Got the Cisco E3000

Thanks for the reminding. Network then I don't know, but about modem then I do know a little. I started modeming in early 70's, and have been using Cable HSI since @HOME was first available, I have upgraded the modems 3 times before and this will be my 4th one.

It's very simple.

- First, I don't have the modem yet to know for sure what the result will be.

- I am hoping that my current plan is faster than 8-25Mb/s that I get from "speedtest.net" which I never cared to test before. Or as I mentioned that I don't care for the speed report, but I want to have some record so I can compare in order to share the experience with other.

What I am trying to say that there is a chance that I am using underpower modem, or COX not yet blocked or set limit to my plan so I may be able to get some extra speed from it. If not then it's not a big deal.

What plan do I have? I never care to ask myself or COX, All I remember that mine was $49.xx originally, then COX gave $10 discount for having COX Cable TV and Phone services. That's all I remember, and I dropped both cable TV and phone services few years ago. And I never looked at the bill to know how much they charge me now.

What answer if I tell you? and I never complain about the lower speed or modem fault, I just report for one who wants to know.

And if you won't mind me asking you a question.

Lets assume that your SB5120 is broken and you have to buy a newer modem to replace it. My question is do you spend extra $5-10 for the SB6120 or you will buy another SB5120?

That's all I want to know so I can have some idea what I am dealing with.

Yes, it's simple, but you're hoping for improvements anyway. :)

Your 5120 isn't underpowered, and I seriously doubt that Cox has forgotten to put a throughput limit on your account.

Two things are completely foreign to me:

1. Paying for Internet access and not caring whether I'm getting what I pay for, and
2. Paying the bill without looking at it.

Just thinking about either of those things makes my skin itch.

Why bother doing any testing if you don't know what the results should be? That goes especially if you're using web-based speed test sites, which is why your results are all over the board. (8-25Mb/s) Once you test properly, you'll start to see very consistent results. You may still see slowdowns during prime time, usually due to congestion caused by node oversubscription, but even the slowdowns will start to be consistent.

If the cost differential were $5-10, I might go for the 6120, but I wouldn't have any expectations of service improvements without a corresponding increase in my service plan, i.e., upgrading to a DOCSIS

3 plan. On a DOCSIS 2 plan, the two modems should be the same.

Interesting. :)

Updating

First, and again I would like to thanks some folks here provided me with possitive information helping me to upgrade my router which had problem connecting more than one wireless computer for so many years. And last time I checked, I was able to connect *both* Wii (it has wireless capable) and wireless network at same time, other than that I haven't done any more testing. So, I am happy with the result, and I would be happier in summer break when more kids can access to internet at same time (instead of disconnecting one to allow other to have internet)

And as I mentioned about getting the newer SB6120 DOSCIS 3.0 top replace the older SB5120 DOSCIS 2.0, and promise to post the result here hoping to share some info with others who may need some info (especially from one with no experience like me).

- In the past few days, I have done like 30-40 tests

because I care about the speed, but I want to see the diffewrence to report here.

And the average TOP SPEED is around 23-25 Mb/s. As I have mentioned that sometime in the evenning the speed can drop to around 6-10 Mb/s but that is when more people using the same line at same time. And I try to get the TOP speed that the modem can squeeze here.

- I just have the SB6120 installed, activated (or setup) from COX by giving the tech the "Customer S/N" and "MAC S/N" then followed the instruction. It took around 7-10 minutes to get the modem activated.

Right now it's 12:00 PM and I just did around dozen test and the average TOP SPEED is around 33-35 MB/s (I got several 23-29Mb/s). The uploading speed remain the same at around 2.3 - 2.5 Mb/s

So, I am pretty sure that this DOSCIS 3.0 modem does gain few extra juice from the current service/plan that I can't get from the old DOSCIS 2.0 modem. And I may do few more test at different hours like evening and late at night , then will give the result here.

And this is just the other way to say THANK YOU for those who have helped me here.

sigh, wired or wireless is immaterial, works the same with either, if you have a computer on the network, and set sharing permissions, ANY device on the network can access it ....

on mine, some puters are wired, some wireless, and some even powerline

for instance (too long to teach you how to to do it, but read about sharing, mapping and printer and file sharing) my computers have network names like acer, toshiba, gateway, and usb devices i share (hard disks printers etc have unique easy to remember names) and i simply map say my F: drive to //gateway/max-1TB-A or H: to something like //toshiba/max-1TB-B or my printer share is //toshiba/hp-3900 while not often done, you can even share the root (like T: is \\acer\c-drive

one of the cool things i use with the newer stuff (may work with older too but i never tried it), is to assign a specific ip/port based on the devices mac address... ie use dynamic ip addresses cept for certain mac addys - they are static...)

at this point, don't worry about it, most devices your grandkids probably have are 2.4

ummm, you may want to consider some basics about speed, all you may get is a bill, bragging rights for a bigger number, and absolutely no speed increase..... you will absolutely ALWAYS be limited to the slowest thing (ie cox is about

12-25 mbps, and they sometimes burst faster so people think they are faster than they really are ((no matter which modem)), your wireless is 54, wired 100, gigabit ethernet 1000... if you are acessing the internet you will NEVER get higher speed than what cox provides, so if the max from cox was 35, you will never get faster than 35)

as an analogy, summers coming, think of a swimming pool in your yard and you have a 3/4 " water faucet on your wall and a garden hose, and a 2" fire hose..... what fills the pool faster? (if you say 2" hose, then is it on a fire hydrant, or connected to the 3/4" faucet on your wall... if connected to the outside 3/4" faucet will the 2" or and 3/4" be faster or same speed/limited to the slowest device)

who cares, and why does it matter? for your posted uses you absolutely positively don't need dd-wrt, so why ask about it?

nope...

however, you can cheat... most cable companies have voip... if you have both internet AND voip, voip (digital voice) has priority over anything else on the cable (like tv or internet), i plug my wap/router into the voip voice modem instead of the internet modem and it runs at a higher priority

Are you talking about the special router which supports multiple modems. If so I have read about this typoe of router several years ago, but I don't think I would benefit much from it. I am talking about paying extra $$$ for this specific router, phone bill for extra 5.6Kb/s etc.. And it's probably benefit for file transfering ?

BTW, with this new DOSCIS 3.0 modem I am gaining about 10-12Mb/s which is about addional 1/3 of the average speed I have with the older modem. I may update the test result in other message.

I actually want to know the difference between them, or how I can tell etc.. orhter than that it doesn't matter.

sort of like the difference between am and fm radio (not in modulation amplitude/frequency but in price, availability, subjet to interference from common items)..

bottom line, you said you wanted to provide wifi for your grandkids on their laptops when they come over...2.4 is common on most laptops, 5 is uncommon, usually requires an extra cost receiver, and if built in costs more... never heard of a laptop with no 2.4, but heard of tons of em with no 5... so either you learn about marketing/radio frequency transmission, modulation, etc, and buy 5 mhx recivers for your grandkids if they don't have em, or just use 2.4 and deal with don't worry bout it....

sorry, but you haven't even mentioned what laptops they have, so no way of checking to see if they even have 5 built in...

It sounds like we have some misunderstanding here as I never said anything about grandkids & 5Mhz connection as it doesn't matter, and I don't think I can be able to tell.

I am talking about the WIRED desktop I am using now, and since it's wired so I don't think it has anything to do with the frequency either. IOW, the internet is wired to COX, and the Desktop is wired to the router so it may not need frequency like the wireless (but I may be wrong).

no, didn't want to confuse things, pretty much all wap/routers have an ethernet/cat5 in port, used to have cox in vegas, adelphia in idaho, sat internet in the rv, and now comcast in baltimore, all had ethernet/cat5 out ports..at any rate, here i have a cable modem for internet, and a voip modem for digital voice... all have ethernet ports on the modem, just plug the wap/router into the modem i was using (here i have both, a digital cable internet modem AND a digital voice modem, so i can plug into either)... return sequence after a major crash (nasty storms) was voice first, then tv, and finally internet... happened to plug my wap/router into the digital voice modem, was faster and happened to work before the internet cable modem..... "forgot" to unplug it from the faster modem and into the slower modem a few months ago, so don't think they check which you are using, if you happen to have both...

sorry, so much info i forget who said what, thought you used wired, could only use one wireless at a time, and wanted more wireless so the grandkids could use it too, when they came over to visit, and wondered if you should provide 2.4 or 5 wireless for them...

as rosanne rosanna dana used to say on saturday night live, "nevermind"

I usually use the Desktop which wired to router. I do have laptop which is wireless but I don't use laptop often, and if I use then it's the only wireless so I don't have problem with the old router either.

But in the summer months or holiday when my grandkids either return from colleges (my daughter's house is right next to mine), or other grandkids from different tiwns or states came to visit etc.. then I have problem with multiple wireless connection. Or with the old Buffalo wireless router I can only be able to connect to single wireless laptop.

With the new Cisco E3000, I tested and was able to connect both Wii and Laptop at same time.

It's probably the FINAL report. And now I am a little confused or I believe the speed may vary depending on the location where you live, and of course it will depend on the PLAN and the CAP as well etc..

- OK, I have finally realize that SpeedTest.Net has option to select specific STATE instead of whatever default or auto state SpeedTest.net selects. I selected the near by city of the state where I live and I am only getting around 16Mb/s

- This morning, I tried different sites with different speed tests from many different states and countries. And I got the wildest speeds and they gave different "kbps" "KB/s", "Kbps", "MB/s" and the sad thing that they don't say "bytes" or "bits" and the speed were from 6 to 25 and 6xxx to 25xx.

To me it's a WASTE to set up a web page but lacking of some important information "bits or bytes".

- I tested few other sites with option to select different FIXED Cities and States (still don't have my state). and I got different speed. from this Speed Test Site

- LOWEST speed I got was around 17Mbps (NY) - LOWER speed I got was 20Mbps (CA) - MID Speed I got was around 30-33Mbps (WA, GA) - HIGHER Speed I got was around 44-46Mbps (TX, DC) - HIGHEST Speed was around 76Mbps (IL the only one)

So, base on different results above, we may see what the newer modem is capable of. But then it will depend on the PLAN, location where the ISP may have different setup (or CAP).

So, by looking at many different results I may say that these test can only give some general idea of what SPEED the modem can handle, and the MAX speed the connection (my connection) is capable of. IOW, my plan may not offer 76Mbps *but* because COX at my local hasn't set the CAP to this specific plan (cuz not many people have DOSCIS 3 so they don't need to do it right away?), and it's possible that I may be able to get more than 76Mbps (if I connect to faster site).

Right now I don't know if there is any program to test the real speed of what my plan is. And I may have to use the same old method I used around a decade ago by

1. Running a program measuring the OUT/IN DATA. I don't know about the current version of ZoneAlarm, but I know the older v1.x or v2.x displayed the IN/OUT DATA, and few others like MU and similar.
2. Then running couple File Transferring Management and whatever tool I can find, then start downloading data from all sources I can find like from FTP, HTTM, Peer-2-Peer, Usenet, File Hostings, or trying to download dozens of data from many difference sources, then pay closer attention to the Incoming and Outgoing speed/data

Is it the only way?

you can drive yourself nuts worrying about all the minutia, but ask yourself is my wireless (54) wired (100) faster than anything your isp provides?

how about a usb interface to an external hard disk (480) and now you want to putz with gigabit ethernet (1000).....

whether your isp provides 10-20-30-40 thats a smaller number than you have locally, so why worry at all until it gets to 54? (lowest local number for wireless or even 100 wired)

Two points.

a) You may well not connect at 54Mbps to your AP, especially if you're not in the same room. The AP is going to drop it's speed to the lowest common denominator, so if you've got another user on your AP who's got poorer signal strength than you, you're not going to get 54Mbps even if you're sat on top of it [at which point you'd be using a cable anyway].

b) Even if you do manage to connect at a rate of 54Mbps, that's just the rate of link layer; your actual IP throughput will be closer to half of that. Even the overheads on DSL are only ~13%, and AFAICT the data rate cable companies sell is the actual IP throughput.

It sounds like we have so many misunderstanding here.

1. First, I do not worry about anything, I don't expect the newer modem will give faster speed than whatever my plan is. And because I can't be able to get the answer by reading the question, answer via internet (because I understand different ISP has different limitation or capping etc.) so I spent to find the answer myself. And trying to share the information to one who wants to give it a try etc..
2. So my question is still the same.

- Since the speed test reports the SB6120 DOSCIS modem can get up to 76Mb/s at some location (site), so does it mean I can get upto 76Mb/s with my current plan?

1. Most of us know the max transferring speed depends on 2 ends, and the slowest speed is the final speed the modem use. IOW, if we connect our T3 to 5.6K Dial-Up-Modem then 5.6K is the final max speed.

And since the test reports 76Mb/s from the Chicago, Il, so I am pretty sure that my current plan and this modem is capable of pumping 76Mb/s or more. But the problem that I didn't know the Chicago, IL site to test the older SB6120 DOSCIS 2.0 modem to see the difference.