Letter From Xfinity - Upgrade Modem

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I recently got a letter from Comcast/Xfinity stating they will be increasing the Internet speeds in my area and their records show the modem I'm using won't be able to handle these speeds.

I'm currently subscribed to 75Mbps but speedtest and dslreports regularly test at 90 down/12 up, so I feel I'm already getting more than I pay for.

My current setup is a Motorola SB6121 connected to a TP-Link Archer C7. It has been dead reliable. Has anyone else received this letter/upgraded and are getting way more than what they pay for? It doesn't make sense to buy a faster plan, but if simply upgrading the modem will increase speeds I'm tempted. Most of the hardware I use is either connected thru gigabit Ethernet or 802.11ac.
 
Either new technology or they want you to buy a faster plan
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Once you have the newer modem, they might be able to offer you faster than 75.
 
Yeah ive gotten it. You are most likely going up to 100mbps. You shouldnt lose speed keeping what you have though you may not gain much in terms of new bandwidth unless you hpgrade hardware.
 
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I would get it if they arent going to raise rates/add on a another contract. Even at 75Mbps you are higher than the national average of 18.75 Mbps. For many years I had 16 Mbps with multiple family members on it and two PlayStation 4s running on it. Never a problem. You can only go so fast till it is starts being pointless. I just moved a couple a weeks ago and now have 100 Mbps. Everything seems the same except download speeds. I downloaded a 1.5GB update for the new Call of Duty, it took 90 seconds. If that would have been on the 16Mbps it would have taken 8-12 minutes.
 
Wow I'm slower than a Ford truck over here @ 30Mbps down, 3Mbs up. But it's just me and so far the cat hasn't demanded any bandwidth. Fiancee same plan at her house, we'll probably upgrade once we're married but so far 30 is enough for each house. Able to stream 1080p okay, Netflix, Youtube, and SlingTV.
 
OP, you must be the only person paying Comcast for 75mbps and getting faster speeds. Everyone I know (myself included) reports slower speeds.
 
Are you experiencing any apps uses that seem slow to you now? If not, why fix what's not broken.
I use my service for gaming and other wireless stuff - 4 users in the household. I get 130 down/10 up. Upgraded from 80/10. No noticeable difference.
 
Originally Posted By: RamFan
OP, you must be the only person paying Comcast for 75mbps and getting faster speeds. Everyone I know (myself included) reports slower speeds.


Was thinking the same thing. I'm paying for 100 and getting 85 on a good day...
 
I pay Comcast for 150 now and routinely see 185-190Mbps down and around 20 up; when I was on the 75 plan it was always around 85-90 down. I have a feeling it's a combination of two things: 1. I am about a half-mile from the backbone; and 2. Almost all of my neighbors are elderly and either have DSL or do not really bog down the connection. I don't complain either way, other than I can't get FIOS where I live.
 
They have more RF channels or a modulation scheme that a newer modem can make better use of. It could help their network for you to have a more versatile modem on your end, so you could get shifted to a new channel and someone else could use the legacy one.

But they aren't giving you said modem, so nuts to that idea. When you get a "known good" modem run it until it dies or is actually obsolete in your eyes. I had a Surfboard give me ~12 good years.

I've had speedtest report 10% over stock on roadrunner as well-- I think it's marketing on their part. They also inched me up a little once in a while. BTW fast.com is another "test" on netflix servers.
 
That letter s a warning not a notification. I didnt get a letter "or threw t away" and one morning my internet was down. Called and my modem was offline and "would" not reprovision. Turns out my modem (sb6120 ) docsis 3.0 was "EOLed" and no longer allowed on the network. Not because it was broken but it could not reach the highest speed offered even though i did not subscribe to those speeds,
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. Didnt have enough download channels 4x4 instead of 4x8 or 16.

Fussed and barked and got an agreement to get it back on line but it could be removed at any time another network scan was done.

Bought a sb6193 4x16 for $80 and move on. I got 5x my moneys worth out of the old modem [censored] renting so in a year i will have paid for thisone as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Delta
Originally Posted By: RamFan
OP, you must be the only person paying Comcast for 75mbps and getting faster speeds. Everyone I know (myself included) reports slower speeds.


Was thinking the same thing. I'm paying for 100 and getting 85 on a good day...


Time warner/spectrum always over provisions, so I always get more than I pay for. I am seeing 116/12 on a 100/10 package with other clients using the network.
 
You are using a 4/4 modem

I'd upgrade to a 16/4 modem such as the sb6183

The theoretical speeds you can get from 4 channels and REAL LIFE speeds are different.

for example TWC/spectrum says the 4 channel 6121 is only good for upto 50mbit.
8 channel or better needed for 100mbit service.

Originally Posted By: JustinH
Time warner/spectrum always over provisions, so I always get more than I pay for. I am seeing 116/12 on a 100/10 package with other clients using the network.


Yes I usually see around 119/11.5 on my 100/10 service.

Now a year or 2 ago my node had terrible congestion and I would get prime time lag... they eventually fixed this and we are now on 16 channel compatible service instead of 4-8 we had here a couple years ago

IE my sb6183 shows 16channels active.
 
All you guys are lucky. My dsl is 1.5 down and a couple hundred up. It's not even usable. Won't hook up to high speed servers. Can't use any on demand or streaming. Won't even connect. Right now I'm on 4g lte to be on this site right now. It does pretty good but only have 25g per month.
 
I compared my 30/10 plan to someones 200/100 plan...to be honest, via browsing I could hardly tell much a difference.
 
Thanks for the input everyone! I rarely (if ever) feel like I'm left waiting for my Internet connection. I was mostly worried about an issue like danez_yoda mentioned. I live in an apartment complex so it sounds like I could avoid congestion issues down the road by upgrading. I do feel lucky hitting nearly 90 down. Before Xfinity was allowed in, the only option was cable modem service thru a company called "Suite Solutions." They took full advantage of their monopoly - I paid way more for a max of 12 down. I never thought I'd be so happy to be able to switch to Xfinity.

In the "My Devices" section of Xfinity's site they list my modem as not supported, but then scrolling thru the list of 31 "compatible" devices the SB6121 is listed as compatible.






Then there's a second list of "compatible devices" that is much shorter (14)- I'm guessing these are ones that are both "compatible" and "supported."
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
maybe its not supported because you arent renting it from them?


No, it is because they expanded the channel and want some customers to move into it. Usually they "grandfather" existing customers with existing modems on the older channels first, and ask new customers to use newer modems.
 
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