ARRIS SURFboard SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem/ Wi-Fi N300 2.4Ghz + N300 5GHz Dual Band Router - Retail Packaging Black (570763-006-00)

I have been using the Motorola SB6580 for well over a month. I bought it to replace a Motorola SBG900, which was functioning well but needed to upgrade. I prefer the modem/wireless combo offer over separate modem, access point and wireless router simply because this is a more efficient arrangement. I hope the quality of the SB6580 is superior to SBG900 (the first SBG900 I bought died after 3 months and was under warranty, but I had to pay for two way shipping; the second after a year and past warranty and was cheaper to junk it; third Surfboard is fine after over 2 years). The SB6580 has performed well thus far. The speed and range of this DOCSIS 3.0 is far superior to the previous DOCSIS 2.0. I have tested my speed using the Speakeasy Speed Test and have trebled my speed vs. the SBG900 (using wireless 802.11n). If you download large files, are a gamer, Skype, or stream movies you will certainly appreciate the improved bandwidth and speed. The range is excellent. I have a large home and property and have an excellent to very good signal strength throughout the property including the yard. We have had as many as 8 computers doing various tasks with no performance issues such as lag or slow downloads. I would recommend placing the unit on a shelf that is well elevated (over six feet) rather than on a desktop or table.The four (4) Ethernet ports available are very helpful when you want to hard-wire something to the modem. I have found that to be a marked improvement to the sole port available in the SBG900. This way you will have no need for a separate Ethernet switch.The unit was fairly easy to set up. The problems stated by earlier reviewers regarding the "IP Flood Detection" has been eliminated. Motorola now disables that by default. Consequently, this no longer causes any issues or problems.Disabling SSID broadcasting is a bit tricky though, not because of difficulty, but rather because Motorola, in their infinite wisdom, chose to make it more challenging by not having a "Disable SSID Broadcasting" radio button as with previous Surfboards. So, I am going to provide detailed instructions for disabling the SSID broadcasting:1) In browser's address bar (doesn't matter which browser) type 192.168.100.12) Type your "User Name" and "Password"3) You are now in the set up menu. Click on "Wireless" from the top menu choices4) On the Left side menu choices, Click on "Primary Network"5) On the Right side menu choices, under "Automatic Security Configuration", Click "Disabled"6) This is the final step which disables the SSID broadcasting. In the middle section "Closed Network" set to "Enabled"7) You're Done, Save, ExitI would also like to point out that an old, legacy computer would not accommodate the new WPA2 encryption. This gateway does NOT support the old WEP. Therefore, any devices that you have that cannot upgrade from WEP encryption will no longer access the internet using this gateway, sorry for the bad news. How I was able to have the old computer still access the internet was to have the Guest feature security set to WPA. Also, remember your best speed will be achieved when your computer itself is using a wireless 802.11n card rather than the older, wireless 802.11a/b/g simply because the most speed you can achieve with those will be 54Mbps.In conclusion, a solid unit out of the box. Did not need any firmware upgrade with Cox as my ISP. Firmware BTW is provided by the ISPs NOT Motorola, for some reason. When activating the unit, request they "Push" any firmware upgrade to you. They should understand what that means, if not, ask for a more experienced tech person to assist you. I do hope that the build quality on SB6580 is more reliable than that of its predecessor the SBG900. You may ask why I kept replacing the problematic SBG900 with same if it failed so frequently (No, I am not a masochist!)? Simply because the choices for all-in-one gateways are so limited and I really did not want three separate units.

I did hours upon hours of research into different types of cable modems, and I learned much more than I ever wanted to know about the DOCSIS standard (used for cable Internet). Eventually, I chose this modem as the very best.I chose this modem because it's one of the few DOCSIS 3.0-compatible modems that supports the most features of the standard - It can support 8 downstream channels and 4 upstream channels (for a combined total of ~370 Mbps down/~170 Mbps up), all of the industry-standard encryption methods, and it's 5 GHz wireless N network capability. Lots of devices support 2.4 GHz wireless N, but 5 GHz is faster and typically has much better performance. Microwaves, cordless telephones, and other 2.4 GHz wireless networks can wreak havoc on a typical b/g/n network. 5 GHz a/n networks don't usually have to deal with much interference.The SBG6580 used to have a few problems with earlier firmware. I initially had some problems, too. But Motorola has released new firmware and I simply asked my Cable ISP (Mediacom) to update the firmware for me. Now I don't have any problems. If you're looking at getting this cable modem, you may want to call and ask your ISP if they have the capability to "push" the latest (or a fairly recent) version of the firmware to this modem.Well... I suppose I still had one problem remaining after the firmware was updated. I noticed that my download speed wasn't as fast as it should be (it was only about 9 Mbps, but I was supposed to get 20 Mbps). But I quickly solved that problem with a Motorola BDA-K4/RA Coaxial Cable Amplifier. Now I'm getting around 28 Mbps (Shh! Don't tell on me!). I'm guessing that there's some signal degradation in my apartment building... possibly due to some improper wiring/cheap cable splitters in the walls. But the cable amplifier seems to boost the signal to a very healthy level, and my research indicates that lots of other people have experienced dramatically faster internet speeds with an amp, too.Now, being the tech geek that I am, I'm using this modem strictly as a modem. I briefly tested the wireless networking feature, and it seemed to perform well. The Web-based configuration has been simplified in some places for average users, but there's also alot of stuff in there that even I'm not 100% sure what it does... Anyway, I'm using this modem without the wireless networking, and I set it up in pure bridge mode. I have my own router/firewall and wireless access points that I prefer to use instead of the cable modem's. It's all working great. If you need help getting it into bridge mode, just Google it. I found a few brief mentions of a mysterious SB6180, which is apparently the exact same cable modem (chassis, features, etc) minus the wireless networking. It's also apparently only sold directly to business customers.In summary:-The SBG6580 is one of the best, most advanced DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modems available today.-Make sure your ISP can deploy the latest firmware to this modem. Otherwise, you *might* have some problems.-If your internet speeds aren't as fast as you think they should be/you experience disconnects, try a *bi-directional* coaxial cable amplifier. The modem is probably not the problem.-The Web-based configuration might be a bit intimidating for some less-advanced users.-Geeks, nerds, and technophiles should thoroughly enjoy using this cable modem.