Arris TM702G-CT Cable Modem Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The Arris TM702G/CT is a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem gateway that also has an integrated 2-line telephone adapter.

Electronically, the Arris is powered by a TI cable modem IC, LSI Logic Ethernet transceiver and Zarlink Semiconductor telephone line interface IC. The TM702G/CT also features a lithium ion battery pack for backup power.

Arris TM702G-CT Cable Modem Main Image

Cable service providers

Released

Unknown

Arris TM702G-CT Cable Modem - Main PCB Top

Pricing - Since most (if not all) cable modem/gateways are provided to consumers by the cable service providers, there is no known market price for these devices.

Availability - North America

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed a lifetime production volume of 273,112 units.

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

Arris TM702G-CT Cable Modem - Main PCB Bottom

Main Cost Drivers Representing ~60% of total materials cost

BPB044H - Battery Pack - Li-Ion, 8.4V, 4400mAh, 4-Cell

Power Cable - AC Line Cord, 6ft, w/ Label

Texas Instruments - TNETC4810ZDW - Cable Modem IC - DOCSIS 3.0, Puma 5 Family

LSI Logic - L-ET1011C2-C-D - Ethernet Transceiver - Gigabit LAN Connect, 0.13um Process

Hynix - H5PS5162FFR-Y5C - SDRAM - DDR2, 512Mb, 3ns, CL5, 1.8V

Zarlink Semiconductor - Le88236DLC - Telephone Line Interface - Dual-Channel, High Voltage Subscriber Line to uP/DSP Digital Interface

Microtune - MT2170F - Tuner - Single-Chip, Wideband, DOCSIS 3.0, w/ Integrated IF Variable Gain Amplifier

Zilog - Z8F082AHJ020SG - Microcontroller - 8-Bit, 20MHz eZ8 CPU, 1KB RAM + 8KB Flash Memory

Anadigics - ARA2017RS29P8 - Amplifier - Programmable Gain, High Linearity, Low Noise, for DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem & E-MTA Applications

Spansion - S25FL128P0XMFI - Flash - NOR, 128Mb, SPI, 104MHz, 3V, 0.09um

Total BOM Cost $58.74

Arris TM702G-CT Cable Modem Cost Analysis

What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

Manufacturing Notes

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, the unit was likely assembled in China. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were also sourced in China.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as Ethernet Jacks), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Remember also that labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Arris TM702G-CT Cable Modem - Disassembly

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The Arris TM702G/CT has an overall component count of 883 (excluding box contents), of which 824 resides on the Main PCB.

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design. The cost of manufacturing is also, to some extent, decreased in this case because of assumed labor rate applied for China.

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

Arris TM702G-CT Cable Modem - Box Contents