Gigabit + XFi Bridge Mode = Slower than Blast Pro with my own modem?

[decker12]

Went to the Xfinity store last week and got talked into a gigabit line upgrade with the XFi modem. Previously I was on the Blast Pro with Speed Boost package that offered me 300mb/s down and 20mb/s up with unlimited data for a staggering $144 a month.

On my old service, I was routinely getting 340mb/s via various speed test sites. I was using my own DOCSIS 3.0 modem and my own router.

Got talked into the Gigabit upgrade with unlimited data and the XFi rental for $120 a month. Sounds great, of course I'll sign up.

I do not bundle any services. Just internet.

Got home, put XFi in bridge mode (I have my own Netgear N7000P router) and I have not come close to the advertised speeds, and all my download speeds are slower than I had with my Blast Pro tier. Here's the results, averaged over a 4 hour period of running the test several times on each site:

Service	Down	Up
Speedof.me	174	44
DSL Reports	186	41
Ookla	479	41
Testmy.net	45.2	35.2
Speedsmart	111	43

Download speeds are consistently terrible even though the uploads speeds are consistently excellent.

Plus we had a 9 hour outage in our area yesterday. Today the internet has dropped entirely 3 times in the past 3 hours, coming back up after 10 minutes or so. In five years we had a single outage on my Blast Pro service with my own modem, and now I'm seeing oh, lets say 12 total hours of outages in the past 6 days - a horrible percentage.

So, whats going on here? What do I do? My guess is that the XFi modem is garbage but I'm hesitant to spend another $150 on a DOCSIS 3.1 modem on the off chance it's Xfininity's equipment.

[darkangelic]

What do you get for speeds when the netgear router (N7000P ?!? Sure you don't mean the R7000P ?) is not in the equation? 

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@decker12 wrote:

So, whats going on here? What do I do? My guess is that the XFi modem is garbage but I'm hesitant to spend another $150 on a DOCSIS 3.1 modem on the off chance it's Xfininity's equipment.

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BTW, my xFi enabled XB6 gateway, my former Netgear CM1150V modem + R7000P router and ARRIS SB8200 modem + ASUS RT-AC88U router never had issues hitting gigabit speeds.

It's not necessarily the equipment that's the problem. 

For further troubleshooting help, see:

• Xfinity Internet Connection Troubleshooting Tips 

• Troubleshooting Gigabit internet speeds 

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  Troubleshooting Gigabit internet speeds 

[decker12]

Speeds were in the 400's when directly connected to the XFi in router (ie non-bridge) mode using a latop and a CAT6 cable. Still nowhere near gigabit, but better than I have now. I only had it in this mode for an hour or so when I first plugged in the device, then I switched it to Bridge mode, and plugged it into a factory-reset (and 4 months old) Nighthawk AC2300/R7000P.

This is not a new device - I had it with my Blast Pro tier, but I factory reset it just to make sure it was "clean" before using it with my new gigabit service.

As I said, it all works, it's just that the speeds are terrible and even with this gigabit upgrade plus a shiny new XFi in bridge mode + my AC2300/R7000P acting as a router, download speeds are not even as good as they were on my Blast Pro tier. 

I've ordered a new DOCSIS 3.1 modem to try out so I can verify that the XFi is to blame, as that is the only new piece of gear in the setup. Even my desktop is wired directly to the router with the same 3' CAT6 cable it was plugged into when I had Blast Pro.  Based on friend and family experiences, I have no expectation that any Xfinity supplied device is going to be as reliable as my own equipment, so that's why I grudgingly accepted the XFi device knowing I could put it in bridge mode, and that's why I'm unwilling to use it as a router. I guess I'll see this weekend when the new modem arrives - if it's plug and play and consistent gigabit out of the box, well then I'll have my answer!