TP-link TC-W7960 Vs Netgear Vs Surfboard
How does it compare with Netgear C3700 and Surfboard SBG6580?TP-link releases cable modem router combo TC-W7960, an economical version of wireless N300 router with built-in 8×4 DOCSIS 3 cable modem.
What this TC-W8960 does
Typically you require a cable modem and a wireless router to build a wifi network in homes for sharing internet access to clients either with wired or wireless connection. TP-link TC-W7960 is a new member of TP-link cable modem router with wifi in a single compact device and is affordable product for small scale home network with cable broadband services. For businesses, you may require business class wireless AC AP products for building clustering wifi network with a single central management software.
High speed
You may also consider new Linksys CM3024 cable modem with 24×8 channel bonding. In homes, you can share the internet either wired or wirelessly. With high speed 8×4 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem, this product can deliver internet speeds of up to 340Mbps from cable provider to user’s premises. You can connect up to four Ethernet-based devices including desktop computer, Blu-Ray player, game console or Internet TV with wired gigabit speed to the router or connect your wifi-based devices including Android and iOS mobile devices wirelessly with the speeds of up to 300Mbps in a single 2.4GHz band.
For sharing disk storage, you can connect external disk storage to the available USB 2.0 port or you can connect a USB printer to the modem for sharing printer across the network.
Main features
- Affordable wireless router with built-in DOCSIS 3 cable modem
- 8x channel bonding high speed 340Mbps internet download and 4x channel bonding upstream
- Based on wireless N300 technology in single 2.4Ghz band, wifi speed up to 300Mbps
- Comes with four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and one USB 2.0 port
- Compatible with Comcast Xfinity Internet Extreme 150, TWC 100M, and Cablevision Internet Service
- Industry-leading 2-year warranty and unlimited 24/7 technical support
This product is targeted for small scale wifi network in homes with cable service, a compact all-in-one device eliminating device clutter instead of installing separate cable modem and wireless router for wifi networking in homes.
TP-link offers various models of cable modem router combo ranging from low end to high end product. TC-W7960 is an affordable product under $80 you can purchase from local store or online store in addition of high speed TP-link Archer CR700 which the price is almost twice as much as TC-W7960. It’s reasonable since CR700 is based on 16×8 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem with wireless AC1750 technology and is one of competing products for most popular cable modem router with wifi routers.
Comparison
TP-link TC-W7960 is tagged with price of under $80 and in this price segment this product should compete with couple of similar products that have been around for some times including Netgear C3700 N600 and Surfboard SBG6580 cable modem router products.
What are the differences between each of this product with the other two competing products? Besides reading reviews from others that have used the product for some times, it’s a good idea to know specification comparison table between the products. The following two tables compares TP-link TC-W7960 with Netgear C3700 and Surfboard SBG6580.
Modem Speeds
All of the three products are based on DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem delivering downstream internet speeds of up to 340Mbps with 8x channel bonding. Currently the highest speed in cable modem router combo is the cable modem with 24x channel bonding and is integrated with wireless AC1900 router i.e. Netgear C7000 cable modem router combo. This modem can deliver speeds up to 960Mbps with high bandwidth of up to 1900Mbps. The highest internet speed can deliver by a cable modem is introduced by Arris Surfboard SBG6190 with downstream speed of up to 1,400Mbps (32x channel bonding).
Wifi speeds
What makes each of the products different is about the wireless technology applied to each of them. W7960 comes with single 2.4Ghz band based on wireless N300 technology delivering wifi speeds up to 300Mbps. Netgear C3700 is the most flexible modem router you can consider that can operate in both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band simultaneously. It is contrary with Surfboard SBG6580 which is also dual band, however you cannot run both band concurrently since it can only work in single band in a time.
Other features are general including Gigabit Ethernet ports, C3700 is embedded with only two Gigabit ports while the other two products are embedded with 4x Gigabit LAN ports like other high speed wireless AC1900 routers in general.
For more thorough spec comparison please take a look at the following two comparison tables.
Table 1 TP-link TC-W7960 Vs Netgear C3700
| TP-link TC-W7960 | Netgear C3700 | |
| Wifi technology | Wireless N300 | Wireless N600 |
| Cable modem and speed | 8×4 DOCSIS 3.0 | 8×4 DOCSIS 3.0 |
| Wifi speeds | Up to 300Mbps in single 2.4Ghz band | Up to 300Mbps each band
simultaneous dual band 2.4Ghz and 5GHz |
| Ethernet Ports | 4x Gigabit Ports | 2x Gigabit Ports |
| USB Port | 1x USB 2.0 | 1x USB 2.0 |
| Price | $79.00 | $110.00 |
Table 2 TP-link TC-W7960 Vs Surfboard SBG6580
| TP-link TC-W7960 | Arris Surfboard SBG6580 | |
| Wifi technology | Wireless N300 | Wireless N300 selectable dual band |
| Cable modem and speed | 8×4 DOCSIS 3.0 | 8×4 DOCSIS 3.0 |
| Wifi speeds | Up to 300Mbps in single 2.4Ghz band | Up to 300Mbps in either single 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz band (single band in a time) |
| Ethernet Ports | 4x Gigabit Ports | 4x Gigabit Ports |
| USB Port | 1x USB 2.0 | N/A |
| Price | $79.00 | $105.00 |
- Click here for TP-link TC-W7960 spec’s details and price
- Click here for Netgear C3700 spec’s details and shop in Amazon
- Click here for Surfboard SBG6580 spec details and price
Summary
TP-link TC-W7960 is an affordable cable modem router combo with internet speeds up to 340Mbps. Competing product is Netgear C3700 with simultaneous dual band as opposed with Surfboard SBG6580 cable modem with selectable dual band.
