The Motorola SB6141 Review - The Speediest Docsis 3.0 Cable Modem

The Motorola SB6141 Review

If You Are Looking For The Fastest DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem In Town Today, You Must Read This Motorola SB6141 Review!

by Zhuke Liang Matthew

First of all before I go into this Motorola SB6141 review about the latest DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem from Motorola here, it is important to have some high level of understanding of what the DOCSIS 3.0 specification is and what are the advantages it provides to a cable modem that is build to that specification.

DOCSIS stands for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. As you can tell from the version number, the 3.0 specification is the third and the latest version of DOCSIS. However the 3.0 specification is not exactly new as it was actually released way back in August 2006 by a consortium of technology companies led Cablelabs to use channel bonding technologies to provide ultra fast broadband services. Motorola is one of its members amongst other leading names such as Intel, Cisco etc

So how does this channel bonding technology helps to improve the data transfer speed? In simple terms, a modem like the Motorola SB6141 utilizes the channel bonding technology together with the DOCSIS 3.0 standard to cleverly harness the extra unused bandwidth capacity to provide the boost to users.

Imagine combining eight already large data pipe of 40 Mbps of data per channel to give you a theoretical total downstream capacity of 320 Mbps? In the theoretical or optimal case, you could utilize data rates of more than 320 Mbps downstream and 160 Mbps for upstream channels.

However do note that like all modems, actual data throughput will generally be less due to physical layer overheads e.g. error correction coding, burst preamble, guard correction etc

Also do note that you get what you pay for. For example if you subscribe to a 20 Mbps package from your ISP, you will not be able to take the full advantage of the Motorola SB6141’s data capacity due to the capping from your ISP.

Even though users cannot make total use of its theoretical through put, most users of the Motorola SB6141 would feel the speed surge immediately when they switched over to the SB6141.

The Motorola SB6141 supports both IPv4 and IPv6 and is also backward compatible to the original DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS and includes an internal filter to eliminate potential interference from MoCA signals' inter modulation beats.

The Pros and Cons of the Motorola SB6141

No matter how good a product is, there will always be some weakness. However the Motorola SB6141 is an excellent product that has evolved from its solid predecessors the Motorola SB6121 and SB6120, so there are few flaws. In fact these should not be termed “Cons” as it is not the weakness of the Motorola SB6141 but rather the accessibility provided by the ISP Comcast:

·        Comcast does automatically not support the Motorola SB6141 at the point of writing. However some customers have managed to get Comcast to manually provision their Motorola SB6121 for them. Once that has been done, s reset signal will be sent to the modem and you have to repower it to get it working. Also to make sure that you buy the appropriate Comcast package to make full use of the Motorola SB6141’s capabilities i.e. you pay for the speed

These are some of the Pros of the Motorola SB6141

• It now supports AES traffic encryption for enhance security
• Easy to setup
• Has a build-in internal filter to reduce potential interference from MoCA signals' inter-modulation beats
• Cheaper than its predecessors the Motorola SB6121 and Motorola SB6120
• Capable of channel bonding up to eight downstream channels and four upstream channels. This offers a potential increase in data rates of over 300 Mbps for received data and over 100 Mbps for sending data
• Shares the same firmware image as the hugely popular Motorola SB6121 and SB6120. This helps to reduce operator qualification time and eliminates configuration management problems for the ISPs
• Overall, if you are looking for speed and if you are willing to pay for the speed from your ISP, then the Motorola SB6141 is the modem to go for.
• I hope this Motorola SB6141 Review gives you a good understanding of the Motorola Surfboard SB6141 to help you make an informed decision to buy the SB6141.

Click here to buy the Motorola SB6141.

What Customers Say About The Motorola SB6141

5.0 out of 5 stars Works with TWC, April 24, 2012

By Greystny

The SB6141 is listed on TWC's list of approved modems. No issues with install. Easy to access menu to view power levels. Fast and works as advertised. Highly recommend.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bomb, April 19, 2012

By Bluquick

Anyone that has broadband should have this modem at home. This modem increased our speed by 10 MPS plus .. Very easy set up. works like a dream and has 1 gig network connect. Don't worry about a fancy box its whats inside that counts.
Was deliver 5 days ahead of schedule AMAZON rocks .

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Modem, April 26, 2012

By Justin Meyer "The Messenjah"

This modem was set up and working in 5 min. Works perfectly with Charter and is much faster than their standard rental modems. Saved $8 just because it comes in a non-retail box. Could not be happier with this product!

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, May 11, 2012

By Claythrow

Best modem I've ever used, hands down. Use mine with the Apple Time capsule and it integrates perfectly. Owned the 6121, and the 6580, this one is quicker if you pay for the speeds. I'm a telecommunications professional so I know how to tweak things. THis modem does not give you any options for that, but untweaked and paired with the apple time capsule (which kind of tweaks itself, very well I might add) is faster than the 6580 tweaked to it's peak.

I don't have an explanation why, and I'm not a "Mac" loyalist, but as much as this modem is an amazing product, so is Apple's time capsule. Until the next technology comes around, this modem is all you will ever need. Amongst the many, MANY modes I've gotten to test and play with, this is hands down the fastest. You can't adjust anything on it, but it's still faster than modem or modem/router combos that can be tweaked, significantly faster.

You can access all the logs and signal info, and another odd thing is that it uses the signal more efficiently and posts better specs, on the same signal. I did a lot of testing on this and I don't have an explanation for it, but compared to the other very similar Motorola's (and all other modems, but the Motorola's are the oddity) and it posts better numbers with the same signal, not talking speed here, but errors, s/n, power levels, packet loss etc. If someone has an explanation please post it as this is my forte and I can't wrap my head around it.

But bottom line, from a telecommunications worker, just buy this modem and be done with it. IMO there is nothing better, and I've seen em all. Side note, there is one modem that has 8 upstream channels (this has 8 down and 4 up, which is more than 90% of modems) I forget the name of it, but this modem tests far better, is better built, and very few companies are offering 8 upstream channels now anyway, so it's not only not as good a modem, but the extra bonding on the upstream is useless to most anyway.

Last check at Amazon, the Motorola SB6141 was out of stock yet again. This is to be expected due to the huge demand for this modem. Hurry and click on this link or the button below now to buy the Motorola SB6141 before it runs out again.