Modem/Wireless Router
 

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.

Thanks

Generally speaking, a modem is a modem if it works with your ISP. My main recommendation is just to have a separate modem and router rather than one that tries to do both.

As for routers, I've recommended this one to a few friends, and they've been happy with it. (I personally use an Asus router I bought like 7 years ago, so I can't recommend the specific model at this point.)

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Night...dp/B07C65K9H9/

Awesome. Thanks. I currently use a modem from my ISP and use a Router for the wi-fi, etc.

The modem I own now is from my ISP 7 or 8 years ago. I'm afraid it's dated at this point and would like to upgrade (but not from my ISP).

In general, you'll want to rent your modem from your ISP. I know the monthly charge sucks but buying your own modem opens the door for your ISP to blame every little problem on you. By renting from your ISP, you'll get better support and be 100% sure it will work with their service.

As for your wifi router, I would recommend against spending big money unless you know what you are doing and/or know you need it. I have a Netgear R7800 running DD-WRT but that's more of an advanced thing. If you want simple and functional, I've been recommending Tenda routers for a while now. They're not expensive and they do the job. They seem to have reasonable coverage as well. The Tenda AC1200 model is particularly attractive because it's currently selling for around $40.

Can you give us a little more info about your setup? How many devices? Use cases, etc?

If your modem is capable of handling the fastest speeds your plan offers, you really won't see much benefit from a newer one. But obviously if you're missing out on speed because it's not compatible, it's worth the upgrade.

I'm certainly not an expert on cable modems, though.

I'm not an expert on cable modems (have always had either DSL or fiber) but I do know quite a bit about cable COMPANIES. Buy your own modem at your own peril. :D

Eh, mine's a decade old and has worked great. It would have cost me a fortune in comparison if I'd paid for it monthly. To each his own though.

Yeah, if it works, you're okay. It's when something breaks that it becomes a problem because it's always the first thing they blame. At least when they blame your wifi router, you can plug directly into the modem and prove that's not the case.

Of course, I'm blessed. I've had fiber for about 5 years now and I've had to call tech support once. Lost the protect side of the ring and for some reason my phone line was on it (even though my internet never went down).

In reality your best bet is to probably just go with your ISP's router and get some wifi range extenders if you need, hell comcast will give them to you these days.

this guy gets it, he really does.

i can't speak for your isp, but mine will rent you a modem/router combo for an extra $10 a month. yes, i know, you all hate an extra $120 a year, and i get it.
think of it as an insurance plan. if the thing quits, it's replaced with no questions asked. in some cases you can go to the solutions store and change it out yourself (quickly) or wait a day for the tech to get scheduled.

and theres absolutely nothing wrong with buying your own either. its just how you like to live your own life. what works for me might not work for you.

good luck, drop me a line if you have any questions.

Not only do they replace it if it fails, they replace it the next time they change protocols or standards too. That's usually a gamble worth taking IMO.

Okay, I draw the line at the modem. No way am I giving my ISP potential admin access into my internal network. I'm slapping a firewall on the backside of the modem and locking the rest of the world out. :D

It's cool I VPN everything so I don't get to worried.

Also if you call and haggle you can get a good deal, I don't have a rental fee on my modem because I got it taken care of.

if your isp is worth a shit, you are absolutely right. they want your business and with all the competition around, the good ones will fight for you. so to speak.

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 when I had one and I never had an issue with any support. It would be a complete waist of your money.

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". I don't know if I would recommend this route for basic users that don't know jack about networking. You have to do a little VLAN configuration to get this to work. Although you can find guides for most popular modems online.