Motorola SURFboard SB5101U DOCSIS 2.0 Cable Modem

After being placed on hold for 10 minutes with technical support, I was informed that Comcast wouldn’t activate it because I didn’t buy it from an “authorized retailer”. The interesting part is that Best Buy is the ONLY authorized retailer. I asked the tech support rep if it’s an issue of trust with the Motorola brand (counterfeiting, shoddy equipment, etc…) and he just towed the company line and said, “sir, I’m sorry, but you need to purchase this from Best Buy and not Amazon.com”. I was flabbergasted.

As of the writing of this review, Best Buy is offering this same modem for $30 more than Amazon, and Comcast just raised their modem rental fees from $5 to $6.61 in my area. I can’t help but wonder what kind of profit sharing setup they’ve got behind the scenes. This feels like marketplace manipulation, collusion, or some other anti-trust lawsuit waiting to happen.

I’ll probably try to call back in another day or two and claim that I bought it from Best Buy. Maybe I caught a tech support rep on a bad day. If not, this modem is getting returned. I just wish Comcast didn’t have a monopoly over my cable/internet service — I’d drop them in a heartbeat.

EDIT: As posted below, I was able to successfully activate the modem via Comcast’s Online Chat Support.

This modem was economical and very easy to install. I simply disconnected my old Comcast modem, connected my new Motorola Surfboard modem, and called Comcast to give them my MAC ID (located on the modem). Within five minutes I was connected to the internet with the same great speed!

Works great. Easy, hassle-free setup, no software install required, just connect the cables, call your cable company to register the modem over the phone and you’re done.

This is the only Energy Star rated cable modem I could find. Power adaptor is compact and electronic–not a brick– so it doesn’t get hot or waste energy.

I brought this modem to replace the one I had from Time Warner Cable after the free lease period ended. I am glad I did that since Time Warner recently announced that it would be raising those lease fees from $2.50 to $3.95. So far, so good. The modem was very easy to install. I just swapped out the old modem and connected the power card, coaxial cable, and ethernet/USB cable. (Note that the modem does not come with coaxial and ethernet or USB cables, so you will need to buy those unless you have them; you will also need a coaxial cable splitter if you want to connect a cable TV and cable modem to the same jack). The hardest part of the install was getting through to Time Warner Cable to provide the MAC address (long wait time) and then waiting for the registration to work its way through their system and become active (several hours). So far, I have been very pleased with the device. The modem works perfectly with my wireless router, and I have had very stable and reliable connections on all of my wireless devices. I also have not had to reset the modem once over the past week, unlike the one I had from Time Warner, which needed to be reset every other day or so. I returned the old modem to the cable company today. With the higher lease costs recently announced by company, I will recoup the purchase price in a year and avoid the feeling of being ripped off by the cable company when my bill comes each month.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2013: Six months after purchasing this product, I remain pleased. It is much better and more reliable than the one that Time Warner Cable had provided previously, and I only have had to reset the unit three or four times since purchasing it six months ago.

I purchased this modem to replace my leased Comcast modem because they were going up once again. The setup was easy just plugged it up and called Comcast to give them the mac address. The worst part of the deal is that Com freaking cast has yet to take it off of my bill so hopefully it will be off this month with a credit.

But the modem works great. But I also found that I could have gotten the same modem for a $1 difference from Walmart and not have to wait on the shipping.

I received the package yesterday and had this modem working inside of 20 minutes. I simply unhooked my old modem and followed the steps to hook this one up. I ran the installation guide CD and when I was done it displayed the ‘Mac” address, told me that Comcast will need it and directed me to call them for activation. After the usual 10 minutes of them trying to get me to NOT talk to a real person I finally got someone on the line who asked me for the Mac address and boom everything worked perfectly. I then plugged the Ethernet cable back into my wireless router and the three lap tops, a couple of Roku’s, a Blu Ray player and the wireless printer all worked great.
I am not one to constantly check download speeds but I was getting some download interruptions with the last modem so I wanted to replace it with a newer model. Time will tell but so far I am very pleased with this item and for the price it is a super deal. For my application this gets 5 stars
Amazon is incredible but you need to be on your toes. I had this item in my Cart and was ready to purchase it for $54.49. Somehow I deleted it from my Cart and ran a new search and came up with this exact same item in a so-called Environmentally Safe box for $29.00. There must be a catch. I had momentary buyer’s remorse when I was waiting on the line with Comcast but absolutely not an issue. No catch and I saved $25.
Remember this is a 2.0 DOCSIS modem not the 3.0 high speed one. I do not pay Comcast for their high speed internet service and my research said I do not need the 3.0 for the level of service that I have with them.
So for about $30 you can own your own cable modem, eliminate the monthly rental fee and pay this off in about three or four months.
March 23rd update-I noticed that the price has gone up from $29 to $44.99 since I bought this–now only $10 savings

This modem rocks. Set up was simple, I plugged it in hit the internet, was redirected to Comcast’s web page to register the modem, plugged in my account number followed the prompts and was online in minutes. This replaced an RCA 10mbs modem I was renting from Comcast. I had been having issues with log delays loading pages. Bandwidth speeds tests were coming back at 7-9 mbs on downloads and 1 mbs on uploads. With the Motorola SURFboard SB5101U I jumped to a consistent 18-23 mbs on downloads and 2.5 – 2.9 mbs on uploads, when it comes to computers this is the best $50 I have ever spent!

Works great on Western NY Time Warner Cable network. Tested with both “standard” (10/1 Mbs) and “turbo” (20/2 Mbs) even though TWC approved modem list states that this modem only works for standard and below.

Avoids a $3.95/month fee from TWC.

2 year warranty is an advantage over used.

If you have Comcast, purchase this modem. To activate:
1. unhook the to-be replaced modem.
2. hook this one up (important: plug in the power last).
3. wait a couple of minutes for the Comcast server to detect your new modem.
4. open a browser and to go any URL.
5. the Comcast server will present a self registration interface.
6. follow the steps (you’ll need your Comcast account number).
7. Online!!!

No need to call customer support. I can’t comment on reliability, but DO NOT put it
in your attic as I did because my rental one of the same model died on the first warm
day of summer.

Purchased this modem to replace an older Linksys modem that used to have intermediate problems occasionally slowing the download speed to a crawl. Before calling Comcast to have their rep checking house connections, I decided to give it a try. What a difference it made!
I’m consistently getting the highest download and upload speeds and could not be happier.