Wife and I are moving into a larger house in a few weeks (currently live in a wide open ranch style house, one floor) and I want to get us set up with a good cable modem and wireless router for a house with 3 levels.
Do any of you have good recommendations for equipment and how to best set that up in our house? I can handle the technical set up up the equipment, so I'm moreso looking for modem and router options.
Originally Posted by BigRichard:
You are crazy if you rent a modem or router. You can buy a modem that handles the best speeds for under $100 and you will pay more than that in renting in the first year. I had mine for several years. What a complete waist.
Depending on what type of line in you get from your provider you might be able to go without a modem. I have Centurylink and there is some configuration you can do on a router that makes it so you don't need their "modem".
Century link is pretty fuckin terrible from anyone I know that has it so... [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRichard:
You are crazy if you rent a modem or router. You can buy a modem that handles the best speeds for under $100 and you will pay more than that in renting in the first year. I had mine for several years. What a complete waist.
Depending on what type of line in you get from your provider you might be able to go without a modem. If your feed in is an actual ethernet cable. I have Centurylink and there is some configuration you can do on a router that makes it so you don't need their "modem".
If you have DSL or cable, you have to have a modem, or a router with a modem. A modem is a modulator/demodulator. It decodes and encodes the signal for use in the backhaul network. No consumer router (save for the ones with built in modems) can do that.
If a DSL or cable provider is handing you off an ethernet cable, there is a modem in there somewhere, you just don't know it's there. The signal HAS to be converted at some point.
And the first time you have problems and can't get reasonable support because you own your own modem, you'll see why it's not such a bad idea to rent. I've worked in the ISP space for 30 years. I've seen it happen dozens of times. If you can afford downtime, by all means, buy your own stuff. Just be prepared when it takes you 30 hours longer to get restored than your neighbor, who is renting his modem. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
If you have DSL or cable, you have to have a modem, or a router with a modem. A modem is a modulator/demodulator. It decodes and encodes the signal for use in the backhaul network. No consumer router (save for the ones with built in modems) can do that.
If a DSL or cable provider is handing you off an ethernet cable, there is a modem in there somewhere, you just don't know it's there. The signal HAS to be converted at some point.
And the first time you have problems and can't get reasonable support because you own your own modem, you'll see why it's not such a bad idea to rent. I've worked in the ISP space for 30 years. I've seen it happen dozens of times. If you can afford downtime, by all means, buy your own stuff. Just be prepared when it takes you 30 hours longer to get restored than your neighbor, who is renting his modem.
I never said there wasn't a modem, I said you could do without their "modem". That is why it is in quotes in my edit. If the feed you have in your house is an ethernet cable they still try to tell you that you need their "modem" and it isn't a modem at all. You can configure your router to handle the shit their "modem" is. I have this setup at my house. I have zero "modems" in my house. They have fiber running to their converter outside my house. They feed an ethernet cable from there.
Don't rent a modem, ever. Support is never an issue.
Hell, I bought a used modem for my mom who got great support from her carrier all the time. And she didn't know jack or shit about anything. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRichard:
I never said there wasn't a modem, I said you could do without their "modem". That is why it is in quotes in my edit. If the feed you have in your house is an ethernet cable they still try to tell you that you need their "modem" and it isn't a modem at all. You can configure your router to handle the shit their "modem" is. I have this setup at my house. I have zero "modems" in my house. They have fiber running to their converter outside my house. They feed an ethernet cable from there.
Don't rent a modem, ever. Support is never an issue.
Hell, I bought a used modem for my mom who got great support from her carrier all the time. And she didn't know jack or shit about anything.
If you have fiber, you don't have a modem. You (or your ISP) is conflating terms. A modem is not a router and a router is not a modem.
Furthermore, it's great that your personal experience with buying modems has been good. Some people won't be as lucky as you have been. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
If you have fiber, you don't have a modem. You (or your ISP) is conflating terms. A modem is not a router and a router is not a modem.
Furthermore, it's great that your personal experience with buying modems has been good. Some people won't be as lucky as you have been.
You understand what putting something in quotes means right? ****, I even say specifically it isn't a modem.
I said they run their fiber into their converter outside the house and then run an ethernet cable directly into my router. No need for anything else. [Reply]
Can you give us a little more info about your setup? How many devices? Use cases, etc?
Devices using wifi:
Two tv's - using firestick, netflix, etc.
One computer
Two ipads/tablets
Typically, we have 2 devices, sometimes 3, going at once.
I think I'm mainly just concerned with a solid router so that a signal is broadcast throughout the house (basement, main, upper). I assume I'd want to set everything up on the main level. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRichard:
You understand what putting something in quotes means right? ****, I even say specifically it isn't a modem.
I said they run their fiber into their converter outside the house and then run an ethernet cable directly into my router. No need for anything else.
Settle down, Dick. I absolutely understand why you put it in quotes but also wanted to make it clear to everyone else here that when your ISP tells you need a "modem" on fiber, they're not being honest. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RockChalk:
Devices using wifi:
Two tv's - using firestick, netflix, etc.
One computer
Two ipads/tablets
Typically, we have 2 devices, sometimes 3, going at once.
I think I'm mainly just concerned with a solid router so that a signal is broadcast throughout the house (basement, main, upper). I assume I'd want to set everything up on the main level.
That's not very many devices at all. You don't need a lot of bandwidth.
How many neighbors you have? Normally, I would recommend trying to provide 5Ghz coverage to as much of your house as possible and minimize use of 2.4Ghz because of lack of spectrum. But covering a 3-story house with one wifi router isn't always easy. A cheap dual-band router on the main floor with some standalone AP's to cover the upper and basement might be your best bet if you can run ethernet to central locations. Otherwise, you'd be extending via wifi, which isn't ideal. [Reply]
I recently switched to a Google WiFi router and could not be more pleased. Greatly increased my WiFi speed and you can add multiple to extend your range if needed. It really isn't very expensive either at $100. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
I recently switched to a Google WiFi router and could not be more pleased. Greatly increased my WiFi speed and you can add multiple to extend your range if needed. It really isn't very expensive either at $100.
I also have 3 google wifi routers running a mesh system. My existing router had dead spots in my new house (quite a bit bigger than my old house). It was by far the easiest router I've ever set up and the App to manage it is really simple. It won't have some of the advanced features of other routers but if you are looking for something that just works, that would be my vote. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
That's not very many devices at all. You don't need a lot of bandwidth.
How many neighbors you have? Normally, I would recommend trying to provide 5Ghz coverage to as much of your house as possible and minimize use of 2.4Ghz because of lack of spectrum. But covering a 3-story house with one wifi router isn't always easy. A cheap dual-band router on the main floor with some standalone AP's to cover the upper and basement might be your best bet if you can run ethernet to central locations. Otherwise, you'd be extending via wifi, which isn't ideal.
When you say standalone APs, I assume you are saying Access Points. That's as much as I know. What would I use for a standalone AP? [Reply]
