ARRIS (SB6183) -Cable Modem - Fast DOCSIS 3.0 16x4 Gigabit Cable Modem, For Comcast Xfinity, Cox, Spectrum and more, 1 Gbps Port, 400 Mbps Max Internet Speed, 2 Year Warranty

This Surfboard SB6 183 has not had a single problem in the time I've owned it (several months).We use it with MAC OS X, Android and whatever Roku uses.We consistently get our plan's rated speed from the cable provider (30 mBps down & 5 mBps up). Once in a while, we get over the speed we pay for (when the cable company goofs) and this modem is more than happy to oblige.Al channels bond all the time, so that's a good thing for maintaining speed. Actually this modem does a better job of maintaining speed in the evening (when the "Netfilx Effect" slows our cable) than the ISP's rental modem. We can still get 30 mBps.) I've never speed checked & got lower than what we pay for. (Good marks for Wowway and Arris)We can surf the innner-tube-web-net while both of our televisions are streaming educational documentaries on PBS. (OK- Chick flicks & monster movies) This modem doesn't even break a sweat- even in the evening.Tech support is excellent. When i first got it, it would not register on Arris' warranty registration page. Apparently it was already registered to someone else & they must have returned it. My call to tech support was answered by a real, live English speaking person in 1 minute. The technician fixed the problem in less than 2 minutes and offered to stay on the phone while I connected it, just in case I had a problem. Cool, huh? Cheerful guy, too.Connecting it was simple. All I had to do was call the ISP and they did the rest. They could see that it was registered to someone else and Arris fixed it. Once I reached a person at the ISP (20 minutes), provisioning it took about 3 minutes. Simple! The provider is Wide Open West (Also called "Wow" or "Wowway")I did have a problem with setting the Energy Saving feature. The manual's procedure didn't match what the screen said. I wrote to tech support. About an hour later I got a reply. One has to unhook it from the ISP to set this feature. The manual skipped that part. Oh well!Later, I wanted to re-boot it for a test in case the power ever goes out. It would not re-boot, following the manual's procedure. I called tech support. One minute later, a person came on the phone. He said to unhook it from the ISP cable to re-boot it. (Again- Excellent tech support. Crummy manual, however).Note that when we have had power failures, it does re-connect to the ISP with no intervention on my part. I gusee you only have to unhook the ISP cable if you are doing a software re-boot.The actual device runs cool. Very cool actually. This is probably because of two things: The venting pattern and the fact that the power supply is not inside the device. This is good & helps the circuitry run cooler. Actually, since the power supply is a (little) brick- and the brick is outside, it runs cooler too. (And can be replaced wth a generic if needed.)It plays well with my TP-Link Archer C7-AC 1750 router. There are no family feuds between them.Report Card:Performance = A+Reliability = A+Easy Of Connecting = B (Only because of the registration problem)Temperature = A+Compatibility = A+Tech Support By Phone = A+Tech Support By E-Mail = A+User Manual = It's Off To Summer School for Those Writers.Personally, if this ever needs replacing, I will buy Arris again. And, I will buy it on Amazon.Why Amazon? They helped me out when the first one I bought (from a private seller on Amazon) turned out to be second hand and, per Arris, possibly bootleg. (So much for cheaping-out & not buying from Amazon...)So, I do highly recommend this device.If it ever messes up & Arris can't help out, I'll update this review.

I was tired of renting my modems from the cable companies. So based on previous experience I decided to purchase this modem. I have previously worked for a major cable company in their high speed data division. Essentially going to customers and troubleshooting their internet connection problems (not the telephone tech support but a real person who could root cause a connection issue and resolve it for you). So I figure I know a little something about cable modems. Arris used to be a company with somewhat mediocre modems. Along with the Thomson RCA brand. There's been a lot of merging and aquisitions with the modems and Motorola used to make the best modems with the "shark fin series". Well peeps this is essentially a Motorola modem and delivers the performance that I expected for one of their modems. I have had zero issues since installing this modem. Installation was simple with the usual connections and a quick call to the cable company with the MAC address, Two minutes later surfing away like a champ. We use Ooma for our telephone service along with 3 Roku's on the go and two Android Media boxes and this keeps up with the stream seamlessly. Of course being Docsis compliant you can always go and remove the bandwidth cap if you want to (don't condone this but it's possible) to increase your bandwidth if you wanted to by running a script. In a couple of months this modem will have paid for itself comparing to rental costs from the cable company. 100% reliable, emits a good consistent upstream signal which is what is needed to make your internet happy. The cable company sends you a downstream signal which is your incoming data. The cable company is responsible for the signal strength heading your way. Your modem does have some tolerance in terms of how low the signal can go before connection fails but largely if it gets that low then the cable company should be fixing it for you anyway. The upstream is where it really counts and think of it like this, your modem transmits a signal to the cable company (they refer to it as upstream or return). The cable company and their servers are most likely miles away from where you live and your little modem sends out this little signal and between you and your cable company location it passes through a series of amplifiers that increase your signal strength in order to reach the hubs. As long as you have the signal strength to make it to them you're good to go. This modem never saw any fluctuation in the db readings on the upstream so I know that if there is an upstream issue then it is most likely owned by CC and not my modem. I have seen sporadic readings on other modems but nothing yet with this unassuming little box. The lights can be a little bright so if they bother you that much just put some tape over them. I bought this modem for it's performance not its aesthetics, I don't care what lights are on as long as I have a signal and everybody is doing what they want on the internet be it streaming, news or whatever.Good value a great buy and stellar performance.