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thebadpete's avatar
thebadpete
Guide
Sep 09, 2021

Upgrade from RBS50 to CBK752, yay or nay?

Hi all,

 

I have been a happy camper with RBS50 for 4+ years. I have recently switched from DSL (can't wait for fiber any longer) to Xfinity, and I am thinking of upgrading to CBK752 so that it is a one-stop solution to mesh wifi + cable modem. Did anyone make the same upgrade? Would you recommend it or you would recommend sticking with a discrete cable modem?

 

Thanks, 
 Peter

3 Replies

  • FURRYe38's avatar
    FURRYe38
    Guru
    Sep 09, 2021

    I personally feel that keeping a sepearate modem and external wifi router is recommended. Should something happen to the combo system or it not work right for you, your entire combo system can be effected. Also some ISP do NOT provide FW updates for user owned modems. I believe XF does. NG offers user installable updates for the CBR750 for the router portion of the CBR only. The modem portion still comes from the ISP. CBR can only work in gateway modem/router or modem only mode. They don't support router mode so later on if the CBR gets unsupported by the ISP for the modem, then you'll loose over all operation of the CBR. This would be seen much later on down the road. One option that can be tried and used is the CBR can be configured for a wired AP mode operation to provide wifi signals when the modem isn't needed anymore. 

     

     

    • thebadpete's avatar
      thebadpete
      Guide
      Sep 09, 2021

      Thanks! I actually did not realize that the modem portion of firmware of CBK is not getting updated. That definitely changes my plan! Perhaps I will follow your setup to get a NG CM!

      I notice that you have RBK853 and you probably had RBK50 before, Is RBK853 worth the extra?

      • FURRYe38's avatar
        FURRYe38
        Guru
        Sep 09, 2021

        The modem portion does get updated however not as frequent as the router portion. 

         

        CM series modems are good. 

         

        I have enjoyed the Orbi AX. Though one item that doesn't work well is NEST controllers. Seem problematic on Orbi AX systems. I don't see this problem on the RBK50 series when I have it online. Other then that, the 8 series is pretty good. Has great coverage and performance. I can't really compare it to the 7 series however knowing that the 7 doesn't have a 2.5Gb WAN port and wireless front haul speeds are just a bit lower than the 8 series, over all, there close to being the same. 

         

        If you have AX supporting devices, then it maybe something to check in to. Try one out...