SURFboard SB6183

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.

Pros: - Great speeds - Stable - Easy to setup (see note below) Cons: - Runs warm - Bright LED lights I bought this to replace an aging DOCSIS 2.0 modem I had been renting from Time Warner Cable (and had, over the years, paid enough in rental fees by many modems - gulp). It works great with the TWC service and based on standards and prior experience, I see no reason it wouldn't work with all major providers. As others have noted, you get a minor "speed boost" over older modem - this is not due to an increase in sheer maximum speed, since that is set by the cable company, but rather due to the ability of this modem to bond up to 16 channels maintaining the maximum speed more stably (instead of the speed bouncing up and down). The only thing that troubles me about this device is the fact that it does get fair warm to the touch - so make sure it's in a well ventilated area. The blue LEDs in the front panel are also very bright - and even if you wanted to cover them up, you can't effectively block the light as it comes through the main body (sides and back) of the device which cannot be covered due to the need for ventilation. This isn't a problem for me since I keep it in a "wiring cabinet" with plenty of ventilation and a door to block the light, but I can see it being an issue for some. Note on setup - I attempted and failed to be able to use TWC's "auto-setup" so I called their support line. They told me there was an "outage" in my area so while they would enter the data, I wouldn't be able to use the modem until the outage was repaired. This was curious to me, since my internet worked perfectly with the old modem not 30 seconds before. So, with the guy on the phone (without him telling me to), I unhooked this new modem and re-plugged in the old one...suddenly he tells me the outages is fixed and he's able to provision the new modem. Strangely, as soon as he enters the new modem, the "outage" reappears. So again, I switch modems without him telling me to (now having the new one plugged in) and boom, outage gone and new modem works like a charm. Long and short of it? If TWC doesn't see the modem they have in their system plugged in and powered on, there's an "outage" and they can't install a new modem. So if you can, plug in both your existing modem and this new one at the same time (maybe in different rooms) and they'll be able to set the new one up with no issues - in fact, auto-provisioning may work.

leave it ALONE more TROUBLE than its worth problem seller 1/10

just upset stupid internet provider service, modem really good

Everything is fine with a product. Looks nice, i chose white color. That is all i can tell. I did not use it, due to service provider refuse adding it to their network. Reason? No idea. Even though i checked specs with them before purchasing it, they declined this specific model.

Unit was a great value. A simple design, and I've run it for a few weeks and I've not had any issues so far. Very simple set up.

Exactly what I needed. Works perfectly.