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Monday, December 29th, 2025 6:58 PM

Power & SNR Min Max Values for Cable Modem ODFM Channels

https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/your-home-network/internet-troubleshooting-tips/602dae4ac5375f08cde52ea0

With reference to the troubleshooting post above, I'm trying to figure out some issues with my Netgear CM3000. It's been fine since last May (5/25), with my 1.3 Gbps plan. In the troubleshooting post, it has a section on Check your Signal Levels. Can you tell me if the Downstream Power Level & Downstream Signal to Noise Ratio values pertain to the OFDM channels, in addition to the QAM channels? In my case, besides some other issues, I'm experiencing only able to get 1 Gbps. This appears to be due to the fact that I only have 32 QAM channels locked, without the usual (single) OFDM channel locked. The ODFM Power & SNR looks a little wonky. Power is -21 dBmV & SNR is 23.5 dB.

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Expert

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115.1K Messages

8 hours ago

Those are too low / out of spec. That can cause the unlocking of the OFDM channel.

Please copy all of the text in its entirety of the *Downstream Power Levels*, the *SNR's* (Signal to Noise Ratios), and the *Upstream Power Level* numbers and paste them into your next post.



(edited)

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@EG​ thanks, my suspicion was that the SNR & Power values were to low. I was focusing on the splitter & attenuator and it was confirmed by a tech who just got here in the nick of time. He looked at the signals and confirmed the low values, replaced both a MOCA filter and the attenuator. A miracle occurred. With the CM3000 showing all GREEN, my issue now is that it appears a re-provisioning of the modem (last week) has dropped me down to a 1 Gig level. Running Speedtest from all available locations, I'm getting just the 1 Gig, not the 1.5 Gig that I normally get. I'm waiting to talk about someone inspecting it.

Expert

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115.1K Messages

6 hours ago

I was going to add that it may also be a double-header provisioning issue. Good luck ! Please post back with how it goes.

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287 Messages

@EG​ thanks EG! I just had a conversation with phone support. I asked what I thought was a simple request, could they take a look from their end on what the provisioning of the modem is. I was told that's impossible, I would have to schedule a tech visit to the home. I find this utterly unbelievable! I even suggested that they simply reprovision it, being sure that they were doing it correctly. Impossible, I was told.

Sigh......

Expert

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115.1K Messages

5 hours ago

I'm going to escalate your issue to the Comcast corporate employees (The Digital Care Team) who are available to these boards. They will be able to poll the modem and confirm the provisioning.

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4 hours ago

Last week my network went from 1.2 gig down to 0.1 meg. After trying everything, I reluctantly called Comcast support. First thing they said was "I can't see your modem from my end". This seemed ridiculous, since I was able to use the internet, albeit very slowly. I had an external Comcast IP address assigned, and I had QAM256 channels Locked. The interesting feature was that the single OFDM downstream channel that provides the DOCSIS 3.1 ability (my 1.2 gig) was "Not Locked". Power level for that channel is showing -21 dBmV, which seems out of range, but I have found no reference to power limits for the OFDM downstream channels. My upstream is unaffected in all this.

The next morning, my speed was somewhat restored, but with a limit of 1 gig, reflecting the "Not Locked" OFDM channel.

During the initial support call, the support person decided that my modem must not be provisioned correctly, even though it's been running fine for the 7 months since I purchased it. Upon looking at the modem after concluding my call, I discovered that my CM3000 firmware had changed from V5.01.02 to V6.01.04! Nothing had been said about this. I never received it, but this year Comcast had sent a V6.01.03 to some CM3000 owners with disastrous results. This V6 was pulled back and V5 was put back. Looking at the Netgear support site, they are still publishing the official Comcast version as V5.01.02.

A tech came out today and declared that my coax signal was peachy keen, so he declared that I had a defective modem. Given all the clues showing themselves, I am finding this hard to believe, and continue to suspect something on the Comcast side is the problem. I then performed a Factory Reset. I then used the Xfinity phone app to Activate the modem, which was accomplished, again, providing an IP address and again, providing only QAM channels, with the OFDM channel still not locked, power again at -21 dBmV. I called support again, and once again, they claimed to not see the modem!

My biggest issue is that Comcast appears to be saying that because it's an owned modem, it's not their problem. If so, then how do I get the original V5 firmware, that I did not have the chance to approve, reinstalled??????

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Netgear CM3000 Nightmare
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