Amazon Renewed Renewed ARRIS SURFboard SB8200 Cable Modem

This review is for an ARRIS Surfboard SB8200-RB DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem connected to Xfinity cable. I was having mysterious dropouts with my old Netgear cable router modem combo. Once I got the new one working it did seem better, but getting it working wasn’t quick or easy mostly due to Xfinity. I followed the instructions to get the Arris app on my phone, and followed the instructions which required inputting all my personal info. I didn’t like that. Then it said to install the Xfinity app. I’m guessing you could just do that and skip giving all your personal info to Arris. The Xfinity app was not easy to use, upgrading your customer-owned modem is not an option at first. I finally figured out how to delete my old modem, then the ability to add the new one appeared. I entered the MAC number, and after a few minutes it said it was detected and working. Great! But I had no internet. After checking it over and restarting it a few times by unplugging and by restarting via the app I started wondering if the new modem was bad, so I tried deleting it and reconnecting my old modem, and entering that MAC number. Same thing happened, the app said connected, but I had no internet. I was sweating, with no internet. I reconnected the new modem, same thing. Eventually, bam, I had internet access. Apparently there was a substantial delay after Xfinity detected the new modem before internet access was enabled. Can’t say if that’s normal, or if Xfinity was having some problem at the time, but if it happens to you, try waiting.

Works for internet but setup can be a little troublesome. So I had trouble following along in the app. You need internet access to set up. I had to reconnect my old modem to get registered. After that I connected this refurbished modem. I got as far as a reset signal was sent, waited 10 minutes. I then believed it was not working. Had 2 blue lights and 2 lights that seemed to be off or at least not green. The app will guide you along and get you connected to your internet provider via phone, that at least was a help. I got through to Spectrum and had a 2 minute wait. Be nice and explain simply, I said I bought a new modem to replace old modem. She verified my address, asked for the old mac id, then the new mac id. Next she said modem would reset which it did. At first I get one at a time up to 4 green lights, then the transmit and receive turned bright blue which makes it appear that the power and network light are off. This is what confused me. Over the next couple of hours I waited, unplugged and replugged modem a couple times, still same thing. After a search on the internet, yes i’m now connected. I found on several forums, or faq on manufacturer site that some units the lights will appear to be off. If you look through the open grill case, i can see inside that they appear green, blue, blue and green, yet on the outside I only see 2 bright blue. The lights are like flood light when they need to be accent lights. I also had trouble loging into the webpage for admin access to modem, gotta use your browser for this. I ended up doing a factory reset with paperclip into the hole on the back, after that I could get in. use admin and the last 8 digits of the serial number on bottom of modem to access. Nothing much in there I need to change, but i alays like to look around. I finished the setup in the app, which now is mostly useless. It only tells me the serial number and mac id and has a copy of spec sheet and manual. Nothing else. It would be nice if the app showed you the status (and allowed turn off of lights) and allowed you to login to the admin settings within the app instead of having to use a web browser. app is kinda lame and the setup procedure although was partially helpful not the best experience. I was excited to get a new modem with an app, but i doubt if I ever use the app again.

This still is a good choice. My old modem was bought 11 years go when speed was like 20Mbps. It had room to grow up to 150MBps. Spectrum increased to 200Mbps but that old modem was only giving me 125Mbps. Only ended up costing me like 7.67 a year to own vs renting which i’m sure is more than that. I decided it was time to upgrade even though it was still working.

This modem has room to allow for growth over the coming years. I’m now getting 233Mbps which is far below it’s max rating of 1000Mbps. This is fine for video streaming movies and I have lots of smart lights and home control devices along with alexa for voice control. The new speed while not necessary does help. I notice some apps load data faster.

I get great signal in a ranch with 1.2k sq ft. Super easy install too.