Posted: 12/28/2016 1:09:52 PM EDT
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Hey, looking for advice from folks who understand all this stuff. We have cable Internet and the modem and router are both probably at least six years old. Would it make sense to updgrade either/both for the best possible WiFi and Internet speed throughout my house? I have much newer computers and I was thinking I may not be getting the best out of my setup that I could. The Internet is delivering over 100 megabit speed when I plug directly into the modem. Drops way off pretty drastically when I'm on WiFi.
Any advice? Thanks. |
| A 100mb connection to your modem doesn't necessarily indicate your actual internet speed. That's just your ethernet connection speed. To get an idea of your true internet connection speed use this Internet Connection Speed Test I pay for an 8mb speed but only get around 6. Your wi-fi speeds from the router are also not indicative of actual internet connection speed, just the connection speed between router and laptop. There are some newer routers and modems that might have faster ethernet connection speeds, but you are limited to the actual speed arriving from the cable to the modem. |
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Rexster is correct. It's doubtful your throughput from your cable company exceeds 100Mbps. Upgrading wouldn't necessarily make your internet faster. You could drastically increase your wireless range though.
In my opinion there's no better option than Asus routers for home use. I've been both front line tech support for ISPs and now do network provisioning for one of the biggest telecoms in the country. https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-RT-AC66U-802-11ac-AiProtection-Optimization/dp/B008ABOJKS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482956339&sr=8-1&keywords=ac-66u&tag=vglnk-c102-20 Even for being a few years old it's a solid performer. |
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Wifi speeds are going to be slower than what is coming into your house.
The unit I lease from the cable company is a combined modem/wifi unit. I also have a Netgear wifi router attached to that via ethernet cable, as well as an extender. As I go down downstream, the speeds get slower. I get 115 mb/sec from Brighthouse. wifi modem>router>extender Computer connected to wifi modem via ethernet cable: 115 Wifi speed via cable modem: 90 Wifi speed via router: 75 Wifi speed via extender: 25 As said above, an N router is still gtg. |
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Quoted:
Wifi speeds are going to be slower than what is coming into your house. The unit I lease from the cable company is a combined modem/wifi unit. I also have a Netgear wifi router attached to that via ethernet cable, as well as an extender. As I go down downstream, the speeds get slower. I get 115 mb/sec from Brighthouse. wifi modem>router>extender Computer connected to wifi modem via ethernet cable: 115 Wifi speed via cable modem: 90 Wifi speed via router: 75 Wifi speed via extender: 25 As said above, an N router is still gtg. Do you not have the option to purchase your own cable modem to use? |
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Quoted:
Rexster is correct. It's doubtful your throughput from your cable company exceeds 100Mbps. Upgrading wouldn't necessarily make your internet faster. You could drastically increase your wireless range though. In my opinion there's no better option than Asus routers for home use. I've been both front line tech support for ISPs and now do network provisioning for one of the biggest telecoms in the country. https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-RT-AC66U-802-11ac-AiProtection-Optimization/dp/B008ABOJKS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&&tag=vglnk-c102-20;qid=1482956339&sr=8-1&keywords=ac-66u&tag=vglnk-c102-20 Even for being a few years old it's a solid performer. Unless it's Verizon Fios. 100 is the low end. 
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Unless it's Verizon Fios. 100 is the low end. FiOS doesn't actually rule the game when it comes to internet speeds for home users. Century Link has 1Gbps service in select markets. FiOS doesn't. You could say I have a very intimate knowledge of the FiOS product offerings. You're right, though. 100Mbps service for FiOS is a relatively slow speed these days. Cable companies use a very different architecture right now that doesn't support speeds anywhere near what GPON does offered by traditional phone companies. Or at least I've never seen them implement anywhere near those speeds. Coax is the limiting factor for total throughput. |
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I do, but they upgrade me every couple of years, so it's about a wash. Given your setup it seems you're limiting yourself by daisy chaining so many devices. I'd just buy a $60 cable modem and then spend a few hundred on a good wireless AC router and not worry about it for 5 years or so. |
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Quoted:
FiOS doesn't actually rule the game when it comes to internet speeds for home users. Century Link has 1Gbps service in select markets. FiOS doesn't. You could say I have a very intimate knowledge of the FiOS product offerings. You're right, though. 100Mbps service for FiOS is a relatively slow speed these days. Cable companies use a very different architecture right now that doesn't support speeds anywhere near what GPON does offered by traditional phone companies. Or at least I've never seen them implement anywhere near those speeds. Coax is the limiting factor for total throughput. Verizon doesn't offer it yet publicly, but it's in the test phase to employees.
The main factor in Verizon's "lack of impact" to the market is more geographical than anything. But yeah, they have been a couple steps behind other companies, even after being in the front when fios first started. I've heard VP's got fired because the Quantum Video offering was so slow getting rolled out. Basically the same as the Hopper. |
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I just got a WRT1900AC that had been sitting around for awhile unused to test and it is awesome!!
The fact that it has a guest connection, FTP server, and media server built in is great. I put on a cheap 300GB USB 2.0 external drive and am getting 40-50MBps transfer speeds across the network which is fantastic! You can add shares and use the router as a poor man's NAS which is also very appealing. I am using it as a public/isolated FTP server for family to use rather than the one that I host on my NAS. It also has port forwarding (individual and range) as well as supports OpenVPN which I have found to be very useful. Compared to the Belkin that I was using for the last 8 years the Linksys is a Ferrari
 
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