Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 Great Modem/Router February 11, 2009
Bic (CA)
Zoom may not be well known, but this modem has worked flawlessly for me for several years. Worked so well I got my parents one of these after their DSL modem took a dump.
Reading other reviews, I wonder if they have any idea what they are doing when it comes to basic knowledge needed to configure a modem.
 Works well, but one HOT potato September 18, 2007
E. A. Johnson (Salt Lake City, UT, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The modem works very well for me. It autoconfigured without a hitch and I was up and running at noticeably faster speeds than with my old Actiontec in a matter of minutes. The trouble is, that in those couple of minutes, the thing had already heated up to a surface temperature of around 110 degrees F! That's warm enough that you could get a reasonable first-degree burn if you left your hand on there for a while. I contacted Zoom to see if this was normal and they were very cordial, but did confirm that this particular model (the X5) runs very hot.
In general, the hotter a piece of electronics runs, the less reliable it will be and the shorter its life span will be. Given this, I decided to return the modem and order a Zoom 5615 to replace it. Their rep assured me it would run cooler, but I'll leave a review on that page, too, when it arrives to see if that verdict is true. (Basically, they're the same modem, but the 5615 doesn't have a built-in 4-port switch, which I don't need anyway since I'm hooking it up to a separate wireless router.)
Update: The 5615 takes longer to heat up, but still runs at a worrisome temperature. It was also significantly harder to set up. If you're willing to take the risk on the heat, the 5660 model X3 Dsl 2/2+ Modem/router/gatew would probably be the best bang for the buck. I wish I'd seen it before I ordered the 5615.
 WORST MODEM YOU CAN IMAGINE! August 30, 2007
Lizard (Florida)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
If I could rate this in the negative numbers, I would give it a NEGATIVE 10. It's that horrible. First the MODEM GETS VERY HOT in a short period of time. Autoconfiguration does NOT work. Even if you get it to work, it could lose its configuration and maybe manually you have to do it. Good luck-you have to deal with Encapsulation, VCI, IP addresss, DNS, DHCP and everything else that you can't understand. TECHNICAL SUPPORT--yeah right. You GOT to be kidding! First of all, it's NOT toll free. You have to pay for the long distance charges. I called up the guy and after an hour (and running my long distance phone card out which cost me $9.95), he said he couldn't figure it out and I said you have to call me back because my phone card is about to expire. He kept on talking-I said, LISTEN!!!! MY Phone card is about to expire-call me back! He said he would. A day and half later he calls back. A DAY AND A HALF--well, I said sorry nobody called me back-I assumed nobody would so I took it back.
And I did. KEEP YOUR RECEIPT. And even if it works for you--it gets pretty HOT.
 Good performance, reliable, easy to use August 21, 2007
D. Kemp (MD, USA)
I purchased the Zoom after the Westell modem supplied free by Verizon died two months out of warranty. Configuration was trivial - I used the autoconfig option successfully, unlike others for whom it did not work. My phone line is apparently close to the edge in terms of performance, and the Westell processor would max out trying to equalize the line and packet performance would suffer. The Zoom handles the line with ease, and I get consistent full speed operation (768K downstream) even when the line quality is degraded by rain.
All 4 ethernet ports work fine (I have the wireless AP and an 8 port hub daisychained into two of them) and the dozen or so computers in our house have no connectivity problems. Not sure why a reviewer says it connects to only 1 computer. I haven't tried to use the USB port, since it's only needed if the computer has no network port.
The configuration, diagnostic, and status pages are nearly all easy to use and work fine. DHCP server was easy to set up. It did take me 20 minutes to figure out IP filtering - it would have been more user-friendly to have the filter rules display checkboxes for Lo/Med/Hi security settings instead of having to open up each rule individually to see where it is applied. But the IP filtering interface is quite powerful. An easier-to-use filtering interface wouldn't have the same level of control.
I wish Zoom would support Quality of Service on the X5 like they do the X6: a terse 1-line response from tech support said they had no plans to issue a QoS firmware release for the X5.
Only one negative - the Zoom runs quite hot, and if its ventilation is obstructed it might heat up enough to cause early failure like several reviewers have noted with the X6. Mine's sitting on a flat desktop with nothing on top and it's been working fine for a year. I have never had to power cycle the Zoom like I did the Westell; it has run continuously without rebooting for months.
Pros: good DSL performance, easy to configure, very reliable.
Cons: runs hot (but no hotter than a laptop).
I'd definitely recommend this modem to others; I've experienced none of the faults mentioned in earlier reviews.
This Modem has the worst UI I've seen in years! August 1, 2007
Ben Delaney (Bay Area, CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This modenm is a piece of junk.
I spent several hours trying to comprehend it's obscenely obscure user interface (UI) and then, when i finally got it working, it lost all the settings. Four times!
(I am a 30+ year pro, so this isn't a newbie mistake.)
Absolutely the worst product interface and usability i've seen in years.
Don't buy this modem!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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