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Eero, Spectrum, Arris and Netgear.

If your using Time Warner/Spectrum for your Internet and plan on purchasing your own Modem for use with your Eero, here’s what did/did not work for me.

I’m on Spectrum’s 100mb service (max in my area is 300mb). For my use case internet searches kept pointing me to the popular Arris Surfboard 16x4 SB6183. Installed it and it seemed to work ‘ok’ meaning internet speeds were an average of 80-90mb down/8mb up (which was still up from an average of only 70mb down/5mb up when using Spectrums crappy 16x4 TG1672G Modem/WiFi) and fewer cases of pages stalling halfway through loading.

Only then did I discover there could be an ongoing compatibility problem with the SB6183’ firmware and Eero that I didn’t want to have to attribute to my internet problems. The quick solution that was being recommend for that concern was to just exchange the 6183 for the newer model Arris 32x8 SB6190, which I was happily about to do until I found out about an apparent problem with certain modem chipsets. Apparently the 6183 uses a Broadcom chip, which is good, but the 6190 (and my Spectrum 1672) uses the so called ‘dreaded’ Puma 6 chip, which lands the 6190, and Spectrums 1672, on the ‘Puma 6 modem do not buy list’.

https://www.approvedmodems.com/do-not-buy-list.html

So I ended up up buying another highly recommended modem the Netgear 24x8 CM600 (Broadcom chipset). It seems to work smoothly with my Eero and my internet speeds jumped to an average of 105mb down/11mb up and sometimes even as high as 118mb down 13mb up all with with little to no page loading lag. Now I know I’m getting the internet service I’m paying for (and the 100mb that Spectrum insisted was being delivered into my house).

So whether it’s simply going from a 16x4 modem/wi-fi to a 24x8 modem or getting away from a Puma 6 chipset in favor of a Broadcom chip, or both, I can happily recommend to use the Netgear CM600 with your Eero.

5 replies

    • cMoo92
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I’ve been running the CM600 for the last year or so for the exact reasons you list out here. I had tried the 6190 and 6183 as well.

    • Mike_A
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Ya, I sure thought I had researched everything before buying, but just as well I discovered a few things after that initial purchase that lead to what I have now, and for about $25 more I’m pretty happy now.

    Did you see a big difference after installing the CM600?

      • cMoo92
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Mike A The only difference I noticed was that the connection stability improved. With those two Arris modem models, I would have dropouts periodically. I never had speed issues (I have 200x20 Mbps).

    • Mike_A
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    200x20, nice!

    • Ripperxxvi
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    How is this modem's performance to date?

Content aside

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