Side by Side Comparison of: Netgear vs Arris

I pay for a 50 MB/s connection, which the all-in-one leased vendor (Comcast) 8x4 router could usually supply. However, the vendor device would not turn off its wireless radio or operate as a true network bridge. Replacing it with this Netgear CM700 32x8 bridge jumped the connection bandwidth to nearly 90 MB/s and removed the latency the vendor device was generating. Network performance has increased and the logical complexity was reduced. 5 stars given because it (apparently) does everything exactly as advertised, though the administrator in me yearns for a console connection or some way to monitor the device's internals (you know Netgear built one in someplace for their own engineers!)Niggling detail: the small case screws are either deliberately stripped or use a standard I have not seen before. The foot cannot be removed.

It activated right away via Comcast Xfinity website. I'm now saving monthly on modem rental fees.Right after I bought it, I did see that there is a DOCSIS 3.1 modem. If you want the latest and greatest, get that. However, this on covers value and future proofing well enough.The we interface on the modem basically only has password option. Make sure you have a separate router.

A quick & easy Comcast Upgrade!Took about 10 minutes total.Comcast has a webpage that automatically detects your new modem. If you already have a Comcast account, just login, click register. Wait for updates to push. DONE!To address the 'will not work with voice service' statement... The reason is, there is no VOIP (phone) port on this modem, like on the Comcast. We 'have' voice in our package, but do not use it... so the absence of a VOIP port is a non-issue. So the compatibility issue is due to the lack of a port, and has nothing to do with the service, persey.Performance wise, I moved from 120 to 180 Mbps. All of my wired connections are GigE.

I have the Netgear CM600 on Comcast and it is very fast! I typically get about 170 Mbps down and 11 up, (the Comcast upstream limit), and it has been very rock solid since I installed it. I have to ask why Amazon has the reviews for 3 different models under the same heading. It's extremely confusing unless you really examine the posts. I was wondering why Comcast would say they no longer support this modem from another review till I realized it was the two generations ago model. I am definitely glad I purchased this modem.

I purchased the Netgear CM600 to replace my 6 year old Motorola SB6120 because my download speeds were fluctuating with the old modem.The set up was very easy and I didn't have to call Comcast to get the modem activated.I connected all the cables and powered up the modem. Waited for all lights internet light to stop flashing on the modem.Opened a web browser window and was redirected to [...]. Entered my account and phone number, waited for a bout a minute for the modem to restart and I was online.The setup couldn't be simpler.Did several speed test and I was getting 60/6 Mbps even though I am paying for 25/5.Modem has locked 20 out of the 24 downstream channels and 4 of the 4 upstream channels.Cannot wait until my two year contract expires in April to upgrade my service to at least 150 Mbps.

This modem is fairly small in size, but it provides a lot of speed if your provider allows it. We had a little trouble getting it to connect to comcast. You are supposed to connect a pc and use a web page to get it configured. We were unable to do that, and Comcast's support couldn't configure it, either. They scheduled an at-home service call. Yay. So I hooked my old modem back up to the house router and when it came up nothing worked. I realized they had taken the old one off my account. But, it allowed me to configure it on a pc through the router. On a lark, I hooked the new modem up to my router, and it configured through the router just fine. Wasted a lot of time on the phone, but it is great. Lots of speed ceiling for future needs.Would buy again. Would rather never have to call Comcast's service line again.

Works great! Docsis 3.0 compliant cable modem that is fully supported by Comcast. Installed in less than 15 minutes and only took that long because I had to reconfigure my wireless network using a different topology. I did not use the WIFI feature so cannot attest to the robustness of the wireless feature, but the ethernet capability and modem capabilities are great. My bandwidth improved by more than 30% moving from an older Docsis 2.0 modem to this new modem. Well worth the upgrade.

I installed this modem without incident. It works perfectly. I have had other modems, and have had problems with them being knocked off line. This one has been in for many days now and I have not had one problem. At first the seller thought the modem might not work with my ISP and contacted me to warn me of this before they shipped it. I called Time Warner and verified that it would indeed work. This is an honest company who had integrity. I would gladly do business with them again!

Hi everybody, when I first bought the SBG6580 I was wary of the bad reviews and the disconnection problems, and I felt horrible when these issues started appearing in my SBG. Having solved the issue 2 weeks ago I would like to share it with as many people as I can to prevent this from happening to anyone else. The review I am about to write will cover the problem I encountered and the solution in a short and long format, and will be accompanied by photos. So let's begin-*Short Version Guide:*Go to 192.168.0.1, type in the username- admin and the password- motorola and look at the page that first appears (should be the Connection page). There should be three tables, look at the second one. Locate the Power column. If your power levels are negative, or if they're not within the range of -8dBmV and +8dBmV (meaning they are 9 or 10, or -9 or -10), you might have a problem. Now look at the third table and locate the power column. If your power levels are higher than 50dBmV, you might have a problem.If it's not working well (meaning it works, but keeps disconnecting), it might look something like this- [Picture uploaded to costumer photos]First thing you *should* do, although optional, is call Motorola support line. I've found them to have a great support line, and they'd be able to pinpoint the problem for you- their number is 1877-466-8646.What they would probably tell you to do, and what you can do anyway if you don't want to call them, is to call your cable company support line. What you need is a technician to come over to your house and check all of your cable lines, to try and see why the power levels are bad, and the replace the cable or instrument that is malfunctioning (most likely not your modem, don't worry). The best way to get that is to call them up, be nice, go through all the hoops and all the attempts they try to restore your connection (if they manage to restore it, wait until it stops working again, call them again, and tell them it doesn't work and that you need a technician), and then eventually tell them that you need a technician because you called Motorola support and they said you have a problem with your power levels.Usually that would do it. Don't be afraid to talk to the technician, show him the problem, but also listen to the tech and understand what they're saying.Hopefully they'd get it right on the first visit, if not, do not despair, call them again.I hope that helps anyone who's had the same issue as I did.After fixing this issue my modem works great, the wifi extends throughout the whole house (2000sqft, cast walls mostly), and all channels are locked.Good luck! Check out the extended guide below.*Long Guide Version:**What causes the problem*So let's get to the heart of the matter- Power levels.Power levels are the strength of signal that your modem is receiving and sending through the cable connection. The SBG 6580 can handle power levels ranging from -15dBmV to +15dBmV for the download stream, and up to 55dBmV for the upstream (Not so sure about the negative upstream levels). That's all in theory though, because the actual OPTIMAL range is between -8dBmV to 8dBmV for the downstream, and up to about 52dBmV for the up stream. This doesn't necessarily mean that the Modem is crap because it can't handle higher (or lower) power levels, because it seems (after talking to TWC technicians) that these levels are also the cable companies' maximum and minimum power levels. So if you're exceeding these levels, there's a good chance your cable company is doing something wrong.What are these power levels? In short, and to my completely ignorant understanding, they're the strength of the of the signal coming from through the cable from the cable company. This strength goes down as you move further away from the main line, or the place where they transmit the signal from. So basically the longer the wire is connecting your house to the "tap" (where the signal comes from)- the worse your power levels should be. The longer the cable going around your house- the worse your power levels should be. If it's an old cable, or the "tap" is malfunctioning- you're going to see bad power levels. (I say worse and bad instead of lower and low because I really have no idea how these things can work on a *negative* value, and how any of this works).*Diagnosing the problem*But let's not dwell on the technical mumbo jumbo and move on to *How to diagnose your problem, and how to solve it*-The first thing we need to do is connect to our SBG6580 and get a reading of those power levels. The way to do that could not be easier- just type 192.168.1.1 in your browser address line (yes, it's a weird address, but it'll work). You'll be asked for a username and password- the default for the username is admin (just type in admin) and for the password- motorola (just type in motorola).And this is what you should see (for a working modem)- [Picture uploaded to costumer photos](This was taken after my issue was fixed).Locate the Power column on the Downstream Bonded Channels table. See how they're all between 6 and 7? That's good. Now look at the power levels on the Upstream table- 34.000 dBmV, that's also good. Notice how all 8 lines of the Downstream table and all 4 lines of the upstream table are full, this means your channels are locked, this is the optimal situation.Now, this is what I saw when my modem was working, but kept disconnecting ever so often- [Picture uploaded to costumer photos]Notice now how the downstream power levels are negative, and that they are much closer, or over -8dBmV. Usually I'd see ranges between -7 and -9 when my modem wasn't working well (during the times when it was still able to maintain a connection). This is what the levels look like when your modem is barely hanging on to the connection. It manages to lock all downstream channels, but barely. Now look at the monstrous upstream power level- 55.7dBmV! This would usually be 57dBmV, and it was the source of all my problems, also notice that only one upstream channel is locked, this would usually show when looking at your modem lights- if all channels are locked the light would be blue. If they're not all locked, but the modem is still able to connect, the light would be green. What I'd normally see is a green light for power, a blue light for downstream (the second light down), a green light for upstream (the third light down), and a green light (sometimes flashing) for the 4th light.If you compare this photo to the one where the modem is working perfectly you can see that the high upstream levels are effectively disrupting all the other channels, causing them to go negative. While this did not cause any decrease in speed, it did cause the modem to lose signal every 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 3 hours, etc.One thing I'd like to mention here- somehow (and I have no idea how or why), this is not an issue with the modem *itself*, but rather with how it receives the signal from the cable company. When the issue was fixed, it was fixed on the cable line itself (outside my house), and nothing was done to the modem.Alright, one last thing I'd like to show you- this is how your modem looks while it is disconnected, and cannot reconnect- [Picture uploaded to costumer photos]Here what we're seeing is the modem struggling to lock on to a signal, in the photo the downstream power level is -7, but I've seen it anywhere between -9.9dBmv to 43.0dBmV, the upstream is 49dBmV, but I've seen that go all the way up to 57 as well. I'm really not sure what's happening *inside* the modem, but it's clear that something is wrong, since it would stay like this for a while (sometimes hours). The lights on the modem, by the way, will flash green when it's trying to connect like this (either the downstream or upstream light).*solving the problem*So, now that we've been able to diagnose, how do we *solve the problem?*Well, sadly there is only one way- call your cable company, and ask for a technician. Most of the time this means you'll have to go through the proper channels, call support, talk to the guy from India trying his hardest to mask his accent (god bless these guys, they do try hard, and do a great job most of the time), and eventually when all fails tell them you're seeing very high/abnormal power levels, and that you definitely need a technician.When the technician comes tell them you're seeing abnormal power signals. They'll connect their little modem to your cable line and see what they're getting, then they'll check all the wires, and eventually check the tap. They'll then either replace the cables around your house, or the cables connecting to the tap, or they'll have to call a line guy to work on it and fix it the next day.Do not despair, these guys are usually very nice, and good at what they do. If the problem persists a week later, again, do not despair, just call them again, and tell them what's happening. If you can meet up with the actual line repairman, do so, and explain to them what the problem was.Hopefully this will help you fix your line and get the steady connection I am getting.By the way, I have found that remote fixes (where they call you and say "we've changed something in our files, not your internet should work better") do not work very well, or for long. If your internet is working after one of these repairs wait at least 3 days to see if problems eventually persist.*Actual review-*Well, I have to admit, I don't really have anything to compare this modem to- it works well, wifi range is wonderful, covers the whole house (2000sqft, cast walls), speeds are great, there are no drops anymore, and the modem/router seems to have many features which I don't really use like uPnP, port forwarding, etc. Pretty basic, pretty simple to understand. There's also the option of creating a guest network, which I guess is good for some specific uses, and there's also WPS, which might be useful to some people.All in all does what it's meant to, and does it well, I guess. Not much to add, not much I know about routers or modems.

I purchased this just a new modem with the router as a backup for my parents. The modem worked straight out of the box after a call to Time Warner to update the MAC on file. When testing the internal router, I discovered that TW disables the wireless and wants another $10 a month to enable it on my modem. Also, bought this modem to not have to the the BS $5 a month to TW for an equipment rental fee.Putting the modem into bridge mode is easy enough by disabling NAPT, rebooting the modem, and now my external router was performing its duties.The wired router function worked fine for what I need it to do.Overall, this is a great product. In order to get full functionality from it actually call your ISP and ask them if they will disable any of the features before buying. Nowhere on any of TWs compatability lists did it say anything about the wireless being an extra charge.I would buy again, the speeds definitely increased to an average 20Mbps over the 5mBps I was getting on a DOCIS 2 modem.

I have been using the Motorola SB6580 for well over a month. I bought it to replace a Motorola SBG900, which was functioning well but needed to upgrade. I prefer the modem/wireless combo offer over separate modem, access point and wireless router simply because this is a more efficient arrangement. I hope the quality of the SB6580 is superior to SBG900 (the first SBG900 I bought died after 3 months and was under warranty, but I had to pay for two way shipping; the second after a year and past warranty and was cheaper to junk it; third Surfboard is fine after over 2 years). The SB6580 has performed well thus far. The speed and range of this DOCSIS 3.0 is far superior to the previous DOCSIS 2.0. I have tested my speed using the Speakeasy Speed Test and have trebled my speed vs. the SBG900 (using wireless 802.11n). If you download large files, are a gamer, Skype, or stream movies you will certainly appreciate the improved bandwidth and speed. The range is excellent. I have a large home and property and have an excellent to very good signal strength throughout the property including the yard. We have had as many as 8 computers doing various tasks with no performance issues such as lag or slow downloads. I would recommend placing the unit on a shelf that is well elevated (over six feet) rather than on a desktop or table.The four (4) Ethernet ports available are very helpful when you want to hard-wire something to the modem. I have found that to be a marked improvement to the sole port available in the SBG900. This way you will have no need for a separate Ethernet switch.The unit was fairly easy to set up. The problems stated by earlier reviewers regarding the "IP Flood Detection" has been eliminated. Motorola now disables that by default. Consequently, this no longer causes any issues or problems.Disabling SSID broadcasting is a bit tricky though, not because of difficulty, but rather because Motorola, in their infinite wisdom, chose to make it more challenging by not having a "Disable SSID Broadcasting" radio button as with previous Surfboards. So, I am going to provide detailed instructions for disabling the SSID broadcasting:1) In browser's address bar (doesn't matter which browser) type 192.168.100.12) Type your "User Name" and "Password"3) You are now in the set up menu. Click on "Wireless" from the top menu choices4) On the Left side menu choices, Click on "Primary Network"5) On the Right side menu choices, under "Automatic Security Configuration", Click "Disabled"6) This is the final step which disables the SSID broadcasting. In the middle section "Closed Network" set to "Enabled"7) You're Done, Save, ExitI would also like to point out that an old, legacy computer would not accommodate the new WPA2 encryption. This gateway does NOT support the old WEP. Therefore, any devices that you have that cannot upgrade from WEP encryption will no longer access the internet using this gateway, sorry for the bad news. How I was able to have the old computer still access the internet was to have the Guest feature security set to WPA. Also, remember your best speed will be achieved when your computer itself is using a wireless 802.11n card rather than the older, wireless 802.11a/b/g simply because the most speed you can achieve with those will be 54Mbps.In conclusion, a solid unit out of the box. Did not need any firmware upgrade with Cox as my ISP. Firmware BTW is provided by the ISPs NOT Motorola, for some reason. When activating the unit, request they "Push" any firmware upgrade to you. They should understand what that means, if not, ask for a more experienced tech person to assist you. I do hope that the build quality on SB6580 is more reliable than that of its predecessor the SBG900. You may ask why I kept replacing the problematic SBG900 with same if it failed so frequently (No, I am not a masochist!)? Simply because the choices for all-in-one gateways are so limited and I really did not want three separate units.

*UPDATE-2* March 2016I have now configured this router in a simple bridge modem mode, because both the router part and the wireless parts were causing issues.I am using Cisco RV325 (firmware v1.2.1.14) as my router, and have Wi-Fi access point WAP561 (firmware 1.2.0.2). This combination works wonderfully! I am running IPv4 and IPv6 dual-stack in my network.The Comcast delivers with Blast! tier, and as of now I'm paying $49.99/month.Speed tests are available here:[...][...]*UPDATE-2**UPDATE-1*Looks like self install/activation guide didn't properly add this router to CMTS/Billing system of Comcast. Because of that, CMTS wasn't pushing new software code. Spend more than an hour to get it added.*/UPDATE-1*When I recently signed up for Comcast, I've got rental modem - DOCSIS 3.0 Ubee. I also had separate small/medium office level router.Performance I was getting from it was pretty strong (Ubee in bridge mode + Cisco ISR 1941w). Both wired and wireless (.11n) had same performance: 25mbps down/3.5mbps up.I wanted something quiet, and at the same time high performance. Motorola SBG6580 has everything I need from router. Both wired and wireless performance is almost same as previous setup, but now only single device instead of two. Only complaint - under heavy traffic loads through SBG6580, I can observe increased jitter for VoIP and hi-def video conferencing applications. But this is expected behavior.Setup: completed swap of rented Ubee modem within 10 minutes.1. disconnected Ubee,2. connected coax cable to SBG65803. connected my laptop's ethernet port to SBG6580's ethernet port and waited till laptop acquired IP from SBG6580. (in my case laptop got 192.168.0.2 and SBG6580 had 192.168.0.1)4. opened random web page and comcast's DNS redirected me to activation web-page.5. provided account number ( can be found on monthly bill) and phone number6. web-page guided me through activation process and within 4-5 minutes modem rebooted twice and upon reboot I could now surf Internet.7. I disabled WPS as I prefer manual wireless configuration. I've configured 40MHz wide channel for .11n so I can reach 300Mbps and lowered wireless power to 25% (in my small apartment I don't need wide coverage).8. Completely disabled web-filtering/firewall/content-popup blocker/other app level monitoring on router - I have appropriate software on my laptop to take care of these tasks.With these settings when I go to speedtest.net, I can see that there is no difference between hardwired ethernet and wireless .11n[...]Pros: very easy to setup; solid performance; small size, low power consumption; doesn't make any noise; has built-in 4port 1GE switchCons: didn't let me override DNS server address that is assigned to wireless/hard-wired devices; more noticeable jitter under heavy load; doesn't cook dinnerHope this review been informative. I'd be glad to answer your questions should you have any

After one month, this is still going strong. Had no problems setting up. The only difficulty was with Comcast technical help. We both spoke English but not with the same dialect or understanding. Posed some communication problems. Simple to install but be sure and register the MAC number with Comcast if you purchase a modem instead of renting. Finding the correct person to speak with IS A PROBLEM!

It gives me 170 Mbsc speed with my Comcast 150 Mbsc plan. It doesn't feel durable item compare to the Motorola Modem I used before. I would not have changed from Motorola Modem, but it only gave me 90 Mbsc speed (older model). My Motorola modem lasted me 7 years and still no problems (other then the speed)I doubt very much that this modem will last even half the time my Motorola modem lasted

It's a modem. The one I had was no longer approved by my cable provider. What I like is that it has an off-button; what I don't like is that it gets very hot. Set-up was easy enough, and several months later it's still working.

This wasn't difficult to set up and is working with our TimeWarner equipment. I was confused at first because instructions (and phone number) are included for Comcast, but as soon as I realized that our service was TWC and not Comcast I was able to call and have them activate the Modem. I haven't noticed an increase in speed, but this modem is listed as faster service than the one we were upgrading from. That is a fault of TWC not the modem though. All in all the modem was not difficult to set up and was working within half an hour of me taking it from the box.

I've only had this modem activated for a couple of days. So far, when the lights are all green and it is working, it's perfect. Fast speeds (even faster than what I'm paying for), stable connection, etc. The problem I seem to be having is that it will all of sudden just show the red power light on only. The manual indicates that it's overheating. Seriously? It was on for no more than 12 hours. The modem is standing upright in open air. It doesn't turn off with the power button either, have to unplug the power and plug it back in. It's done it twice so far in a less than 24 hour period. I have it reset to factory settings currently to see how it'll fair. But if it overheats again, I'm returning this.edit: 3/14/16So I got a new replacement. There is no longer an overheating issue as far as I could tell. The unit also runs a lot cooler than the defective one. I have had it installed for the last 3 days. It did, reset a couple of times on the second day, but have since stopped. I'm unsure if that happened due to TWC though. The logs suggest that at least 2 of the resets was because of them. But that day experienced a large number of resets for some reason. Seems perfect again, but will keep monitoring it. I have upgraded it to 4 stars. It would be 5 if it stays reset free.Like the original unit, when it works. It's great. Pretty much a set it and forget it deal. It's also great that the LEDs are not blindingly bright like ARRIS units. There are a ton of holes for venting. On the ARRIS modems, the holes are pretty much on one long side and the 2 short sides. The heat seems to be concentrated on the top half of the unit. I just wished that they could have made the modem so that you could have it laid horizontally.

This modem was a black Friday purchase. Before I start my quick list of credentials are: I work from home (so it gets a lot of use) and in IT security. With that said I was getting tired of Comcast throttling my speeds during certain hours of the day and night, so I purchased this modem to attempt to by pass them all together. I pay for 105 down and definitely wasn't getting that. Now my modem and router are on the 3rd floor and I work on the second floor. I know the router is one main cause of speed issues however 24 down is unacceptable in my eyes and when I ran the speed test next to the router it was only around 40ish.So enter my new Netgear modem. My new speed tests on the 3rd floor (next to the router is about 70 to 80 down and about 15 up. On the second floor where I work (just ran a speed test as I am writing this review / See pictures attached) I am getting 63.68 down and 10.26 up; which is a HUGE improvement from using the Comcast modem.Again my router is getting old and am looking to buy a new one soon, however the huge difference in speeds between this Netgear modem and the Comcast one are painstakingly clear. Oh and for you gamers that use a direct connection (I direct connect my Xbox one into LAN port 1) when I ran a speed test though the Xbox it showed 122 down (which is higher than I am paying for).I have to say that I do love it but there is a few concerns. Review notes below:Pros:-Very noticeable speed increase from Comcast Modem-Install went quickly. Called Comcast, gave them (if I remember correctly) the MAC and serial number on the modem and I was up and running within minutes.Cons:-My one and only major concern is how HOT it gets. I am not sure if this is normal for this modem and I still need to contact netgear about this. When I say hot; I don't mean warm to the touch, I mean borderline that I am worried the components are melting / fusing together on the inside. This is why I only give it 4 stars and not 5Hope this review helped and I will try to answer any questions you all have.

Modem and router in one so don't need to things doing the job of one. Simple and easy set-up. Can handle whatever speed internet you have. Have had for about six months now and the only issue I've had is that my computer has to reset the wi-fi adapter every week or so starting about a month and a half ago. Haven't payed attention to whether it's due to moving to a new apartment, the modem/router itself, or if it's from upgrading to Windows 10. Over-all it was a good deal since i put the hundred into Amazon from my tax refund and got $10 added, so this was essentially free in my mind. I'd give it a thumbs up to anyone looking for a single item vs two separate items for the modem routers they have.

Good, even great. But I wasn't able to establish and broadcast two separate wifi channels for 2.4 and 5 ghz respectively. I could only get it to work with either/or. So now I can choose wether it broadcasts 5ghz or 2.4, but if I have devices that can't process the 5ghz signal, I have to switch it back to 2.4 in the settings. This is a little annoying. Otherwise the device works fine, the speed is about as good as I had with my original provider's equipment (TWC). But with the modem that TWC provided I was able to broadcast on both 2.4 and 5 ghz at the same time and choose which one of my devices was on which bandwidth. I'm not an electrical engineer, but it seems to me that this shouldn't be a hard issue to address, technically speaking. Still, I'm not paying my rental fee to TWC anymore, so it suits my purposes.

I bought this back in January. There were far better reviews, so I decided not to say anything. However, a possible issue has arisen that I have not seen any mention; heat. My house is air conditioned...72 degrees. The air vents are not obstructed. But, apparently that is not cool enough. The unit will get warm and, apparently, it will sever the connection if it gets too warm which requires a reset. Either that (this just came to mind), or the problem could be that Time Warner (in my case) is the problem since this is a cable internet unit and they are piggy-backing the internet signal with the cable TV signal causing drop-outs which the modem is recognizing as lost signal and that is causing the unit to want a reset. Just a thought.

Other than that, when it is up and running, it is the best unit of its kind.

So far the Motorola SBG6580 Modem/Router is a nice upgrade from the "lease" router Time Warner Cable gave me.
PROS:
-Extremely fast Internet speeds
-Fast access to Router/WiFi settings (192.168.0.1 very responsive).
-Guest WiFi account can be WPA2 Secured with its own Network access (nice for Home security but allowing friends internet access)
-2.4ghz and 5.0ghz is fast no issues with Wireless disconnects so far.

CONS:
-Limited router capabilities. no native VLAN support. Guest WiFi is basic at best.
-Streaming WiFi like Netflix/Amazon Prime/YouTube definitely slows network traffic. Homes with lots of WiFi devices (Tablets/Phones/Laptops/Etc) take note as only a few users streaming video will slow down internet to a crawl. Ethernet Cat5/6 connections are not effected by this WiFi traffic problem.

SUMMARY:
I think this Modem/Router is an excellent product and I would highly recommend it to small families, singles and couples. Its reputation, reliability and user rating all point to a solid device for your money. I would say that this is ideal if you have both equal wired and wireless streaming devices. However, if you have multiple WiFi devices, a larger family, like to stream/download large files from your network (NAS) or your favorite internet site, this might not be the best device for you unless you don't mind the lag that much.
Upgrade to a dualband/triband WiFi router and stick to a basic Modem for your internet connection. Sadly, I will be returning this product only to upgrade to the basic ARRIS/Motorola cable modem and then getting a Triband Router/WiFi.

I crossed my fingers, and regardless of the number of negative reviews, ordered this wireless cable modem for new service with Comcast. The Comcast tech unboxed, installed and registered the modem, then we waited for the firmware updates to install.

Current Comcast's software version is SBG6580-6.5.2.0-GA-06-077-NOSH. The firewall's IP Flood Detection was unchecked by default (all the firewall options were unchecked).

After 2 years of usage the error logs show no disconnects. The only entries are for wireless channel switching due to channel interference. Speedtest.net test shows 29.5 Mbps down and 5.7 Mbps up on a Comcast advertised 16 Mbps service. The wireless range seems to be the same as my old Linksys WAP54G b/g access point and reaches all of our 2,800 sq ft, 1 story home.

All wireless devices work. unlike the Actiontec PK5000 DSL modem/router/wireless device which the Motorola replaced. These devices include a Nook, a Kindle Fire, a Sony Vaio laptop, an iPad, 2 Moto X's and legacy Roku's and Roku 2's.

The router is wall-mounted in a service closet and it seems to run cooler than when it sat on a shelf.
This unit was purchased new, direct from Amazon and not from a third party dealer. All-in-all I am pleased with this purchase.

For all the users that complained about problems with the device after doing a factory reset, BACK UP THE DEVICE SETTINGS before resetting so you can restore them afterwards.

Initial setup is very easy. Getting it to work flawlessly is a different story. I'm not an IT tech, but I had to fuss with the IP settings to get it to work on all my devices. It is quite fast once the kinks are worked out. I would not recommend this for the tech challenged buyer.

when it worked it was ok able to provide full and above speeds of my COX 300/30 connection. however it had a couple of occasional freezes since bought 2 months ago. And went completely dead 2 days ago.Just to inform it never overheated or never slowed down. Thanks to Amazon the replacement unit is on it's way. Just hoping that the new unit won't have the same issue, otherwise I am done with Netgear

Since I switched to this product, I have had a lot of on line problems. It seems like it either disconnects, freezes and does not process fast enough

If you're like me and just looking to replace your Comcast modem this will do the trick. A few complaints. The interface for the actual modem is not the easiest to navigate, find, or use. My next complaint is heat. The thing gets hot. Real hot. I'm not sure why but it does. When I say hot by the way, I mean you can't touch certain parts of it or the coax cable input without getting a mild burn. If you want something that works go ahead and get it, if you want something that works great, looks great, and is more user friendly then you're going to want to keep looking.

I'm not sure. For some reason I keep having to reset the modem. Like a lot! I have always had netgear products with much less hassle than this modem.

I had a Motorola SB6121 4 channel cable modem but my internet service is 8 channel so I decided to upgrade.I first purchased an Arris/Motorola SB6183 but returned it because the lights were too bright and also seem to have issues that I think were related to it being overly sensitive to line conditions.Bought the Netgear CM600 to couple with a Nighthawk x8 router and I couldn't be more happy. I am getting about an 8 percent improvement in speed when compared to the SB6183 and there have been no issues at all. It just seems faster and smoother at loading web pages now.It is more expensive than the Arris/Motorola SB6183 but I highly recommend it.UPDATE: I have had this modem now for 3 months and it has now started in the last 2 weeks to slow down to under 10mbps until I reboot it. I have only had to do this twice but I never had to do this with my Motorola SB6121. I don't want to change to the Arris/Motorola SB6183 because of the lights but I may have to if this continues to be a problem

As a non-tech person, and a lifelong Mac/Airport devotee, this bad boy came with a learning curve. When I called customer support for Arris (the current owner of Motorola, I think?), the gent looked up the serial number I provided for my new modem, and told me that was an old rental unit, and that it was associated with Time Warner Cable. This "new" modem was so old that the 1-year warranty had already expired, and he politely requested $40 to help me navigate getting my network configured. Finding out that I'd have to pay extra to get my "recycled" modem functioning made me feel momentarily homicidal. However, through the magic of the paper clip, I reset the modem to factory standards, and the very helpful gent manning Arris customer service chats (not phones!) at Arris helped me with the rest of my configuration, at no charge. Condensed version: So far the modem works just fine for my needs — but you may need to spend a frustrating couple of hours in the squeeze between the your ISP and the folks at Arris.

After having owned an old SBG901 DOCSIS 2.0 modem for years, I knew it was time for an upgrade. The local cable company in my area started improving the speed tiers and, unfortunately, the old modem could only achieve up to 38 Mbps downstream. Since I've pretty much owned a combo modem/router for several years, I decided to go with the SBG6580.

Unfortunately, the router is a bit faulty. The reception on it tends to differ. At times, I would receive the maximum speeds and, other times, it would drop suddenly, almost all the way down to 3 Mbps. Thinking the local cable company had capped off my speeds for some odd reason, I stupidly called them and inquired about why I was receiving such a low-tier speed on the upstairs computers/wireless devices. As instructed by the technician over the phone, I was told to test this modem via an Ethernet cord. Lo and behold, I was capable of receiving the maximum speeds.

As a result, I had disabled the router portion of the modem and hooked up an older TP-LINK device that I had purchased several years prior. Seeing as how I also own a few TP-LINK USB adapters, this resolved my problem immediately.

If you're stuck in the same situation as I am and are unable to return it, then I would highly suggest investing in an entirely separate router or just purchasing a standalone modem, such as the SB6121 or SB6141 (or a Zoom cable modem if you're so inclined). Unless you live in a one-story house, then the router portion of it is practically useless. Since resolving the problem as stated in the above solution, I have came to the conclusion that owning a combo modem such as this is absolutely a waste of time, money and resources.

All in all, I'm pretty content with it as of now. Once DOCSIS 3.1 becomes the norm several years down the road, then I will purchase a standalone modem when it becomes affordable. Besides, since the next generation of 802.11ac WiFi is starting to roll around, it would be wise to purchase an entirely separate router, unless the Wireless-N portion of this modem suits your WiFi needs.

Coverage is much better than my Cisco E2500, am able to speed test over WiFi at 50M,
A fine router/modem IF it is behaving itself.
On my phone typing this, I see the wifi icon cut out and back in after a minute and nothing is even using it at the moment.
The event log shows all kinds of things that I don't know what it means, and signal levels that look out of whack. Reset it and they look good, for a while.
It is pretty annoying to have the firmware controlled by ISP, you can't update or roll back on your own.
It even has issues on hardwired things, drops from games, trouble giving up bandwidth if someone else is sucking up too much.
I should have just got the standard modem, and a good router, but I don't think the wifi part is the issue. I think this one has software issues that you can't update, and ISPs will only do very little updating.

I purchased this a full year ago and therefore I feel like I've had a thorough experience to share with you guys.

Quick summary:

- Modem worked great at first
- Started to have intermittent problems with connection, to where either the modem or the connection would turn off 5-10 times randomly daily, requiring a reboot
- Later found out that Firmware updates (software for the modem) are recommended to keep the modem running well (detailed info below)
- I have difficulty watching videos or anything that requires a constant internet connection. It's pretty annoying.

I feel like the SBG6580 worked well for 8-10 months but then LOTS of problems started. Now, the tricky thing is you can't really tell if it's your modem, the cable provider or what. I will make it clear that I use Mediacom as an ISP and they do NOT support this modem. PLEASE ENSURE YOUR CABLE COMPANY SUPPORTS THE MODEM BEFORE BUYING THIS. I didn't and just thought, "OH, quality cable modem from a quality company, this should last me a few years, at least a year..." wrong. So I spend a lot of time trying to understand all this cable modem mumbo jumbo and here's some of the stuff I learned:

You can sign into your router to see some diagnostic reports + information by doing the following (unless someone changed your default password/username):

Password
2. Type in the IP address for the modem 192.168.0.1.
3. Type in the default Username; admin.
4. Type in the default Password; motorola.

This is useful to see the firmware or software installed and also other useful info, mac addresses, power and download/upload speeds.

So after looking at tons of forum postings and googling a lot, I found out that my Firmware on this modem was from 2010 (this review is late 2012). I found one person who listed the Firmware releases for this modem to be as follows:

________________
SBG6580-3.1.0.0-GA-07-180-NOSH was released by Motorola back in 2010. Since then 3.2.0.0-GA-02-201 came out in June 2010, 3.2.1.0-GA-02-249 in July 2010, 3.2.1.0-GA-03-249 in September 2010, 3.2.1.0-GA 05-6 in December 2010, 3.3.0.0-GA-05-020 in June 2011. The number of fixes in the release notes since SBG6580-3.1.0.0-GA-07-180 are extensive.
________________

Now, I mention this because what happens is ONLY cable companys are allowed to update the firmware to your modem, it's against the law (or FCC rules?) for consumers to update their own software for the modems. Here's the tricky part, your cable company (mediacom, comcast, or whoever) may NOT support your modem and therefore force you to use the OLD and BUGGY software for your modem. The reasoning? Who knows. They said they haven't had time to test the software or whatever at mediacom... BUT NOT INITIALLY. Initially they told me to go and buy a new modem! No joke. They just said my modem must be failing and that my firmware was the "most current" on the phone... even on their website they mentioned that this is the "most up to date" - false... it's the most current one they decided to use. Google your cable company and SBG6580 to see if others are having issues.

This is pretty frustrating because I almost unnecessarily purchased another cable modem + router OR another gateway (combo) device. And it appears I may need to anyway because Mediacom has chosen to not support this modem.

Moral of the story: Call your cable internet provider and try to ensure that cable modem you purchase is supported or on their list of modems. If not, it's kind of like being stuck on a 3 year old version of windows while updates are released with you being unable to update. Your cable company (or at least mediacom) will not offer any help, they will just say that the connection works great on their end but it's all your fault after that (even if they are using 2 year old software for your modem).

EDIT: I don't want to lead people astray or scare people, my cable company is trying to tell me that it's NOT a firmware problem... well, there were able to make SOME improvements by fiddling around with splitters and cables outside. YET, my problem still remains with this intermittent turning on and off (this is with the modem plugged into the land line/ethernet cable). I hope this review inspires you to call your cable modem provider and see what modems are supported, I think this makes things easier. I'm just hoping you all don't do like I did and just think that it's a quality modem/quality company, everything works... because apparently it depends on your provider.

I've read on forums or reviews here to buy cable connectors that hook into the jack to speed up the signal or something (apparently motorolla has one for $60), Crazy. I'm not paying $60 to boost a signal... Kepp it simple guys, my recommendation is at the end of this edit.

I've also heard that it's possible that having the GATEWAY as opposed to just the modem and a separate wireless system could be a reason for these problems (I thought this would save me $ but it seems like others are having problems too). The thing is, I've had 4 techs out to my house at different times and NO ONE knows what's going on. Never realized this could be so complicated... I think the REAL best option is to ask them what modems they sell (for example, my provider sold some cisco products) and then buy the ones they sell from Amazon or whoever. That way you know you're getting something they actually consistently try to work with and update. GOOD LUCK.

This is my second Motorola SBG6580. As a cable modem, it is an outstanding DOCSIS 3.0 unit. My 12MB package was consistantly giving me 20MG download speeds with Comcast (Xfinity)and 2.5 - 4MB uploads.

The problem was enitrely on the router/switch side. The first unit would give all my PC's a DHCP address and ran fine, but my HP Laserjet 4350 (a common business printer) would not pull an address and neither would any of my four ReplayTV DVR's. I worked for an hour with their very good tech support and he couldn't figure it out and suggested I return it.

I returned as defective and Amazon, in classic style, sent a replacement overnight and a prepaid shipping label for the return.

The second unit, once activated with Comcast, immediately gave my printer an IP address. I was overjoyed as I thought my problem was solved. But, alas, my DVR's would not take an address.

Once again, I called tech support, and after 30 minutes, they could not explain it, other than to say it must be something with my DVR's.

I returned the unit, ordered a Cable Modem by itself and hooked up my Belkin Wireless N Router/Switch which probly issued EVERYONE an IP address.

Bottom line: running DOCSIS 3.0 with the cable modem now, but using an external router/switch.

Bit of a bummer.

I keep having to reboot modem because internet connection stops working. Disappointing.

Unable to get to the full administration menu. When logging into the modem, the full menu flashes then shrinks down to a few minimally useful items. I need to get to the full menu to set up port forwarding but unable to get to the appropriate menu selection. I have not contacted support yet but will do so when time permits.

No manual, the last version device is all the information they provide. It seems to work but it isn't really supported by Time Warner Spectrum. They said they won't configure it for ipv6. I have no noticeable improvement over my last generation modem. I suggest buying the cm400 at least you get documentation.

Bought to avoid the10$ a month rental fee from my internet provider. I have been having connection problems since I bought it, sometimes it just does not have an internet connection even though the internet light on the modem is on. Ive never had this type of problem it all started since I've been using this modem.I called the cable company and there not showing nothing wrong on there end.

This modem seemed like a good deal and was listed as compatible with my cable provider (Cox). After 4 hours on the phone with Cox technicians, we could not get this unit to work. Not sure if I had a bad unit or if something else was going on. I will be trying the Arris brand next since my previous modem was an Arris and lasted 10 years without issues.Update 10-6-16. I purchased a ARRIS SURFboard SB6190 and plugged in this evening. The Cox technicians were able to see and reboot this unit immediately. It came back online and I was good to go. I will leave my 2 star rating for the NetGear Modem since there was obviously something wrong with it or it was not compatible.

The cable modem was mostly fine for the first few months. Recently (5 mo later) it has started to fail. The lights will usually indicate a good connection but it doesn't work. After I power cycle it it will work again until the next time it fails. It has been failing more frequently. It started failing once a week, then twice a week, then once a day. I just had to reset it twice this afternoon.I want a cable modem that I don't have to fiddle with. Replacing it with a different brand.

I have COX ISP in San Diego, CA. and I used to rent the Netgear DOCSIS 3.0 for years without any issues. I purchased the ARRIS SURFboard SBG6580 due to great reviews, but have had many connection and streaming issues unlike before with Netgear. I do NOT recommend this product.

Easy to set up and configure however the wifi even though connected and the signal strength was excellent the internet would never continously work unless i would turn wifi off and then on. Also if you live in apt building or high traffic area use 5.0 ghz otherwise 2.4 ghz you would get very very slow speed no matter if you turn off the WMM feature and configure it up, down, side to side. The 5.0 ghz is excellent for congested area however a lot of devices dont yet work for it especially android phones. Get the dual concurrent 2.4/5.0 ghz router you will NOT REGRET it. I bought the 6700 arris router and no problems yet.

For a year I would have given this Cable Modem a 5 star review. I was very happy with it.

At almost exactly the one year mark I started having a lot of WiFi problems. Dropped connections. Some devices simply could not connect any more. I ended up disabling the WiFi radio and purchasing a WiFi Access Point. WiFi problems solved.

Now, about 6 months later, I receive a notification that my IP cameras are offline. I cannot access my PLEX server or remote control my server.
I've called Comcast several times and they try to up sell me to their modem for $9 a month. In the last 2 weeks I've had to press the factory reset button to regain access to the internet.

I'm upset about this. I don't want to pay Comcast's extortion prices for their modem, and I don't know if I want to trust Arris/Motorola again. Problem is, all the other brands have far worse reviews.

ARRIS usually has really good products. I do not like this one for two reasons.

1. It is not true dual-band wireless. You have to either choose 2.4GHz or 5GHz, so it you have old and new devices in your house you are going to be stuck with using 2.4GHz.

2. The wireless range is not great. My house is not that big, and their are only 2 walls between my computer room and kitchen. I constantly lose my wireless signal in my kitchen.

Because of these issues I returned it and went with a Netgear cable modem and wireless router. The two combined were only $20 more than this and they work a whole lot better. I am able to go through my kitchen, out my back door and half way through my back yard before I even start to loose any signal.

This thing has incredibly lousy/weak wifi, or is just flaky.

I thought I was "upgrading" from an older modem/router combo, only to find my wifi strength, range, and speed reduced considerably by this device. The wired connection works fine, exactly as it should, but the wifi is unstable, generally weak (< 5mbs) and has trouble adequately covering any area outside of the fairly small living room it's stationed in.

There are various things you can try to troubleshoot, if you feel like wasting hours on Google, tinkering around, and/or on the phone with Comcast or your given ISP (ugh) -- but while I've troubleshot modems and routers in the past, I've never had as much trouble getting a consistent, stable signal out of a device as I have with this one.

My advice is to just seek an alternative. I am looking into replacing mine.

Total garbage. We purchased it in May because our old modem was freezing and stalling. In 4 months this unit is worse, and of course the warranty is up and trying to reach a human being at Netgear is like the search for the holy grail. I will not purchase anything from Netgear again. If I could give it no stars I would.

This has not been working since it arrived last month. I contacted Netgear "support", and the representative barely spoke any English. She was very unhelpful, and did not understand. In the end she asked me to submit proof of purchase and that they would reach out to me after receiving it. Weeks later I am still waiting.

I have been a prime member for years. On confirmation with Netgear phone help that this item was defective I was offered a replacement. BUT to receive the replacement before the defective unit was returned I would be charged 30.00. I paid. The new unit is no better. The drop outs are just as bad and the reboot process is maddingly consistent all day. Of course I'll eat the cost and fund a better unit. AND see just how on the ball Amazons algorithms are at sussing out this kind of complaint. Avoid Netgear and enjoy a movie, on me.

Really bummed. I purchased this less than a year ago, and this morning, it just stopped working.Unplugged and reconnected and it's utterly dead.

Died in six weeks and AMAZON HAS A FOUR weeks warranty. The second one(replacement ) died with deferent symptoms TWO weeks later. I ordered the Motorola. The previous Motorola lasted for eight years, I should have stuck with it.

About this Netgear box I have had Time Warner Cable out to check it there box works fine but this box will not work it's defective trying to get another one but my 30 days expired on this and I had bought a warranty waiting to hear back on that

Configuring this modem was simple enough, but as I've gotten experience with this device, I've begun to detest the thing. My main problems with this unit and with Arris are the following:

(1) Periodically, the WiFi stops working, and the only solution is to reboot the unit. This must be done 2-3 times in the typical day.

(2) There is very little control over what protocols are blocked by the firewall functionality, e.g., to enable the ftp client protocol, one must set the security level to "low", which is unattractive.

(3) Arris tech support people are nice but not terribly competent. One of the tech support people tried to convince me that I must enable port forwarding to be able to use an ftp client. (Of course, this is not correct. Port forwarding is needed if one is running a server, or for certain peer-to-peer protocols).

In short, I'm not happy.

I bought this in late July to enable me to telework from home once a week. It never worked properly and my IT department requested that I plug in with a wire since they couldn't identify the problem. By the time my cable provider got out to my house last week (October 24) they said the unit was bad, and now I have to rent one from them. I don't know if this device came to me bad, or went bad, but I never had acceptable service through it. Of course, I can't return it now because it's been more than 30 days.

When I plug my computer into this device and do a speed test with Comcast I get download speeds of 80-90+ MBPS. When I turn on the router, this drops to anywhere between 1 and 30 MBPS. Clearly my speed issues are with this device and not Comcast. If I turn the router to the higher speeds, nothing can connect to it. Not the PS3, xBox, or my laptops. This makes the faster speed useless. Googling ways to increase the speed, I find I may need a firmware update; however, there is no way for me to do it. I have to go through Comcast. I find other such bad reviews all around. In short, This thing sucks, I would not get it. Find a different brand.

UPDATE

This was purchased, and used for less than 6 months before it quit working. I previously worked from home and was having connection issues and constantly dropping service. My employer assumed it was with our cable provider and made me switch to a different provider. I have since went back to that cable provider and attempted to re-use this modem. Almost immediately upon setting up service the exact same problems arose. The Cable provider came and ran all new cable wires in the house and even a brand new ground wire and main feed line to the box. This did not fix the problem. I then used their simple and very basic Arris 3.0 cable modem that they gave me, and all of the issues went away. I spent 3 hours on the phone with a manager who called and wanted to make sure it was the modem and not the service. The Surfboard was properly provisioned and set up correctly, it just seems that the modem no longer functions the right way. We reset the modem back to default settings, tried using it only wired, only wireless, and still had connection issues and massive data loss. I have always had good luck with my motorola cable modems in the past, and they have lasted years. I still have my original surfboard 2.0 modem and it still works 10 years later. This one should last longer than 6 months in use. Be cautious if buying this, and if possible make sure you register it with motorola so that if this does happen hopefully you can get a replacement, and not be out of luck.

Original 2015 Review Here. See Update section below.

So far works well. Speed seems good Wan and LAN.

There is no separation between automatic WAN settings with DHCP and full manual IP settings. You can't use DHCP and also use a custom DNS server. However contrary to some of the other reviews you can go full manual and use a custom DNS server.

The options are pretty vanilla, not much that's highly customization. You can run more than one wireless access point at the same time. Here the options are limited too. One regular network and a guest network. I haven't tried it though.

Work on Charter networks.

Update Edit............... 4/8/2016

The real reason that I wanted this was for a little more control than what I would get from Charter. Every time I want to do any moderately sophisticated setting like open a port up on the firewall I get no decent options. Or what is provided doesn't work. I'm talking about you port filtering.

Has changing your DNS settings while using DHCP and port management not been around since the beginning of home routers? My TiVo will not work with the firewall on. VPN also fails. And there is weak firewall options.

I'm going to have to run my own firewall on an extra device. The whole point of me getting this was to have less devices to avoid more fail points.

Attached is the only Firewall options you get. Miserable. Do not buy. Too much money for what you get.