24 Apr 2007 by Chris     8 Comments    Posted under: Gadgetry and IT

Motorola Surfboard SB3100 cable modem not up to 10Mb speed

With heavy heart, I’m about to say goodbye to my first, and extremely long-serving, cable modem. I can’t find a birth date for it, but I must have had it the best part of ten years, during which time Cambridge Cable/ntl/Virgin Media have increased speeds from “not that much faster than your old dialup modem, but hey, it’s always on!” to an impressive 10Mb. The trouble is, I’ve never got 10Mb, and I’ve been convinced that it’s the trusty old Surfboard which is not up to the task. Rare comments on newsgroups tend to agree, but ntl’s tech support didn’t, despite numerous phone calls. They reckoned this…

…was about the best anyone could expect from a 10Mb connection – although I could tell they didn’t really know what they were talking about, and just wanted to get rid of me. However, in one of those curious moments when all the celestial bodies come into alignment, this weekend I simultaneously had problems with the TV (billing) as well as telephone (non-working voicemail), so when I chucked in the broadband speed issue, I’d scored a hat-trick and Virgin Media’s customer service upgraded me to a senior person who seemed god-like in his ability to Get Things Done. Not only that, but he could hold an intelligent, sympathetic and unscripted conversation. He’d even heard of a Motorola Surfboard SB3100 cable modem! However, he claimed to have one at home and said that it was OK for 10Mb, and indeed it would even be OK for the forthcoming 20Mb which he was on the trial for. Nevertheless (and this is the impressive bit), he still went away to consult someone or something, and came back with the news that I was right, the SB3100 wasn’t up to 10Mb speed – he guessed that his one must have been a later series. He added that in ten years, he couldn’t remember anyone ever having asked for a cable modem upgrade before, so apologised for the way my request had been dealt with. Amazing. Give this man a rise. So a few days later, I have a new, tiny, Virgin Media-branded cable modem, and here’s what I’m getting. Not bad huh?

8 Comments + Add Comment

• 
  ChrisRand 27 November 2007 at 11:07 am

  Update: they’ve switched me on to 20Mb and although it’s nowhere near that, it’s got a little faster. Which is nice.

  
• 
  ChrisRand 6 December 2007 at 11:09 am

  Update: now it’s really got faster. Good work, Virgin/NTL.

  
• 
  PappyCaligula 19 June 2008 at 6:01 pm

  So you got the new modem. Does it hold 18Mps or does your broadband cable speed vary drastically with the number of folks online?

  I have someone throwing in a 3100 with a Linksys wireless router and although I’ll be limiting myself to 5Mps for now under the Charter Package, I’m also looking at the Netgear Wireless Gateway that should support everything (although a friend who JUST yesterday upgraded to the 10 mps, for 5 bucks more a month, sez he’s not seeing much difference in true speed). Charter is offering 16Mps for 25 bucks more, but until they make it at least 30, I ain’t wastin’ my time with it. My current DSL commection claims 6Mps BUT is only chunking down 5.

  Anywho. Thanks for the information.
• 
  Chris 19 June 2008 at 6:57 pm

  I get a *lot* poorer performance at the worst times (e.g early evening). Like this, for example:

  

  …but a few hours later, around 10am it’s back up here:

  
• 
  sean 3 February 2009 at 5:08 am

  crazy, i have the same modem..with a gigabit netgear wireless n router and even with the wireless im still downloading at 19mb and uploading at 338
• 
  Cegredgemiz 22 April 2009 at 1:21 am

  Hey Everbody

  I just became a member of this forum

  Great job by the admin, mods and seriously every member around.

  Yesterday I read that there is a treatment for diabetes on http://www.healthcaredaily.org
  Is this way of curing diabetes mentioned actually true, If so I should have found out earlier! The source looks like a reliable healthcare news website

  Has anyone tried beating diabetes this way?

  Thanks

  Cegredgemiz
• 
  Chiny 28 May 2009 at 8:51 pm

  Also had the SB3100 for a long time, 9 years through Blueyonder/Telewest/VirginMedia. VM now upgrading us 2 Mb cheapskates to 10 Mb but I get a mere 4.8 from my SB3100. Anyway, a quick call to VM saying “I need an updated modem” was met with “No problem, it will be with you in 2 working days”.

  I guess those that asked before smoothed the path; many thanks :-)
• 
  Les 3 April 2010 at 1:29 pm

  I had this modem for several years and found the speed ok. Now using BT hub which seems much faster.