Motorola MB8611 DOCSIS 3.1 Multi-Gig Cable Modem | Pairs with Any WiFi Router | Approved for Comcast Xfinity, Cox Gigablast, Spectrum | 2.5 Gbps Port | 2500 Mbps Max Internet Speeds
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "The Xfiniity compatible Modem was super easy to set-up following the Quick Start guide included in the box. Word of advice for Comcast / Xfinity subscribers -- when stepping through the set-up Wizard, selecting the option to text an activation code is a joke -- the code is only good for 15 minutes but I didn't receive the text until 30 minutes had passed; just stick with your Xfinity account name for the activation and provisioning.\n\nXfinity upgraded to DOCSIS 3.1, and, while my own 6 year old trusty Motorola Surfboard SB6580 was working fine, Xfinity found every reason to pester me about an upgrade and how much I'm missing not having a 3.1 modem lease an upgrade. I prefer to own my own modem, so, after perusing compatible modems for my region on Xfinity's approved device page, I narrowed my choices to the ARRIS Surfboard SB8200, Netgear CM1000, and, this, the Motorola MB8600. All three are comparable at 1001 Mbps, 32 down x 8 up DOCSIS channels, and DOCSIS 3.1.\n\nAll the cool kids love the Arris -- especially after they ditched the very problematic Intel PUMA chipset and went with the Broadcom's offering -- and for very good reasons, it has great hardware specs. Sporting 3GB of RAM, 128MB /16 of NAND flash memory it's a tasty treat. And, were it not a horrific white box that clashes with everything in my apartment, I'd happily have purchased it.\n\nVanity, thy name be Monkey Rat, I know.\n\nI've never had a lot of love for Netgear, and, I found its hardware lacking -- 128 MB of flash memory and 256 MB of RAM. Ultimately not a huge game changer, with current theoretical home speeds at 1Gb, but one would expect something a tad more, well, more from a name like Netgear. While its feature rich -- which, is saying something for a cable modem -- I really saw no reason to down this path.\n\nThat clashing white Arris was looking tastier at this point.\n\nThen I compared the MB8600 to both and found a happy place. 512 MB of RAM and 128 MB of NAN -- a buck cheaper than the Netgear with a doubling of the RAM, and while not as expensive -- marginally -- than the Arris, and certainly lacking a bit in the hardware department, but I paid more for future ability to bond upwards of 4 separate lines. However, the LACP technology requires a higher end router, and faster than a gig speed isn't necessarily right around the corner, but, this device positioned nicely for a future with a potential of 4Gb.\n\nWord of caution -- it's a BIG device. If you're familiar with the older Surfboards, this is easily double the size in height and does not come with any sort of mounting option. However, it has great ventilation thanks to a well aired grid pattern on the side.\n\nSo, how does it work? My internet plan is the BLAST! 150 Mbps (stop laughing) -- and i assure you, I've never seen that even in the dead of night -- wired speeds show an increase on speedtest.net but it's not really all that noticeable, whether plugged in directly to the cable modem or my ASUS RT-AC86U router, notebook and desktop performance were negligible. However, wireless performance for my nVidia SHIELD K1 tablet and Google Pixel 2 phone were significantly improved - I found this a little odd as they're still going through a router, but, I can't argue with results.\n\nI keep forgetting the MB8600 has a baked in spectrum analyzer utility I need to check out -- I'll add an update when I do.\n\nUltimately, I like it -- I play Everquest (the original) and noted better response times, but again, the MS aren't earth shaking or setting the sky afire. Stream the occasional movie, and really I don't have any complaints, and can only praise the device for its eye-popping Wi-Fi boost, for which I have no good explanation.\n\nI may change out my Cat5e for Cat6 and upgrade my router next -- hopefully wringing a couple more Mbps out. But, really, I think it's time to call xfinity and have to do some line tests. I will provide updates on that as well."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Speaking as a cable technician for one of the larger companies out there, this runs cooler (less heat produced, more efficient with electricity) and more stable (doesn\'t drop off nearly as easily due to low dBmV or low MER signal issues) than the rental Ubee, Technicolor, and Arris models my company "includes for free with your package". And yes, the AQM also works with the Cisco CMTS we use are our hubs currently, at least in my city that I work in. I bought one myself in December, it\'s been running a server without interruptions. Of course any line damage or RF leakage issues will still need repairs, but I\'ve seen it more than once with weak signal on the coax (sometimes even negative dBmV levels from the tap), but yet this modem stays locked on without issues. That\'s impressive, and only one or two rental model modems we offer (which are exclusive to business class, not residential customers) gets close to that feat. Any one-star reviews you see here are likely going to be significant leakage issues inside or outside the home, almost never the modem itself with a well-made model like this MB8600.\n\nIf the manufacturer changes who is designing & making this (i.e.: no longer Motorola engineering), I will update this review. Until then, 5-stars and my non-official (can\'t speak on behalf of the company I work for of course) but personal experienced-based approval.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I have xfinity performance pro which is rated for 150 mb/s down and 5 mb/s up. I've been using the Arris SB6141 modem which is 8 channel down x 4 channel up, great modem, no issues but it's speed maxed out at 120 mb/s down and 5 mb/s up. I figured what the heck might as well get the speed i'm paying for, so I purchased the Motorola SB7621 which is 24 channel down x 8 channel up. Internet speed is now 180mb/s down and 6mb/s up with a ping of 19ms. I am happy that I am now getting the speed I am paying for. Yes the upload speed didn't change much but that is because xfinity does not support 8 channel up in my area. This means even though this modem supports 8 channel up it only shows 4 active up channels when you log into it, this is not the modems fault, this is xfinity's doing. The download channels are fine, all 24 channels show up and are active. Yes, I could have purchased a 16 channel down and 4 channel up modem and received the same current speeds but at the time of purchase this modem was less than or the same amount as all the 16 x 4 modems. By buying this Motorola I can upgrade my internet speed down the road and still be covered. Another good thing is that this modem has the Broadcom chipset not the Intel puma.\n\nThe modem comes with good instructions and is well packaged. Setup was a breeze. I didn't have to call xfinity. All I did after I hooked up just the modem to my PC was navigate to motorola.com which brought up the xfinity activation page. Then just log in with your xfinity credentials and follow the prompts. Very easy and welcomed as I didn't want to sit on the phone talking to xfinity support.\n\nI never do reviews but I figured this little box deserved one and hopefully this helps someone."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Great product. Works as advertised. Instruction manual is terrible but Motorola support is too notch.\n\nTo use with Comcast / Xfinity:\n1) plug in modem, attach coax, and connect port 1 to a laptop with Ethernet cord\n2) go to xfinity setup webpage on your laptop and enter account credentials to activate modem (web page address is in instruction manual)\n3) modem will reset and then you should have wired web connectivity with your laptop\n4) unplug modem power, disconnect laptop and connect terminal 1 of modem with Ethernet cable to your router with router powered on, and then plug in modem power\n5) after plugging in modem it will reboot and then your wifi should now work.\n\nTips:\n1) you may need to factory reset your router to get it to connect with this modem. I had to reset my apple time capsule reuter\n2) this is a bridge modem, so you must power it down before connecting a router. Plug in router to modem and give router power, and then plug in modem power\n3) only one port can be used. The rest are for bridging signals once that functionality is available from ISP. You can only use one of the four Ethernet ports on the rear'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I gave this modem 5-stars because it does what it is suppose to do, as advertised. Overall I am happy with the purchase. When wired our speed is: 438/22, wireless is less impressive: 41/4, adequate. Xfinity ISP Service is suppose to be "up to 600mbps". Obviously, wireless speed is dependent upon many things not the least of which is number of other connected devices & we are up to 25.\n\nBut if you think it will be easy to activate on Comcast/Xfinity, you need to remember who your ISP is. At first I tried to activate the modem online just as the instructions recommend. That procedure requires you to download and install a new app on your phone (btw, be sure you have your cell before even beginning activation). Well, that was a waste of time. Kept receiving error messages from Xfinity. So I called Xfinity and after waiting for 15 minutes, spoke with a rep who indicated they needed to transfer me to another tech. But instead of transferring me the rep hung up on me. So, thought I\'d try Xfinity Chat. Connected in about 10 minutes. The Chat person (sorry forgot his name) required me log into several additional Comcast/Xfinity web sites on my phone, I had to sign several additional agreements (even though we have had Comcast for 8+years & had recently upgraded our service) and then Chat person abruptly stopped communicating?? Guess it was time to go home. All of this took about 90 minutes, or so but still no service. I\'ll save you details of the rest of my frustrating experience....I was able to go back online and eventually activated the modem after a total of a couple hours (not the 15 minutes advertised). I think Chat person did do something to our account to allow the activation.\n\nMy message is this, assuming Xfinity is your ISP, just call them to start with and forget the self-service activation option. Hopefully they won\'t hang up on you. Good Luck.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "This cable modem is a beast (in a good way)! A little over 7 years ago, I bought the Motorola SB6120 to replace the crummy cable modem that Comcast charged me monthly to use. I had no problems with the SB6120, but got an email from Xfinity saying I needed to upgrade my equipment. I guess because they have increased the speed on my service and the SB6120 is so old it may not be supported with updates from Motorola. OK...I paid $75 for the SB6120 and it probably saved me over $750 in monthly rental for 7+ years.\nDecide first if you want DOCSIS 3.0 or 3.1 because the Docsis 3.1 is new and will probably be usable for years to come. Motorola only has 1 Docsis 3.1 cable modem available today which is the MB8600 and is almost twice the price of the Docsis 3.0 MB7621. If you compare the specs, the MB8600 is faster but at nominal 1000 Mbps and Comcast certified 400 Mbps, the MB7621 is way faster than my 150 Mbps service.\nI got it today and got it activated and hooked up to my new Motorola MR1700 router. The process was fast and easy if you can figure what they are trying to say in the quick start guide. I activated with my notebook directly connected to the cable modem and the speed exceeded my 150 Mbps service by almost 30%. After direct wire of my notebook through the router, my speed was also exceeding my service speed at the same level.\nThe only way I can lose on this purchase is if Docsis 3.0 becomes obsolete in less than 8 months and I'll bet that is unlikely."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I recently upgraded my Cox internet from the Premier (150Mb) to the Ultimate (300Mb) option. The Ultimate internet can have speeds around 300Mb down and 30Mb up. With the upgrade, Cox incorrectly sent me a DOCSIS 3.0 modem with a $10 monthly rental fee. With it I only got speeds up to 170Mb down. Then I checked on Amazon and there was a $10 off special on this Motorola DOCSIS 3.1 modem. I purchased and received it in a couple of days. After I received it, I called Cox to switch the modem (gave them the model number and MAC address). After that I ran a speedtest and I got 343Mb down and 32Mb up. It was very easy to setup and now I have very fast Internet speeds. The Cox DOCSIS 3.0 modem went back to the Cox store.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I purchased this modem for use with my new gigabit service with Comcast Xfinity. Constant disconnect issues. At first I thought it was because there weren’t any telephony lines and Comcast was trying to provision voice. When it failed, it would be disconnected.\n\nI wasn’t using voice, so I took it off my plan... and continued to have issues. I got wise and started researching (Google “MB8600 Comcast Disconnect) and found several others with issues.\n\nI decided to buy a Netgear CM1000. Got it set up with Comcast in just a few minutes and it’s been rock solid.\n\nNot sure if this is a bad modem, or needs updated firmware, or if the issues happen to be on Comcast’s side (even thought I had several techs come out and check my house’s wiring, all the way up to the equipment on the pole), but the Netgear works as expected and this one doesn’t.\n\nI missed the return window and can’t get my money back. Heed my warning; don’t lose money like I did.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "I purchased two Motorola modems. One at a higher price for myself (MB8600), then this one (MB7621) for my sister. Mine went out for no apparent reason within 6 months. No storms, no lightning, no power surge, just surfing the web one minute, the next it's a brick. Had to go through such a pain to return mine for a replacement. A hold on my credit card until they received the fried one, had to wrangle with the warranty department since I didn't use it as a basketball, or mistreat it in any way. It just sits there on a desk.. really Motorola? I don't think it's just a freak thing that my sister's modem did the same exact thing within 3 months! Needless to say I was furious when told we would have to de-activate the borrowed modem from Xfinity, re-activate their modem so they could deem it useless, then re-activate the borrowed modem again.. then send the friend one back for a replacement.. so another de-activation and re-activation for a product that will probably fry again within a few months.. NOOOO! The most appalling thing was being laughed at while being told this by the customer service/warranty representative of Motorola when I called in, like it was completely thrilling for him to to be such a pain. Then his laughter got even louder and his tone changed to very condescending when I told him I would call Amazon and just get my money back for this defective item. He guaranteed me that I best do as he said because I would never get my money returned after having the item for that amount of time. Long story short.. THANKS AMAZON.. love y'all for refunding my hard earned cash so I can get away from this Motorola modem! I will NEVER own another Motorola product as long as I live!"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Solid, state-of-the-art cable modem using the Broadcom chipset. Works great with Spectrum even though they won\'t say it\'s supported. Connect your coax line, plug in, then allow the modem to come fully online before connecting a router or PC. The modem will not "bond" with a router or PC unless it\'s online first (for the first time). Any time you switch routers you must factory reset the modem before it will bond with a new MAC address. You\'ll need to call your cable internet provider and provide the modem\'s MAC address so that it\'s provisioned on their network.\n\nAnother note of importance for those who want to access the modem\'s Admin UI at 192.168.100.1 - if your network is anything but 192.168.1.x, you may not be able to reach the UI from a web browser on any of your network devices until your router is set up for that particular subnet. I was not able to get to the modem from a 192.168.0.x network, even though I could ping it (on 192.168.100.1) no problem. Motorola tech support stated that they don\'t necessarily see this behavior with all routers, but from my own experience I was not able to open the Admin UI within a web browser until I changed my ASUS router\'s subnet to 192.168.1.x. The Admin UI is useful for viewing the signal strength on your upstream and downstream bonded channels, among other things (such as the connection status, etc.).\n\nA number of reviewers have written negative reviews of this modem, mainly complaining about downstream issues. Make sure your downstream QAM signal Power Level is between -15dBmV to +15dBmV on all channels, SNR should be 35dB-45dB (ideally). If you notice that your power levels are outside that range, you will likely have downstream connection issues and not have full throughput. Upstream Pwr levels should be between 35-55dBmV. If your numbers are outside this range, call up your cable provider and request they send a technician to check your signal levels and correct them.\n\nThis modem will connect to up to 32 QAM channels on Docsis 3.0 and easily reach throughput speeds of up to 1Gbps and beyond on Docsis 3.1. For those who are wondering if the MB8600 works with Spectrum, it definitely does.'}]