Question xFinity XB8 router versus other 6E routers ?

[WiFiCurious]

Hey all - first post but not the first time I use this message board so hopefully I'm putting this in the right place?

Last weekend my Nighthawk X4S unexpectedly bit the dust and since I was caught unprepared I signed up for the xfinity $15 / month gateway to get me back up and running as soon as possible.

What I got from Comcast was the XB8 and so far I'm...impressed? There are some drawbacks of course but it seems to have just about everything I want. Anyway, I'm curious if anyone knows how these devices compare to some of the other bigger named routers. I had a NetGear and until it gave up the ghost I was pretty happy with it but I'm not set on NetGear so I've been looking at other 6E routers like the AXE75, the Asus, and others in that category. However, while I can find loads and loads of reviews of them, I can't seem to find out how they stack up to the XB8.

In addition to the actual tale of the tape, there are other pros and cons to consider.

PROS of the XB8
All in one troubleshooting. LOVE the fact that if something goes awry, it's DEFINITLY a Comcast issue
Love that it broadcasts one signal instead of a 2.4GHz and 5GHz and figures out which is the best (what is that feature called)
That it's a Gateway and not just a router again makes it nice and easy

CONS
Can't find any details!
NO Guest SSID
The interface seems almost too simplistic.
Wish it had at least one more port since I need 5 connected devices

Anyway, would love to hear what others think about XB8 and if they can point to any helpful reviews - especially if they are side by side other brand name routers. I'm not going to rush into getting a new router so for now I'm just fine with the xfinity option but really want to know how this guy stacks up to the others.

Thanks,
WiFiCurious

 

[kanewolf]

Hey all - first post but not the first time I use this message board so hopefully I'm putting this in the right place?

Last weekend my Nighthawk X4S unexpectedly bit the dust and since I was caught unprepared I signed up for the xfinity $15 / month gateway to get me back up and running as soon as possible.

What I got from Comcast was the XB8 and so far I'm...impressed? There are some drawbacks of course but it seems to have just about everything I want. Anyway, I'm curious if anyone knows how these devices compare to some of the other bigger named routers. I had a NetGear and until it gave up the ghost I was pretty happy with it but I'm not set on NetGear so I've been looking at other 6E routers like the AXE75, the Asus, and others in that category. However, while I can find loads and loads of reviews of them, I can't seem to find out how they stack up to the XB8.

In addition to the actual tale of the tape, there are other pros and cons to consider.

PROS of the XB8
All in one troubleshooting. LOVE the fact that if something goes awry, it's DEFINITLY a Comcast issue
Love that it broadcasts one signal instead of a 2.4GHz and 5GHz and figures out which is the best (what is that feature called)
That it's a Gateway and not just a router again makes it nice and easy

CONS
Can't find any details!
NO Guest SSID
The interface seems almost too simplistic.
Wish it had at least one more port since I need 5 connected devices

Anyway, would love to hear what others think about XB8 and if they can point to any helpful reviews - especially if they are side by side other brand name routers. I'm not going to rush into getting a new router so for now I'm just fine with the xfinity option but really want to know how this guy stacks up to the others.

Thanks,
WiFiCurious

I would always recommend purchasing separate modem and router. Modems almost never change for performance or features. Routers continually do. It is much easier to swap in a router for a feature or performance upgrade without having to get the ISP involved.

 

[WiFiCurious]

Thanks, hadn't considered that. I was using a NetGear CM700 with my Nighthawk and so far all my research was around the router and NOT the modem. But that also brings up the fact that I'm not even sure what the XB8 has for a modem - the xfinity site is very vague (probably intentionally!)

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks, hadn't considered that. I was using a NetGear CM700 with my Nighthawk and so far all my research was around the router and NOT the modem. But that also brings up the fact that I'm not even sure what the XB8 has for a modem - the xfinity site is very vague (probably intentionally!)

What is the input? Coax cable or ethernet? If it is coax then there is a modem.

 

[WiFiCurious]

What is the input? Coax cable or ethernet? If it is coax then there is a modem.

No, for sure Modem but I'm just saying that I've been focusing all my research on the Router that I hadn't considered the Modem and the details on the XB8 are hard to find. I'm assuming DOCSIS3.1 but maybe 3.0? Hard to find details like that.

Regardless, am curious if anyone has found how these XB8's compare to the name brand routers in performance.

 

[dwd999]

No, for sure Modem but I'm just saying that I've been focusing all my research on the Router that I hadn't considered the Modem and the details on the XB8 are hard to find. I'm assuming DOCSIS3.1 but maybe 3.0? Hard to find details like that.

Regardless, am curious if anyone has found how these XB8's compare to the name brand routers in performance.

Well for starters its DOCSIS 3.1 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 32x8 channel bonding. It does not appear to be 6E just plain 6 so if you have 6E devices it wouldn't be the best choice. Wifi 6 is somewhat of a misnomer as they usually use the 5.785GHz band which is not the same as the 6.135GHz band used by 6E. Part of the problem is that the original company which was called Technicolor was merged into a French company called Vantiva and since they don't directly distribute their products to retailers they're very vague about what they do and rely on their distribution partners and end user cable and dsl companies to provide all support.

ADDED EDIT: Found the FCC document for this device and it does in fact indicate it is capable of broadcasting in the 6E range.

You can get more info from:

Overview of Xfinity Gateways

Learn more about wireless gateways and download the user guides.

www.xfinity.com

http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/2522856~1c736e7dfee57f410b72166f92ec9ccf/User-Manual-5481446.pdf

 

[bill001g]

It maybe rather new so there may not be a lot of data. Many modem/router combo units have less data because the firmware is controlled by the ISP so the guy that write third party firmware do not spend time investigating it.

From the base specs it appears as good as other premium routers. It seems to be wifi6e. If you really wanted to find out there are likely photos of the chips on the board. They are required to provide these to get FCC certification. What you tend to find is the same wifi chips used by every other router with similar specs. No router manufacture actually make their own wifi chips they all buy them from companies like broadcom. This means that the devices will perform the same more or less.

There can of course be a lot of difference in the firmware not related to wifi. Most modem/router units do not have fancy feature like say vpn. The ISP does support of the firmware on modem/routers and it makes the software images more simple and stable. Most customers will not use the extra features anyway, many customers just use the box as it was setup when the installer did it. Which is why the default ssid and passwords are random and on a sticker on the bottom of the unit.

It really depends on what software feature you really want. You can solve your need for a extra port with a simple switch. If you really need guest wifi you could buy a very inexpensive router (your guests don't need wifi6e do they) and use it as a AP. That would give you the extra ports as well as a extra wifi signal to use as a guest.

 

[WiFiCurious]

@bill001g - funny you should suggest getting a very inexpensive router for Guest Wifi - therein lies some of the woes of being nerfed by this device. As it so happens, one of my wired ports off of this Gateway is a LAPN600 AP and the device kinda does what I want it to - I know it's up and running because I can still see it broadcasting the old SSID I was using for all of my IoT devices - my Alexa Dots, WiFi lights, cameras etc. - and they all still work. However, the AP itself does not show up on the list of Connect Devices for my XB8. I have about 50 devices and I've verified the MAC addy of every one and none match my Linksys. And because my Guest network on that device was off when my Nighthawk bit the dust, it's still off and I can't get to the Linksys console to turn it back on. Madness! I realize that there's a finite number of IP addresses it could be at, but I assume it's some nefarious feature of the XB8 that Comcast uses to discourage this kind of stuff.

Anyway, I'm heartened somewhat that no one has spoken out definitively against this device - aside from the cons I listed in my original post it doesn't seem all that bad. I still would love to see someone review it and compare it side by side with one of the brand named routers but perhaps I just need to wait a bit longer for more people to get their hands on the XB8 before I see some of those comparisons.

 

[bill001g]

You will not see the AP if it is using a different subnet. Some people do this intentionally as a sloppy security. Say the router uses 192.168.1.x and the AP is on 192.168.2.x. These devices can not communicate. They are though on the same broadcast domain which means if you ran DHCP on both them you would have massive issues. What you can do is put a secondary IP on your pc so it is on both networks at the same time.

Kinda of a silly thing to do but I have seen it done where the devices do not support changing the subnet...ie some device refuse to run on 10.x.x.x IP blocks.

I would change the AP to some IP in the same subnet as your main router. You would think it would then show up.

 

[WiFiCurious]

I would change the AP to some IP in the same subnet as your main router. You would think it would then show up.

OK, I think you're on to something here. My NetGear network was all 192.168.1.xxx and my XB8 is handing out 10.0.0.x addresses. However....all the devices connecting to my old SSID and therefore through my Linksys do show up on my xfinity app with 10.0.0.x addresses. They show up as Wired, not WiFi, because I'm assuming that it seems the info coming through the Ethernet port, but still, everything else shows up EXCEPT the actual AP.

So, as to changing the IP of my Linksys....perhaps a silly question but how if I can't get to the console UI?

Really appreciate the help here - didn't intend this to be a troubleshooting post but getting to the AP console would at least bring back the functionality of my Guest network which would give me one less reason to look for an alternative to this gateway.

 

[bill001g]

The general way would be to unplug the AP and the pc from your network and plug the pc into the AP.
You should then be able to manually set a IP in the pc nic settings that is in the proper network and access the AP.

I guess it depends on how broken the linksys is. A factory reset should allow access to the console again unless it is actually somehow broken.

 

[dwd999]

Anyway, I'm heartened somewhat that no one has spoken out definitively against this device - aside from the cons I listed in my original post it doesn't seem all that bad. I still would love to see someone review it and compare it side by side with one of the brand named routers but perhaps I just need to wait a bit longer for more people to get their hands on the XB8 before I see some of those comparisons.

Since these are not regular retail devices and are only available through cable, satellite and dsl companies, and are not sold commercially through regular retail channels, I would not expect to ever see one reviewed. There has never been a review of any of the previous models from this company. They sort of have a captive audience since if you rent a device from your cable, dsl or satellite company this is what you are given and they expect you to like it.

I will tell you that I despise this company's products. The wifi signal strength that they broadcast is so high that it covers the entire neighborhood where I live. Fortunately for me they only offer the 5G and 6 non-E versions here. So I have the 6E band all by myself. There are 5G signals from neighboring homes next door and across the street that are so strong they equal the strength of the 5G signal from my own router in the back room of my house. Hopefully your neighbors are not that close.