NETGEAR Nighthawk Multi-Gig Cable Modem for Xfinity Voice (CM2050V) – for Cable Plans up to 2.5Gbps - DOCSIS 3.1-2 Phone Lines

I loath Comcast/Xfinity, I hate having only one option for 1G+ internet besides ATT which is another horrible company. Multiple times a year we have some issue with Xfinity and my internet speed falls below 10mbs. The modem router combo is weak and I have mesh system throughout my house to provide internet throughout.I purchased Net Gear router and TP-link WiFi router to beef things up. I was scared about installation and the dreaded Xfinity customer service I would need to deal with. This router was easy, all online, no call to X and no issues.Speed is over a gig and no one complaining about buffering or glitches. Love it!

I don't do reviews often but I want to help my geek friends save days of research and frustration that I went through to finally get the absolute most speed out of my Gigabit internet. There's some golden nuggets here that you need to know.When I first upgraded to the new gigabit here in Denver (from Xfinity), it was using their new Cable Modem/Router device (XB6-A) and I was only getting 500 Mbps download speed. It was also lagging in our house when several people were gaming and others were downloading, or even accessing intensive web-pages. (lagging = pings were going up).Since upgrading to this Netgear CM1000, upgrading my cabling, and factory resetting my router, I'm now getting the most download throughput (~941 Mbps) and the lowest pings I've EVER seen! Connection is rock solid throughout the house.SHORT ANSWER: Get this Netgear CM, upgrade your ethernet cables to Cat 6 (or Cat 5E for short distances) and then Factory Reset your router to get the most speed. You still may need a new router to reach gigabit speeds. I'm getting the most download throughput (~941 Mbps) and the lowest pings I've EVER seen!I did lots of tests comparing this cable modem to the XB6-A that Xfinity provided. Here are some big things I learned:1) Make sure your ethernet cables going from the cable modem to the router and from the router to your PC are CAT6 or at least CAT5E (for short distances).2) Upgrading to this Netgear CM1000 Cable Modem LOWERED my ping/latency compared to the XB6-A that Xfinity provided. I just got a 5 MS Ping to the google server here in Denver! UNHEARD OF. Most of the time it's around 8-9ms with this new cable modem. I was getting 11-14 w/ the Xfinity modem. If you're a gamer, a lower ping matters!3) The Xfinity XB6-A modem/router combo doesn't work too well when you have your own router also connected to it. Xfinity recommends you only use their device and disconnect your router.4) Around 941 mbps is the max download speed that modern gigabit routers/switches can do right now so don't be worried if you can't get above that.5) Many routers can't handle gigabit download speeds, especially if you've enabled any of the features like QoS, Traffic Meter, Keyword block, etc. My Netgear Nighthawk (R7000) was only getting 400-500 mbps (using speedtest) because I had enabled some of these features. Even when I disabled these features, the speed was still low. Doing a FACTORY reset fixed it, and now I'm getting 937 - 943 mbps download speed!!!The reason these routers slow down when you enable extra features is because it disables CTF (cut through forwarding) and the router no longer uses it's faster processor. Some of the newer routers can still maintain max download speeds of 941 mbps while also allowing you to use QoS and other features.6) There's a great website called Small Net Builder that compared routers to see which could reach 941 mbps download speed. I recommend you check that out if you need a new router.Keep in mind that this Netgear CM1000 is JUST a cable modem. It's not a router. So if you only have 1 device you want to wire into it, you're fine but if you want to have more devices, and wireless, then you'll need a router too.The Xfinity provided XB6-A is both a cable modem and a wireless router in one. I personally think it has some flaws that need to be worked out but appears to be a beefy piece of hardware. You can save yourself the $10/month rental by getting this Netgear CM1000.P.S. I do plan to upgrade my router so that I can still get 941 mbps download speed while enabling QoS. With QoS, it will set aside a portion of your bandwidth (say 20%) for high priority traffic like gaming that need low latency, and then it will limit all other connections (like large downloads) to the other 80% the connection. Keep in mind, if you enable this and run a speedtest, it will appear lower simply because it's now reserving part of your bandwidth for other devices/traffic in your home.

Let's all remember, this is a modem. It's not a router. For me, that's good as I have a router/firewall device on the other side. Because it's a modem, its sole job is to pass through the single DHCP address from Xfinity. Configuration is pretty simple, you plug it in. From there you have to hook up a laptop/desktop to it to get into its local config so you can get the MAC to send to Xfinity, then that's pretty much it.A few gotchas though. I have multiple VLANs setup in different rooms and I put this on a VLAN from the switch. It did not like that. It couldn't pass the IP address back to my firewall/router. I didn't spend too much time troubleshooting it, rather I just added a coaxial wire to the room where my firewall is located (which has a service panel close to the coaxial main).The product has worked well for what I need. I haven't noticed a decrease in performance over the old Xfinity modem/router/WiFi combo. I bought this because my Xfinity device died, and I have my own WiFi (Orbi), and I also have a complex 2 ISP configuration, which cannot be easily managed with the Xfinity router. The dumb modem allows me to solve most of my problems.I did run into one issue, not with the modem, with the service. Xfinity actually charges you more for using your own hardware than renting theirs. It's unfortunate. The device is great and I will pay the extra $5 per month (instead of saving $14 as expected). When they reconfigured the plan I went from 80mbps up to 40mbps up. This isn't the device, because I was getting great upload speeds before having them change the plan to include the customer-owned hardware. They said it was the hardware, but the hardware ran fine for a week. It turns out they throttled it and you have to call them and argue through it with them. This is important information because it's not the device, it's the service levels on their side, so if you see things that don't look correct after it's set up and verified, then it's probably on their side.