Time to Replace the Cable Modem?

[CoolRich59]

I remember being told to upgrade my wifi router a year or two ago because technology developments made routers of a certain age obsolete.

Along the same lines, I was wondering this morning if I should update my cable modem. I can't find the receipt, but it's easily more than 5 years old.

I've never had any issues with it, but if I am missing out on internet bandwidth or speed because of an out-of-date cable modem, I'd want to look for an upgrade.

Thoughts?

 

[Gotadimple]

I remember being told to upgrade my wifi router a year or two ago because technology developments made routers of a certain age obsolete.

Along the same lines, I was wondering this morning if I should update my cable modem. I can't find the receipt, but it's easily more than 5 years old.

I've never had any issues with it, but if I am missing out on internet bandwidth or speed because of an out-of-date cable modem, I'd want to look for an upgrade.

Thoughts?

go out to your cable providers web site. Look at their equipment choices, if your modem is no longer being offered, then it might be time.

- Rita

 

[RunningBum]

Run a speed test to see if you're getting the bandwidth you are paying for. If you are, I wouldn't bother upgrading, since you aren't seeing other issues (outages). If not, a new router might fix your problem. It could also be in the wiring to your router, or with your provider.

 

[CoolRich59]

go out to your cable providers web site. Look at their equipment choices, if your modem is no longer being offered, then it might be time.

- Rita

Great suggestion, thank you. I went on their site and they do not offer my router anymore.

In fact, I experimented with changing service and it triggered a pop up message that I could not move to the next higher level of service unless I changed to a different cable modem.

Run a speed test to see if you're getting the bandwidth you are paying for. If you are, I wouldn't bother upgrading, since you aren't seeing other issues (outages). If not, a new router might fix your problem. It could also be in the wiring to your router, or with your provider.

Not having performance issues, but a speed test is a good idea. I'm paying for a certain performance level. If the speed test indicates I'm not getting it, my guess is that the modem is the chokepoint as my other devices (tv, laptops, wifi routers) are all 2 years old or less.

 

[Sunset]

My cable modem is a few years old, and it's limit is 213 Mps , as I only subscribe to 30 Mps it is fine.
However, I notice some companies are offering 500 Mps and even 1,000 Mps...

I don't need that extra speed since I can't read that fast, but if I did want to upgrade it looks like my modem and router would have to change..

for a speed test site I have used:

http://www.speedtest.net/

 

[walkinwood]

If your cable modem supports DOCSIS 3.0 or later, you're fine.
Comcast has said that it will implement 3.1 in some cities, but I don't know if they have.

 

[pb4uski]

Speaking of Comcast/Xfinity.... I recently reactivated our internet at our snowbird condo. Instead of paying them $10/month for a cable modem/router, I bought an Arris AC1600 cable modem and wi-fi router at BestBuy for $117 including tax. Happy so far and saving $10/month off my cable/internet bill.

Another thing I did is that I dropped down to a lower level of internet speed (30 mbps) and saved $10/month vs 75 mbps (we have 12 mbps at home and that serves our modest needs) and about a month later they sent me an email informing me that I would now be getting 60 mbps at no additional cost.