Broadcom has created a pure commodity market with their ADSL router chip set. All brands based on this chip set are effectively the same product. Next thing you know, we will be buying ADSL router futures on the floor of the stock exchange! Here is a comparison of the specifications of the top three brands based on the Broadcom chip set -- US Router, Zhone and Comtrend.

We maintain that ADSL modems are essentially commodity items, at least as far as ADSL/ATM interop issues are concerned. All modems are made from the same basic reference designs from the chipset vendors. If you use the same chip, the same modem code and the same config, any two brands of modem will perform all interop tests exactly the same way. The modem code for these chips are made available to PCB (Printed Circuit Board) factories in binary form only, so there is no opportunity for brand differentiation on the basic modem code. The reference design functions of the modem code is quite extensive, and includes all basic routing, management and ipTV functions.   The specification that follows is essentially the spec for Broadcom 6338 / 6348 chips: