manacles with OTA.
You are absolutely right! And I was astonished to find out that I could not submit a complaint to the State Utility Commission. Cable tv and Internet providers, despite using public land for their lines, are not considered utilities, but are private luxury services. More astonishing is that this status has not changed in light of current trends. More and more public schools are requiring students to have home Internet access for testing and submitting homework assignments. And at least one government agency I know of requires employees to work online from home one day per week.
More and more data and information is becoming to be considered as a global, public asset. The Internet was developed under DARPA - a government\military organization. Some political campaigns are considering public access to data resources through the Internet as a “right.” A step in the right direction would be to de-monopolize completely county and municipal “access grants” to communication companies and offer alternate, competing options (such as occurred with gas distribution).
@blackdiamond, Comcast made a mistake with your account. They are not supposed to disable any customer-owned modems, even if they are End-of-life. Only rented modems have to be replaced.
I will say the 6190 is a great modem, and I get 300 Mbps download, 30 Mpbs upload speeds with it. So if you do want to upgrade your speeds and your modem at the same time, the 6190 is a great choice.
Knowing the bull kaka that is the collective called COMCAST is why I replaced my modem with one they listed as “supported” way back earlier this year when I got the email talking about SB 6141 being end of life … despite Comcast later saying the email was originally intended for “rented” versions of that modem not personally owned ones… I simply don’t trust them and this is exactly the sort of behavior I expect from them… I wholly agree its an illegal monopoly (I also only have two choices Verizon (dsl)/Comcast in my area and neither is great nor better than the other … both are craptastic and Im only with comcast because of the previous bitter experiences I’ve had dealing with Verizon DSL in my area (for starters when we moved they kept sending the bill to my old address which despite many many many attempts to tell them we have a new address, filling out that form on the bill, calling them, including “stapled” cards to our bill with a new change of address information, they still kept sending to our former address (fortunately for me someone I know was renting our old apartment and would kindly bring those bills to me) … eventually after all that we canceled (we also had cell service thru them too … got rid of that as well)
I had been using a Surfboard SB6120 for about the past 5 1/2 years, and recently upgraded to an SB6183. My ISP, COX, no longer recommends DOCSIS 2.0 modems… my 6120 was a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, but wasn’t capable of reaching the maximum speeds that I had recently been upgraded to (50 Mbps to 150 Mbps).
With the 6120, I was maxing out at about 120 or 125 Mbps… with the 6182, I’m getting the full 150 Mbps. The 6183, incidentally, is one of the modems now recommended by COX. The 6120 had served me well from the time I installed it, but was no longer meeting my needs. For someone with 50 Mbps or even 100 Mbps, it would still be adequate.
At the time I bought my 6183, Costco had the best price.
[quote=“snowcat, post:36, topic:5822, full:true”]
@blackdiamond, Comcast made a mistake with your account.
Yes, a tactical mistake
Yes, I was just at Costco and they have the latest model for $89.