Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem
Review by J. Wallace : Rock Solid

I bought the SBG6580 a few months ago to replace an aging Linksys WCG200 gateway. The Linksys had been fine, and it got me addicted to the all-in-one concept, rather than having a separate modem and wireless router. I never had much trouble with the Linksys most of the time I had it. However, it did seem to be starting to "go," with more frequent reboots required toward the end. So, I checked my ISP's web site (Cox) to find out what wireless gateways were on their "good guy list" and I found the SBG6580 on it. I was very interested in upgrading from wireless G to N, and a quick search of Best Buy's site told me that my local store had the SBG6580 in stock. I found it very easy to set up, and I started running speed and ping tests on it to see if it was really "all that." The ping test revealed some issues, and as noted in other reviews, I traced it to that darned "IP Flood Detection" checkbox on the Firewall page. I turned that off, and BOOM, I was off to the races! I just checked the Status page, and the gateway has been "up" for over 66 days without interruption. I heartily recommend this device.

Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem
Review by Jason C. Parham "Deserteagle83" : All i wanted, but with flaws

I have Charter cable for my internet service and i recently upgraded to the 25Mbps package. The all-in-one netgear router/modem that i was leasing from Charter wasn't capable of draft N, and i was getting charged $9.99 a month for it so i decided that it was time for an upgrade. After about a week of searching i finally settled on the SBG6580. I chose this all-in-one solution because it would help limit the wire clutter in my house. Now with that being said, this Motorola device is GREAT! The speeds are super fast, and it can be a useful device all the way from the computer novice, to someone with a CCIE. On the flip side the GUI is a bit clunky. When it comes to non-enterprise level routers my experience is mainly with netgear and linksys. I would have to admit that both of those companies have a much more friendly user interface. Not to mention that remote configuration is possible with both of those other companies. I guess Motorola sees it as a security risk to allow remote configurations. Oah well.
As far as the usability of this router, my only gripe is that Motorola left the damn "IP FLOOD DETECTION" box checked on the firewall. That one simple box basically rendered my router useless to do anything more complex than to load one low-res page at a time. After reading everyone's complaints about this device i honestly believe that everyone would be happy with this device if Motorola simply would ship it with the "IP FLOOD DETECTION" box unchecked. With all of that said... I love this modem, It has met and exceeded my speed requirements, as well as all of my security requirements.

Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem
Review by Timothy Walker : Great SOHO Gateway

When evaluating this type of equipment, one must differentiate between the device itself and other factors that can impact its performance. Blaming the manufacturer for issues likely caused by one's ISP is akin to saying, "I can't get past third gear because of all this construction on the highway... I'll never buy a Jaguar again!"

That said, the SBG6580 is a solid piece of kit.

This latest addition to the SURFboard line combines a DOCSIS 3 cable modem with a gigabit switch and a dual-antenna 802.11n wireless access point, providing all the networking equipment a home office needs in a single compact package... this amounts to a single point of failure, but that's par for the residential course. It can deliver 42 mbps downstream on a single channel (which my provider brands "Lightning") with support for eight bonded channels... meaning that when the day comes that ISPs start selling triple-digit speeds, this gateway won't need to be replaced.

Wi-Fi performance has been comparable to my old draft n router with similar range and throughput in a mixed mode environment. What sets the SBG6580 apart are its better indicator lights and superior configuration utility which offers some settings normally found only on enterprise-grade equipment. Those less inclined to tinker should know that push-button support is provided; once the cable guy finished with the wall outlet, setup took less than five minutes.

Finally, one word of caution: the SBG6580 needs airflow. I originally placed it flush against a similarly-sized backup hard drive on my desk and found the unit hot to the touch after a few hours. To avoid problems, do not block the vents.

Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem
Review by APB "Runch Maximus" : Pretty Good All-in-One Gateway

I needed a new gateway to replace my old Motorola SBG900, which Comcast was fazing out in my area, so I looked into getting this ostensibly next-gen DOCSIS 3.0 Gateway instead. I've seen a lot of both very positive and very negative feedback for this product here on Amazon, so I decided I would give my thoughts to try and help people make an informed decision about whether or not to buy the SBG6580.

First off, unboxing and installation was very easy. Take everything out, plug in the power cord and coaxial cable, put the instal disc into your computer and follow the on screen instructions. My wireless network was set up in just a few minutes. From there, you can access the Gateway's IP through any internet browser to do things such as: change your networks SSID and password, change your modem's login ID and password (these are different than your network ID and password - but you can change them to be the same should you so choose), and, as other reviewers have pointed out, you can and should turn off the IP flood detection.

Once I did all that I called up Comcast to give them the modem's MAC ID and get it initialized into their system. This is where I encountered some problems. Everything seemed to be working, and according to the Comcast CSR, everything looked fine on their end, but...I had no internet. We checked my old modem, and that still worked, then switched back to the new SBG6580 and...nothing. Needless to say I was getting worried that I got a defective product. So as soon as I got off the phone with Comcast I called Motorola customer service. I talked to a very friendly, helpful gentleman who started out by getting some product information from me and then proceeding to start going through some simple steps to try and diagnose the problem. Just as we were getting started, my modem randomly reset itself and the internet started working!

Turns out, at least according to the Motorola CSR, that it can take 30 minutes or more for the modem to become fully integrated into the internet providers databases. So the problem was solved! But he did pass along some other useful information as well: turns out my Comcast region is not DOCSIS 3.0 enabled. If the Send, Receive, and Online lights on the Gateway are all Blue, you've got DOCSIS 3.0. If they are green, you've got 2.0. The modem will still work, thankfully, but it's just not performing to the peak of it's capabilities.

Anyway, once the modem finally started (probably took 25-30 minutes after initially contacting Comcast), it has worked very well. Speed is about the same as my old SBG900, which is a little disappointing, but that could be related to the fact that my region is still only DOCSIS 2.0 enabled. Signal strength is decent (not great), but it has been very reliable with no outages so far (2 weeks+).

To summarize:

- Once set up, TURN OFF IP flood detection
- Don't give up on the modem right away - it may take a while to get incorporated into your service provider's system
- Product seems reliable, with adequate speeds and signal strengths.
- Should work even if your area is not DOCSIS 3.0 enabled, but MAKE SURE to call your service provider ahead of time to confirm that they support this modem

All in all, I recommend it as a pretty good all in one unit. 4/5 stars.

Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Modem
Review by Techie : Great Amazon Experience - Wonderful Motorola Product

Length:: 4:43 MinsSorry for the Dyslexia - This review is on the Motorola SBG 6580 SURFboard eXtreme Wireless Cable Gateway - during my video I used an imcorrect model number :(

BIG PLUS to this unit: You do not have to buy a seperate WIRELESS N ROUTER which saves about $100 or so additional cost. Some have said they bought the lesser Motorola unit and then bought an extra Wireless N router. This seems like an unneccessary expense to me.

Things to know:

This modem will ONLY work for CABLE-delivered Internet such as Comcast Xfinity (tm) and some other ISP's using CABLE Internet signals. It will NOT work on AT&T UVerse network (because UVerse uses a hyped-up DSL technology)

1. Unbox unit
2. Connect AC Power Adapter to wall (recommend plugging into UPS power supply)- plug the other end into the back of this router.
3. Connect COAX cable from ISP wall plate to your modem. This is the same hexagonal cable connector type as used to connect to CABLE TV.
4. Grab the included cat 5e ETHERNET CABLE (looks similar to a telephone cable) and plug one end into your laptop or PC and one end into one of the 4 ethernet jacks on the back of the unit.
5. If you don't have an ETHERNET jack on your laptop or PC you'll be going wireless - run the included INSTALLATION CD and follow the directions.
6. Open your webrowser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc) and type in the modem address 192.168.100.1 then enter your username-- admin and password-- motorola and hit login button.
7. You'll be looking at a web-based SETUP SCREEN with TABS from left to right.
8. Click on FIREWALL tab, locate the IP FLOOD DETECTION checkbox and UNTICK IT (remove the checkmark) then click on the APPLY button.
9. Pick up phone and call your ISP. From the box that shipped with your device - read the ISP the model number (SBG 6580) and the MAC ID number (the MAC ID varies from one unit to another and is printed on the bottom of your modem itself as well as the shipping box.
10. Be sure your isp offers DOCSIS 3.0 SIGNAL or you will not reap the max speed from this device.

About the accompanying video:

about 4 minutes of hands-on demo with this device including real world speed test from the Internet. Remember to go to FIREWALL settings and un-tick IP FLOOD DETECTION - if you don't you will not get max performance. Otherwise simple to set up and blazingly fast. Note: Hard-wired (ethernet) is always going to be much faster than wireless. This proved true on my network, 30.77 mbps download speed realized (hard wired) vs 10 mbps Wireless. Overall I'm extremely happy - no negatives at all. A Must-Have piece of equipment. Important: Your ISP needs to provide good quality signal and use DOCSIS 3.0 technology to achieve the higher speeds (30 and above) mentioned in this review. Don't blame this equipment if you have a bad ISP connection you won't get the performance. My ISP is Comcast. Fiber optic is a lot faster than UVERSE IMHO.