Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys BEFCMU10 Ethernet Cable Modem

I experienced an issue with my internet connection resetting every 4 hours ever since I purchased my Linksys cable modem. I called my firewall manufacturer, sent extremely detailed diagnostic logs, and ruled out the firewall as the cause. I then had the cable company check the line and they changed several connectors and removed a splitter to give me a very high signal strength. Still the connection reset every 4 hours. I called Linksys technical support and they recommended that I "unplug the cable modem for 120 seconds to clear out all of that bad packets and the that will fix the problem." Wrong, no change. I got a loaner Motorola SB5100 modem from my cable company and my connection did not go down one single time during a 14-day period (verified by my firewall and the cable company router.) Goodby Linksys DOCSIS 1.0 cable modem. I've switched to a much more reliable and more advanced DOCSIS 2.0 Motorola SB5100.

If you're looking to get broadband Internet service through your cable company, you might want to give serious thought to owning your cable modem instead of renting it. If you already have cable broadband Internet service, you can save some money over time by owning your cable modem.

There are many cable modems on the market. So why should you buy the Linksys BEFCMU10? Because setup is a breeze, and once you're done...it just works. I had mine out of the box and connected to both the cable line and Ethernet within minutes.

If you are replacing an existing cable modem, you will probably have to call your cable company and provide them with the MAC address from your new cable modem. Other than that, setting up the Linksys BEFCMU10 is really a plug and play operation. You'll probably spend more time on the phone waiting for your cable company to answer than you will installing the actual modem!

I've been very pleased with this modem. It just runs and runs. I have only one minor complaint. Most cable modems (this one included) feature a built-in informational web page. This unit is no different, but unlike many, it doesn't let you reset or reboot the modem from within your network by way of this web page, which can be a nice feature if your cable modem is hard to get at and you need to restart it for some reason. Linksys should consider adding this feature in a firmware update.

I had purchased this cable modem from Amazon around September 2003. Had the same "lock-up" problem as described in some posts. Linksys tech support was not much of a use. However, since it was still under one year warranty, I exchanged it for version 3 (original was version 2). It had cost me additional $15, but version 3 works fine.

I recently purchased the linksys cable modem. When I called comcast to switch, I was told that it was not on thier approved modem list and would not work because if they did not enter a modem type it would not go thru. After 3 hrs of insisting that they humor me, they did. Tell them it's a 3com modem, if it is docsis compliant it will work. Don't let them push you around you have the right to use your own modem, and legaly they can not refuse to activate and if they refuse you tech support tell them no matter what modem you use, they are legaly obligated to support their service. I have all linksys products and they have all proven to be of high quality.

I'm using my BEFCMU10 with AT&T Broadband. I did some homework beforehand and determined that this particular Linksys Cable Modem was supported by AT&T, and I installed it in advance along with a hardware firewall router (highly recommended, but that's a topic for another forum). When the installer arrived, he didn't like the condition of the feed into the house, so he pulled a new cable and installed a new junction box on the house. Inside, I have a 4-port signal booster amplifier with three ports active. The installer put the splitter upstream of my amplifier, ran one side directly to the cable modem outlet and put a filter on the other side to keep TV signals from back-feeding the data path. He indicated to me that this was one of the keys to error-free data transmission.

After the physical install was complete, he called the support center and registered the BEFCMU10's hardware address with the AT&T cable system. I did the PC installation and called in the hardware address of my firewall router, and the whole thing came up on the first try. No problems so far (about four weeks post-install, as of this writing), and the Linksys BEFCMU10 Cable Modem is proving to be about as trouble-free as they come.