OT: 24x8 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem

[smontanaro]

We jumped out of the fat and into the fire yesterday, switching from Comcast to RCN. Unfortunately, our Arris SB6141 cable modem doesn't support enough downstream channels, so for the moment, we are using whatever the cable guy left. (I actually get slower speeds at the moment than with the Comcast system, even though RCN's service is brand new to our area and advertised at 300+Mbps, while the Comcast was 150-ish Mbps.)

I first turned to my standby computer stuff review site, The Wirecutter, but though they do have a recommendation for cable modems, it doesn't cover any which are compatible with RCN's system. So, I need DOCSIS 3.0 and 24 downstream channels. (Looking around, if it has 24 downstream channels, it likely has 8 upstream channels, so I'm guessing DOCSIS 3.0 might support 32 total channels?) I don't need Wi-Fi support, as I have a Google mesh system. Any recommendations? Any other review sites for this sort of stuff people rely on?

[tylercheung]

There are newer Arris models that cover that, I think, usually available on Newegg.com or Amazon

[sfscott]

3.1 is the latest I think. Should support 1gig. Make sure to check compatibility with your ISP. Good experience with surfboard

[smontanaro]

In the end, I bought an Arris SB8200, which talks DOCSIS 3.1. It works great. (The RCN "support" person I spoke with, said, "Oh no, it has to be a 3.0 modem. We won't support 3.1 at that speed.") A bit more than I'd planned to spend, so the break even point is a bit further out, but I can live with that. And the next time we decide that "more is never enough" and we need "even more," we won't have to upgrade our modem.