I bought this cable modem because I did not want to be a victim of Time Warner Cable's leased modems. This is my first time being a Time Warner Cable customer, and during installation, I handed this modem over to the cable guy (who looked a bit disappointed that I had my own modem, for some reason), who set up everything without a hitch by calling Time Warner Cable and giving them the HSC MAC ID. For those of you who want to buy this modem to replace TWC's leased modems, just call them and give them the HSC MAC ID, and they'll activate it for you (you might have to reset the modem after activation to get things going).
Anyways, moving on to function and reliability, this modem is great! The speed of the internet plan I pay for is 15 Mbps (there is a difference between MB/s and Mbps, as 8 Mb = 1 MB), and after doing a speed test at speedtest.net, my ping is 9-11 ms, and my download speed ranged from 14-16 Mbps (usually 16 Mbps), which is great. So far, there hasn't been any bumps in the road, and I haven't experienced any downtime in connectivity or anything.
On a somewhat related note, I also purchased a router because I wanted WiFi as well, seeing that I have tablets, smartphones, and game consoles in the house. The router I'm using is a "Factory Refurbished NETGEAR WNDR3400 N600 Wireless-N Dual Band Router" (I literally copied the title and pasted it here). Since it's refurbished, no CD came in the box, so I just connected the router to the modem, and connected the router to my computer (with an Ethernet cable, not through WiFi). Internet didn't work at first, but I assume there was some automatic setup processing somewhere (probably something to do with assigning an IP address or something) because eventually internet access returned within a few minutes. I then went to http://192.68.1.1 (default username: admin, default password: password), and set everything up, and soon had working WiFi within 15 minutes. Despite being refurbished, this router works like it's new.
In short, this modem is working properly, has a stable connection to the Internet, and is giving me the speeds that I paid for (which is all that I ask for). It also works well with the "Factory Refurbished NETGEAR WNDR3400 N600 Wireless-N Dual Band Router," which is easy to set up if you have basic knowledge of setting up networks, configuring IP address, etc.
Edit (11/13/14): It's been about 3 and 1/2 months since I've been using this modem, and I've had zero problems with it so far. In this span of time, I've only had to restart the modem once (internet outage), and everything was fine after that. Not sure what caused the internet to go wonky, but I highly doubt this will be anything to worry about.
Frequently bought together
This item: ARRIS / Motorola SurfBoard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem - White
$49.99
Get it as soon as Monday, Apr 27
Sold by GeckoDeals22 and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.+
$55.00
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 15
Only 3 left in stock - order soon.
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
From the manufacturer
ARRIS SURFboard SB6141 Cable Modem
SURFboard - the original cable modem
The SURFboard SB6141 is an affordable, high-speed DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem that provides you with 343 Mbps download speeds – perfect for things like streaming audio and video, downloading and sharing content. It supports IPv6 – the latest Internet standard and is compatible with major U.S. Cable providers. The SURFboard SB6141 is easy to install so you’ll be surfing in a matter of minutes.
Stop leasing your modem and save money!
When you purchase a SURFboard modem, you save money on monthly lease fees while equipping your home network with the latest technology.
Will SURFboard work with my cable operator?
It sure will. SURFboard cable modems are compatible with major US Cable Internet Providers like Xfinity by Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Brighthouse and many others. Don't see your provider listed here? Just give them a call to confirm.
SURFboard is simple to setup
With just a few steps, you'll be surfing. Simply plug your live coax cable into the modem, plug in the power cord and give it a few minutes to go through the provisioning process. That's it!
Product information
Warranty & Support
Product Warranty: For warranty information about this product, please click here [PDF ]
Feedback
Product Videos
From the brand
Stop paying for Modem fee
Listen. Watch. Play. Stream. Shop. Work. And Learn. Like Never Before.
Similar brands on Amazon
Page 1 of 1Start Over
Sponsored
Customers say
Customers find the modem works right out of the box and appreciate its solid performance, noting it's easy to set up and saves money on cable bills. Moreover, the device is compatible with various providers including Comcast, Xfinity, and Time Warner Cable, and delivers great speed. However, connectivity and reliability receive mixed feedback - while some report no drops in connection, others experience frequent disconnections, and while some find it reliable, others report it failing within months of use.
AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
Select to learn more
4990 customers mention functionality, 4548 positive, 442 negative
I've had this modem for 2 years and it still works great. I'm usually streaming on at least two devices, along with phones, laptops, etc. Works great!Read more
...Very pleased with the modem and also with Comcast. Pros: works well, affordable, simple to setup and relatively simple to interface with...Read more
...It’s what you should expect from a cable modem, fast and reliable. It’s likely that nobody is going to read this, but I wrote it anyway just in case.Read more
Works perfectly. Only complaint is the super bright LEDS on the face that can light up a room. I snapped a picture. Even the white case is lit.Read more
2431 customers mention quality, 2282 positive, 149 negative
Great modem, perfect for what I needed. No reason to pay for the wireless feature when I have my own wireless routers that I want to use exclusively.Read more
Great product. Worked perfectly and was very easy to set up. Used it in lieu of a Comcast modem and then connected my Apple Time Capsule for WiFi.Read more
...because while the overwhelming majority seem to agree this is a good product, there were still enough dissenters to give me pause, and it seems that...Read more
Good modem. All 8 channels are active, works as a modem should. Wish retail had a black option, but aside from the color everything works as expected.Read more
2256 customers mention speed, 2017 positive, 239 negative
Wow! Works great and saved a bunch on Amazon. Fast and reliable. One power cycle in 13 months. You will have to pay this from my cold dead hands.Read more
This modem installed easily and is very fast. So, what is the problem then? Blinding and I mean BLINDING blue lights on the front....Read more
Super fast and great, but beware if you want to but another cable modem in another room you have to pay for another line, sometihng they dont tell youRead more
...So far it seams to be faster and doesn't bog down like the old one. Time Warner LA , CA was very helpful and it only took about 10 min to set it up....Read more
2122 customers mention easy setup, 2055 positive, 67 negative
Works like a charm! So easy to set up.....then you can forget it. heheh Seriously, I have had this for a while now and not even a hint of a problem.Read more
While easy to install, Comcast forgot to tell me I needed to call and have my equipment updated. It works well and is much faster than my old modem.Read more
Easy setup. Good performance on my Comcast account. Not much to setting it up. Had to call Comcast with the MAC address. Mounted mine on the wall....Read more
The modem was easy to setup and unlike some models it is very cool to the touch so it should last a while. It is full IPv6 compliant.Read more
1182 customers mention value for money, 1097 positive, 85 negative
Saving money from my cable bill is why I bought this, it was a great price and seems to be a great addition to my home and it was certainly a lot...Read more
...Great little piece of equipment, easy to set up, no issues, good price and is definitely allowing me to maximize the speed I'm getting from my ISP....Read more
...Haven't noticed increased performance, but have had no issues. Great value, and wish I would have stopped renting my modem from TWC for $10/month...Read more
...Really noticeable increase in speed. This modem is worth every penny & plus now I don't have to rent a modem from Comcast which in the last 7 1/2...Read more
1116 customers mention compatibility, 965 positive, 151 negative
It works with Comcast. The signal strength is a bit weaker than I would like. Most people in my area are on 2.4GHz. I use the 5GHz band....Read more
Works great with Comcast...just remember to call your cable company to register the serial number and don't forget to clone your PC in the setupRead more
Works well with comcast. Much faster than the one I was leasing plus it saves me $8 a month. If it lasts at least 8 months it will pay for itself....Read more
...to keep current with their system -- it's a great device, is compatible with Comcast, but soon you won't get the full speed potential of your service.Read more
937 customers mention connectivity, 497 positive, 440 negative
Swapped out an inferior TP-Link with this. Solid connection and getting 60mbs as advertised by my isp, without any disconnections in the week I've...Read more
...it on this morning and it kept rebooting every 2 minutes with no internet connection. Motorola support said it was probably bad as did Comcast....Read more
This router works great, no disconnects and a perfect replacement for the Time Warner router. I would purchase immediately and you won't regret it.Read more
I am having lot of connectivity issues after i installed this modem, Comcast technician came home couple of times and confirmed there were no drops...Read more
868 customers mention reliability, 349 positive, 519 negative
Defective - do yourself a favor and read the 1-star reviews before buying this modem! I bought this modem to replace a Comcast rental....Read more
The perfect Modem with speed and reliability to interface with nearly any multi-media piece of equipment you would have in your home or office at...Read more
Out of the gate the modem was defective. Kept rebooting and the reboots kept increasing as the two month period went on....Read more
...Night and day. Fast and most importantly . . dependable. Lights too bright, though. Covered them with masking tape to calm them down a bit....Read more
SB6141 power consumption and heat readings
At the time I'm writing this review, I've had this modem for about 3 years now. I'm specifically reviewing the Surfboard SB6141, in case this shows up along with other SB model reviews. You don't need my review to know it's one of the best 8x4 channel modems you can buy, there are plenty of other reviews here that will give you those details. When I purchased the modem, I specifically wanted a simple and reliable stand-alone modem with a single ethernet port to connect it to my router and this one seemed to fit my requirements perfectly. I have not had any issues with the modem over the 3 years it has been in use. My unit predates the branding changes made after the Arris acquisition, so it's only branded as a Motorola modem with no mention of Arris. My cable provider is starting to roll out network upgrades in my area and because I'm on a higher service tier, after the upgrades are complete I'll eventually need to replace this modem with a 16 channel unit to handle their higher speeds. After researching newer options, I realized there was some useful technical information that many modems lack in their reviews, so I hope to provide that here for anyone researching modems in the future. With several potentially good options available that meet my needs, I feel like this type of information can be a useful to consider when you're left with several options that seem like they would be fine. First up is power consumption. I used a kill-a-watt meter to measure the power consumption of this modem at what I consider to be an idle state. In this case, idle doesn't mean not using it at all because that's not a realistic usage scenario, but rather an email client and chat client are running but nothing is actively being streamed or downloaded. For this test, my meter reads 5.9 watts being used by the modem at idle. Next up is external heat. Attached is a photo of the modem taken with a thermal imaging camera. The temperature in the room is about 73 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest point of the outside of the modem reads as 98 degrees Fahrenheit. To the touch the modem is just warm but not hot. I don't have the numbers for other modems, but I would consider this to be reasonable. In general devices that run cooler are less likely to suffer from failures due to overheating. I have the modem connected to an uninterruptible power supply (battery backup) so it had been running 24/7 for many months before the photo was taken and power consumption was measured. The power consumption data is useful to me for that reason, as it helps me to maximize the amount of time that the modem remains online during a power outage. (The cable line is still active while the power is out, with backup power I've remained online for several hours during outages with this modem.) I hope this data is useful for someone, as it's something I'll be trying to look for when I buy future networking hardware.
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2014
- Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2013
