Finally a solid modem that lets me get the most from my router and internet service with some future proofing. This sounds like an advertisement, but I don’t mean it that way. I do love it.

I had the CM1200 which is a great solid modem on the Xfinity recommended list. I got 940mb down and 40mb up consistently. I did get daily T3 drops in the logs but I never really experienced them. Maybe once a week I would actually notice a spinning wheel but more on this later.

My life was good. I never had problems except the super rare occasion when everyone was streaming different shows and playing games at the same time. Then I might get some momentary pixelation.

But then I got the Xfinity 1.2/200 service. It was actually cheaper than my current rate since I wasn’t on a contract.

OK. Well I have a RAX120 router which has the default 1gb WAN port. But thanks to firmware, I can “supposedly” use the 5gb for WAN, or 1gb+1gb WAN LAG.

The CM1200 is limited with 1gb ports, so I tried the LAG connection. This worked!

It worked for 24 hours. I would get 1.4gb down and the 40mb up and then the next day it dropped to 850, below my 940 baseline. Reboot the modem and back to 1400 for about a day. I got sick of this. Thanks Netgear!

I don’t know which device is guilty but the CM1200 + RAX120 + LAG is unstable.

So the CM3000 finally released. I had my eye on this. It doesn’t have the matching 5gb port to my RAX120 but it does have a 2.5gb default WAN port.

In fact, it has 3 ports, no wasted hardware which I like! The 2.5gb port is designed to be your default router WAN connection, and then it has two 1gb ports which can be used separately or bonded for a LAG connection. Simple.

So I bought it.

The CM3000 has 2 practical choices for internet. Option 1. If your router has the 2.5gb port or higher then you can go single cable for maximum download speed. Option 2. If your router only has 1gb ports and it happens to support WAN LAG you can do 1gb + 1gb to achieve the maximum overall bandwidth.

I went with option 1 of course and I’m getting 1.4gb on my 1.2gb service, and I’m getting 5x the upload at 400mb which is great for multiple video conferences and the annoying Ring doorbell and camera uploads.

There you have it, I’m happy.

Now let’s talk about those T3s. I also get them on my new CM3000 so I don't think it’s not my house. I ordered a new MoCa filter and a BAMF quality splitter. They will be here tomorrow and replace my 23 year old filter and splitter. My downstream power levels look good +4 and my signal to noise ratios look good at 43-44. My upstream power looks good at 40+.

Maybe newer filters and splitters will clean up my signal. Stay tuned for part 2! and a mysterious part 3 … MoCa adapters for my PS5!

Forum Discussion

3 days with the CM3000 and I love it.