Buyer Beware! - Netgear CM2050V Modem Officially End of Service

Kitsap

Apparently Netgear is washing it hands of this item after the recent firmware fiasco.

hex0101

Kitsap Will Comcast pull the device off of the next gen list? CM2500 is on the next gen list too. Why EOL so soon? CM2500 is literally only a year old. When a device goes EOL, no new firmware updates? Well, the latest firmware allows the CM2050V to access mid-split on Comcast, so that is a great firmware to end on!

CommunityMember

hex0101 Why EOL so soon?

Ask Netgear? They control the vertical, they control the horizontal, and they control the support (or lack, there of).

There is, however, in the larger industry, a different between EOL (End Of Life, which includes manufacturing and sales), and EOS (End Of Support, which would include firmware updates). Ask Netgear if they are committed to software/firmware updates going forward. The likely answer is yes, but only Netgear can provide a definitive answer (and only a Netgear customer has standing to ask the question in the first place).

All manufacturers (Netgear included) have moved products to EOL status when they don’t sell, or for which they have a new product soon to be released. Given the almost minuscule numbers of people wanting a COAM EMTA, I suspect they don’t sell (well).

Devious

End of service means Netgear is done supporting the product at all including any further firmware updates.

Kitsap

There is more to this product beyond a firmware update. The firmware can only be updated by the ISP and in the case of Xfinity, it would need certification for connection to their Enhanced Speed Network.

hex0101

Kitsap It got certified, and then the firmware update was pulled after a few weeks (apparently due to a potential issue with the modem when it was on an FDX node per the Reddit Community Manager on the official sub-reddit). About a year later, Netgear had fixed the issue and re-certification was complete. Firmware updates would begin to roll out. The device could now receive enhanced speeds again.

Of course, when the firmware was rolled back, some customers were still provisioned for enhanced speeds, but the previous firmware could not bond to OFDMA, leaving these customers with 80-100 Mbps upload. Not good for the health of the node when one modem was able to max out the QAM upstreams.

Even to this day, I still sometimes see customers on Reddit with both Xfinity rented XB modems and enhanced speed customer owned modems that are only getting 60-90 Mbps upload because of a drop amp on the line that is blocking the OFDMA from bonding. 39-85 Mhz. iHAT was supposed to catch this! Instead, these devices are being provisioned for enhanced speeds instead of standard speeds despite the OFDMA failing!
Example: Gigabit X2 tier with 5-42 Mhz drop amp on the incoming line:

Kitsap

hex0101

I have had mine in service since Sept 2021 and been through all of the twists and turns. Just starting last week I am getting around 175 Mbps upload to go with the 710 Mbps download.

az8831

Interesting how my CM1150V is not on the list, considering it’s older.

fmd

According to archive.org, before june 2th, the page only had one section that covered all DOCSIS devices, “cable modem routers”.

Now there is a “modem” page, where these few devices are listed (all the other modem-only devices are still listed in the other section). If something walks like a duck …

We’ll see. 🙂

iahawkeye83

Good thing I just picked up an XB8 at Comcast yesterday. I took advantage of one of their five year price lock guarantees so I can get gigabit speeds. The guy had to scan several “factory sealed” (which I requested) XB8s because the store was having “not in inventory” problems when scanning modems.

I’m not buying any new modems or hardware since there is a fiber provider building out but the construction seems to be stalled. It seems to be heavily built out on the other end of town (which has more single family homes and more well off residents). There is only one street a couple of blocks down from me where there is any sign of construction of GoNetSpeed.

They might end up being like Verizon FiOS where they cherry pick who gets fiber availability. Same thing with I’mOn (formerly McLeodUSA) in my hometown. They kind of cherry picked who had availability of their network and those who were not lucky were stuck with Mediacom for cable TV and internet and Qwest for home phone service.

It’s all about ROI, it’s who is most likely to take advantage of their service. And also Massachusetts has a very little known law that requires landlords to grant cable television providers access to a building if one or more residents of an MDU requests service. But that law only applies to cable TV. So a resident could order TV and a landlord cannot get in the way of a cable provider installing their facilities in a building. Landlord does not have to pay for the installation though. Since internet can be delivered over the same lines as cable tv then once the cable lines are in place then the tenants can order internet. But the law probably does not extend to fiber providers unless those same lines deliver cable TV services. My landlord is ok with me installing fiber. He knows I have crappy internet. He has the same crappy internet. He lives downstairs. I’m sure he would jump ship to fiber too.

fmd

The page is generated based on this csv: https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/eos-data.csv

Recently, the file began to use “compareTag” - comparable devices. This is where a pattern emerge. It almost seems like that these comparable devices have been added as being eos by mistake(?). These same devices have no eos date.

CommunityMember

iahawkeye83 They might end up being like Verizon FiOS where they cherry pick who gets fiber availability.

Almost all organizations cherry pick initial deployments (ISPs, Supermarkets, etc.) unless there is a mandate to do otherwise (some jurisdictions have laws/regulations to combat location redlining, but enforcement is practically complicated). Once all the low hanging high ROI locations are done (and they are making their numbers), they may choose to go back and do fill in to pick up the remaining potential customers.

iahawkeye83

CommunityMember I think Verizon is finally upgrading the remainder of their landline footprint to FiOS because there is no ROI left in copper and potential ROI in FiOS. The copper plant is now a liability to them where FiOS is potential profit.

Kitsap

fmd

Very interesting data set. Thank you for sharing the tie back to the web page.

CommunityMember

iahawkeye83 I think Verizon is finally upgrading the remainder of their landline footprint to FiOS because there is no ROI left in copper and potential ROI in FiOS.

Actually, Verizon is moving a number of their legacy POTS copper clients to various fixed wireless solutions where they do not see an ROI for actual fiber (your location will vary, as always).

jweaver

CommunityMember Based on Verizon, it seems they are migrating to fiber, all of the copper retirement notices they issue say nothing about fixed wireless and only mention fiber. In areas that have not transitioned as of yet, they end up trying to offer fixed wireless as they stopped accepting signups, at least online.

fmd

Netgear has made a change. The modems no longer appear on the eos page.

bigcoda

fmd Netgear has made a change. The modems no longer appear on the eos page.

One I click on the modems tab on there page, nothing shows up anymore. Not even the other modems they had listed as eos. So I guess they removed all the ones they had listed there before?

fmd

bigcoda Yes, they made a change to the csv file. The modems that are there only to be listed as comparable devices are no longer displayed as being eos. 🙂

The empty modem tab is a visual bug. Maybe they will get rid of that too.

They added this to the rows with comparable devices: “Do not blank this column. This is comparable product.” So a workaround, until they change the code to see that no eos date is given? 🙂

telcodad

Went to the Xfinity Approved Retail Devices page https://www.xfinity.com/support/internet/customerowned and the NETGEAR CM2050V modem is shown: