Previously I'd written about the Netgear CM600 cable modem and why upgrading your cable modem is arguably the best thing you can do for your cable (not FIOS or DSL) internet connection. At that time, I also considered the Netgear CM1000, however, at both twice the cost of the CM600 on sale, I'd heard (at that time) anecdotes that DOCSIS 3.1 modem's weren't getting the same 20% overprovision treatment that DOCSIS 3.0 modems (and prior) were, plus the immaturity of the DOCSIS 3.1 standard, I settled on the next best thing which was the fastest non-Puma based cable modem (which Puma based cable modems have latency issues), the aforementioned Netgear CM600. However, things have changed since then...

Lately I've noticed although my connection is still way better than my former experiences with the local telecom provider I ditched to go back to Comcast, (which ironically a close relative of mine got the same telcom provider, even though I steered her away from, is sharing the same problem I had of QOS drops with TV and internet outages) my connection was pokier around black Friday / Cyber Monday. Some quick benchmarks confirmed my hypothesis: consistent 4-10mb benchmarks where a 60-70mb would be expected. Obviously my neighbors were surfing for deals, not that I blame them and my 24x4 negotiated bonding on my CM600 just wasn't cutting it with that much neighborhood load.

I said to myself, it's been a year, network load has clearly gone up (even though this is an exception and I knew it), perhaps the additional 7 channels down that my CM600 was ignoring since it only supports up to 24x8 (as I had confirmed via the Puma-based Netgear CM700 that I returned previously that 31x4 was present in my neighborhood) were worth trading the extra 20% overprovision for the added channels, that is average/"guaranteed" speed meant more than potential top speed. I pulled the trigger and told my wife in passing I was dropping some money on network upgrades but promised to sell off the old stuff to recoup some of the loss and reassured her it was a "long term investment".

It arrived next day and I ran a quick benchmark on the old Netgear CM600 before disconnecting and got 50mb down (normal) with the usual 6mb upload. Called Comcast and gave them the new MAC ID, serial and make/model of the Netgear CM1000 and within about 20 minutes I had the modem switched out and everything happy on the new Netgear CM1000.

Before running any tests I opened up the web GUI for the CM1000 and confirmed it still saw the same 31x4 that my former (puma-based) CM700 did about a year ago, it did, good, that's 7 more lanes for my use which is why I bought the thing (the CM1000 is broadcom based, not Puma, btw). Additionally there was a single OFDM downstream link negotiated (no uplink though) on the new DOCSIS 3.1 standard. Still picking up 7 channels on the legacy/existing bonding is big stuff, but I said to myself this should be interesting getting an OFDM downlink, not just the additional 7 channels on DOCSIS 3.0.

Did a couple rudimentary tests of loading news websites, deal websites, online store websites and found the latency was very slightly improved, roughly the same. Would appear the nature of the (Comcast) concentrators running the CM1000 build are about of the same caliber as the (Comcast) concentrators running the CM600 build.

Benchmarks however did tell a different story on the bandwidth side of the fence. Running it revealed 72mb down (a full 72.0 IE max provision 60mb + 20% over provision of 12mb, not 71.6, or close to 72, exactly 72) and 6-7mb upload after re-running multiple times. Pretty impressive to consistently see my maximum possible provision. Nice surprise too that I still had the 20% overprovision which is a double win that I now have more network stability while maintaining the same peak bandwidth. I re-ran the tests over the next few days at varying times of the day and found the new Netgear CM1000 was consistently providing 70-72MB download with 5.5-7mb upload which was superior to the former Netgear CM600 which consistently provided between 50mb-70mb download (average about 60mb most of the time) and the same 5.5-7mb upload. I saw a single dip to around 6mb once, but immediately re-ran the benchmark on a different benchmark site (as I suspected it may have been the destination, not the medium or source issue) and sure enough 72mb seconds from the 6mb result confirming the theory.

I would call it a success and can now recommend the Netgear CM1000 if you have Comcast (which supports it presently), especially if it's on sale as both the overprovision is effective, and it has tangible performance benefits even on my lower tier (60mb) plan for network congestion mitigation. Higher tier plans will likely see a more dramatic benefit. In any event, the added channels negotiated mean the odds of getting stuck at those lower data rates I was seeing on Black Friday / Cyber Monday are probably a thing of the past. Also, if in fact the OFDM downstream link I was seeing in the web gui of the modem is hot and fully operational and not just checkbox on my GUI, it means that it's probably very much a thing in the past and will stay in the past as Comcast continues the DOCSIS 3.1 rollout to eventually include the full 2x2 OFDM that the Netgear CM1000 can negotiate.

Now although not the (direct) topic of this discussion, I will add that the Netgear CM600 at nearly half the cost on sale as the Netgear CM1000, is arguably still better value and will do the job for most folks while also saving cost of renting a modem from a cable provider but also works with most cable providers vs the Netgear CM1000 is only certified with Comcast at the time of this article, I believe anyways. The point here being the Netgear CM1000 (and DOCSIS 3.1) isn’t just academically better and twice the cost anymore of the Netgear CM600, it has real benefits if you have Comcast, but you really should have a higher end tier connection to see the maximum benefit, or, regularly see network congestion for it to be “worth it” over the Netgear CM600. In my case it was on sale, I saw a chance to have some fun and get to write about it too. Besides, it’d go nice with the Asus router also on sale that I had my eye on (and did buy afterwards) which is the (planned) subject of my next article.