SURFboard SB8200

UPDATE 3 ************** You can read my sad tale below if you choose. But a quick summary may suffice. I got the SB8200 and it worked for 58 days. It then stopped working. It was replaced by Arris but the second modem did not work, either. That modem was replaced by Arris and the third modem did not work. The odds of getting three bad modems were pretty near zero so attention turned to Comcast. A tech came out and confirmed that the SNR was way low and the signal levels were out of bounds. He ran a new cable to the Comcast distribution box and installed a new splitter. The third modem connected immediately and worked perfectly. The fact that my old modem (not a docsis 3.1) worked had initially suggested that the problem was the new modem instead of the Comcast line. Arris support was GREAT through all this. I got right through to a live tech after about 3-5 rings (after their voice menu system answered and directed my call). They replaced the modems quickly (I had to send old modem back via ground - free return shipping - but they sent replacement modem via next day delivery). This is some of the best support of any company I deal with. It is pretty much the opposite of Comcast where getting to a live agent can be very difficult. This review was originally a 2 star but is now a 5 star - and I would give Arris support 6 stars if I could. ORIGINAL POST ********************* I have had this modem for 58 days. It was working well connected to Xfinity. Good download speed. Then, today it became intermittent. It ran for a couple of minutes, then lost internet connection, then was back but at slower download speed. Then it was running fine. That pattern continued to repeat. I had hoped it was an Xfinity issue, but I reconnected my previous modem and everything is working just fine. Before purchase I had read the bad reviews, but there were way more good reviews so I hoped that I would be one of those customers that got a "good one". Nope. Besides EVERY modem I looked at had about the same number of bad reviews. Many saying - don't buy this. So what is one to do? UPDATE ************** I contacted Arris customer support. I got through to a tech IMMEDIATELY. He said they needed to check the modem while it was online. Since I had already installed by backup modem, I had to contact Comcast and switch my MAC address back to the Arris and get in connected. I then called Arris back and again was connected to a tech, immediately. The reason this is a 2 star rather than a 1 star is because of the ease of contacting support. The tech looked at the modem stats and agreed it was bad. After a 5 minute delay while he consulted with a supervisor, he approved my return of the modem. He emailed me a prepaid shipping label and said they would send a new modem to me as soon as they received the old one back. So what Arris may lack in quality, they do mostly make up for in good customer support. Realistically, any product can fail, so the experience in dealing with a failed product is an important part of the buying process. Arris support gets 4 stars from me - one star off for making me reinstall the modem so they can verify it was bad. Though that was a perfectly reasonable request from them, I had pretty good evidence of my assertion that it was their modem which was the issue. Update 2 ********** I got the replacement modem. I spent about 90 minutes on the phone with Xfinity and Arris customer support trying to get that modem working with Xfinity. We could not get the modem to work - it seemed like it was working for a few seconds here and there. So I am sending this replacement back and will get yet another replacement (for the replacement). Hopefully the 3rd times the charm.

I replaced a just over 1 year old Netgear Nighthawk CM2500 modem that was dropping speed and needing to be reset three or four time a week. The Arris was super easy to set up with my Spectrum service and seems durable. I have a seperate router setup and the range has not been affected. he speeds have been back to what I would expect. I have not had any heat issues with the unit as some have stated and the streaming capability works with multiple devices without issue.

I bought this modem to replace my much older, DOCSIS 3.0, Arris Surfboard modem. This newer modem supports DOCSIS 3.1 which allows for much faster speeds that the older modem couldn't handle. This modem also includes two Gigabit ethernet ports that can be used for faster than 1Gb cable speeds, check with your provider on eligibility. The older modem only had one 1Gb port. Pros: - Easy to setup using both the Arris and Xfinity apps. Did not even have to call Xfinity support, just logged in through the Xfinity app on my cell phone, selected to upgrade my personal equipment and then entered the hardware address listed on the bottom of the modem. Xfinity recognized the new device, there were a couple of reboots (probably firmware updates from Xfinity) and then I was online. - Connection has been rock solid, to be fair the older Arris model that I had for over a decade was rock solid as well. Arris just makes reliable equipment. Cons: - Don't really dig the white case, looks cheap. All my equipment and the previous Surfboard model was black. It's an aesthetic thing. Why not a black case option like the previous Surfboard? - DOCSIS 4.0 is coming, and this new modem won't support that standard. So even though I had my previous modem for over a decade with no issues, I will probably be replacing this new Surfboard when the provider switches to DOCSIS 4.0 in a couple of years. White case aside, it's a great modem and you really can't go wrong with Arris if you need a cable modem. Recommended!