Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When you look critically at modems it doesn't take you long to realize that the Arris Surfboard product line is the easy winner. The choice then comes down to whether you get SB6183 or SB6141. Honestly, for $30 less and speeds up to 343Mbps the SB6141 should seem like an easy choice for 99% of people. But I decided to opt for the SB61483 for three reasons. - Comcast is listing the SB6141 in such a way that makes me think it will be considered end-of-life soon while the SB6183 is still very much current. - The SB6183 has 16 channels down as opposed to just 8 on the SB6141. Theoretically this means that at peak times you are less likely to experience your speed slowing down. Be aware your service area must be configured to support this otherwise those channels don't help. - Comcast used to charge me $10 a month to rent a modem/router, so the extra $30 will pay itself back quickly. I do have one gripe about the box though. My issue is that the designers made the indicator LEDs brighter than the lights used to illuminate football fields at night. I initially placed mine on the shelf under my TV and trying to watch TV was like having headlights pointed into my eyes. I recommend welder's goggles to avoid long term retina damage. No joke, these things are so bright that the light from them seeps under the door into my bedroom and is bright in there. Even considering the efficiency of LEDs I'm concerned my next electric bill will reflect the fact that I've used more power than a mid-sized office building to create this much illumination. But I'm a resourceful dude so I figured I would just fold a piece of paper over a few times and tape it over the front of the box to shield my eyes from this Eye of Sauron. Well, that should have worked. Unfortunately, every surface of the box other than the base is covered with air vent holes. I was afraid I would cause the device of overheat if I blocked those vents, so at this point I got kind of desperate so I took out the 1 and only screw and cut a slip in the sticker on the bottom so that I could open to box up. As you can see from the attached pictures, the LEDs are deigned so that they actually face out of the box and only a small amount of light makes it to the indicators on the front. I did the very best I could to cover this with electrical tape, but because of the way it is mounted in there it is hard cover the under side. This made the problem about 50% better but it is still bright enough to act as a night light for the entire living room and kitchen. I may be certifiable for knocking off two stars for a cosmetic problem on a modem, but these are my feelings... ***UPDATE*** I've changed my review from 3 stars to 4. This is due to the helpful comment from J. Cohen which gave me hope that I could switch off the lights. However, my hopes were dashed when I realized the solution turned off all lights EXCEPT the power LED. It's a bit like learning you can get rid of MOST of the rats in your bed. I guess it makes it better, but I'm still uncomfortable. If you want to do this yourself here are the step: 1) Open a browser window. 2) Type the following number into your address bar: 192.168.100.1 3) Go to the Configuration tab. 4) Set "Turn off front panel LEDs except power LED" to "Enable" 5) Rejoice that you've turned off 75% off the blinding spotlights