Cable Modem (internet)

I am currently renting a cable modem from Comcast and I realize it would be cheaper to just buy one myself. It appears that Motorola is one of the more common brands.

My questions is, how much of an impact does that modem play in connection speed and stability? Is it worth spending high bucks, or should I go with a modest priced one.

If it matters:
20mbs plan (I actually get about 25 from Comcast usually)
Linksys dual band router
1 wired connection
about 10 wireless connection
Not heavy user, just everyday normal person use.

I think as long as you pick one their supported ones that is DOCSIS 3 you should be OK. Access to the modem logs and readings is also very useful (I've had two motorolas and they both had log access)

If you pick an unsupported one, it *may* work but they will point to it as a problem every time you ever have to call in

I picked mine based on ventilation the biggest thing is docsis 3.x and to me cooling heat kills modems and routers I really think that is the reason they stop working or get flaky over time the Motorola is just a
big perforated box

this is the one I have

A DOCSIS 2.0 modem would be plenty for your plan. If you thought you might upgrade to a faster (50Mbps+) plan in the future, then you could get a DOCSIS 3.0 modem.

A DOCSIS 2.0 Motorola SB5101(U) is around $50 on amazon or the DOCSIS 3.0 SB6121/SB6141 are $80/$90.

Quote from dhc014 : A DOCSIS 2.0 modem would be plenty for your plan. If you thought you might upgrade to a faster (50Mbps+) plan in the future, then you could get a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. A DOCSIS 2.0 Motorola SB5101(U) is around $50 on amazon or the DOCSIS 3.0 SB6121/SB6141 are $80/$90.

Plenty of DOCIS 2 on craigslist. I tried to sell mine for $20 (cox) no takers.

If you buy invest in DOCIS 3 as that is the future and has bonded channels

Yup, look for a DOCSIS2 on Craigslist - you should be able to find a Motorola SB51xxx (any model is fine) for like $20-25.

Even though your plan doesn't "need" a DOCSIS 3 modem, I found that my DOCSIS 3 modem helped web pages load quicker even though I'm only on a 15 Mbps plan. Having 4 channels back to the provider did seem to make a difference.

I think that the best option, that will provide the longest future-proofing is the new SB6141 from Motorola. You can find it on Amazon for about $90: http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Su...rds=sb6141

It can bond 8 channels for downstream (at over 300 Mbps) and 4 channels for upstream (at over 100 Mbps). It's only a few bucks more than the SB6121 that can only support speeds around 1/3 that of the SB6141. I suspect it will be quite some time before many cable ISP's even offer those kinds of speeds, but for around $10 extra, I think it's worth it. It shouldn't need to be upgraded for MANY years.