NETGEAR Nighthawk DOCSIS 3.1 Mid/high-Split Cable Modem (CM2500) – Approved for Today’s Faster Speeds & Compatible with All Providers Incl. Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox – for Plans up to 2Gbps (Renewed)

Quality, reliability
Title: Reliable equipmentDescription: I’ve installed and run my network on Netgear Nighthawk cable modems for ~8 years. My only reason for recent replacement of my CM1000 was for an available speed increase (from 450 MB to 1200 MB ) by the cable company. As expected, the CM3000 connected seamlessly. I paired with a refurbished RS100 (2.5 GB over Cat 8) to my existing Netgear 1 GB switch (GS108) for the 1 GB desktops & printer. 2.4 GHz for the house hardware, 5 GHz for the TV streams. Then the WiFi 7 for the cell phones. I’ll review the switch for upgrade now that the system has settled in. Next is the addition of streams for my planned media center… BTW: I replaced a 6-year old mesh system that could not keep up. All good!

Complicated install and incompatibility with other components.
Didn’t notice when I purchased it, but Netgear Nighthawk appears to have been used and returned. However, that was not the reason I returned it. It was complicated to install and my results were far less than I hoped.

Defective and returned.
After trying everything I can possible to get close to the actual speed of my new gig network, I am giving up, arriving at the conclusion that my lines (which were replaced) are not at fault and that this product is simply defective. At the end of it all, I still got 179 Mbps hardwired, on a gigabit plan. Looking into the modem log reveals the significant problem: OFDM Channel 194 has unacceptably low power plus severe signal loss (–14.5 dBmV, 31.7 dB SNR, 20 million + uncorrectables). Plus issues with the Upstream OFDMA, among various other problems. Horrible network speeds, constant disconnecting, critical errors in the modem log. Not getting the DOCSIS 3.1 that this modem is supposed to be capable of. So, I am returning this defective product and never again buying a modem from Netgear, and never again buying a refurbished product. Maybe the next buyer will be the clueless sucker that ends up keeping this, cause they sure as hell ain’t fixing these.

Solid performer for Xfinity users
Nice! It’s a cable modem so there’s no magic here. Supports Xfinity mid and high-split plans (as of this writing in 2025), plugging this fella in gave me a boost in speed to match my contract and I’m now seeing around 2300mbps down/350mbps up. The 2.5gbit port runs at full speed which is nice, but haven’t tested the channel bonding on the 2x 1gbps ports. Web admin interface is a little slow (like all cable modems it seems) but has the normal details you’d expect for signal characteristics and not much else as the cable company controls most of it. I got mine refurb because the price is a little high, and that’s the only problem I have with this thing and the reason for the 4 stars. Cut the price in half and it’s an easy five star solution for cable modem users.