New modem. There's an app for that?

November 9, 2022 6:34 AM

Getting a new modem. Yay! Do I really need to use the setup app?

I've always had good luck with Arris Surfboard modems, so I'm going to replace my current, old as the hills, DOCSIS 3.0 modem with a newer-ish DOCSIS 3.1 model. But, there's a little head-scratching question about this.

In the past, all I needed to do was hook the modem up, have my ISP (Xfinity) requisition it, and get back to work. Today, Xfinity prefers you to DIY the requisitioning via their app. Cool. No problem.

But, the blurb on the Amazon listing for the Arris modem infers that I need to use their Surfboard Central app to "activate" the modem, whatever that means. By "activate" does Arris mean their app is handling the requisitioning with my ISP? Or, is the thing a brick without some magic "activation" juju? And, if it isn't handling the requisition, do I do that first, using the Xfinity app? Would I even be able to without "activating" the modem first?

My mind's eye envisions a death-spiral of competing apps.

Can I just ignore the Surfboard Central app and just use the Xfinity app to get going? Or, will the Surfboard app do it all?

If anyone else has been through this, I would appreciate guidance/reassurance.

Thanks!

posted by Thorzdad to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

Best answer: I replaced a Surfboard with another Surfboard a few months ago, and I was able to get service up and running with just the Xfinity app.
posted by Kwine at 6:53 AM on November 9, 2022

Best answer: The activation talks to Comcast’s back end, not the modem. You should be fine just using their Xfinity app.
posted by doomsey at 7:47 AM on November 9, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks Kwine, doomsey. Everything went nice and smooth just using the Xfinity app. Kind of surprising because, y'know, Xfinity.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:50 AM on November 11, 2022