Had a modem and a router that is slow. I am looking to upgrade them. Is it better to get a combo?
We just replaced our 8 year old router with a google nest mesh router and 2 points. Made a huge difference in covering the whole house and floors. Did not need to change the modem which is from spectrum.
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If the modem is rated to high enough speeds, just change the router. We kept our Cox modem and got an Eero mesh router with one extender. Speeds throughout the house are now fine for our purposes. Modem is rated to 150gb and we routinely measure over that on wifi. My theory is if something techy is working well enough, let it be.
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How slow? How fast do you really need?
Most people way overestimate how much bandwidth they require.
I only pay for 100Mbps cable service, it’s enough to stream multiple HD devices at once, so what good would gigabit internet do me?
I own my own cable modem which is rated for 340 Mbps (its old) and use a three puck google mesh system, which works really well (although the lack of configurable options bugs me, as does google storing so much info about my system, but I digress). I don’t need anything faster.
Do you mean megabit? The highest consumer internet speed available is in the 2 gigabit range.
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I’d recommend separate ones. This allows you to change your internet provider since it comes in thru the modem. In the past few years we changed away from Comcast and needed a different modem but the router worked before and after.
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I signed up for 600 mb. I don’t need speed but one of the frequent house guests works for a big tech company and has to work while visiting. No idea what they need. I thought 600 mb could be a good middle speed.
Yes, sorry, just tested at 174 Mbps. I had been discussing phone storage with husband so Gb was on my mind.
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I worked from home for two years working as a software developer, using VPNs and video conferencing constantly.
The company VPN only went up to about 50 Mbps, and zoom only uses 5 Mbps or so. The only time it really felt constrained was when copying giant files around, and that was limited by the VPN not my connection. So 100 Mbps was plenty of speed for me.
YMMV of course.
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That’s very thoughtful of you. Wifi speed varies greatly depending on distance from the router, so that might matter more than the absolute speed.
I have gigabit internet, but in practical terms it’s 700mbs within a 6 foot range. My home office about 30-40 feet away gets 150mbs. I added an access point on my desk which brings it up to 300mbs (I did this more for signal stability than throughput). As noted above, my vpn throttles me down to 100mbs or less anyway; I tend to drop the vpn when I know I need bandwidth.
Anyway in practical terms, 100mbs is more than enough for day to day stuff. When I need to move files that are hundreds of gigs in size I just bring my laptop over to a couch near the router and do it there.
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I have found that owning separate devices provides the most flexibility and ability to “adapt”. (Note that we purchase our own devices vs renting, as the payoff from ownership is pretty rapid relative to our usual holding period). Mostly the separate device flexibility relates to minimizing the hassle of reconnecting everything to wifi: webcam, security system, garage opener, thermostats, streaming devices, etc., and also to minimizing switching costs.
For example, after many years we was forced to upgrade our modem from DOCSIS 2.0 to DOCSIS 3.0 for better performance and ISP support. I just purchased the new modem, unplugged the separate router from the old modem and plugged it into the new. Up and running with little delay. Then several years later when we wanted higher internet speeds we were forced to upgrade from DOCSIS 3.0 to DOCSIS 3.1 (just a “.1” but 10x faster). Unplugged the router from the old modem and plugged it into the new. Up and running with little delay. Then when we moved to a router mesh system for full coverage of our house (with the simplicity of a single SSID), it was indeed necessary to reprogram the wifi devices, but we didn’t need to purchase a new modem. While modem technology changes seem to me to move slowly, it feels like router technology changes faster. I like the ability to change to new technology without changing both devices.
Some arguments in favor of a combo include a single interface, and single potential point of failure whereas separately you have two potential points of failure and if either device fails then your system is down.
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I don’t know details of work, just that once in a while they hoard all the bandwidth when they work with my current wifi. I assumed that meant I need a faster service.