CM500V

I bought this modem to replace the tm822g from comcast. My setup had the tm822g and an asus rt-ac66u, however, due to an issue with comcast I wont go into, I was being charged a rental fee for a modem that I had purchased. All of the other modems that were compatible with comcast did not offer the emta for voice so I was faced with either buying a modem and paying for a triple play that had voice i couldn't utilize. or pay 250 dollars for an arris that had emta but was based off the highly controversial intel puma6 chipset which has been documented as having flaws and being unstable. On top of that, all the devices that had emta were all in one gateway devices that provided routing and wireless which I did not want. I wanted a lean modem that literally only did modem and voice things. After some arguing with comcast they told me the cm500v was coming out in approximately 1 week and it would be what I am looking for.The CM500V has 16 downstream channels compared to the 8 channels on the tm822g. I do not notice any difference in top speed with this new modem as the bursts seem to cap at around 240mbps. It does seem though that when the modem is under load it seems to handle it better having more downstream channels to spread the bandwidth over. This modem does future proof a little as it would be adequate if comcast decides to up the speed to 686mbps at some point. Although, if that were to happen I would need to replace the AC66U because the CTF hardware acceleration on packet switching from the wan tops out around 300mbps.That all aside, I had no problem installing the modem. I plugged it in and it booted up and I was directed to the comcast walled garden. I put in my account information and it rebooted and was working within minutes. I did not have to call comcast. Once the modem was working I plugged it into my router and then I lost wan connectivity. Once I rebooted the router and the modem everything was up and running again. Since I was plugged directly into the modem from my laptop when it first booted up it got an IP address based on the MAC address of my laptop. That was why i lost connectivity when i plugged it into the router. Once I rebooted them both the modem pulled a new ip address and everything was good. The modem has been rock solid since with no issues on the phone or voice side.If you want a modem that is literally only an internet and voice modem that doesn't do any routing (because you have your own routing hardware) and doesn't have wifi (again because you have a router or an AP for that) than this modem is adequate and fits into a nice price point. It also is based off a broadcom chipset and is not susceptible to the issues people are reporting on devices that have been based off the faulty intel puma 6 chipset like the arris 6190. There has supposedly been promised a firmware update to fix the 6190 but it has yet to be seen. The arris 6183 is not affected by this issue in fact, the 6183 uses the same broadcom chipset the cm500v does. The key difference is that the cm500v has voice and the 6183 does not. The 6183 is one of the most popular retail modems and this devices is every bit its equal despite its slightly higher pricepoint, which as you may note, is because of the emta functionality the 6183 lacks.So if you need a reasonably priced 16x4 channel modem that doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the gateways the ISPs try to rent you and you dont have voice service from comcast, you can get an arris 6183 and save a few bucks.If you however have a triple play with voice, this modem is basically a 6183 with voice. If you check the datasheets its the exact same broadcom chipset.If you feel the need to check the webUI of this modem you will find its very simple and there isn't a lot you can do from there other than check the status and reboot the modem. The webUI is very lean on functionality. But honestly, I dont consider that an issue because as subscribers to an ISP we dont really handle any of the configuration anyway. The modem downloads the docsis config form the ISP when its provisioned so really that point is moot.

Defective had orbitel come in and it did not work and had to install new modem and routerNow I cannot return it as it’s been to late

The second modem I received from Amazon has been installed and is working very well. Three years ago, I decided to stop paying Comcast's rental fees and purchased my own modem: an Arris tg862g. That one was also purchased from Amazon and did a nice job for three years (though it appears to be end-of-life now). I decided to purchase a new, faster modem to update my system and came across this one. I didn't want a router because I plan to install a Google Wifi mesh system to help eliminate internet slow spots in my house. I decided to go ahead and get a telephony modem even though I don't use the phone part of Triple Play because I didn't want issues with Comcast.The good news: The installation of the Netgear took about 2 hours. I followed the "Quick Start" guide which came with the second modem, and probably didn't wait long enough for the modem to totally start up before I plugged my computer into the modem. When I tried to call the two phone numbers provided, I didn't get a prompt that allowed me to talk to someone about activating the modem - the phone system would not take "activate modem" as an option. Comcast's own website says that after plugging in the computer, I should have been automatically sent to an activation page. That didn't happen, and putting "xfinitiy.com/activate" into the browser didn't work to get me to an activation page either. So I reinstalled my old modem and started a chat with Xfinity. The guy asked for all of the information that's noted on the Quick Start Guide (make and model number, serial number, MAC address), and then went away, telling me to stay on the connection while he activated my modem in their system. After 20 minutes of waiting I asked if he was still there a few times - no response. So I stopped the chat, installed the new modem, and plugged my computer in, and got to the activation page immediately. A code was texted to my phone and it seemed to be up and running but sadly only for 10 minutes. Then dead again. This time when I called the Xfinity phone number, one of the options was "connectivity issues", which I picked. The computer re-booted the new modem. and all seems to be well.It seems that people have had luck using the "plug and play" method, but my modem required a bit more intervention. Comcast's phone system is still a hurdle but don't despair, it just requires persistence. I had several hiccups when I set the Arris up three years ago, too.So what's the bad part? The modem I installed was the second one I got from Amazon. Here's the story of the first one.When I opened the brown shipping container from Amazon, I knew there was a problem. (1) The Netgear's box was unsealed, and (2) the flap to open the box was torn. (3) the modem was scuffed and dirty, and (4) the power cord was partially wrapped around the power "block" and the rest was stuffed in haphazardly. I didn't realize until I got the second one that a couple of other items were missing from the first one: (5) there was no Quick Start documentation in the box, and (6) the phone cord was missing. I decided that I had gotten a used item that had been installed and could have been defective, which is why it got returned. I really didn't want to try to install a potentially defective modem - installing a perfectly good one is a lot of work and aggravation and the chance that the first one was bad was too much of a risk for me. I don't have any problem ordering a returned/certified item but this one clearly hadn't been looked at to make sure it was in working order. I returned the first one as "damaged" and requested a replacement. The second one came quickly and was sealed and brand new. My review of the first modem was rejected by Amazon (not within their guidelines) but I thought I'd put the particulars here in case Amazon tries to charge me a restocking fee because there are items missing in the box I returned. And also in case this happens to someone else too.