Yes, there are some people with some issues like IP phones, etc.. that the NAT and firewall on this unit, vs on some of the others... IS a little more strict, and that does block it.
But, puting the unit into bridge mode, with your own 3rd party router.. you remove all of that anyways (like you would with a purely stand alone modem).
Where there are report of people with issues.. there are many people (even ones who have posted here) who have had no issues as well.
There is a group (who helped get them to FIX the intial bridged mode bug with the CGN3), who are/were 150mbps or 250mbps plan users.. who are using the units in both bridged and non bridged... who have had perfect speeds and no drop issues, etc.
I myself have had one for 4+ months now... mind you i am only on lower packages.... and the unit is NOT bridged.. I have not had a single drop on the unit yet... just one reboot, after the power went partialy out one time.
(my units is set up in gateway mode, with a asus rt-n66u, set up in AP mode only, with multiple 10/100/1000 switches then attached (pcs and devices off the switches))
I dont know if you (or your other 5 people ) have looked at any of the other threads on here... but there is one major other issue still plaging the CGN3... there is a problem with it linking with a good portion of 10/100 devices.
Regardless of PACKAGE... if anyone is directly plugging a 10/100 router (bridge mode or not), computer, or switch, into the CGN3 direct.. it can cause some speed issues, greatly throttling the throughput. Using a 10/100/1000 connection, seems to work perfectly fine.
I am not saying the stand alone modem is a bad idea..
But why carry two products... when you already have one, which has the SAME modem parts in it, and can be made into a modem?