Motorola Surfboard SB5100 Cable Modem Reviews

• Surfing the web with the 5100

  
  By on 2003-04-24
  I got this cable modem for my folks a short while ago rather than have them continue to pay a monthly rental fee to Comcast. I chose the Motorola 5100 based on the reputation of Motorola, the price (although it wasn't as good as this Amazon price), and the technology.

  Installation was easy with a quick start guide as well as a full manual (on cd). For the price, you can't beat it. It has the latest technology- DOCSIS 2.0 but is backward compatible with the older standards DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 used by mostly all cable internet providers. (Please be sure to check with your cable internet provider first before buying any modem to make sure they support the DOCSIS standard and modem you are considering buying.)

  The Motorola has both USB and Ethernet connections so you can directly hook up 2 computers without having to buy extra networking hardware. Another nice feature is the STANDBY button at the top which you can use to temporarily cut off the internet. Also, it is relatively compact (roughly 6"H x 2"W x 6"D), so it won't take over your valuable desk space.

  Performance-wise, I can't say I noticed much of a difference from their old modem but cable bandwith can be variable depending on the number of users in the neighborhood. At least it wasn't any slower.

  Based on all this, I figured why buy a modem with older technology for more $$ that probably can't be upgraded when you can have the latest and greatest now for cheaper- a rare combination.
  
  

• Smaller & Sleeker

  
  By A117L29JBUWK5U on 2003-06-10
  This little modem replaced our Motorola SB4100. It's better looking and takes up less space, at about the size of a portable CD player. This model uses new technology (A-TDMA & S-CDMA) that triples the upstream capacity to 30Mbps. It is also DOCSIS 1.1 & 1.0 compatible and will work with older technology. I've been using this modem with Adelphia PowerLink with great results. And, if for no other reason, it's worth getting to save the five dollar monthly rental fee. Pays for itself really.
  
  

• From a cable company installation tech's point of view: Surfboard is best!

  
  By A2MT7E3FQBY73O on 2006-01-27
  I have worked a good year solid installing cable modems for Charter Communications in California and I can vouch for the ease of installation (no software is required honestly folks), the reliability, speed, and simplicity of the Motorola Surfboard. It is a class above other modems such as Toshiba, Terayon, D-Link (only customer supplied) and the most dreadful one of all, the Ambit.
  
  Most times we were given Ambit modems to install (about 2 or 3 Ambit for every other type on a daily basis). Most times we had problems that were modem defect related, they were Ambit modems, however, that can't be chalked off to an average likelihood because they were installed more. Now, they failed in high numbers like about 1 out of 4 or 5 before an install could even be completed. To their credit, althought Ambits were what I see as unreliable (drop dead on a dime!), they did stretch the limtis of low signal way beyond cable co specs (+10 to -10 dBs) and sometimes worked (gag) even low as -14dB to (one particular occassion I remember -19dB where other modems could never lock on or would never stay locked on to the two frequencies. Although I can't describe the level of service they would provide at that point of signal degredation as anything better than "beats dial-up" when it would not achieve the "theoretical" maximum speeds of 3Mbps given customers but would get a more lackluster 300-600Kbps. Some customers were happy to be able to get that and more anxious to have that right away than to reschedule for another tech to come later and finish the installation after fixing line problems causing such low signals when it wasn't something that could be found and fixed within the alloted time for the original install.
  
  Our second most installed modem were Motorola Surfboards. While they truly operated more inline with their published specs on signal levels (down to about -12dB usually, -15dB if the stars were aligned), they were definitely more tolerant of noise in my opinion and much more reliable than the other modems we had installed in terms of staying solidly connected and operational with consistent speed day in day out on any good line. The only time I ever had to remove a Motorola from service for a "modem problem" actually turned out to be a bad power supply that failed during installation, not the actual Motorola product itself! I can't say that for any other modem I've installed.
  
  The other modems are usually more stylish, or a bit more sleek, but in my book written by a sometimes frustrated cable technician who has installed, moved, and replaced hundreds of HSCI setups locally, 3 style points aren't worth even 1 reliability point when it keeps customers (or me!) from getting pissed off, so I'd stick with Motorola every time if I had a choice which one to install on any given job because I knew I wouldn't get a bad report or call when others failed just back hours or days after installing them.
  
  I'd stake all my experience in the field with all kinds of setups and problems with Motorola being undeniably the most dependable and functional. They truly are the kings of Cable modem.
  
  

• Motorola did it again

  
  By A1XX779MQS67V3 on 2005-02-23
  I'm a comcast user and I've been using motorola for the past 4 and a half years now. Before Motorola, Comcast gave me 3 different RCA modems within a period of 2 weeks (all would reboot by themselves at least 3 or 4 times a day). After telling them to take their p.o.s. modem back, I purchased a SurfBoard 4100. It ran without a hitch for 3 years straight, before the internal power supply failed (opening up the box and connecting my own power supply in it's place proved so.) However, being in the school that believes when one part fails everything else is bound to fail, I decided to replace it with another modem. Motorola had just released the 5100, so being that I had great luck with the prior 4100, I bought it. It's been a year and a half now, and the modem is still running beautifully. Comcast just recently bumped up their speed to 4 mbps down and 384 kbps up, but I opted for the 6 mbps down and 768 kbps up package. On my iMac G5, I average 5.9 down and 740 up with Firefox and Mac OS X 10.3.7. When doing the same test on my hybrid Win2k/Linux box, it received 4.8 down and 720 up in Windows and 5.8 down and 730 up in Linux (AMD Athlon64 3700+). While older computers may not reflect the performace that these recent machines have, the connectivity is what really shines with Motorola. With an exception of signal interference and an outage during the system upgrade, it stays connected no matter what. I added packet8 phone service recently, and it's just perfect. This modem is one of my favorites (the other two being the Arris Touchstone series and the Toshiba 2600), and is the best value on the market today.
  
  

• Highly recommend this product.

  
  By A16PMWPVE1IREW on 2003-06-11
  This is the best cable modem out of the 3 cable modems I have ever used so far. It is much better than my first one, Linksys (rent from Comcast), in terms of connection stability. And it is much more cute than my second one, Motorola SB4200, as it is smaller and have a better look.

  Setup is very easy and no problem met. Totally take 3 minute including the time calling Comcast to give them the MAC address and customer serial number of the modem. It is on for 1 month now and the connection never dropped. The standby feature is an extra but as I'm running a web server at home, I never use it.

  Overall, I'm very satisfied with this modem because it works great (never meet a single problem), looks cute, and occupies little space. It is trustable and worth the money.
  
  

• Rock-solid connection
  By on 2003-10-19
  I recently purchased the Motorola Surfboard 5100 to replace my RCA DCM226. The problem with the RCA was that it constantly disconnected me, and it had slow downloads and uploads. Plus the reboots took forever. I finally got fed up, and purchased the motorola 5100. I've had it for a couple months now, and so far I have had a flawless, fast connection. I even like the styling of the modem. It fits in well in almost any work enviroment. The installation was as simple as it could be. To switch the modems, you simpily plug the new one in, install the software, and call your cable company (5 minute phone call) and your online in less than 20 minutes!! Final review - this is a GREAT modem at a great price. If your looking for a fast, solid, reliable connection the motorola 5100 is the way to go.
  
  
• Easy to use, widely compatible!
  By A28711BADD9UPD on 2004-08-06
  I have yet to encounter a cable company that doesn't support (or require!) Motorola Surfboard cable modems. My local cable company rents them to its users and if you own your cable modem they won't support anything but Motorola Surfboards. I own a SB4200 and when my sister was in the market for a cable modem, I steered her towards the Motorola Surfboard SB5100. Easy setup, good documentation, and solid performance. This modem is a workhorse. Cosmetically, I prefer the SB5100 to my older SB4200. The smaller, sleek black plastic case is more attractive and takes up less space.
  
  Recently she moved out of town to a city serviced by Cox cable. Before she moved, I checked on their cable modem service to make sure her modem would be compatible, and it was. The only snag we hit was in Cox's listing of compatible cable modems on their website, as the Motorola Surfboards are listed by model number with no brand--so you'll need to know you're using an SB5100 when you register. Once we figured that out, it was just a matter of giving them her SB5100's serial number and MAC address. The modem is performing flawlessly on Cox's network just as it was on her old cable company's system.
  
  This is a great product. Motorola has been in the cable modem game long enough that they've got the kinks worked out. I wouldn't use any other brand.
  
  
• Rock solid, flawless performance.
  By ADZZEQ6V2U1CI on 2003-05-22
  This is a great cable modem at a VERY good price... The install was as simple as hooking up the Ethernet cable, the coax and power then calling my ISP to have the modem provisioned. The connection has been rock solid since and the preformance flawless since install. The design is nice with a small footprint and the "standby" button is a nice feature if your concerned about hackers or other outside intrusion. With DOCSIS 2.0 (and backward compatibility) built in, this modem is ready for any future upgrades by my ISP. I highly recommend purchasing this modem if your in the market for one.
  
  
• Great Modem.Great Price. Would Highly Recommend
  By A1Y41RH2R3VKY3 on 2003-11-26
  I got this modem after being feed up with paying modem rental fees and boy am I glad I did! It is a solid performer and looks much better then my rental modem.

  Setup was very easy and I had no problems. Took just a few minutes to get setup after providing the cable company with the MAC address and customer serial number of the modem. It has been on for 4 months now and the connection has never dropped. The standby feature is a nice extra if you will be away from your pc and want to protect it from the internet "nastiness".
  The overall footprint of this modem is very small. I also love that it comes with a regular 2-prong plug and not a "Wall-Wart" block transformer plug (although it does have a transformer block in the middle of the cord.)

  I also love that you can view the internal page diagnostics, which is helpful for troubleshooting. I have been able to use the internal diagnostics while going through a Netgear FR314, Linksys BEFSR41, and Cisco PIX 501 firewall (I could not do this on my previous modems.)

  I have also noticed a slight speed increase with this modem over my previous Ericsson PipeRider and Motorola 4200 modems. The best part is that this modem's speed is much more consistent than the other two modems. I never worry if I will have great speed and reliability with this modem.
  Overall, I'm very satisfied with this modem because it works great, looks great, and a small footprint. It is well worth the money.
  
  

• Buggy Firmware! Upload Rate Caps To 1/3 Of Max Upload Rate!!
  By on 2004-05-19
  SB5100 has buggy firmware, especially for v1.1.1.1. There is not way to upgrade your firmware for this modem on your own. You have to get your ISP to "push" the new firmware. But ISP will refuse to do so on one on one basis.

  So now, my upload speed is capped down to 1/3 of what the max upload rate should be. Go to Comcast forum in www.dslreports.com, and you will find that SB5100 has a lot of problems and a lot of people complain about it.

  Don't buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  

• Much better than the old days of broadband
  By A24HM3XDFVHXIK on 2003-10-16
  I first had broad band for about 18 months in 1997-98 in San Diego with Dimension, then bought by Time-Warner.

  Those were the days. There were only about three hundred thousand people in the whole nation using it so I had something ten people on my node. It was so fast it was freakin' amazing. Tho' I don't have a problem with 128/1.5 service Cox is providing, there are so many more usage restrictions. When it started there were no throughput limits (7.5GB a month?), VPNs were cool and they didn't care if you ran a website off it because your IP address was permanent. Now that changes every quarter, which I realize, is now a good thing.

  And the speed! Jesus. I once downloaded a 100+MB file in less than three minutes across it. I literally clicked "save" walked out the room to grab a beer and when I came back it had finished.

  And it was always like that.

  The problem was the ancient Motorola Cable modem I had. It was about the size of shoe box, tho' not as tall. It was a pain in the butt. Couple that with the bad router that was in my node and it was a nightmare sometimes to get any connection at all let alone the light speed one I normally had. It was a disappointment going to work at a Real-Time computing company where I had lousy ISDN. Once, for a whole I month I could barely hit the routers for more than an hour at a time and bam! I was down. Time-Warner Tech Support was always really helpful I must say.

  This new Motorola SB5100 was amazing. No drivers to install. No software what so ever. The guy just plugged the modem (to my brand new out of the box Sony Vaio PCV-RS420. Combining broadband with the 2.8 gig processor and this thing screams even with the bandwidth collars.

  I have to say that, after being without broadband for nearly five years it is heaven to be back.

  The only problem I had with the modem was when my dumb self decided to see if my USB 2.0 ports would get me faster throughput speed than the Ethernet card. Big mistake. I could not get an IP address or anything else tho I'd followed the fold-out that came with modem's directions to a tee.

  Chagrined, the retired tech support guy had to call Cox tech support. The girl was fast, smart and very good. She had me up and running again in five minutes. Seems all I probably had to do was reset the modem and it would have worked. Once tech support had me reconnected to the Ethernet card, the modem was reset, it found the router and away I went.

  This sounds stupid I know, but I thought the RESET button on top of the modem was the power button. It looks like one. And the SB5100 doesn't have an obvious power button. In fact, tech support had me unplug its power cable before resetting it (I assume so the network would re-register it).

  Cox tech support (Las Vegas) told me they didn't support the USB method. Sounds like BS to me. My networking knowledge is not great enough to know whether this is true or not. I was probably kidding myself thinking USB would increase my speed over the 100Mbps card the machine came with.

  I do highly recommend this product. Cox's promotion (we bought a new house in a new development) was no rental fees for a year then discount purchase. Great deal. And only 34.95 a month. Fifteen bucks cheaper than DSL. But is it really faster? Since DSL, or so I have been told, isn't nodal based (how can it be TCP/IP, again my lack of network knowledge isn't that great; even tho' I once worked for one of the Nets chief "fixers" in the early 70s when DARPANET was first being developed; in fact, his company made the cable modem router's real-time computer "brains."

  Anyway, buy it. Its twenty bucks cheaper on this site than Wal-Mart where I saw it just days ago.

  Cheers to all. I'm glad to be rid of all the digital modem problems of the old days, but broadband is not the wide open high it was five years ago. The bureaucrats have descended and they ain't going away.
  
  

• It Works
  By A3TS3TIXCELI4M on 2005-01-01
  We moved to a new house with Comcast Internet service - our old RCA cable modem constantly lost the signal. We thought it was time to replace it - and based on reviews, and the fact that we were using a Linksys wireless router (wonderful product) - we went with the Linksys cable modem. It too was unable to retain the internet signal from Comcast. Numerous trips from Comcast techs - who replaced wires and connectors - said it had to be the modem. I didn't believe them - but, out of frustration, purchased the Mororola Surfboard 5100 (one was going to be returned.)
  
  Called Comcast with the new MAC and S/N and plugged it it. It hasn't lost the signal once! The family is happy again, and no longer says, "The internet is down, can you fix it?" I don't know what makes this modem unique - but it works well with our (less than stellar) Comcast service. Download speeds from DSL reports top out at 900 kbytes - about twice what we've seen from Linksys or RCA modems. Upload - about the same - 240 kbytes. Give it a try - it works for us.
  
  
• Lookin' good!
  By A1YS1X3XF669XK on 2003-06-25
  I bought this cable modem so I could save on the rental fees from Cox (San Diego). I was renting an older Toshiba model that I had no complaints with. When I connected my new Motorola this morning (after contacting Cox with the Mac Address and serial # of the new modem), I tested out the bandwidth. Wow, I got a download at a faster speed than I have ever seen with the Toshiba modem. It looks like this modem is going to work out great for me. The reason I decided on this model instead of a newer Toshiba model was the price. This modem was cheaper. It looks like I made the right decision.
  
  
• Happy Motorola Surfboard SB5100 Cable Modem User
  By A11617B1NW474D on 2005-02-22
  I bought this product from Amazon in April 2004. I bought this modem after renting a cable modem (COM21) from Comcast for over 3 years. With my old cable modem, I was losing my Internet connection frequently. I went to my favorite broadband sites and posted that I was looking for a new cable modem. This modem was mentioned more often than other brands. Since I bought it, I've had very little problems. I've only lost one connectiob with it once. That was during a winter storm in early January 2005. I use a 4-port Linksys router along with a 16-port Linksys switch workgroup.
  
  
• Speed, Baby Speed.
  By A1ERWR5A8OVLDH on 2005-05-18
  First Impression
  by w0kie, May 17 '05
  
  What a difference a day makes, twenty four little hours. Actually what a difference the Motorola SURFBoard SB5100 makes. Two to four little minutes to install and surf.
  
  Here's the deal. My very old original rental modem RCA DCD105, then later purchased for a couple of hundred dollars has lately been having big time trouble staying on-line with Cox. My setup is my RCA cable modem feeds Internet to a linky which in turn feeds Internet to a couple of home PCs. Cox said their were no outages each time the RCA DCD105 lost it. I quickly did some research at http://www.broadbandreports.com/ and found that the Motorola SURFboard is a very popular cable modem. Then I researched the usual Internet sites for SB5100 reviews. Nearly all SB5100 reviews were good. Fortunately for me the SB5100 is on the Cox acceptable list. A big box store nearby had them in stock with a $20 mail-in-rebate. Don't you hate those mail in rebates. Oh well, they are better than no rebate or waiting for some time for the UPS truck to arrive.
  
  Installation went like this. First I ran some speed tests with my old modem at http://www.easytel.com/speed/ The 50 K tests with the RCA ran 1.0, 1.1 and 1.1. The 100K tests with the RCA ran 1.4, 2.3 and 2.6. The 500K tests with the RCA ran 2.3, 2.7, 2.3. I then got Cox on the line and gave them the new customer S/N and HFC MAC ID. The Cox rep. told me that she would wait while I hooked up the SB5100. No problemo. I just hooked the new Motorola power cord with the inline brick. moved the linky CAT5 cable from the old modem to the new modem and finally hooked up the Cox cable coax. It took about 1 minute for the SB5100 to link up with headquarters. The Cox rep. thought I would have to reboot my computer but that wasn't necessary because the linky recognized the SB5100 immediately.
  
  Now for the big first impression test. Back to http://www.easytel.com/speed/ - Hold on to your hats boys and girls. My 50K tests: 3.2, 3.3 and 3.2. My 100K tests: 3.9, 3.9 and 3.9. My 500K tests: 4.0, 4.0 and 3.7. This is on a standard plain vanilla cable modem subscription. During the call to Cox I did beg for some free speed but the rep. said she could lose her job if she gave that away. Well I'll never know if the rep. gave me more speed or the rep. didn't but I do know for a fact that I'm really happy with this speedy little black SB5100. If this baby will stay on line solidly for the next few days I'll be satisfied that it won't be necessary to call for service with the potential risk of a very big COX service call bill.
  
  The orange Motorola cable box has the motto of "Always On, Always Connected." Well I'll soon find out if this is true.
  
  
• Stops working
  By A1SEOAGWRFH200 on 2004-08-09
  I have bought this modem Motorola SB5100 two separate times. Both times the modem worked well for 3 weeks and then just stopped. All the lights work fine, but the standby button does not work and the internet connection does not work. I proved this by connecting another modem to my computer, it works fine. Another problem is that Motorola tells me to call my cable company to fix it, but as I said before there is no problem with the cable company (because a different modem works). Therefore, the Motorola customer support is useless.
  
  
• had to be replaced
  By A1YQB7CGVMX3D8 on 2006-09-24
  i had this modem for about 9 months and for the first 8 months it ran perfectly. unfortunately, it gradually became harder and harder to get online. it took longer and longer to connect and it kept dropping the connection while i was online. at first, i thought it was just Comcast having problems or maybe it was my computer. I switched the computer and called Comcast but still ended up with the same problems. it was the modem that was the problem. i didn't have any problem with Comcast replacing it for free though. they gave me a Scientific-Atlanta Inc. modem, so time will tell if this one does the same. don't worry though if you had bought one. Comcast knows about this problem and they will swap out your modem no problem.
  
  
• Great modem
  By A34F0KQ33AGISZ on 2003-05-06
  I purchased this modem on Amazon with free shipping option. It arrived twice faster then claimed. The biggest problem with installation was to give MAC ID and the other stuff over phone to the Cox.
  I rented Toshiba's 1100 cable modem and replaced it with this one. Motorola is great and I'm sure I'll not need another one for a while :)

  A++++++++++

  Thanks
  
  

• Motorola's name is put high with the SB5100 cable modem.
  By on 2003-12-25
  I recently bought the Motorola sb5100 and it has been flawless (except for when my ISP went offline). Installation took only about 5 minutes, the network connection was done automatically.
  The speed also improved very much. I downloaded a 175 MB file in 19 seconds!!!!! No kidding, whereas with my old RCA modem (rental) it would've taken at least 5 or 10 minutes. Anyway, I think Motorola put it's 50 or so years of electronic-communication experience on this baby and voila! the best Cable Modem was born. Congratulations to Motorola.
  
  
• Excellent Product
  By A2K19RJUPWCFG8 on 2004-12-27
  Going from DOCSIS 1.0 to 2.0 greatly helped my internet connection. I use Comcast Cable for my connection and it was seemless. No configuration whatsoever.
  
  I am also in the Information Technology field and have used this for one of the remote sites I take care of. They've never complained about the connection dropping or being too slow.
  
  
• Very Reliable
  By A31BGUC1TM5MWD on 2005-11-19
  Apart problem from my own ISP, this product never failed me. I bought it more than 2 years ago and it is still working perfectly. I never had to call customer support for that. From time to time it goes down due service outage from the ISP. This product is far better than the RCA brand which is a real junk. I leased the RCA cable modem before from my ISP for over a year I had to return it because you have to reboot it at least twice a day before you go online. That problem pushed me to buy this Surfboard SB5100 Cable Modem. For more than 2 years now I am satisfied with the product. I would recommend it.
  
  
• Reliable!
  By A1EITPXA8ZE1OO on 2005-12-10
  
  This cable modem has been very reliable for me. Absolutely no issues. I use Comcast- and even run a small linux server (provides email and web serving for a few relatives.)
  
  
• Won't stay connected for very long!
  By AN4HDLXIZHPVC on 2005-07-16
  When I received this modem, the box said "Always On, Always Connected." Unfortunately, this hasn't been my experience with this product. I've had to reset this thing at least twice a day for a week now (sometimes more). When it's on the performance is great, but eventually it will just stop responding and I have to reset it.
  
  
• This Modem Rocks dude....
  By A1FJXIS1M06IPV on 2003-05-03
  it's worth the upgrade from SB4200 =i love the new design of the 5100= installed NO Problems!!
  
  
• As Advertised
  By A26V0M5W4W6R88 on 2003-06-21
  The SB5100 advertised simple set-up, ease of operation, and reliability. Motorola has hit a home run. I am not a technically oriented individual, but right out of the box, set-up was simple, and surfing was re-activated in less than 10 minutes. A simple phone call to my Cable provider, coax install, network CatV cable install, and power on. VOILA!! Highly Recommended.
  
  
• No signal drops, Very Solid modem
  By A2WM1KL9DQSQ18 on 2004-03-10
  Excellent cable modem. I am very much a Linksys fan and bought their cable modem to go with my router and wireless access point. After numerous problems I checked the reviews to find a better cable modem. Excellent reviews led me to the surfboard.

  I switched to the Surfboard and have had excellent results. No lockups, no signal drops, everything works great. It also works just fine with all of my other Linksys routing equipment.

  If you are having connection drops or other issues with your current cable modem, this one is worth a try. It solved all of the issues I had with my previous cable modem. Does very good with online games as well.

  I am using it with Charter Communications.
  
  

• Just plain works, no babysitting required.
  By A2BAMWA8ZPH1UI on 2004-03-13
  Not much to say other than it worked as specified right out of the box, absolutely no problems (3 mos old now). We bought it to replace our 3yr old Toshiba unit that just up and died for reasons unknown (all equipment is isolated by our UPS). Our ISP (Cox) had us configured/connected within 5 minutes. Thought about going with a Linksys to stack on top of our WAP/router, but am glad I went with the SB5100 because the *Best Part* about it is the standby (disconnect) switch on top - the ultimate "firewall" for when you don't need (or want) to be on the 'net. Think of it as an instant kill switch to cut off that obtrustive web site that won't stop opening new browser windows. Most of my fellow workmates have the same unit and none of them have had any problems at all. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Major VoIP Problems; had to switch to another router
  By on 2004-04-09
  Oddly, I had the exact opposite experience compared to another reviewer. I too have Vonage VoIP (Voice over IP) service, connected to a Motorola vt1000v (cable modem->vt1000v->Linksys router->LAN). I tried to place the vt1000v on the other side of the router, as well. Either way, I had the following consistently reproducible problem. When I talked on the phone and began using my computer to access the Internet, I would lose the connection. Strangely, I would not lose it completely: I could hear the person on the other end, but they couldn't hear me. Meanwhile, the internet connection at the computer was down until I hung up the phone, at which point the connection came back.

  I switched the SB5100 with a Linksys BEFCMU10 cable modem, and the problem disappeared immediately! I had just switched to the Motorola that same day, and I thought that the problem was either with my ISP or I just had never noticed it before (I don't usually surf and talk at the same time). But now I'm convinced it was the modem. Incidentally, the Vonage tech support rep suggested that I upgrade the firmware of the Motorola cable modem due to "known issues." It turned out that I had the very latest firmware already. Note the irony, by the way, that a Linksys modem worked better with a Motorola ATA (the VoIP device) than a Motorola modem.

  It's too bad I had this problem, because I think the voice quality using the SB5100 (when it worked) was actually better than with the Linksys, and everything else about the SB5100 worked fine, too. So, if you're not interested in VoIP, I suppose I would recommend this modem.
  
  

• Very fast
  By A3GH1MJHAWEGKF on 2004-04-17
  I had the Motorola SB3100 for many years. I upgraded to the Motorola SB5100 and had many disconnects. I was ready to blame this new modem. Then I bypassed my router and plugged the internet cable straight into the back of my computer. The router was the bottle neck. With the Cat5e line going straight into my computer the scores in benchmarks with the SB5100 were at least fifty percent faster than my SB3100. I'll have to resolve this router issue though.

  (...)

  If you have a slow computer it won't matter what cable modem you get. Your bottle neck is on your old motherboard.
  
  

• SB5100 and VoIP is the best!
  By A2W1HK42Y4FPU5 on 2004-07-27
  Anyone saying that this modem and VoIP has problems really needs to see a manual. I made the move to broadband because of my disgusting phone bills, and becasue AOL just wasn't worth the slow speed + the seperate phone line for the computer.
  
  *UPDATE!*
  The settings screen is the easiest thing I've ever seen in my life. I really like how everything is VERY self explainatory, and easy to find. It's great for the novice, and the power user as well.
  
  This modem just works. The voice quality with VOIP is great (I have Vonage, and the Motorola phone adapter for that also), and my speeds are just fine. My current hookup is Computer (via Ethernet) - Router - Modem, and the VOIP box is hooked up to the router as well.
  
  

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• Vonage DigitalVoice Service
• Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router

• Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router
• SB5120 Surfboard Cable Modem Docsis 1.1 and 2.0 Certified USB
• Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem
• D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Wireless Router
• Linksys WUSB54G Wireless-G USB Adapter