I got this today and here is my experience. The router arrived in just a couple days on Amazon Prime which was awesome. Oddly, there was no CM MAC address on the label, although it says it is there in the instructions found online... However, I was able to get into the routerlogin.net admin control through direct ethernet connection to get the CM MAC address... However, it still did not activate on XFINITY. So I had to call them. They registered it and then it could be activated, then I get them the CM MAC address and it worked great after that to the MAX of my internet provider speed. Yet the WiFi does seem weak in just the other room, not bad though.If upload is not that good it could be the internet provider, that was the issue here.It does seem to get a bit warm so I put a little USB fan on it. I have a feeling that's the trick to keep it lasting a long time. If hardware gets too hot for too long it can be damaged and then get faulty performance.Wish everyone great performance to the people who buy it. I may get another WiFi switch if needed to expand it but it's great start for today to have my own router and to save on the monthly rental costs. Good luck to you too.

I ordered the above item on a Sunday, it arrived on a Thursday, and it was up and running on Friday. Today is a Monday, and so far my family and I haven't had any problems with it. It's a refurbished model, but except for a few superficial scratches, it looks brand new. I was leasing a modem from Spectrum (which bought out the previous internet provider) for $10/month for over 12 years. Yup, do the math. I had an obsolete modem that I hadn't replaced for over 12 years that cost me over $1400. Now, I have a refurbished modem/wifi router combo that cost me less than $90. The internet downloads faster, and I haven't had to reboot the modem yet, which I was doing at least once a week with my old modem. This product doesn't come with a manual, but you can find a digital copy on the internet by searching on Google or Bing.

If you're setting up a new cable internet service, this thing is the move. It's a way better value than paying $14/mo to "rent" the XFinity router, and it works perfectly.It has both 2.4 and 5GHz wifi signals, which is super useful. My new tech like my phone and laptop can use the 5GHz to get full download speeds anywhere in the house (my room is in the basement and the router is upstairs, and I still get a full signal) while my old tech like my PS4, which doesn't seem to like 5G, can use the 2.4 and still get plenty of bandwidth for streaming. Router settings are also super easy to manage—thank you Netgear! Just make sure you type in the actual IP address to access the router and not "routerlogin.net"; that doesn't work.Definitely get the refurbished one. A new one of these guys will run you up awfully high for no reason. The used one works perfectly!

I am an IT professional and I have a lot of experience with networking. Most of this kind of equipment is a major pain in the hindquarters to set up and manage. This equipment is extremely easy to set up and its performance as advertised. I'm favourably impressed.For those of you who care, it looks very good; a nice shape and colour that should easily fit with your décor. You can purchase a clear acrylic shelf for it if needed. Placing the units such that I got the reception I wanted was a bit of a challenge but I did eventually manage. I placed the master unit near the centre of my home. The satellite unit went into a corner of the TV room at the far end of the house; it's hard wired to the Roku units. Everything else is wireless. The Amazon Fire unit works fine, even though it's mere inches from the satellite. My PC got decent reception with no external antenna and gets great reception with an external antenna. There are no discernible issues when simultaneously watching HD TV, Alexa playing music and downloading something on the PC.I recommend that you move the units around your home to find the best positioning. After each move, press the button to reconnect the satellite and master. If at all possible, you want to see both units displaying their blue lights of happiness (i.e. satellite displays yellow when it's not optimally placed and crimson when it's very unhappy). Then: 1) walk around the house with your phone and watch the number of Wi-Fi bars - you may have to stop and wait in each location because most phones need a moment or two to reregister reception and redisplay the reception bars; 2) Do the same thing with each device that you intend to use that displays reception level. If you have a laptop, run a speed test from various locations. It's going to take time (and quite a bit of schlepping) to find the best positions for the master and satellite units but it is worth it.The setup instructions are adequate and the management dialog is actually quite good. I like being able to tag my devices with a description. I did not mess around with any of the delivered settings because they are all reasonable for my needs.BEFORE you start pairing the first device, change the passwords for both the admin user and the Wi-Fi, especially the latter. Use 12 characters for maximum security and tape them to the bottom of the unit so that they don't get lost.IMPORTANT NOTE: This modem is approved by Comcast for their services of up to 400Mbs at the "mydeviceinfo" location of their site as "netgear-cbr40-647". They DO NOT approve it for their higher speed services. As far as I know, AT&T doesn't permit you to use your own modem.One final thought: I did not do this but I believe it to be possible to switch to this unit without changing all of your connected devices. I would suggest this only to a confident user with experience. Note the SSID (Network Name) of your existing Wi-Fi router and then turn it OFF. Change the SSID of the Orbi to match the existing SSID and change the Wi-Fi password to match that of your existing Wi-Fi network. I believe that that should work. I didn't do it because my existing Wi-Fi password was only 8 characters and I used this opportunity to strengthen it to 11.