this is wireless connectivity issue.
i purchased a motorola sbg6580 last year. i didn't want to rent a modem for 7 dollars a month from charter communications. i thought going with a modem with built in wireless would be the way to go and would eventually pay itself off. the wireless worked fine without any issues for the first few months. after that the wireless connection would have intermittent drops. the drops are random and usually happen every few min but sometimes will last an hour or two without dropping again. i spent hours reading forums, calling both charter and motorola customer support (each equally worthless in resolving the issue and both tried to pass the buck to the other...). i eventually just caved in and moved my computer to the downstairs living room where the modem is set up. the hard wire connection has and currently does work great. if you do a search of sbg6580 and intermittent drops you will see many users of this same product with the same problems. interestingly enough, both motorola and charter denied that there was such a problem with this product despite my telling them to do a simple search of the issue and they would find almost everyone with this same problem. there is a lot of talk about firmware updates being a cause of the issue and these firmware updates are controlled by the isp. the only thing i could think of that would have stopped my wireless from working properly (like it had for 2-3 months) is a firmware update. my firmware is up to date. i am not sure this is the reason, simply speculation.
fast forward to today...
my gf thinks that my computer table 'takes up too much space' and wants me to move the computer back upstairs. the only 'solution' to the sbg6580 wireless issue that i know of is to bridge to a different wireless router. she said she is willing to buy the router (i refuse to since i paid like 150 or more for the gateway with modem and supposed wireless in one).
i have two questions:
1) is anyone familiar with this issue and/or had success in making the wireless aspect of the sbg6580 working without intermittent drops from the wireless connection?
2) does anyone have a suggestion for a good and not overly expensive wireless n router that i can bridge to the sbg6580?
i purchased a motorola sbg6580 last year. i didn't want to rent a modem for 7 dollars a month from charter communications. i thought going with a modem with built in wireless would be the way to go and would eventually pay itself off. the wireless worked fine without any issues for the first few months. after that the wireless connection would have intermittent drops. the drops are random and usually happen every few min but sometimes will last an hour or two without dropping again. i spent hours reading forums, calling both charter and motorola customer support (each equally worthless in resolving the issue and both tried to pass the buck to the other...). i eventually just caved in and moved my computer to the downstairs living room where the modem is set up. the hard wire connection has and currently does work great. if you do a search of sbg6580 and intermittent drops you will see many users of this same product with the same problems. interestingly enough, both motorola and charter denied that there was such a problem with this product despite my telling them to do a simple search of the issue and they would find almost everyone with this same problem. there is a lot of talk about firmware updates being a cause of the issue and these firmware updates are controlled by the isp. the only thing i could think of that would have stopped my wireless from working properly (like it had for 2-3 months) is a firmware update. my firmware is up to date. i am not sure this is the reason, simply speculation.
fast forward to today...
my gf thinks that my computer table 'takes up too much space' and wants me to move the computer back upstairs. the only 'solution' to the sbg6580 wireless issue that i know of is to bridge to a different wireless router. she said she is willing to buy the router (i refuse to since i paid like 150 or more for the gateway with modem and supposed wireless in one).
i have two questions:
1) is anyone familiar with this issue and/or had success in making the wireless aspect of the sbg6580 working without intermittent drops from the wireless connection?
2) does anyone have a suggestion for a good and not overly expensive wireless n router that i can bridge to the sbg6580?
Motorola SBG6580 SURFboard 343 Mbps 4 Port Gigabit Wireless Cable Modem - Black. This is an unused item I bought for a customer but never installed. It was sold to me by a seller that listed it as Manufacturer refurbished but I found out it was refurbished by a company that Amazon recognized as a qualified refurbisher. Shipped with USPS. Dec 16, 2002 This package supports the following driver models:Motorola SURFboard SB5120 USB Cable Modem.
There are two ways to install a Motorola Surfboard Cable modem without the CD-ROM: connect it through an Ethernet jack or download and install the modem's USB software from Motorola's site. Cable modems are self-contained units and run their operations through firmware on the device itself. The device runs in a self-contained state so that it can share a connection with multiple devices through a router instead of just connecting to a single computer.
Ethernet Setup
You can get around running the installation software from the CD-ROM by skipping over the need to use the software all together. Simply screw the coaxial cable with the incoming Internet connection into the coaxial port on the back of the modem. Plug one end of an Ethernet cable into the Ethernet port on the modem and the other end into the Ethernet port on the computer and call the Internet service provider to activate the modem. Windows includes basic Ethernet drivers that work with any Ethernet device, so as long as the computer has an Ethernet port it doesn't need to use the software for the modem to work. The cable modem can directly interface with a computer or a router using only the firmware already installed on the modem. If you use a router, set the router up according to the manufacturer's instructions and instead of plugging the Ethernet cable from the modem into the computer, connect it to the Internet port on the router, and then run an Ethernet cable between the router's Ethernet port and the computer's Ethernet port.
USB
Modem drivers are necessary only when you're connecting the Surfboard directly to a single computer via a USB connection. Unlike with Ethernet connections, a Windows PC doesn't have native capabilities to interface with a cable modem over USB. The software must be installed via CD-ROM or downloaded installer package. Each modem model uses its own unique software for each version of Windows from Windows 98 through Windows 7. Motorola doesn't support drivers for Windows 8 or later computers running Surfboard cable modems via USB. Additionally, Linux and Mac computers must use the Ethernet connection to work with the modem.
USB Drivers Download
If you don't have a CD-ROM drive on the computer or have misplaced the CD-ROM, you can download the drivers from Motorola's support site and install them directly from the computer. However, downloading the drivers from Motorola's site can be tricky if you need the modem you're trying to set up to connect to the Internet. If possible, you can preemptively handle this problem by making a backup of the modem's USB drivers on a CD-R or USB flash drive. Otherwise, you can download the drivers on another Internet connection or computer and transfer them to the computer with the Surfboard modem or connect the computer to the modem via Ethernet to download the drivers. Any new computer comes with an Ethernet port.
USB Installation Process
The USB Installation process is a bit different than the Ethernet installation process where you plug in the modem and wait for it to connect itself. When installing a cable modem via USB, turn on the computer, connect the power cable to the outlet, connect the power cable to the modem, connect the coaxial cable to the modem, connect the coaxial cable to the wall outlet, connect one end of the USB cable to the modem, connect the other end of the USB cable to the computer and run the Surfboard installer software.
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