Finally got my own Cable Modem

[iFrogMac]

Hey all, finally decided to get my own cable modem to get rid of the rental fee, and since Cox supports bring your own. Since I didn't need anything fancy, and just wanted and needed something with the latest supported specs for a gigabit connection I settled on the ARRIS Surfboard S33:

ARRIS Surfboard DOCSIS 3.1 Multi-Gigabit Cable Modem with 2.5 Gbps Ethernet Port, Approved for Cox, Xfinity, Spectrum and Others, Wireless Technology - New Condition - Walmart.com

Buy ARRIS Surfboard DOCSIS 3.1 Multi-Gigabit Cable Modem with 2.5 Gbps Ethernet Port, Approved for Cox, Xfinity, Spectrum and Others, Wireless Technology - New Condition at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

So far everything is flawless.

Also didn't want a gateway if i didn't have to keep it (even though I had it in bridge mode)

 

[iFrogMac]

Thought I would give an update. It's almost been 24 hours with the new modem. Everything seems to be working smoothly. The Modem is connected to an Asus RT-AX86U on the gigabit port. I may switch to the 2.5 gigabit port if, at some point I feel like it might benefit wireless speeds. The Arris is slightly slower than the Cox provided gateway, but I'm still in the gigabit ballpark. The Techno color gateway can do up to about 940 Mbps down and the Arris goes upt ot about 929 Mbps so far, and the upload is about the same. Might be a chipset difference. The connection is stable, and I have about a 5 to 10 ns ping according to speedtest.

If anyone has this modem, and I can tweak the speed a bit, let me know. However, the difference doesn't seem big enough to even be concerned about. I had considered a Netgear modem, but I actually like the small footprint of this one. I would have liked a full set of status lights, but the light it has is easy to tell what's going on, it's bright, and lights different colors based on status.

 

[sfx2000]

The Arris S33 is pretty decent - one of the better DOCSIS 3.1 modems out there...

I've got the predecessor - the SB8200 - I've only got 500/50 (no need for Gigablast here at the house).

There's nothing to tweak on the modem - performance looks good as it is with your 929 down... one could always do the 2.5Gbit port on the router side, but even there, on the 1Gb/Sec plan, there's not much difference...

 

[iFrogMac]

The Arris S33 is pretty decent - one of the better DOCSIS 3.1 modems out there...

I've got the predecessor - the SB8200 - I've only got 500/50 (no need for Gigablast here at the house).

There's nothing to tweak on the modem - performance looks good as it is with your 929 down... one could always do the 2.5Gbit port on the router side, but even there, on the 1Gb/Sec plan, there's not much difference...

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I've been happy with the performance over all. Cox is coming tomorrow to pick up their gateway. I was gifted a year of cox complete care after they came out to fix issues outside the apartment. So the tech will probably want to test my modem just to make sure it got set up right. I'm hoping this will also remove the modem rental fee from my bill once they pick up the gateway. The person I spoke to on the phone to activate the modem said the rental fee will be removed now that I'm using my own modem. The other thing is, I gave them the Serial and MAC before plugging the modem in, but it still connected no problems when I plugged it in.

 

[sfx2000]

That's pretty much how it works...

Normally the process for returning Cox premises equipment is to drop it off at the store, or ask for a return label to ship it via UPS.

Hopefully they don't charge you for the tech visit - typically they will, but it's a discretionary item for either the tech or the call center rep.

For the self-install/upgrade - they do have a web site that handles this - enter in the new modem SN/MAC addr, unplug the old one, hook up the new one, and they'll provision and update the local config and perhaps device firmware.

 

[iFrogMac]

That's pretty much how it works...

Normally the process for returning Cox premises equipment is to drop it off at the store, or ask for a return label to ship it via UPS.

Hopefully they don't charge you for the tech visit - typically they will, but it's a discretionary item for either the tech or the call center rep.

For the self-install/upgrade - they do have a web site that handles this - enter in the new modem SN/MAC addr, unplug the old one, hook up the new one, and they'll provision and update the local config and perhaps device firmware.

I explained to them that I am visually impaired and can't drive, and I had been receiving the ACP before it was discontinued. So, they've been doing what they can to work with me to make things easier. I could take the modem to the cox store as that's where I got it from when moving in. However, I'd either have to pay for the ride or find someone who can take me, So, if they are able to work with me and come pick it up, makes things a lot easier.

EDIT: @sfx2000 Just wanted to add, while I didn't have to reboot the router (RT-AX86U) after changing modems for it to keep working, I did so this morning and my speeds went back up to 940x download. So the router probably just needed a refresh with the new modem.

 

[iFrogMac]

Just asking a quick question to follow up on this topic. Everything is working as expected. Cox has had to replace some of their stuff that has worn out to keep the service stable. With that said, and I think the answer is probably going to be "Not Necessary" is there any reason to factory reset the RT-AX86U after changing modems, or is a simple power cycle and reboot all it needs? That's what I've done and it seems OK, so this was mainly just to make sure I wasn't missing something.

 

[Tech9]

Not necessary.

 

[iFrogMac]

Not necessary.

Thanks, I figured this was the case. However, since this was my first time changing from a provided provided modem, to my own, just wanted to be sure.