I have a 4MB connection to NTL in the UK but never seem to get more
than 2.3MB when I test the speed. Will the webpages load faster when I
browse the web if I change my Motorola Surfboard 4100, which I got in
2001, for a newer model? The data sheet says it will take up to 30MB,
but maybe there is something else going on.

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Clarification of Question by richnottingham-ga on 19 Sep 2006 23:00 PDT

by newer model I mean the motorola surfboard 5120

Hello richnottingham,

This is a nice question... What you are asking is by upgrading your
modem will you get faster speeds? My answer would be that, judging by
the specs of your cable modem as seen here:

Motorola SB4100
http://broadband.motorola.com/modem/SB4100.pdf

you won't see any speed difference. This modem that you already use is
capable of 38Mbps already. What you are truly facing is a share
network bandwidth usage. The 4MB connection is the maximum you will
get NOT a guaranteed connection speed.

I'd advise you not to spend the money on a new device and stay with
what you have. 2.3 Mbps is faster than what a lot of people get in the
UK.

As you are sharing your cable connection with other people in your
local area too you will only see 4Mbps if they are not using the
internet at the same time.

I would also think about the spec of your computer and if it is a USB
connection or an ethernet connection that you use to connect to your
modem
I would not advise you to buy a new modem (unless you can afford it
without any worries) as i do not think it will bring you much in the
way of a data speed increase. Perhaps checking for newer firmware for
the device may help. It may even be your PC that is causing the
slowness by not being able to keep up. Even with a 4MB connection you
can still only go as fast as the slowest operator, so if the other end
is a 2.3MB connection you can only get 2.3MB of data.

Here is a link to a driver update:

Motorola Consumers-- Driver Update (exe file)
http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/SB4100/downloads/v2.4.5_WHQL_Drivers.exe

Search terms:
motorola surfboard 4100


Hope this explains things for you. If you need any additional help,
let me know with the clarification feature.

--Keystroke-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by richnottingham-ga on 28 Sep 2006 08:57 PDT

thanks for that answer, I kinda thought that may be it. I did download
those drivers you gave the link for, but how do you update the
firmware with them? when I go to http://192.168.100.1/ there is no
indication of how to upgrade the firmware. Richard

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Clarification of Answer by keystroke-ga on 28 Sep 2006 09:08 PDT

Hello richnottingham,

You are not updating the firmware of the device with those drivers;
they are only for updating the drivers on your machine. Just install
them as you normally would.

--keystroke-ga

Your Modem is fine and the shared network info is kind of correct.
What you also might look at is are you connected to a splitter and in
your diagnostic page what is the TX/RX levels? I work in the industry
and a lot of the time customers have a poor cable from there modem to
the outlet or have hooked a splitter in the path of the cable modem
and this causes signal loss. I would say try your speed test on
different speedtest sites and also at different times in the day like
off peak hours to see if your issue is real a bandwidth bottle-neck or
if it's a signal quality issue. You might also try to complane to the
ISP about the speed issues and tell them to split your node!