Oct 22, 2010 I use a Motorola SBG6580 modem gateway, and I have been trying to find the section in the configuration page which will enable me to bind an ip address to the mac address, but I can't find it. It is probably there, but called something else.
Motorola Sbg6580 Software
I am wondering if anyone has an experience or advice re the use of this cable modem on a Mac network.
I presently have my home LAN set up using an Airport Extreme, the original version with the 10/100 ethernet ports, no gigabit; a separate gigabit switch; and an old Linksys DOCSIS 1.1 cable modem.
My cable provider is requiring me to upgrade to a DOCSIS 3.0 compatible cable modem. I could just buy one and swap it in, but I was thinking that if I upgrade the cable modem, I might as well have my LAN connected to it with something faster than the Airport Extreme, which provides only 10 MBS on the ethernet connection to the cable modem - so I got to thinking, why not upgrade to the newer Airport Extreme as well? But then, the AE only has 3 GB ethernet ports for the LAN connections, and I actually need 4, so I still wind up having the separate switch...a lot of boxes, power bricks, and cables.
Motorola has a new product, the SBG6580, which is a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem with a built-in 4port GB switch and 801.11n wireless networking. Of course, I would lose the convenience of setting up the firewall / router via the Airport utility, but configuring via a web browser isn't such a big deal, of course, and it has been my past experience that non-Apple routers such as Netgear and Linksys often provide quite a few more features than do Airport Extremes, albeit without the ease of configuration. This device, if it works properly, would consolidate three boxen into one, as well as being a cheaper solution than the standard cable modem from Motorola (without the GB switch and wireless) and a new AE.
The user manual on Motorola's website is pretty poor, though, so I cannot really learn this modem's capabilities...and I don't know if it is uPNP programmable so that Back to My Mac will still work to let me connect to my desktop from remote sites as I can presently due with great ease...the usual Apple ease of use. I am also always wary of how well wireless networking will work between different vendors...i have clearly seen worse performance of my MBP via wireless at work, when I have a (cheap) Linksys/Cicso wireless access point vs my home LAN connecting via the AE, although I cannot be sure how much of that is overall internet bandwidth with the rest of the office sharing the DSL connection vs me alone on my cable connection at home.
Any advice/thoughts appreciated.
Thanks.
nl