20 Best Docsis 3.1 Modem Router Combo For Xfinity (2023 Updated)

My old modem started to flake out on me so it was time to replace it. The Motorola AC3200 had all the features I need: fast (DOCSIS 3. 1), 4 ethernet ports, Xfinity ready, and an app for management. NOTE: It is in your best interest to pre-download the Minim App and the Xfinity app (if you are an Xfinity customer) I simply plugged my modem in, punch a code (located on a sticker under your modem) into the app, and waited about 5 minutes for it to do its thing.

On first try, my modem never connected to the internet but that was my fault because (1) I didn’t follow instructions and (2) I forgot that Xfinity requires you to register your modem with them–through the xfinity app.

Once I grabbed the Xfinity app and rebooted the modem everything worked magically after about 10 minutes of Motorola/Xfinity talking to each other. As long as you have the apps ready to go on your phone or tablet you should be fine.

I do not use the wifi on this router. Instead I use a Google mesh wifi. I was VERY PLEASED to see the mesh network automatically come back online about 2 minutes after the modem registered online with Xfinity.

Nonetheless, I intend to use the built-in wifi network as a backup in the event the Google Home wifi goes down. Motorola was smart enough to put stickers on the bottom of the modem with all the info you need to connect to the built-in 2.

4 or 5ghz signal. Our speed tests have improved significantly across all devices and our connection reliability improved dramatically, but again, I suspect something was wonky with my old DOCSIS 3. 0 modem.

This modem is compliant with ISP plans up to 500mbps. 32×8 means you have 32 downstream channels (think “lanes of a highway”) and 8 upstream channels which is critical in households with numerous wifi connected devices.

While the price point for a DOCSIS 3. 1 modem might seem daunting, you will recover that cost given you are no longer renting from your ISP–and you don’t need a separate wifi router as the antennas are baked into the modem.

This modem does NOT support a landline phone connection, however, so if you use a phone service through your ISP this isn’t the modem for you. The Minim app is very friendly and has lots of useful tools and can be monitored when you are away from the network.

The app will give you connected device info, it will help identify threats, has filtering options (security, ad privacy, adult content), speed testing, “today’s top data use” reports, pause/unpause connectivity, “time spent” reports letting you know what sites have been visited and how often/long, change reports & history, etc.

The front of the box containing the Motorola MG8702 modem-router combo reads, in bright colors, Xfinity, COX, and Spectrum. After trying to activate the modem for some 8 hours over four occasions on two different days, I began to wonder whether Xfinity should be listed on the box.

One of the technicians even claimed that the MG8702 was not compatible with their services, although she tried to activate it after I told her it was listed on the Xfinity website as a compatible cable modem.

After two days of failure, I gave it a rest for a week and decided to try one last time. Finally, after a wasted 30 minutes with the Xfinity assistant app and 40 minutes on the phone with a technician, the MG8702 was activated.

I tell this story just as a warning that you may have difficulty activating the modem with Xfinity, but that if you persist, it should work. The documentation that came with the MG8702 amounted to three pages, most of which described features and performance data, but not much in the way of how to get started on using the features.

There was a suggestion to first download the Motorola minim app, which I did, but I found it couldn’t do much without the modem being set up. Once the system was up and running, I discovered that the minim app provides a startling amount of information on devices connected to the modem/router.

It alerts you when a new device connects to the modem’s network, shows the signal strength, bandwidth, and sites connected to. You can also run speed tests for each device with the minim app. When I connected to the modem through my laptop’s browser to examine its settings, the minim app alerted me to this fact.

This app is far more useful than I expected. Oddly, although the three pages of documentation show pictures of both the front and back of the modem, only the features of the back (USB 3. 0 port, WiFi on/off button, WPS button, factory reset, 4 Gigabyte Ethernet LAN ports, COAX connector, power on/off button, power jack) are labeled.

The front has a set of LED icons that light up, but they are not labeled in the picture. This made it hard for me to discuss with the Xfinity technician what was happening, even though the icons are fairly intuitive.

Only later I discovered on a separate piece of paper a list of the LED icons (power, downstream, upstream, online, LAN, 2. 4 GHx WiFi, 5 GHz WiFi, WPS, and USB). I have not yet tried out the USB 3. 0 port.

I currently have a NAS drive connected to my existing wireless router, a Linksys WRT 1900 AC, but I don’t see a need to transfer it to the new MG8702, which would disrupt existing connections. When I get a new external drive, I will add it to the MG8702.

By the way, the Linksys router and the MG8702 seem to be coexisting happily without interfering with one another, the former with a 192. 168. 1. 1 address and the latter, a 192. 168. 0. 1 address. The Linksys router plugs into one of the Gigabit Ethernet ports in the back of the MG8702.

I had only two moments where I feared that the MG8702 might not work as advertised. When the Xfinity technician finally activated the modem, the wireless stopped working. But, after unplugging and modem and plugging it back in, the wireless came back and everything was fine.

The other momentary scare is that my phone disconnected from the network about a minute after first connecting. But, after reconnecting, it has been solid. I have tried other devices, including my laptop and Xfinity Flex box, and all is well.

I can’t report on whether Gigabyte speeds are possible because my plan with Xfinity is for only 100 MB. But all my devices are reading faster than that, so I am completely satisfied with this modem’s performance.

Again, if you have Xfinity, persevere and this modem/router combo should work great for you.

I wanted a Modem-Router Combo with the latest DOCSIS 3. 1 and Wi-Fi 6 technology. The NIGHTHAWK CAX80 met the technical requirements. Installing the CAX80 wasn’t as easy as advertised. I could not ‘self activate’ thru the Web.

The Nighthawk Smartphone App can be used to setup WiFi, but does not setup Modem. My cable company is Spectrum. I’ve had my internet account with them (including their predecessor Time-Warner and RoadRunner) for more than 20 years.

Their customer service is excellent–once you get a live person. They performed diagnostics and said the modem was working. However, I could not connect to the internet. They gave me a direct number to Netgear, and I called for assistance.

Within minutes my modem-router was working perfectly. They are remarkably competent. The Wi-Fi signal is stronger and more constant without fluctuation than my older modem-router. No pauses or buffering when watching streaming video movies.

The Netgear advertising is accurate and reliable. So is the performance. I am well pleased and highly recommend this router.

This is not a cheap router but it is extremely robust, and has a long range for wide coverage. It covers my entire 3 story house with all three wireless networks. Did not score quite a high as a couple of other AC3200 routers on the 5gHz band speed wise.

But it has not been noticable. Buy this router if you have a lot of devices spread over a large area.

Must have high speed internet to access full speed potential. Anything below 500 not worth buying. But of you’re in the 500 to gig, its a must have. So far very reliable.

The Nighthawk C7800 delivers incredible WIFI speeds! Even the Ethernet is much faster and it was a snap to connect. Only took 15 minutes.

Zero stars. Do not buy. Made the mistake of thinking it might be better to get a cable modem and router in one, especially made the mistake of getting this Netgear C6250 pure garbage of a product. Wasted two hours of time, one hour with Xfinity tech support doing resets, then another hour with Netgear support with a tech support agent who had a noisy child and family in the background, finally for the agent to conclude after three reset attempts that this device is defective.

Brand new out of a sealed box. Issue was a molasses slow download speed, this wasn’t an issue with the previous setup of a different (separate) modem and separate wifi router. Another issue was the 5Ghz SSID would not show despite checking broadcast settings being ON.

Never touching a Netgear product again.

Amazing modem router. Works great on optimum internet service. This modem router have 16 X 4 channels means 16 channels for download and 4 channels for upload. even faster than rental modem optimum provides with 10$ charge a month.

This also saves space since works as modem router. Also have ready share USB port where hard drive or flash drive can be plugged in to share media. Also have good range of Wi-Fi better than router optimum provides.

This router range is good for midsize home. Also dual band supports both old and new devices. 1 year use is worth to cover monthly modem rental expense. I am using it from last four years and works great.

No issue at all.

This is on sale at my favorite club store, I like and had very good luck with Netgear products. I’m changing it to the next level up because Comcast’s certification is only up to 800 Mbps. I read some of the negative reviews, especially from a so-called “electrical engineer “ who couldn’t make it do what he wanted.

A true electrical engineer would know that this modem is designed for locations with up to two IP addresses; it’s not a switch, it’s not a router. Basically, again, for businesses or homes which need or prefer to have two IP addresses.

I had complained with Comcast because everyone from customer service to tech support didn’t know this as well. If you need an extra IP address, it may be difficult finding someone who understands. Otherwise, when you take the human defective thought out of the equation, it’s an awesome modem for homes with midrange internet speed requirements.

Again, it’s the limits for comcast which made me upgrade to a faster modem.

Purchased the CM1100 because it specifically advertised “Gigabit Ethernet Ports – Fastest wired speeds to connect your router or computer. Create two home networks both capable of gigabit speeds and aggregate for the fastest Multi-Gig speeds” and box also indicated “2 Gigabit Ethernet Ports”.

It does have 2 ports BUT apparently only supports one home network (doesn’t act like an internal ethernet switch). I wanted to connect a router to one port and use the other port to hardwire connect to a computer.

I am an electrical engineer and after trying to get both to work for over a day (note: getting one to work would somehow disable the other network) I called customer support thinking the problem was perhaps due to IP addressing and modem configuration.

The router I was connecting to was a Netgear WiFi6 mesh. My frustration grew when they told me that it had nothing to do with IP addressing, the second LAN port was only for link aggregation and there was no way to connect two home networks directly to the modem.

Whether the CM1100 description was misleading or customer support was ignorant really doesn’t matter…it is inexcusable and is in part the reason for the 2 stars. The other reason for the 2 stars is because of the effort I had to put in to circumvent this hidden modem limitation by getting a separate ethernet switch and incorporating house wiring.

1Joe gave this a bad review because he is incompetent and doesn’t know anything about networking. It has nothing to do with the device. If a device is only a modem, not a router/modem combo, it has to connect directly to a router.

A modem has no routing capability. That’s what a ROUTER is for. It is not netgears fault this “electrical engineer” doesn’t understand simple home networking.

I bought this device to replace the one I was renting from xfinity to cut back on my monthly costs. It was very easy and quick to set up and activate with xfinity, and I am not educated at all when it comes to this technical stuff.

I did it all through the Netgear Nighthawk app. If you set up the network with the same name and password you used with your previous setup all of your devices will reconnect as though nothing had changed.

My only issue (which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5) was after the initial setup, while watching streaming video, I received a message on my TV that I had lost internet connection. But it resolved itself on its own in less than 2 minutes.

It happened one more time a few hours later but hasn’t happened again since, and I have had it set up for about a week now. If I don’t receive the internet connection error again I will change my rating to 5 stars if I am able to.

I would recommend anyone who is renting equipment from their provider to buy their own equipment, specifically this device, since it is so easy to set up and is working well. You can set up a monthly plan and own it in less than a year while paying less than you currently are to rent it.

After you own it you start saving about $15/month. It’s worth the investment. I wish I had done it sooner.

This was probably the best purchase we made for our household within our first few months moving there. We went through three of the standard issue xfinity modem’s within the span of a couple of weeks because they ALL had the same problem.

The internet would cut out constantly when using a wired connection (???) but worked perfectly for wifi. After trying with them, we concluded their modem was the issue and decided to take the plunge and buy this one.

It was kind of on the pricey end but not bank breaking (depending on your budget), but it worked amazingly after we got it set up. Setup is easy enough if you read the directions provided. Wired connection never dipped or cut out and the wifi was perfect as usual.

As someone who both works from home and games, this purchase was certainly worth it. It’s been two years since we got it and (so far) it still works great.

I upped my xfinity subscription past my old router’s 600mbps so I bought this. So far it’s doubled my upstairs speed (5mb to 10wifi). And my phone gets 256 on WiFi while leaning on the modem. I would like to see more controls for time of use and access.

It’d be nice to be able to lockout the kids at a certain time so they’re not hiding under the covers surfing the web at 2am or to be able to cut them off from WiFi until their chores were done. I should be able to cut them off with the genie app or nighthawk app but they don’t always let me log in and the nighthawk app lacks A LOT of the genie’s functionality.

I like the one source printer share app when it works but I often have to dink with the control app on the source computer. Overall a decent device but I’d have taken it back if it wasn’t 1 of 3 products I found that had all my needed functions.

(the other two were considerably more costly and/or unavailable).

I wanted to upgrade my Netgear 500V modem that I have had in place for several years. It was functioning okay but I wanted to get a newer more advanced internet voice modem they would allow me to get the higher speed that my Comcast plan provides.

From everything I read about the Arris Modem it should have taken me no more than 15 minutes to get it operating. I first tried online through my Xfinity account. After entering all the information, I got a message that about 11 minutes that the new modem would be activated.

However, in about 11 minutes I got a message that something went wrong at to try again. I tried again but with a similar result and a recommendation that I call a technician. However, since I knew that I already ha functioning older modem that the issue was trying to activate the new modem.

I then called Comcast. After 45 minutes on my cell phone, it became clear that the problem was ARRIS Surfboard. Only the power light and one other light ever came on. I then called the ARRIS technical staff as recommended in the information that came with the modem.

I was told that if Comcast could not activate it there was nothing that they could do. I then plugged in my old Netgear modem and all the lights came on. However, I had to call Comcast to reactivate my old modem.

About 15 minutes later I once again had internet and a landline phone, I then returned the ARRIS to Best Buy on the same day that I purchased it. I wasted a lot of time on trying to get a piece of equipment to function.

Maybe it was just my bad luck to get one of what may be a small percentage of Surfboard T25s that can not be activated. Very aggravating experience. I feel lucky that I have internet back thanks to my old reliable modem.

Great modem with capability for Comcast voice/phone service, however. I am nearly convinced that Comcast intentionally makes it painfully difficult to use your personally OWNED equipment. It took no less than 6 submissions of the MAC ID to Comcast BY THE COMCAST TECHNICIAN at my house before it finally came online.

The handset icon for the phone service was also lit up for a few days, however I did not have a phone to connect at the time. However a day or two before connecting a phone to the phone jack on the modem, the handset icon was no longer active.

Sure enough, when connecting my phone to the modem, there was no dial tone. After getting passed around to about 4 other support techs, nothing improved. I was told by the last tech that the issue would be corrected and the service will be online within 2-3 hours.

LOL That’s how the get you off the call. Next morning, still no service. I waited 2 days before dealing with Comcast support again, got passed around a few times again, but finally ended up with a tech that discovered that the MTA MAC ID (for the voice service) was not even populated for some reason.

Once he populated it, the modem rebooted. the phone worked, but then the internet service was offline. Fortunately he was able to re-submit the MAC ID for the internet service and finally all has been online and stable.

It really does appear as if they want you to regret attempting to use your own modem and not pay them the additional monthly rental fee for their equipment. Most people that I know would have given up and gone that route, which is only beneficial to Comcast and not their subscribers.

Love the modem and would definitely recommend! Good luck with Comcast, and don’t give up. Just keep trying and they will be the ones who eventually give up and allow your equipment to operate.

This modem has worked as advertised to this point. It was purchased for my elderly mother so that she could have telephone service. It is the same brand device that we use in our home for internet connection, and was recommended by the Best Buy staff member I spoke with.

The only issue I have with it is the price. It appears that in order to get voice capability for phone service, an expensive modem for internet service, which is unnecessary in my Mom’s case, is the only choice.

This was the least expensive modem with voice capability that I could find. It has worked perfectly so far.