New modem needed?

I had a Comcast tech out to my house a few days ago.
Anyway, while here, he said that my three year old Motorola Surfboard 4100 was getting old, and might not function properly when Comcast increases the cap on connection speed to 6Mbps in the next few months (amazingly, for free at the moment). The max speed is now capped at 4Mbps.
Is this so much baloney, or will I need a newer modem? (If so I am considering the Surfboard 5120.)

 

PeteC--Thanks very much. Do you or does any one else have a comment on how many years a modem, like Surfboard, should last? Mine has always been connected to a surge protector.

 

If it's Comcast can't you just walk in with the old modem and request a replacement? I'm DSL and have never had a cable connection but just thought that you could exchange a modem. I know I can with my DSL ISP.

 

Thanks for the further comments.
I was just wondering if people who have cable modems know that there is an average working life for them. (like brake pads for a car)
I did a little digging around on my own and found the following:
In a Comcast forum, which you need to be a customer to access, it says
"Of the list of Comcast-approved modems
http://www.comcast.net/help/faq/ind...ble_Modems17905
the following modems have been tested with these new speeds and have been determined to not be able to achieve these top new speeds:

Max Modem Download
Brand Model (Mbps)
Motorola SB3100 (OS: VxWorks 5.3.1) 7.3
Terayon ECM615 6.1
Toshiba PCX2000 6.5 "
The SB4100 is on the approved list in the link given.

This suggests that all will be OK with the SB4100.

Note that the issue of DOCSIS version is not brought up anywhere. (The SB4100 is DOCSIS1.1, whereas newer modems are DOCSIS2.0.)

Jaylach--I own the SB4100, which supposedly saves me the $3/month rental fee.

 

One thing that I have personally found out about modems ( cable ones at least ). Or, my experience with Cable Modems. Your call.

My Original Modem was a Motorola Surfboard 4100. All was well UNTIL I started adding LinkSys NICs and a Linksys Router. And later on a Linksys 4 port Switch.

I did not need any software to tell me things were going wrong. Or at least SLOWING down considerably. And it was quite slow when 2 machines were on at once.

So by me being the Try It and See guy I am I decided to get a Linksys Modem. BEFCMU10. Inserted it into the proper place in the chain of command. Called the cable company and gave the new address ?.

I changed NOTHING on any machine.

I did not need any software here either to show me the improvements.

So where was my original problem ? The NIC ? The Router ? The Modem ?

I say it was just a pure and simple mis-matched combination of all of it. Which BTW quite often gets overlooked.

BillyBob

 

Meant to also ask if anyone can comment whether an Ethernet or USB connection for the modem would be better? Please remember I am talking about only a max 6Mbps download speed.

Thanks, BillyBob, for your input.

 

Going by DSL... Ethernet definately!! Just remember not to expect the advertised mbps! You're not gonna see it.

 

I do agree with that.

Hardware, Software, type of connection sure do all play a part.

But also I find the DAY and/or the TIME of day have a GREAT BIG EFFECT. Two hours ago it took me at least a minute to get THIS SITE loaded. Just now it seem to be here before I got my finger off of the mouse button. But in the meantime I found a program that was SUPPOSED to be shut down wasn't. ( relates to #4 below )

So where was was my hangup earlier ?
1-Was it my machine ?
2-Was it in my hardware ?
3-Was it due to Internet load ?
4-Or still yet, was it ol' BillyBob here trying to run too much at once ?

Of the choices I pick #3 and/or #4 Unless REAL BAD things are happening I leave #2 out of the picture. #1 does indeed come into play sometimes.

Another way that I can get a failry good idea on things. If one or two of the other machines are doing OK then it is time to restart this one.

Although one time I tried a lot of things and wound up finding a Cable from the Switch to the Router was not tight. ( I had moved the Switch around on the shelf ) All three machines were having trouble that time.

RE #4. I have had times when nothing seemed to be going anywhere. I would restart Windows and BINGO !! I was on my way with no problems.

I know that a lot of users are against restarting Windows. But I find that there are times when it helps.

BillyBob