NETGEAR Nighthawk Cable Modem Router Combo

If you have Xfinity Triple Play and want to get rid of the $10 per month rental fee, this is the modem you want. It looks exactly like the Cisco 3941T and has similar excellent performance, but has completely different software. While it's not as easy to configure as Xfinity's own modems, I do feel it is more secure. Installation was much easier than I expected. I disconnected the Cisco 3941T that I was renting from Xfinity and installed the C7100V. After plugging it in I followed the instructions in the manual and logged in to the router from my computer. It automatically opened a window to Xfinity prompting me to enter my Xfinity login and password which then updated my account to use the new modem, no need to call Xfinity as described in the manual. The modem did reboot and all the lights came on, but for some reason I wasn't able to get a connection from my laptop. I ended up rebooting the router again and everything came up correctly and I haven't had a single problem since. Voice quality is very clear and running a speed test over an Ethernet connection resulted in a download speed of 89.8 Mbps and an upload speed of 11.8 Mbps on my 75 Mbps service. This is definitely a speedy router/modem. It supports gigabit Ethernet, up to 600 Mbps over 2.4GHz, and up to 1300 Mbps over 5 GHz. The 24x8 DOCSIS 3.0 support also makes it future proof for much higher speed plans. WiFi settings are the same as other Netgear routers. It allows you to set up both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless networks as well as 2.4 and 5 GHz guest networks. You can also set up a white-list to only allow devices with a known MAC address to connect and block all other devices, even if they have the correct password. (On the Xfinity modem you can't do this, you can only have it notify you when a new device connects.) One of the downsides of switching to your own modem is you lose XFINITY xFi. xFi only works with Arris 1682G, Cisco 3941T, Arris TG3482G or Technicolor CGM4140COM modems rented from Xfinity and provides a simple interface for your network that can be viewed and controlled from the Xfinity web site, the Xfinity xFi app, or from your X1 box. What I liked about xFi was you could assign devices to groups and then easily view which devices were currently connected and how much bandwidth each group was using. You could also set parental controls for each group. One of the things I didn't like about xFi was it easily displayed your WiFi passwords. Additionally xFi doesn't allow you to set up a white list, you can only disable a device after it's already connected to your network. Using your own modem you also loose the Xfinity SSID which other Xfinity customers can use to connect to WiFi. While some aspects of xFi are nice, especially for those not familiar with configuring their own router, I don't feel it's worth the extra money you'd eventually pay by renting.