Reddit mentions: The best computer networking modems

First things first - the cable modem and the wifi router are two completely separate things. In your specific case, the two things are integrated in one device - but I highly recommend not doing so.

Comcast charges a ridiculous amount of money for the "modem rental". Are you renting your modem/router from Comcast? If so, I highly recommend buying your own cable modem and wifi router. You will recoup the cost in just a few months from the rental savings. I'm saying this from personal experience - after spending 3 times the cost of the modem for just the rental fees.

The cable modem is a device which connects to your Comcast cable and lets you connect your other home devices to the modem. Even the cheapest most basic DOCSIS3 modem will support speeds that far surpass the actual internet speed you will buy from Comcast - and these are super reliable devices - so just buy the cheapest.

For example, this Arris refurbished model is available for $30. Non refurbished is $50 - although refurbished is honestly just fine. Consider that I was paying 8 bucks a month for the modem rental while I could have bought my modem outright for 30 bucks.

Now for the wifi router. This is mostly the real reason why people complain of poor internet speeds. And often this is because of poor wifi coverage to begin with - i.e. the wifi signal is simply not strong enough in all your rooms. As someone else said, the best thing you can do is to place your wifi router high up and in a central location that has the best "line of sight" to most rooms. Typically a central passageway, mounted high up on the wall. You would connect to your cable modem with an ethernet cable, by the way.

In my case, upgrading to a better more powerful wifi router with 4 antennas (from 2) made a huge difference. From my experience, I can recommend this Asus model which has 4 antennas and costs $67. There are many other models you can research and buy. It has run non-stop for over a year without requiring a reboot or without any of the flakiness I had with my other router that would randomly shut down or reboot itself. Wirecutter recommends TPLink Archer C7 which also costs $70 and they say it has really good coverage. Avoid the more expensive "802.11 AC" routers. This AC technology is great but is honestly overkill for your needs, just as you don't need to buy some expensive cable modem.

By the way, you can also download an app on your phone that will tell you how good your wifi coverage is in different parts of your house or establishment. Just search for "wifi coverage" or "wifi analyzer" in your app store. As someone also said, there are some advanced tweaks you can do. See this article, if you are so inclined.

Lastly, besides your wifi signal coverage and strength and quality of wifi router, your internet connection itself needs to be reasonably fast to support multiple users. Nowadays, everyone is streaming videos and such on their smartphones so everyone "needs" high bandwidth or fast internet. And all these multiple videos streaming quickly eat up your internet connection's bandwidth. What is interesting is that there isn't that much of a price difference between the different Comcast options. Or to put it another way, there is no $40 or $50 option at all. 25mbps is quite low to be honest - at least when multiple people hammering away at your internet. It is not horrible or anything - in fact it is perfectly decent for average home use - it is just not blazingly fast. There is a $10 difference between 25mbps and 100mbps, and a $3 jump to 200mbps. So if you don't mind the extra $13, you are in serious blazing fast territory. Consider that Netflix takes about 3-10mbps, so you can imagine that 200mbps will give you a lot of room and speed even with multiple users logged in and streaming high quality video. Else, you can start with 25mbps after you make all the other improvements to your setup, see how it goes. Then you can easily upgrade to 200mbps if needed.

Your best case scenario would be to wire it into the same Google WiFi puck that is plugged into the modem. The second best scenario is if any of your two remote Wifi nodes were wired to the first, main node, then plugging your Xbox into one of those would mean your Xbox is basically wired directly to your modem.

As for anything else, it will depend on how good the wireless antennas are. However in my experience, I've found the wireless antennas on the Google WiFi pucks to be much better than any other common devices (phones, computer, consoles) for pretty obvious reasons.

So unless your Xbox One has amazing antennas that can beat a router, your second best option would be to plug you Xbox directly into one of the two remote nodes, which will basically be acting like a super WiFi antenna for your Xbox.

But, I'm a gamer too, and I feel your pain and also share you enthusiasm for trying to improve it. Here are some more general tips that can improve your internet even more 😁

1. Let's start FREE. When playing on your Xbox, open up the Google Wifi app and make your Xbox the "priority device" for an hour or two. Other people browsing the web or watching Netflix won't notice, as if their connection is a little spottier, nothing really changes. Netflix still has few minutes of buffering ahead, so if it drops for a split second or two, nothing happens. For gaming, you'll feel every one of those same drops as lag.
   
2. In the Google Wifi app settings, enable IPV6! Your ISP might not support it yet, but if not, nothing changes. If they do support it, awesome! Goodbye DNS issues, and hello speed improvements! I believe the Xbox One also supports IPV6, just check to see if it's also an optional setting or on by default. Sorry PS4 users, still IPV4 only :(
   
3. Another obvious one, but turn off every device you aren't using while gaming. Set any PC's in your house to download their automatic updates at a time you aren't gaming. Cut down on the number of cordless phones and other 2.4GHz devices in your house. Keep other device's cables away from the pucks and Ethernet cables. Just do other similar things in that same line of thought.
   
4. Move your pucks around. See if you can make improvements, the app can rate how strong the connection is. See if different places can achieve "Great" vs "Good" for strength. Try to avoid having a microwave between them. Try having them out in the open as possible, instead of behind a TV or inside a desk.
   
5. For every part of your setup that IS wired, such as from the modem to the first puck and your Xbox to any puck, upgrade to CAT7 Ethernet cable at the shortest length actually needed. (Before I go forward and people throw shade, yes CAT7 is probably overkill for most people, but we're talking about gaming, overkill is in). Here's a link my recommendation of a proven, low price CAT7.
   
6. OP has DSL, but for anyone that has Cable, same logic as last point, but for your Coax cables. Here is a quad shielded Coax cable. OP maybe see if there is such a thing as shielded phone line?
   
7. Another thing for cable users: BUY YOUR OWN MODEM! First off, it pretty much pays for itself as a lot of cable companies are charging you every month for renting your modem. For Comcast/Xfinity, buying your own modem instantly cuts $10 off your monthly bill, forever. Your modem pays for itself in less than a year. But besides the savings, how can it help gaming? Well, you can buy yourself a modem with a lot of "channels". Think of channels as number of water pipes coming into your house, but for internet signal. Right now your modem might have 4-8. If your neighbors are all using the internet too, they might get congested. If your modem supported 32 channels, your pull would be much more distributed and you might see a more consistent, less congested internet. Here is my personal recommended modem of choice but if that's too pricey, downgrade to the model that only has 16 channels, SB6183. OP, again I don't have DSL, but do some research to see if buying your own modem device can improve your connection, or at the least save you money if you are "renting" from your ISP.
   
   Hopefully that all helps you, and you can enjoy some lag-free gaming!

Good start.
I made the switch from Smartthings to HA. For me, I absolutely loved WebCoRE and had a ton of pistons. In several rooms, I have smart bulbs controlled by smart switches so this takes a lot of automation that you want to be very instant (press button on wall > turn on light). With Smartthings there was delay due to cloud which is what made me move over to HA. Also a string of random cloud downtimes helped push me.

First off, stop trying to do any automations in HA itself. Do it all in Node-RED. Install Node-RED from the hass.io packages and then watch some youtube tutorials on how to get started. There's a learning curve as well and coming from someone who likes scripting in WebCoRE, I asked myself why I'd go with something as visual as Node-RED, but trust me it's extremely powerful once you get the hang of it. And your scripting ability will come into play in function nodes.

Move all your devices over to HA. Just get off Smartthings. You currently have 0 benefits of HA since you're still relying on ST and cloud. Regarding Z-Wave stick, I use a HUSBZB-1 stick. I'm very happy with it. It has both Z-wave and zigbee in one stick. I have just over 30 z-wave devices attached to it and never noticed any problems.

For Alexa, the Alexa Node-RED bridge made it extremely easy to control my devices with Alexa. There's an easier install than what's in the documentation on the website because you can just type the package name into Node-RED and click install. This seemed to be the easiest way to set up Alexa control for free. But it's probably not as feature filled as the HA Cloud method that relies on Nabu Casa ($5/month).

They're a pretty decent SDR, but its current hardware config is not setup to receive frequencies below 25 MHz. There are experimental drivers that will let you expand your listening range lower but normally not quite into the AM BC band. I've had pretty good luck with those drivers, much better performance than others report - may have to do with the antenna and gain setup I connect them to.

However for that particular SDR if you want to listen to AM broadcast and LF/VLF etc you will need to perform the direct sampling modification. There are many tutorials with pictures online to step you through that mod.

If you want one that will work out of the box with your desired frequency range in the same price bracket there is the RTL-SDR Blog V3 Dongle. Works great, I had one. Gave it a friend to get him interested in SDR. Wish I had it back LOL.

Make sure any listing you buy this one from indicates "V3" as that has the hardware mod nicely done at the factory.

Here's an amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0129EBDS2/

I am selling a few electronic items that are in like new condition for good prices.

I've got:

• A Model YHT-497 Yamaha 5.1 Channel Home Theater in a Box System. Comparable model new for $430, selling for $350. 100W per channel and the sub has a satisfying kick, discrete receiver, sub, and speakers so they can be upgraded separately down the road. Comes with a decent roll of cheap speaker cable.
  
  
• An ARRIS/Motorola SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem, Model SB6121. New for $69, selling for $50. This has a three star certification for use with XFINITY internet services which is the highest and most thorough level of testing they do.
  
  
• A Netgear Wireless Router w/ Dual Band Gigabit, Model R6300-100NAS. New for $150, selling for $120. This thing's just fucking great. I've never had any complaints about Comcast's service, and I think this guy (recently paired with the SURFboard) is the main guy to thank for that. I think I've had to reset it maybe once or twice ever.
  
  
• Official PS3 Wireless Stereo Headset w/ USB Wireless Receiver, Model CECHYA-0080. New for $100, selling for $75. These are big bulky headphones with a microphone attached. Nice sound quality, though I'm sure audiophiles would disagree.
  
  
• Monoprice speaker stands, set of 2. New for $15-20, selling for $10. These things are flimsy but they'll hold your small speakers off the ground just the same.
  
  Now, you're probably wondering why I'm willing to part for such like new items at such discounts. The reason is that there was a fire a month and a half ago in my old building and these were affected by the humidity and/or smoke to varying degrees. But they're all back from the Electronics Restoration Service, who tested, restored, cleaned, and deoderized each individual component before testing them again to ensure proper function. I then tested each item when I resumed possession of them.
  
  But, because of a gap in communication between the ERS guys and my insurance claim rep, getting these things back took over a month, and in the meantime I had replaced my sound system and internet devices. I'd hoped to be able to return them within the Best Buy returns timeframe but things dragged on too long. The speaker stands I don't need because in my new place I've mounted my rear speakers on the walls. The PS3 headset I don't need because my PS3 didn't make it through the ordeal. The 360 below it and the TV above it did, though, and both work fine as a testament to these guy's abilities.
  
  Related to that I guess I also have a couple other things for sale:
  
  
• A slew of PS3 games. No PS3 anymore and I'm not sure I'll replace it so these are for sale. All barely affected by the incident but still individually cleaned by the guys at ERS. Let me know if you're interested in something and I'll figure a price.
  
  
• 2 PS3 Controllers, one black and one white. Note that they did not try to restore or clean these at all since the system was shot. You can test them and we can figure out a fair price if you're interested.
  
  So yeah. Like new, restored items for good prices. Who's interested?

There's two major players in the booster space, SureCall and WeBoost. There are other, less expensive knock off brands, but they are not worth your time for "real" improvement. Personally, I think SureCall makes a better product and I can attest their support is absolutely awesome. WeBoost is more of an "automatic" approach, whereas SureCall offers gain adjustments to individual bands that allow you to turn up or down certain frequencies...making it a more flexible product in challenging environments. Warning, both are ridiculously expensive.

There is a lot of technical know-how that goes into using a booster, it's not just mounting an antenna and away you go. There is a certain amount of distance required between the internal and external antennas (over 60 feet) to maximize the signal boosting potential. And, you need to mount the antennas in an optimal place, both inside and outside of your home.

That said, there may be a better way. If you use something like this which is a cellular modem/router, into which you can plug in your GCI SIM card. This device can then be plugged into a common wireless router, providing you wifi that routes all traffic back to this cellular modem. If possible, you can mount this device in the "best" place in your home, then effectively provide strong wifi signal to the rest of your house. I personally use this device and I know for a fact it works on the GCI network. The only thing you need to know is GCI's APN ID, which is "web.gci".

I use a combination of a SureCall booster and the above device, but I also live out in the sticks and have crappy signal strength from GCI. It works awesome, I can easily pull in 25mbit/5mbit most of the time and I have very few troubles with the setup.

So the first thing you should decide is what type of internet to get. The vast majority of people get cable or fiber (if they can afford it and if it's available). Both of those options give you good reliable internet. The cheap option is to get DSL which works over telephone lines. DSL usually has low speeds and isn't as reliable but only costs like $30 a month compared to $60-100 for better internet. If you like to stream movies or do anything outside of very basic browsing, I would say to get cable if you can afford it. What you do then is find a provider for that internet (internet service provider - ISP). Comcast, Cox, AT&T, Verizon, and many local companies are ISPs but you're probably limited to only one or two in whatever region you live (assuming USA). You should also know that these companies have random naming conventions for their services (Comcast calls their cable Xfinity while AT&T calls theirs Uverse) So you go to their web sites and compare plans and find something that works for you (if you don't know what speed you need, I would recommend 20 Mbps or more for streaming and normal use, 50 Mbps if you're a really heavy user). You can use this to find out what providers even have wiring in your area (if the top speed for a certain provider only shows as 10-25 mbps, then it's likely only DSL).

If you go with cable, you'll need both a modem (which receives the internet connection from the cable built into your apartment) and a router (which takes that wired connection and turns it into wireless - wifi). I would recommend buying your own hardware because companies like Comcast charge you something like $7-10 a month per modem/router that you get from them, which ends up being more expensive than buying your own to start with. If you buy your own modem, make sure it will work with whatever cable provider you select (something like this is standard). After that, you hook up your router. There are many to choose from. You can get one for as little as $10-30, but I would recommend getting a better one like this if you can as it performs exceptionally well and is easy to set up as well.

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Never, not even once. I have COX, I've offered to pay more... doesn't matter.

I live in Phoenix... I pay for 25 this is what I get. But hey I'm still getting about half of what I pay for... which in my experience with COX should be counted as a win. I say it should be counted as a win because I moved before, terminated service, they acknowledged I'd terminated service by phone.... but, but, but something didn't quite go as planned on their end so I get to pay for an extra 6 months of "service" to an empty apartment that didn't consume a single byte of data during that time.

Anybody from COX who wants to contact me about actually providing me with what I pay for I'd be more than happy to talk with you. 10 service calls to my house has never been able to improve this whatsoever so if you think you're up to fixing it my hat's off to you. For now I'll just say that I feel like I've been financially raped by this corporation & hearing that they are one of the good ones is pretty disheartening.

I'm hoping that the telecom corporations break apart into a million little pieces and that competition drives prices down. To me looking for a good provider is like trying to find an honest Bail Bondsman... I mean there's a certain culture in this industry where looking for the good guys in the mix seems like a fools errand to me, but hey some people weren't fucked over by COX which is great. Glad to hear other people had a better experience.

EDIT: this is the modem I use... just thought I'd throw that out there before anyone pointed out how modems can slow everything down, yeah I know, first thing I tried before I starting asking for outside help.

Okay, for cable internet at those speeds, you're looking at these:

Modems:

SB6190: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016PE1X5K/

or

SB8200: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6SKK1G/

The 6190 technically supports 1.4Gbps, but the ethernet port on it is only 1Gb which caps you there. The 8200 supports 1.4Gbps and can actually do it because it has 2x 1Gb ports, but it requires your provider to give you multiple IPs for that which is almost unheard of in the consumer space. So effectively both are going to be capped at 1Gb down and 343Mb up.

The 6190 is DOCSIS 3.0 and the 8200 is DOCSIS 3.1. This doesn't really matter right now as everyone supports 3.0 and 3.1 support is just starting, but the 3.1 will be supported much longer. So if you're looking for a modem to keep the next 10+ years, go with the 8200, but if you don't mind saving about 50% now and then buying a new modem in 10 years, the 6190 is great.

Both are on XFinity's supported list.

For routers:

Nighthawk AC2300 R7000P: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NA80JML/

or

Nighthawk AC1900 R6900P: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C65K9H9/

or

Asus AC66U AC1750: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N08LPPP/

The R7000P is a pretty high end pick. It's going to support the fastest wireless speeds on the 5GHz AC band. However, you'll likely be limited by the device at the other end, as most end devices don't support speeds that high.

The R6900P is the next step down. It's very similar, but it's 5GHz AC speeds are slightly slower. Even still though, it's faster than what most devices support so you'll likely be limited by the device.

The AC66U is the more budget pick. It supports the same speeds as the 6900P on the 5GHz AC band, but has slightly slower speeds for older N based devices. For most users this likely won't matter as almost everything is AC these days except for like printers and IoT devices that don't need bandwidth. With the AC66U, you also don't have MU-MIMO support, which the more expensive options do. While MU-MIMO isn't required, it can really help in homes that have lots of devices.

Netgear is a decent brand, so that's too bad it went out. I always use my own wireless routers because I'd rather spend the money on something good, and typically the routers or modem/router combos issued by the service provider are cheap.

Also if you're using the service provider's router and modem, you're probably paying for it. For example, with my Comcast service I would have paid $7/mo for their modem the entire time I had it. But I bought my own on Amazon for $70, and after the first year it's paid for its self.

I'm not sure what your buying options are in AU, but what I'd look for is a DOCSIS 3.0 modem from Motorola like this one. I have heard people say that, even if you're only getting speeds that would need DOCSIS 2.0, the newer modems perform a little better and they're not much more expensive.

As for routers, I just look for one with good reviews and good features. You'll probably want one that's capable of dual-band, with at least one antenna supporting 5Ghz. This article reviews some good ones, and is pretty recent. They get expensive, but the nice thing about owning your own router is you usually have more options with it, and again if you're not paying a monthly fee to lease one from the service provider you'll earn that money back in the first year or two.


(The reason why that's helpful is because, unlike a regular LAN switch, wifi can't support multiple speeds on one network. So if you have 5 802.11N devices and 1 802.11G like an old wifi printer the entire network will default to that lower speed. When you see routers advertising dual-band with 5Ghz, it's because one antenna can do Wireless-N on 5Ghz which only newer devices capable of N can connect to. That way older devices can connect to the regular network if needed, and your 5Ghz N network will always be fast.)

Mediacom requires a DOCSIS 3.1 modem for gigabit services. The only DOCSIS 3.1 modem on the market that is worth purchasing is the Arris SurfBoard SB8200. Amazon currently has a $20 off coupon which will bring the price down to $166, making it cheaper than the Netgear CM1000 (which is actually worse than the SB8200). A better modem for a better price.

As for a router, I strongly recommend the Asus TM-AC1900 flashed with Merlin. The TM-Ac1900 is basically the Asus AC68U with a custom firmware. You can upload your own custom firmware like Merlin, DD-WRT, or Tomato. Merlin offers performance, DD-WRT offers functionality, Tomato offers a little bit of both. I strongly recommend Merlin as it is what I use to hit 900Mbps down with my gigabit service through RCN.

The directions to flash Merlin are super easy if you follow these instructions. It takes at most 30 minutes to do it, from start to finish. When you're done, you will have one of the best routers on the market for a fraction of the price. I have three of these routers (one AC68R and two TM-AC1900, all running Merlin) and I absolutely love them. The AC68R is my primary router which I bought when it first came out, one TM-AC1900 is in my garage as a repeater, and the other is my test/backup router.

If you have any questions on how to flash the firmware, let me know and I'll be happy to help. If you're in or near the Chicagoland area, I'll be more than happy to flash it for you.

My suggestion would be to install Home Assistant on one of the Raspberry Pis and buy one of the ZWave/Zigbee combo dongles, so you can connect your existing ZWave door sensors: https://www.amazon.com/GoControl-CECOMINOD016164-HUSBZB-1-USB-Hub/dp/B01GJ826F8/

Notifications? Home Assistant has plenty of ways to do that: https://www.home-assistant.io/components/#notifications

You don't say what kind of smart switches & dimmers you have, but if they're ZWave/Zigbee, that's nice & easy. If they're cheap wifi things, you're going to have to see if there's a component for them, or if you can flash Tasmota on them.

Use the computer for the cameras, since they'll require more power and it's a good idea to separate services (you don't want your lights, camera & media all being unavailable if the PSU on the computer goes out).

My personal recommendation for the cameras is Blue Iris, even though it's a paid program & only runs on Windows. Despite those "drawbacks", it's the most full-featured & easiest to use consumer NVR available; you want to turn cameras on/off/record based on input from Home Assistant? not a problem! You want to use motion alerts from Blue Iris to trigger automations in Home Assistant? Not a problem! You want to use the camera feed for facial recognition or reading license plates? It can do that, too!

For music control, I'm a big fan of Chromecast Audios (RIP) and Google Homes, since you can create speaker groups (All Speakers, Inside Speakers, Outside Speakers, etc.) and then cast to them from any program or app that supports it. I've found that the Google Home Mini is plenty loud enough in small rooms like bathrooms & closets, and the normal Google Home has pretty decent sound for it's size. There's also the Google Home Max, if you have a large area to cover.

You can also (somewhat) control Google Homes from Home Assistant, at least the point of being able to play/pause & adjust the volume: https://webworxshop.com/quick-project-lovelace-multi-room-audio-controller/?pk_campaign=reddit-hass

You could also install Linux on the computer, install Docker & Hass.io and use something like ZoneMinder or Blue Cherry DVR, which both run on Linux, for the cameras, but that's putting all your eggs in one basket, and would be a little more "involved".

Not all-inclusive, still need some physical cables and such, but hopefully this is a starting point:

16-port gig switch: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00GG1AC7I/ Probably overkill but a few more ports doesn't cost all THAT much more and this leaves you plenty of room for expansion. Also managed so can setup VLANs, QoS, whatever.

Router: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00HXT8EKE/ These are solid for home and small business use. Config can be a little tricky if you are using any of the advanced features but plenty of throughput (1 million pps). Also supports VLANs if you want to spin up a guest wifi later.

Wireless AP: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512/ This supports multiple SSIDs on different VLANs and offers really solid performance for not a ton of money. From the physical space you listed below I'm thinking one should me more than enough.

Cable modem: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B016PE1X5K/ I know you said this wasn't finalized but thought I would toss it in anyway. Don't skimp here, a low-end modem will really limit throughput and can crash under heavy-load. Whatever you go with make sure it's on your ISPs compatibility list! They may not support it if not.

That should put a total around $512 USD or so JUST FOR HARDWARE. Keep in mind this is a pretty basic setup but should serve as a starting point. You'll still need the physical cabling and someone able to set it all up. As mentioned earlier also this is only MY BEST GUESS as to what you will need. Please don't take this as your bible or anything like that. :)

I know I mentioned it before but I really don't mind helping set things up if needed. I'm not going to be your "call at 3AM tech guy" but if you need a bit here and there I can try to assist. :) Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts on the build. Cheers!

EDIT: Something else to keep in mind that's not really network related is backups. YOU NEED THIS. Even if you go with a cloud service like carbonite or whatever, you need to make sure the PCs have regular backups. You WILL have a hard drive die and need to pull a backup from somewhere.

Dang thank you for dumbing that down for me, it makes perfect sense when you explain it like that. So my weakest link is the truly the TW cable service... Well I still want to try it out and see how it goes with their "standard internet". If it seems not good enough I might just upgrade to turbo but from a financial reason I cannot get their "extreme service" internet as much as I would like to.

And to answer your question for right now I'm going to rent their modem for $5.99/month and see how it goes too. I was told by the time warner rep to purchase this modem if I wanted to eventually save $5.99/month. That way I could just swap out their modem and install that one in it's place. The rep told me if I ever move or get turbo or extreme internet from them it would be excellent. He also said they have about a 10 year life cycle. So it sounds like he was trying to help me out. But what is your opinion? You seem to have an amazing amount of knowledge thank you for taking some time out to reply and help me out with this topic, I appreciate it!

The following are the tools I used to add a new cable line for MoCA to an old room on my land:

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*NOTE: THIS SETUP DOES NOT APPLY TO A FIOS SERVICE PROVIDER.*

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(optional) MoCA POE Filter for Cable TV Coaxial Networking - This goes onto the incoming COAX Cable. Sometimes your provider does use the same frequency as the MoCA signal to manage with its devices. So This makes sure that your signal is safe to use, and doesn't interfere with your providers own management. This is optional because it depends on your layout. If you live in an apartment complex or area with multiple houses connected (wall to wall) , I HIGHLY recommend you purchase this to prevent your neighbors from receiving and possibly connecting to your network. You should connect this as follows: |Incoming COAX > MoCA POE Filter|

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2-Way Coax Cable Splitter Bi-Directional MoCA - This allowed me to split my incoming cable so that I can reuse the same line leading to the outside of my house. You can also use it if all your lines are internal, but I digress. It allows you to split and connect multiple rooms (while being safe for MoCA signals). Ideally it goes: | Incoming COAX > MoCA POE Filter > MoCA Cable Splitter > Every room you want connected (including router) |

​

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MOTOROLA MOCA Adapter for Ethernet Over Coax, 1,000 Mbps Bonded 2.0 - This is what you use to connect both ( or more) ends of the MoCA network. At the end of it all, this is how your network should look:

The internet comes into your house via | Incoming Coax > MoCA POE Filter > MoCA Cable Splitter > COAX Cable leading to MoCA Adapter > MoCA Adapter > Modem > Router (WAN port). |

​

At this point your router is connected to the internet. The connection to the rest of your house is a follows: | Router via LAN port > MoCA Adapter that's connecting to your Modem > MoCA signal travels down your internet Coax > returns to the MoCA Cable Splitter > Coax split from cable splitter, leading to other section of house > MoCA Adapter > Device or switch |

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(optional) QUAD SHIELD SOLID COPPER 3GHZ RG-6 Coax Cable - I needed to order cable because the room I connected had no coax leading to it. If you need to buy cable, make sure you measure the distance away from the splitter, BASED ON the path you plan to lay the COAX cable on. Then add a few feet "just in case". If you don't need to run new cable, this is a non issue, and can be safely not purchased. Also, this particular cable was not pre-terminated, so I had to terminate and crimp the ends myself which may not be for everyone. Pre-made cables are available, albeit a bit more expensive.

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(optional) Waterproof Connectors Crimping Tool - This is the tool I used to crimp my COAX cable. If you don't need to terminate your own cables, you don't need to buy this tool.

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(optional) Rotary Drill Bit - I only needed this because I had to drill in from the outside (old house). You may also need to use this if you have to add a new hole in your wall, for a brand new coax connection. Needless to say, this is optional.

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(optional) Coaxial Wall Plate - I used this to add the coax cable to my wall. It makes it look nice but isn't "technically" necessary. Use it as you see fit.

​

(optional) 3ft BLACK QUAD SHIELD SOLID COPPER 3GHZ RG-6 Coaxial Cable - This connects the coax wall plate to the branched off network (and devices) Use as you see fit.

​

*NOTE: THIS SETUP DOES NOT APPLY TO A FIOS SERVICE PROVIDER.*

​

If you have any questions, let me know. all the items I listed above can be swapped out for cheaper or more locally accessible items at will. Just be sure yo do your research first.

That modem is fine for your current plan. Overkill, technically, but that's mostly them just trying to keep you renting their equipment. The one you're renting supports up to 640mpbs, it's irrelevant. Not sure about the wifi range, but it certainly won't be as good as an after-market device, but it will be comparable to what you have now (if you're using the Comcast as your wifi access point). However, you should have a separate router/wifi anyways, IMO. It provides better protection and better performance.

If you don't plan on getting a higher internet package anytime soon (300mpbs+), than this will be fine as your modem. If you are going to get a higher plan sometime in the next few years, then you may want to consider the SB8200. It will handle the higher speeds, and is more modern than the 6700. It does not have WiFi or a router, though. Call Comcast and verify any modem you purchase is compatible with them before you buy, just to be sure. Here is a site that lists compatible modems.

If you want something quick and easy, the 6700 will get you by. If you are looking to upgrade, then consider the 8200 and a wifi/router combo.

TL;DR

1. Yes
   
   
2. Yes
   
   
3. Yes (for the 6700)
   
   
4. Yes, but so does the one you already have (see above)
   
   
5. Should be about the same

zwave and zigbee all in one is what i use

https://www.amazon.com/GoControl-CECOMINOD016164-Linear-HUSBZB-1/dp/B01GJ826F8

I actually don't connect the 433/IR directly to the Pi, I loaded this software onto a cheap wifi board called a esp8266 (~$5-7). This syncs two way signals to Home Assistant over MQTT. I use it for controlling my A/V gear over IR mostly so I needed to position it in a different room than the Pi (not on my github yet bc I'm still fucking with it, but read their wiki pretty straight forward). Google around tho because people definitly just plug in the 433 stuff directly to the Pi.

https://github.com/1technophile/OpenMQTTGateway

Basically, if you are willing to do this easy DIY stuff and work in Linux on the Pi you can pretty much build projects like this for a couple of bucks for almost everything. You can incorporate ANYTHING into Home Assistant and a Pi. I did my whole apartment almost entirely using very cheap stuff from China + open source firmware. Look around on the HA forums

edit: a list of DIY things I've built ranging from useful to silly, to show some examples. I will write up blog posts for all these eventually. Definitely look at "ESP Easy" if you are interested, or the Milight Hub
https://diyfuturism.com/2017/07/23/10-favorite-diy-iot-projects-using-the-esp8266/

It has been a few days, so I thought I'd update on what I decided to do. :)

I decided to send the Arris SB6141 back to Amazon. Honestly, one of the things that pushed me to send it back was that the LEDs on that thing are so damn bright, which is a problem since I have the cable setup in my bedroom. :P

I ended up ordering a Motorola MB7420. This is a 16 channel modem and certified by TWC. It's a new model that just came out a few months ago, which could be a risky buy, but from what I'm reading, the internal hardware is similar to a Zoom 5370 which has been out a little longer and seems to have a good reputation.

The MB7420 arrived a few days ago. TWC activated it with no problem, and it has been performing perfectly with 16 channels connected. The great thing is that the LEDs are a lot less bright than the Arris SB modem. I'm very happy so far!

Also, thank you for the freeway lanes analogy. Since my town is getting the Maxx upgrade in a couple weeks, a lot of people I know around here have been talking about modem upgrades and such, and this analogy is a great way to talk about the technology.

I'd say some code knowledge is helpful, but not required, the biggest hurdle (for me) is that I use a Raspberry Pi, so it's linux and after initial setup I rarely poke at the linux part of it so I forget a lot of commands.

I generally prefer to use their Paper UI which allows you to configure most (but not all) of the general configurations you'll do on a day-to-day basis in a fairly simple UI. But if you don't have a RPI right now, and just want one for use with Openhab, (or another open source system) you can skip a lot since Openhab has a distro that comes with Openhab pre-installed an a lot of the software you're likely to need.

Unfortunately I've only just ordered my first of these sensors yesterday s I don't know the specifics of how they work yet, but I expect if you use the original gateway and their software, you can set some spans of time where you want an alarm to sound on your smart phone, and times where it's not necessary.

If connected to a third party system, then the world is your oyster, since the sensor would report "Open" or "Closed" then the hub can handle what happens next, based on the rules you've created. Personally, I'm gonna use them in conjunction with smart thermostats, to turn down the heat when a window or door opens in the room the thermostat is in.

Unfortunately I don't know what if any issues the original gateway has, but based off the replies I've gotten in this thread, it seems you can make it work by using either Zigbee2MQTT, or just a Zigbee gateway. In this case, a Zigbee gateway can be something like this which is just a USB device plugged into either a PC, be it windows, linux or mac, and it'll enable OpenHab to communicate with devices running the ZigBee protocol (Zigbee incidentally is what Philips hue also uses).

I'd say if you've gotten plans like that, I'd probably look into some third party stuff to act as the command center. If nothing else, then for the flexibility, but the option to have one item act on input from another is usually limited to items that can utilize IFTTT, or advertised to work together with each other, but with Openhab, they don't need either, as Openhab facilitates the commands and collect relevant data.


With Openhab my biggest issues was getting my head around how things fit together, but I got completly bitten by the bug and spent days tinkering.


Hope it helped!

Modem: I use an ARRIS SURFboard and I can pull 200Mbps+ down with no issues. It has been rock solid running 24/7 for the past 3+ years. Check with Xfinity to see their recommended modems. This article might help, too.

Router: I prefer TP-Link AC routers (WiFi 5), but Netgear and ASUS make good routers, too. Just get the best you can afford. If the house is really large (>2500 sqft) or it has plaster walls you might want to look into mesh routers to get better coverage.

​

Good luck and enjoy the new place!

I have an answer to this, but it's solved with money (and a bit of time). Almost all of the Arris modem/router combos are just trash... and there's nothing that can be done about it that I could determine. I just decided to buy my own equipment and my Internet hasn't had any problems since. No slowdowns, and no downtime. Here's what I got, but note that this equipment is actually super overkill and I think cheaper equipment could still do the job:

Modem:
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Cable-Modem-CM1000-Compatible/dp/B0781VN7W5

Router/AP:
https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-supporting-AiProtection-Accelerator-RT-AC88U/dp/B016EWKQAQ

I actually did buy the router used so that saved a bit of money. Your ISP will need to support the what modem you get, but Northland (which I assume you use) supports a good bit of modems, you just need to call them and give them your CMAC on the modem to activate it on their network. If you want to do this and need help just pm me.

Edit:
So CCIT does bring up a good point on the WIFI space being crouded. The router I bought performs extremely well in crowded environments, which was what was needed in my scenario. The modem was bought because it supports gigabit speeds.

Cool! Hope you survived the flooding.

That is a cable modem so: Motorola 6121 or 6141 to replace the modem part

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B004XC6GJ0

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6141-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B00AJHDZSI/ref=zg_bs_284715_2

Ubee makes this, but I have never heard of them before. Recommend: Motorola. The quality goes in before the name goes on. Or was that Quasar?

Regardless: you need a router/wireless router too, and have about 70 bucks left.

IF you can afford an Apple Airport Extreme, and don't have game consoles, please get that. It's a great router and just works, and if the Ubee combo unit was good enough for you, the AAE will be great.

Failing that:

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Router-RT-N56U/dp/B0049YQVHE/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370541191&sr=1-1&keywords=asus+rt-n56u

Asus RT56U is in your price range and works great.

If that does not work for you, check back....

Buy your own. I recently upgraded my modem to this on Xfinity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A1E6BA2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_QB2yDbS1AQH0F

I also upgraded to a mesh router from TP-Link. Mesh routers are great for large homes or if you have your main router in a spot where it doesn't reach the rest of the house. I'm a big fan of TP-Link routers, in general.

You'll save a ton of money over the course of 2 years. Worthwhile investment.

Also, I have a Roku on each TV in the house. Premiere+, Ultra, and Stick. I have found the Stick to be very good for my needs. The Premiere+ and Ultra were on sale when I got them and are great but, honestly, if you are just using it for YouTube TV, the Stick it the best bang for the buck.

Good luck!

Some general thoughts.

You included a map. AMAZING.

1. You should be able to "convert" coax to ethernet. MoCA 2.0 Bonded Adapters work wonders and basically give full ethernet speed(~16x as fast as your internet). They work so long as the coax is not being used by satellite TV. If you're using satellite TV along that run, the DECA is the next best thing. DECA is 1/8th the speed but cheap kits can be had on amazon for $20 (still ~2x as fast as your internet). If you aren't doing network transfers either works. For 90% of people it's pretty much plug two adapters in and you're done. It's almost like magic. For the remaining 10%... MoCA filters, maybe fiddling with the 500 splits some cable-guy rushed into place 20 years ago, etc. Let me emphasize, it's pretty awesome, there's a reason why the reviews on the products are so awesome.
   https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Adapter-Ethernet-Bonded-MM1000/dp/B077Y3SQXR/ (you'll likely need 2)
   https://www.amazon.com/PACK-Broadband-Ethernet-Generation-Supplies/dp/B01AYMGPIO/ (this is a paired kit)
   latency associated with MoCA is ~3ms; latency from Wifi is 3-100ms. MoCA tends to be VERY consistent.
   
   
   
2. A switch is a switch to some extent. I generally buy whatever is cheap from TP-Link or netgear. As long as it's gigabit.
   
3. The best way to improve your wifi is to probably add on another access point (or router repurposes as an AP) and set it with the same network name(SSID) and password
   https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-EAP225-V3-Wireless-Supports/dp/B0781YXFBT/
   
4. Flat ethernet cable is worse. At the same price, go for full, round ethernet... with that said, if being flat allows you to "get away" with it, it'll often work. I personally have used flat cables without issue and it often goes a long way with getting others to "approve". If your walls are white or you already have an existing cable... it disappears.
   

Buy this modem and the router/wireless access point of your choice. I like this one but you can go cheaper or more fancy if you like. Connect the modem to the cable line and the router to the modem. Write down the MAC address and serial number for each thing.

Next, take a shot, and call comcast. Tell them you want their $35/month internet-only plan and you have your own modem. Connect the modem to the cable line before calling to make things easier. They will try to sell you some stuff and get some info, but just be patient and stay on target.

This is where it gets fun. If you've been graced by heaven, you'll be done in 5 minutes but I've never seen this happen. Most likely you will be transferred around to several people, having to repeat the same info while they struggle to activate your modem. They will claim there's no signal, they'll say "maybe it's not supported," and they'll very likely drop the call at least once. Keep calling and eventually, probably within 45 minutes to an hour, they will miraculously succeed.

It will end up costing $40/month, because there's some retarded $5 fee on top of the subscription. If they try to charge you for a modem rental or installation, challenge it immediately.

Yes, this is the easiest and cheapest way to get internet in this city. Fortunately, setting up gas/electric is about a 5 minute phone call with the lovely folks at national grid.

Usually the cable company will rent you a modem and you supply your own router. There are ones that do both, but you need to be sure what you need.

If you need a modem, I have the Zoom 5341J
http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-DOCSIS-Cable-Modem-5341J/dp/B0063K4NN6

It's a great modem, rock solid and fast.

If you need a router and/or wireless, that Asus RT line is great. I'd consider their RT-n16 as the starting point for anyone. There is an RT-n12, but it's very low end. It's only a step or so up from the ancient Linksys WRT54G (released December 2002!)

Ok, so the RT-n16 is a great home router. I'd suggest getting the RT-n56u if you can afford it, it's just all around better and faster. There's a newer model that handles the newest wireless standard, AC. It's a little more expensive but it's something to keep in mind.

I'm not sure what your budget for this equipment is as DOCSIS 3.1 equipment seems a bit pricey at the moment.

But I've used the older Docsis 3.0 version of this modem since 2014 with COX. I've had to reboot it all of maybe 4 times over the years. Mine was Motorola Branded but it looks like the exact same modem with a new label and updated hardware.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6SKK1G/

I recently installed one of the higher Netgear nighthawk routers in a small business that wanted to expand their wi-fi in the building. I can't find the exact model I installed but I'm fairly certain it was this router. This thing was nuts, the 2.4 GHz band punched through 3 floors and went way out to their parking lot. 5GHz band didn't go quite as far (as expected) but was crazy fast when I was in a reasonable distance to it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0192911RA

Self installation of this equipment is super easy.

1. Unplug the Coax from your existing modem.
   
2. Plug in the Coax to your new modem and connect a laptop or desktop pc to the ethernet port with a short cable.
   
3. Call Cox support and tell them you want to activate your own modem. Read them the MAC address and any other information off of the new modem, it is located on a sticker on the modem itself as well as may be on some paperwork that comes in the box.
   
4. They'll activate it and then ask you to confirm internet works on your attached computer.
   
5. Once that is all set you can hang up with them, unplug your laptop and plug that ethernet cable into the yellow port on the router.
   
6. Then it looks like Netgear has some handy app to set these things up, I usually do it myself in the web config but the app will work fine even if you've never set up a router before.
   
7. Once you are done, confirm your new wifi works and test the range. Remember that 2.4 reaches farther but is slower. 5 is faster but does not reach as far.
   
8. If everything works as expected for a few days or so, find the closest COX store and return your equipment in person, making sure to get a receipt claiming you returned your equipment so you have proof to contest if they keep charging you a rental fee.

I personally don't use cable internet anymore but Arris has been a great brand for me during my time on cable. Any problems I did have wasn't by the modem but was from the ISP, as recommended by other users on this subreddit. SB8200 is a great choice.

https://smile.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-Approved-SB8200-Frustration/dp/B07DY16W2Z/

As far as that router, I've heard good things about it. Another good alternative is the RT-AC86U https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0752FD3XJ/

When I was making a decision buying a router, I came down to AC86U and the X4S (R7800), ultimately I chose the AC86U because ASUS firmware is better since I can use Merlin with it which lets my router gets the most up to date security fixes / enhancements / etc.

You mentioned gigabit, are you planning to get gigabit with Xfinity? If you aren't then buying all this equipment is a bit overkill.

Your post is a wall of text and very difficult to read. It needs line breaks.

First, nothing (such as your smart TV) goes between the modem and the router. Ever. You connect an Ethernet cable between the modem's Ethernet port and the router's WAN or internet port. That's it. Everything else connects to the LAN side of the router.

You also seem confused on what a modem is. There's no such thing as a modem with N or AC. Modems don't provide Wi-Fi, they simply translate signals between Ethernet and Coaxial cable. Any "modem" with Wi-Fi is not a dedicated modem, it's a combined modem and router.

There is absolutely no need to get a modem and router from the same company, particularly since the companies that make the best modems typically don't make the best routers and vice-versa. The best modem you can get is the SB6190. For a router, pretty much the best wireless router you can get is the RT-A68U. Don't even think about A/B/G Wi-Fi, only worry about N and AC.

Now, if you really want to go the route of dedicated devices (which is the best way to go but it's more expensive and needs more tech savvy) then you'll want to avoid getting a wireless router altogether. A wireless router is three devices combined: router, switch, and access point. The router directs traffic between your network and the internet and allows more than one device to connect to it, the switch gives you multiple LAN ethernet ports, and the access point gives you Wi-Fi. You can instead get all these devices separately, and each will do a FAR better job. The way to go here is Ubiquiti Networks. For the router, EdgeRouter X, EdgeRouter Lite, or UniFi Security Gateway. They're all very similar but each have some minor pros and cons compared to the others. They can all handle a 1000 megabit internet connection at full speed. For the access point, UniFi AP AC Lite. You'll also need a switch, as (except for the X) those routers don't do switching. Any gigabit switch will do, make sure to get one with more ports than you currently need.

Powerline is hit-or-miss. Your house has two separate phases of electricity, and the only place they connect to each other is the transformer on the pole. If a powerline device on one phase has to communicate with one on the other phase, the signal has to go all the way to the transformer and back rather than just to the breaker panel and back. This will slow it down. Massively. To figure out which phase is which, look at your breaker panel. The rows of breakers alternate between phases. Odd numbered rows are one phase, even numbered rows are the other. Keep everything on one phase or use something else.

A much better, but more expensive alternative to Powerline is MoCA. If your house is pre-wired with coaxial cables for cable TV, it will be the best thing to use aside from actually running Ethernet cables everywhere. You'll need a MoCA adapter at your router and another in any place you need an Ethernet connection. They're also available in pairs at significant savings.

Okay... So here's the thing.

Double-duty devices suck, your cable modem is dying, and well you can do better.

Here's my suggestion.

Find out what kind of cable modem you need from your ISP, and if MoCa is supported. Go ahead and just buy the modem from Amazon, in a year you will have it paid off in rental fees. Keep in mind, you will need to know what version of docsys and the multiplexing necessary for your connection. Going over the spec could be good future proofing if your ISP upgrades service.

If your new modem supports MoCa, MoCa adapters can allow you to run your network through your existing household coax. I think you have to have a modem/router bundle to do this, but if you don't want to run wires this is the best way. It also means that by adding a MoCa adapter to TVs, things like gaming consoles and media streamers will have optimal connection.

You may also want to look into mesh networking for wifi, you put a little nodes around your house that connect to each other and as long as the chain of nodes eventually gets to the main router you will have perfect wifi everywhere.

I'm more then happy to lend a hand to someone having issues with stuff I know. I'm hesitant to tell you to buy X & Y to solve it because I cannot be certain of what the issue might be without doing a site visit & survey.

If your paying for close to the 21/3 then a normal DOCIS 2.0 modem should be sufficient so I'd hold off on buying the modem just yet (if your paying for >50MBps then you do need a 3.0).

Do you see many other WiFi networks nearby? I wouldn't believe so off what you've stated so far.

Are you comfortable potentially having to mount the router near a window with a view of the property line? While its well within the realm of being feasible, trying to stream anything at 200ft will be a bit iffy. If you can put it near a window & aim an antenna out it you should greatly increase your odds. There's also ways to boost your broadcast strength but that requires more power, heat dissipation & no one to complain if you knock them off the spectrum.

Are your devices losing connection to the WiFi hotspot or is it just failing to download anything? The other possibility for the issue is a power imbalance on your line coming to your house if you can stay connected but lose data access. Have you ever had a tech come from TW to make sure its not a bad run for cable from the main drop?

Do you know what your walls are lined with? I've done numerous installs that due to the rebar in the concrete, equipment room location & duct locations interfering with the connection to make Netflix stutter but is 100% to surf on.

Are you comfortable setting up a WiFi router that isn't always the most intuitive & will bury you in options? Once they are up, SMB routers are very stable but can be finicky to config 100%.

Do you know what wireless standard your computers have or are you willing to upgrade a desktop/laptop? It'd be preferable of you use the higher channel numbers & also have it in both the 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz spectrums. Unfortunately a lot of older wireless cards from the 802.11G days don't support 5Ghz or the really high channel numbers.

If your comfortable with all that then I'd wholeheartedly recommend the ASUS RT-AC66U (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ABOJKS), if you don't have anything with AC, can't upgrade your existing or are not planning to replace your existing there's also the ASUS RT-N66U (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QB1RPY).

If you do want a DOCSIS 3.0 modem I recommend the Motorola SB6121 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XC6GJ0) if not the Motorola SB5101U (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002M3SHXA) is a good DOCSIS 2 modem.

Note: Double check that TW has those modems on their approved list otherwise look for the best reviewed ones they do allow

Depends what you want. From Comcast's perspective, all you need at a minimum is a compatible cable modem. It's easier if it's on their approved list. Any would likely work, but you'll have less issues if anything goes wrong if you choose one from here. Here's their link:

https://mydeviceinfo.xfinity.com/

The cable modem connects to your cable line, outputs an ethernet connection that you can then use with the rest of your equipment. At that point, you probably need a wireless router, unless you're just plugging a single computer into the modem itself. The router plugs into your cable modem, and expands your network from being just a single ethernet port, to any wireless devices you want to connect to it. It also might have additional ethernet ports on it if you want to connect directly (wired will be better performance than wireless).

Most people recommend keeping the cable modem and wireless routers separate, as you then can upgrade/replace separately if needed. But there are options where they are combined all in one single device, which might be helpful for simple networks. To find those combined devices, just check "built-in wifi" on the xfinity device page, and it will show you those compatible models.

A separate Wifi router that plugs into the cable modem can be just about anything you like, from the cheapest setup up to a whole house mesh with several different access points. They are all "compatible" with Xfinity, as all of them will just plug right into the cable modem to connect up to the network.

If you do end up going with a separate cable modem / wireless router setup, it is sometimes useful to put the cable modem in "bridging" mode. This means that the cable modem sometimes functions as a router as well by default, even if it's just a modem. Then by putting another router behind it, it can sometimes cause issues, especially if you have people on your network with game consoles and some other similar uses. Bridge mode turns off most/all routing from the modem, and the wireless router behind the modem is the only device performing routing - it receives the external IP address as far as Xfinity is concerned, not the cable modem's ethernet port.

My recommendation, for what it's worth, would be the Motorola MB8600 (~$150), with the Google Wifi setup ($100 for one, $260 for 3), 1 puck for each 1500 sq ft of house.

Others have suggested that you purchase a different modem to use in place of the Xfinity gateway, and then using your own router to handle uPnP since the comcast equipment is rife with problems. This is really the best solution. You can grab a list of Comcast compatible devices from their device info page. To my amazement, that page also includes links to buy the devices on Amazon.

If you do purchase your own device you can return the comcast gateway and save 7 bucks a month. I use the Zoom 5341J and it paid for itself in 9 months.

Put a decent router behind it and you'll have a much better experience than trying to make devices play nicely with the comcast equipment.

There is also another option: If you have a different router now and don't want to purchase your own modem (bearing in mind that your own modem will be cheaper in the long run), you can call comcast and ask them to put the xfinity gateway in bridge modem, which will make it act like a cable modem and stop trying to route packets. At that point you can connect your own router to the modem and configure it however you like.

yeah mesh is nothing more than a fancy wireless that provides better coverage but just like any wifi it is dependent on the structure of your home (ie walls , distance etc) so some have great coverage with mesh while others....well they do not.
I think you got it right. MOCA basically injects internet signal from your router into the coax. SO you need 1 poe filter to stop moca from broadcasting your internet through the coax outside the home to the whole neighborhood. you need 2 adapters one hooks up to the modem and router and lastly one adapter in the room where u have the other coax cable and u want internet. The amazon 2 pack adapter is perfect because it comes with a POE filter and its all u need .
Heres everything u need
https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Adapter-Ethernet-2-Pack-MM1002/dp/B078HMDDVS/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=moca+adapter+2+pack&qid=1554325788&s=electronics&sr=1-3

edit: you can also add several adapters where u have an unused coax. Also if you need both wifi and wireless you can get a unifi uap pro access point and hardwire it to the moca. Then have the second port on the access point going to your computer thus hardwiring it and also have wifi in that room from the access point. Thats how i have mine set up... just a thought if you need better wifi and a wired connection

Currently in a house with 5 gamers total

I live in house with 3 other guys and a buddy of ours has been crashing on our couch for the past month (long story, but he's cool and contributes to cooking, cleaning, and utilities) We all play League of Legends, a handful of us play BF3, a few others play Tera, and then various other games such as CS:GO and TF2, and other console games like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.

We have been here for about 1.5 months, below are some issues that we encountered:

• Bandwidth: we have a 105Mbps down/ 20Mbps up pipe provided by Comcast. The Router that comcast provided sucked, constant latency spikes, no QOS, terrible admin console. I ended up going out and buying my own modem and Router. I got the Motorola SB6121 and an Asus-RT-N66U Router (I could have paid an additional $30 and got an AC router, but honetly, none of us use the wireless for our computers, and any wireless device we do use which include phones, tablets, laptops, Apple TV, Ouya, PS3 etc, do not support 802.11AC and even if they did, none of them even saturate 802.11N) This completely solved our issues with lag spikes, and by far was the most frustrating issue we dealt with thus far.
  
  
• Electricity: I don't know where you guys are living, but being in Texas the A/C was on constantly, so be prepared for a large electric bill. Our last bill was ~$270, but that is pretty much as high as it will go.
  
  
• NAS: Currently I have 3 1TB drives in my computer and I am using Windows to share the content, we are currently using XBMC to play media across our computers as well as the Ouya and the Apple TV which are both hooked up to TVs. (1 in the living room, the other in the breakfast room/nook) I want to eventually build/buy a NAS, but I have been way too busy at work and I've been spending too much money on going and eating out.. so that needs to change.
  
  
• Last bit of advice I'd have to give, is make everyone do chores or something, it gets dirty very fast at our place with 5 guys living there, 2 dogs, 1 cat(although she is mostly outside), plus friends, girlfriends, and parties also all happening at our place.
  

Antenna is a very good thing and will save you quite a bit of data. OTA, you'll be able to pick up ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, PBS, and the subchannels on it. Post your TV Fool, and that will tell you what broadcasters are available in your area, as well as what type of antenna you need, and which direction to point it. That will get you anywhere from 4 channels to 60+ depending on your area. I personally get 18 channels for free OTA.

Regarding speed, 25/2 should be fine, as for streaming in HD, Netflix recommends a 5Mbps connection per streaming device. Buying your own router and modem would save you money, as you wouldn't have to pay the rental fees any longer. Here is the Comcast approved Modem list. I'm partial to Surfboard modems, as I'm still rocking a 10-year-old SB5101, and it works plenty fine for my needs. It is advised that you have a separate router and modem, as if one unit goes TU, you can replace that with a new unit, and not have to buy a complete AiO package again. You can get a SB6141 for $54 on Amazon.

>So what you are saying is if i have a router that supports 802.11AC as well as a 16 channel modem i will experience no such bottleneck with connection?

I think most of the bottlenecks people in experience are due to one of those 2 factors. For example, in my apartment I can see 30+ other wifi networks but only 3 of them are on 5ghz (802.11N or 802.11AC.) That being said there are many different ways a bottleneck can occur on the public Internet most of them are beyond your control. What you can control is your cable modem and router.

>I do have a Netgear AC1750 Smart Wifi Router which does support 802.11AC. As far as the 16 channel modem, you said RCN supplies these now with the service?

The official line form RCN is they require you to rent their 3 in 1 gateway on their faster speed tiers. Unofficially many people are using their own (better) equipment. On paper the 3-1 gateway is a fine device but I found it to be sort of buggy. It also runs way hotter than I would prefer. I got sick of paying $7 / month for a buggy device. I switched to a SB6183 cable modem with Ubiquity AC pro access point both of which have been rock solid.

The specs on the netgear AC1750 seem awesome so I doubt you’ll have any issues with it. If you’re on a budget I pare it with a SB6183, you can find refurbs on ebay for around $60. If you want to through money at the situation get a SB6190. https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6190-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B016PE1X5K
Currently both devices will perform identical on RCN but it’s possible that the sb6190 will be better in the future as it supports up to 32 channels. Currently RCN deploys 16 channels in the Chicago area.

>Typically my devices that I spend most of my time on are wired

Perfect.

>I'm likely going to move to something a bit bigger in a few years from now

And we might be on Fixed Wireless 802.99XX, and you'll need to upgrade regardless. Get what you need now. By hard wiring things, you are already way ahead of the game.

The Archer A7/C7 is all you need in your apartment:

Edit: your N66 is still pretty good too!

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-router/

>TP-Link Archer A7

>Wireless router for smaller spaces

>TP-Link’s Archer A7 is great for smaller spaces; for about half the price of our main pick you get nearly as good performance, though no band steering.

Do you have roommates, game, and need QOS?

Netgear x4s.

In an apartment: get everything wireless on the 5ghz band. 2.4 ghz will probably be saturated.

>my router is the Netgear CM1000

CM1000 is a Modem--and a very good one apparently:

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-download-Spectrum-Compatible-Gig-Speed/dp/B01I5TJGSE

GL!

Get two Amplifi HD Routers or Google WiFi Pucks wired together using two MOCA Ethernet Adapters. Those would serve you well for your apartment. I say this because I’m guessing you have cable outlets in your computer room for the cable modem and outlets in the living room for a TV.

With a MOCA adapter and Amplifi HD or Google WiFi Puck setup in each of those locations you would see 450mbps speeds near the routers, and good WiFi signal throughout the apartment with gigabit wired Ethernet available in the Computer Room and Living Room.

I’ve had great luck with my Amplifi HD system (3 routers) and with Google WiFi.

Both are easy setup and give you great WiFi speeds but realize that no system aside from unreleased 802.11AX routers will give you gigabit speeds wirelessly.

Ethernet wired Google WiFi pucks and Amplifi HD routers give me around 450mbps max. That’s about the best you can get until the 802.11AX stuff comes to market and even then your devices won’t be able to use it.

If you choose to setup Google WiFi or Amplifi systems using the wireless mesh, speeds will be further reduced (220mbps or less depending on signal). Nevertheless that should be more than adequate for what you listed for your uses.

Amplifi is running a special right now for $100 off for switching from a competitive system. You might try that.

Edit: link was to Arris SB6190:

https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6190-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B016PE1X5K/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&ref_=ox_sc_act_image_3&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

OK the Intel logo is on the box, that's a Puma6 chipset modem:

https://approvedmodemlist.com/intel-puma-6-modem-list-chipset-defects/

Puma6 will work, but is not recommended.

$750 is a nice budget.

OK, what about running some ethernet cables, or, are some already installed?

If you can't run cables: this is one mesh solution:

https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/RT2600ac

https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/MR2200ac

Note: I have not used that set up. Other people here can recommend mesh systems they've used and had success with.

Another recommendation: Ubiquiti router plus Access Points.

I am giving +1 to the GoControl USHBZB-1 on dedicated computer. The other recommendation I have is that if you do go with Home assistant, I recommend the alternative home assistant software, here is the method of install that I used, instead of Hass.io. I messed around with both but I found that while Hass.io is the easier one to setup, it feels rather limited in many regards. Ultimately, the "alternative" home assistant meshed with me better. Also, the software has gotten a good bit easier to use in recent months.

​

I have also heard good things in regards to openhab but I don't actually have any experience with them.

​

EDIT: From my understanding, all zwave should work with all zwave devices. Zigbee has different protocols of zigbee which may not be able to communicate with each other if the devices are from different protocols. Supposedly zigbee 3.0 fixes that but who knows.

Well about the routers, there's an edgerouter x which has a four ports, one of which is WAN, so a netgear GS308 8 port switch is used after it. The third piece is a patch panel I had, sorry I didn't use a proper icon and I know that stuff usually isn't on diagrams but I wanted to remember where those 1 ft paches were supposed to go. That panel is where the cables enter the wall. I'm not sure what you mean by expensive switch but it's the cheapest 8 port I could find that's well reviewed, it's $32 (not that I would mind if there's something cheaper and good, but I think there isn't). About the modem I really wanted something reliable and from what I've read that essentially means I need a surfboard. I picked it out like a month ago and the next step up was like $90, a hard sell to my parents in the interest of future proofing. But now I saw https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YUU5628 which is $50 and 343 mbps so 8 guess that might be a better buy.

I can't get the Asus router for free (I'm using MintSim, which is a T-mobile based MVNO), but I can get it for $75. Seems to be a pretty good deal for such a powerful router. Thanks for the review.

I'm moving to a neighborhood with a lot of single family homes, so maybe I should just cut the cost and go with a 16x4. I was deciding between the Zoom and the Motorola ones. Would you recommend the Tplink one over either of those?

I was with the /r/askreddit crowd.

I ended up getting this one. Same thing but without the antenna. It seemed like better option anyway, everything I read said that you should be building your own antenna or buying a better one anyway. It seems like fun to experiment with different antenna designs too.

Ha, that's totally fair!

I thought at first I could get away with buying The SB6190 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016PE1X5K), because it said it was valid for 1.4Gbps downstream, but I could barely get 250 down out of it. I really don't understand where that claim comes from or why it's full of shit, but I really didn't care to figure it out.

I looked at Comcast's site and they actually recommended the SB8200. It was pricey, but it fit the bill and works great. I bought it from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Next-Generation-ARRIS-SURFboard-SB8200-DOCSIS/dp/B01N6SKK1G/

I bought mine for $210, but now, it looks like with the $20 coupon on the listing, you could get it for as little as $169, quite the deal.

What was nice for me was because I was moving up from an older Comcast registered modem, all I had to do was plugin the modem, plug my laptop directly into the modem, sign into my Comcast account, and boom, it took care of registering everything for me. I didn't have to manually register the MAC on the modem.

It was surprisingly and suspiciously easy for a standard Comcast service experience, so might not be as smooth for you.

1. The ISP will normally rent you a modem, but you can buy your own if you want... you might save some money in the long run. Yes, you'll need a router.
   
2. There is, DSL normally uses them. If you are getting cable you'll probably have both a modem and a router.
   
3. Airport Express is another option. You can plug a hard drive into the Extreme to give you the same functionality as the Time Capsule, so I'd either go with the Express or Extreme. My guess is the Express will be good enough as long as you don't need to hard wire more than 1 computer.
   
   For the modem you'll want a DOCSIS3 one. The Motorolla Surfboard is pretty popular. It is what I currently have.... it's ok... not amazing. Make sure whatever you buy will work with the ISP you are going with. Some ISPs will only accept certain modems. And like I said above, you can just rent a modem from the ISP. Rental does have it's advantages. If something goes wrong you can just go grab a new one from them. If your speed is slow it is their fault. If you have your own modem they will blame it for every problem you have which can sometimes make it hard to get good service. I have dealt with this first hand.
   
   Personally, if I were going to be moving around a lot and going to different ISPs, I would run rent the modem and buy a router.

Going to depend on your budget. Personally I am a big fan of the Zoom 5341J cable modem - it gets overlooked often by the Motorola SB6141, but it has a ton of positive reviews and I have had one running with no downtime (except for power outages) for something like 3 years. I bought mine at Office Depot but Amazon has them too for $58.99.

Given that your connection is only 25mbps, you have a ton of reasonable options for the router. You could really spend as much or as little as you want. The TP-Link Archer series (C5, C7, and C9) are popular on here and start at $75 on Amazon. There are a boatload of cheaper routers that may or may not get the job done. If you're not covering a huge area, don't have a ton of devices, and don't need gigabit LAN, you could get by with something like the Asus RT-N12. In short, router suggestion will depend on budget and use case.

Any of the above will be much better than the Comcast-supplied combo.

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-download-Spectrum-Compatible-Gig-Speed/dp/B01I5TJGSE/ref=asc_df_B01I5TJGSE
Get yourself a good modem! What you want is a DOCSIS modem that uses a TON of channels. The reason behind this is; every channel represents a possible increase in bandwidth. You share your bandwidth with everyone around you, and the more channels you have, the more possible pipes you can use if one becomes congested.
IE: Peak times, everybody and their mother is watching Netflix. You only have room for 1% of your allowed speed on every channel you have. If you have 32, channels, you're getting 32% of your allowed speed instead of 16%.

This is a bit over-exaggerated, as Comcast will have checks in place to make sure things never get quite this congested, but the principle remains the same.
Also invest in a good router (Modem and Router often aren't the same...) - I personally like to separate the two because even though it represents a higher up-front cost, a good router often does not make a good modem, and vice versa. Plus, if you ever go off Comcast and back to Fiber, you can sell the modem on ebay and keep the router for your next ISP. I personally like NetGear's Nighthawk line.

​

TL;DR: Buy a high channel number DOCSIS 3 modem, and a separate router that does WiFi. Am network engineer. Do this stuff full time.

Always buy your own you can get better equipment that will last longer and you can pick your equipment. Get a two in one or you can get a separate modem and router and choose. you can get a cheap router that will get you by or get a super high end one that will last you years. average modem rentals 10 bucks a month so its 120 bucks a year. just for the rental.

​

This modem is 100 bucks and would be paid for in 10 months and probably last at least five years its a docsis 3.0 modem so it wont support full gigabit speed tho.

https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6190-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B016PE1X5K

​

This modem is 165.00 and would be paid off in about a year and a half if you were renting instead and again will last at least five years if not longer and supports a gigabit connection so its somewhat future proof if your looking for gig speeds.

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Generation-ARRIS-SURFboard-SB8200-DOCSIS/dp/B07DY16W2Z/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1M3SXVEACP6Y3&keywords=docsis+3.1+modem&qid=1557088051&s=gateway&sprefix=docsis+3.1%2Caps%2C220&sr=8-4

​

This is a decent two in one modem router combo for about 170 bucks it doesnt support gigabit speed but you wont have to shell out for a separate router.

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Certified-Xfinity-Spectrum/dp/B00ZUPOF7Y/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=modem+router&qid=1557088296&s=gateway&sr=8-7

​

The only time i would recommend renting is if you have absolutely no idea how any tech or wifi works and you just need it to work like magic. If your techie or like performance or know anything about modems or routers or you like getting under the hood and playing with settings get your own and save some money.

​

Source i work for one of the big bad ISP's lol

>I can't buy a unifi setup due to low budget.

No, you do not need to buy a switch or a cloud key. All you need is the modem, a quality router, and a Unifi AP. Your router acts as a switch since it generally has 5 Ethernet ports, so the AP will just plug into the router. The cloud key is only for the Ubiquiti controller software. It's basically a dedicated mini-computer that runs the controller software for those who want to manage their devices remotely and get better statistical information. The cloud key is completely optional even though they say it's necessary. The controller software can be installed on your computer at home for the purpose of setup and that's it. Once you set it up, it's really powerful and extends your range quite drastically - I highly recommend. Just be sure to change the SSID and password to the same as your router, so that it handles wifi handoff on your devices.

This is the Unifi AP that I got. I would recommend at least a dual-band AC router with MIMO technology. There's plenty out there where you don't have to break bank, just pick a company that you want to support. I personally like Asus and I've heard great things about Netgear Nighthawk models. Either Asus A3200 or Netgear Nighthawk R6900P. Pair that with a good modem, such asMotorola Surfboard SB8200 (modem will depend completely on what your ISP supports, so don't buy that one unless you know). With this entire setup, you're looking at roughly $400. Even if you don't want to go the AP route, just going with a good router and modem to start will give you an idea of your wireless in your home/office. Unfortunately, working with a wireless signal isn't a one shot type of project. It requires several steps, but first start with the equipment that's feeding your internet.

You also didn't really explain anything in regards to your home/office setup: square footage, brick/drywall, metal obstacles, etc. All of these things play a factor in RF attenuation. You also didn't talk about your setup. Are we talking about being mobile with a phone and laptop, or is there a desktop involved? Are there streaming devices involved?

I haven't heard good things about either a range extender or a mesh system, but it works for some people. If you have a desktop computer, a USB network interface card would do you good.

Kable Towns CS is okay if you know how to work the system, they are working on unifying in one large call center in AZ to improve. X1 is pretty good, just avoid any of the non XG2, XG1, or Xi4 boxes if they are still out there (I'm looking at you rng150n)

Only issue with any cable company is if they oversubscribe their lines, which comcast often does. This means as more people use the node you are on you get drop in speeds (5-10pm)

Verizon: Depending on where you live you can do VZ Fios for internet and Layer 3 for TV on top of it, if you don't need live sports Hulu/Netflix/HBO Go are better options then any tv service

DirectTV Agree with above

Note on Modems: The current modem standard is Docsis 3.0 but 3.1 will roll out in the next few years. Right now Docsis 3.1 modems are 2x the price of a 3.0 modem, get the 3.1 as it is more future proof and will save money in the long run

Renting modem? $8 a month

Buying a docsis 3.0 now ~$80 + a 3.1 later ~$80-$100

Buying a docsis 3.1 now $190 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6SKK1G

The surfboards will always be on the approved list and when 3.1 launches in your market you will get the speed bump instantly

Looks like Comcast will launch their 3.1 offering in DC in the near term, hello gigabit over copper

Verzion

I don't know much about the routers you are looking at, but they are just routers. As best I can tell, they are not modems. You'd probably want a modem too.

I have one of these guys paired up with an older, somewhat cheap, Linksys Wireless N router. The modem I am very happy with.

Check out this article from The Wire Cutter to find a good, cheap router to pair with that modem.

I like pmarinel's suggestion and I'm just going to piggy back on his response.

Since Xfinity is your provider, you can use an Arris Surfboard modem to give internet to your router to distribute to your house and through that you can save on not having to pay monthly rental fee's to Xfinity to use their modem.

I would find the coax cable that is most central to your apt (and also has one of the network ports in the wall near it), plug my surfboard modem into that coax, plug my surfboard modem into the WAN/Internet of my router, and then have one of the LAN ports of my router plugged into the wall network port leading to the box you have in the photo, and then plug ports 1, 2, 3, 4 of that black patch box into an unmanaged switch such as this that you can leave in there. Doing all of that would mean your WiFi network would be distributing throughout your apartment from a central location (even coverage), and all network ports in your house would be wired to that same network, and best of all you don't have to waste money paying for Xfinity's monthly equipment rental fees.

If you want suggestions for WiFi routers, let me know and send you a few recommendations. If you apartment is large and you're worried about WiFi from a single device not covering your home well enough, I heard Google Mesh networks are pretty good for that.

I'm not that much further along than you, so perhaps others will chime in and in that case I'll defer to their recommendations.

I'd start by buying a receive-only SDR "dongle" which will let you start playing with some of the software. They are repurposed DVB-T (European digital tv) tuners, and the better ones have some additional heatsinks and stuff to make them more frequency-stable.

I have this one, and have given a few similar ones to friends: https://smile.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Defined/dp/B0129EBDS2/

The major limitation is actually the bottom end of its frequency range... if you want to use it to listen to HF, you need an upconverter. But you can add that later... there's a lot of stuff to listen to just in the FM broadcast band and up through VHF/UHF.

The software I'd start with is "Gqrx" and it's available for multiple platforms, just don't run it on an old beater PC because it's reasonably processor intensive. (Personally I would get a dedicated machine and run Linux on it, because once you get near the actual cutting edge of SDR development, where you'll be pulling random code from Github, that's where the interesting stuff is. Windows means you're going to be stuck waiting for someone to make you binaries or dealing with a toolchain that's different than most of the devs, so they're going to be less likely to be able to help you when you have an issue. Mac OS is seemingly okay but there are some things that are a pain to build.)

Anyway, Gqrx will let you poke around and see/hear what's going on in the spectrum around you. You'll be able to see all the FM and TV broadcast, pagers, cellphones, garage door openers, utility monitors, wireless thermostats, etc. Gqrx doesn't demodulate that many things natively, but you can see and hear them (put it into CW or SSB mode to listen, the digital modes sound very distinctive).

From there... there seem to be a couple of routes. One is to play around more on the software side. The heavy hitter for SDR software is GNURadio, almost all the other software is based on it in some way. It's got a fair learning curve to it, though—this is where I am presently. But it allows you to write modules to demodulate various signals, and if you are a programmer you could start contributing to the cutting edge by working on new modules (they're mostly written in C with glue code in Python, from what I can tell).

To start transmitting you'll need more hardware, because the cheap RTL-SDR dongles don't transmit (well, there are some hacks to make them transmit, but they're real hacks). I haven't settled on what device to get, and it feels like buying a PC in 1996—every few months there's something better/faster/cheaper. If I were going to buy one today I'd probably get a "HackRF One" (about $300) but mostly because I know a couple of guys in my local club who have them, and they seem to be pretty popular—but there are definitely cheaper options around, I'm just not sure how well-supported they are.

Beyond that... it really depends what you want to do. There's some really neat stuff going on right now where cybersecurity overlaps with radio stuff... GPS spoofing and anti-spoofing, for instance, is a big area of research (like you could probably put in 6 months of hard effort and be on the cutting edge of this stuff, I think, at least outside of the military labs). But within traditional amateur radio there's some really neat new digital modes that do slow data rate / low power comms, basically letting you send data over distances at crazy low power levels just barely above the noise floor. I think that stuff is cool—and it doesn't duplicate stuff that your cellphone does. Sky's the limit really.

> EDIT: If anyone can help me with advice for a good router for Docsis 3.0 router I would appreciate it.

I presume you mean a modem? In case you're considering an all-in-one modem+router, the best advice I can give is: don't, it's better to get a good modem and a good router separately, so that you can replace one without replacing the other.

The Wirecutter has some modem recommendations: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-cable-modem/

And if you also get your home telephone service from your ISP, I'd suggest the Arris TM822G: https://smile.amazon.com/Arris-Touchstone-TM822G-Ultra-High-Telephony/dp/B00721TUNS

I know the Aeotec Z-Stick gets a lot of love, but I wanted zigbee support as well so I went with the Nortek which has both. If you have a strictly Z-wave setup the Z-Stick is a fabulous option, but for me the Nortek has never missed a beat. I currently have 6 Zigbee door sensors, 3 Z-wave plus light switches (GE) and a Z-wave plus motion sensor (GE) running through my usb hub.

Linear HUSBZB-1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GJ826F8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kgVGAbCT4RW6Y

Edit: forgot that I also have two Sengled bulbs paired as well.

Hey, I was talking with a user in another thread and he mentioned something about a puma 6 chipset which some models use which apparently have problems. They may have partially fixed it with a firmware update but I don't think it's fully fixed. There may be lag issues with that model modem you are getting (SB6190).

If they haven't shipped it yet I would cancel the order. It MAY work okay but honestly I would just return it so you don't have any headache.

It seems like the better choices are the model below it, which I actually just bought used for $34, or the new model with DOCSIS 3.1 which is a bit expensive but is very future proof and about $160 after coupon right now on amazon.

I thought I'd alert you before you set up that modem! It's crazy they're still selling it like hotcakes. Maybe the issue isnt that bad but I personally wouldn't use it. It should be an easy return because its amazon.

edit: If you want a model in between the model below it and the very new model, this $99 Netgear is about the same price and is comparable to the one you bought (though a few less channels) and doesn't have any of the puma 6 problems.

Will they be better? Possibly. Best use of money? Probably not.

Paying for 200Mbps, you don't need to spend that much on a modem. save some money and get an 8x4 like this instead, unless you're planning on upgrading your speed sometime soon.

As for the speedtest, are you doing it wired or wireless? that can definitely make a difference in your speed.

You will want your own modem. You may have a $5/month charge for their modem. Or, if you have an older modem, it's probably free.

​

You can check Charter's approved modems I bought a ARRIS SURFboard that was approved by Charter and drastically improved speeds. You'll also want a wireless router, since the SURFboard doesn't have wireless capabilities. I got a Netgear Nighthawk that has been an excellent router for streaming to multiple TVs and gaming.

I'll say this: my experience is that Verizon just doesn't offer comparable speeds to TWC but TWC speeds can drop to utter shit thanks to over-subscribed nodes.

Example: Trying to watch Netflix one night. I have an eye for video quality and I noticed that Netflix was just refusing to hit HD quality. Did a speed test and I wasn't even get 5 Mbps. :/

Sadly though TWC is still most likely the better choice, unless you can find a bunch of reviews saying that Verizon is pretty stable in your neighborhood.

Also, this is offered on a "please please please don't come back pissed if you do this and I'm wrong so please do further research first" basis, but if you live in an area where Time Warner offers "wideband" (DOCSIS 3.0) service, even if you don't sign up for that, buy a DOCSIS 3.0 modem such as this and there's a good chance that you can eke out a good more 5 Mbps than you're supposed to be entitled to. (Also even if this doesn't work, modem rentals from the ISP are usually priced such that you come out ahead after the first year of owning your own modem at the ~$80 price point.)

Know what speeds you're getting from your ISP and make sure the modem you want to buy supports or exceeds that speed. Usually getting a separate router and modem is the way to go, but if you want a single device, you'll be looking for a gateway. You'll get better wifi and save money getting your own devices.

You can also drop the land line and get an internet phone adapter which you can plug into your router and make calls for free over the internet. Only downside is that you'll need to pay something like 12 per year to upgrade your line if you want to be able to call 911.

Mediacom internet is just fine for me. Be sure to negotiate down your price. I was able to get a $45/mo for 1 year, $54 for second year with a 2-year contract for 15mbps speed.
Also, buy a modem so you don't have to pay $5/mo to rent theirs.
I've been with Mediacom for about 8 or 9 years...I used to despise them, but to be completely honest, I can actually tell they are trying to make strides with their customer service. I have gotten follow-up phone calls to make sure the issues I had were resolved, which has never happened in the past. It's the best ISP I can get for my needs - I sincerely have no problem with them.

It's not an Arris modem. it's a TP Link 7210 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CH8ZNJ0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_dp_T1_DWhszb89XSA23).

Says its compatible with WOW, Spectrum, and pretty much everyone else.

I'm thinking it's falling squarely under the category of "wow pulled a fast one on my mother in law and sold her a modem".

I'll be down there in two weeks - reset the modem - and call wow activation to get it settled.

However - this whole thing really grinds my gears.

You may want to contact them and have them check the signal levels at your modem; you'll have to have a cable guy come out usually for no charge. I used to work for TWC/RoadRunner, this was a common problem. Also, make sure your modem is not attached to multiple (usually the tech will give you a special one that will only degrade the signal by -1.5db) splitters so it gets the best signal possible. You basically want it to be the first device connected directly to the cable trunk outside. This is very important. Cable modems are very picky. If Charter supports it, and you can afford it, pick up this cable modem (just call them and ask.) It improved my speeds on Comcast. As and added bonus, you won't be renting a modem from them for ~$10/mo so it will pay for itself pretty soon.

What speed are you paying for?

Here's another good modem which is cheaper and faster downstream/upstream than the one I posted earlier.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A1E6BA2/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01A1E6BA2&pd_rd_wg=mc95f&pd_rd_r=ZNB3RXWQGYS7DM0N24K1&pd_rd_w=wgC8d

Best of luck to you. Would love to hear an update.

The motorola surfboard modem is fairly popular, I have one but it is a more expensive model than this.
Also, the asus RT-N66U router is fantastic and works like a dream for me.

I am sure with a little digging you can find them within your price range.

The HDMI extender will likely use one of the cat6 cables. It may have terminals for 1 cat6 (8 conductors) cable on a terminal strip, or it may have an 8p8c socket to receive an RJ-45 connector.

If it has an RJ-45 socket, terminate one of the cat6 cables using an RJ-45 connector on each end appropriate to the conductor type (stranded like speaker wire vs. solid like Romex). The conductor type will be written on the cable jacket, or will be visible if you strip a bit of insulator from one of the eight conductors inside. You'll need a crimping tool. Using the wrong type of RJ-45 connector (solid vs stranded) may lead to reliability issues.

The order of the solid/striped coloured conductors matters. You'll probably want to terminate the cable as a straight through ethernet cable (pick one of the two standards, T-568A or T-568B and stick with it), but check the extender's manual to see if it expects something odd, like a cross-over cable. If the extender did not come with a printed manual, Google the model number for a manual for configuration and other details.

One of the two parts of the extender might be labelled as needing to be connected to the HDMI source (your receiver in the closet), even though HDMI is supposed to be bi-directional. The extender ends will likely also need power.

In your closet, connect the receiver to the transmitting end of the extender using an HDMI cable of the required specifications. Behind your TV, connect the TV to the receiving end of the extender using another HDMI cable.

The other cat6 cable will be to deliver Internet access to your TV via ethernet to your wired home network. Terminate each end using an RJ-45 connector as above, as a straight through ethernet cable. Connect the TV end to the TV, and the other end to your broadband router, DSL/cable modem, or network switch. The broadband router might be located in a different area of your home (through some in-wall cat6). There may be a network switch in your closet which also distributes Internet access to your receiver, Xbox, etc. If your TV has Wi-Fi and your signal is strong, you may not need to use this second ethernet cable for smart TV functions, but a wired connection tends to be more reliable than a wireless connection.

First, I would suggest this MoCA adapter. Cheaper and Motorola generally makes reliable equipment.

Motorola MOCA Adapter for Ethernet over Coax, 1,000 Mbps Bonded 2.0 MoCA (Model MM1000) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077Y3SQXR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8lL4AbTZQGZ04

Second, you just need to make sure the coax line your modem is hooked up to is split somewhere and also connected to the room you want the other adapter to be. You'll also want to purchase a MoCa filter to keep your MoCa in and block any other outside MoCa that others may not have blocked on their own.

Filter, MoCA "POE" Filter for Cable TV Coaxial Networking ONLY https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DC8IEE6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qoL4AbWDKZV5D

You'll just need one on the input cable to your home. Best outside where the exterior cable line meets your interior cable line.

I work for a cable company that uses MoCa extensively and I'm a huge fan of it. I've seen MoCa give 200-300 mb consistently using MoCa 2.0. Next best thing to straight Ethernet.

Dude I have both a life and time but I am willing to sacrifice them to setup a sweet ass home network. If youre willing to help me get in over my head, please do. I want to order a Ubiquiti Edge Router X and hook it up to a Ubiquiti AC Lite access point. And I'll need a modem for that right? I just bought a TP Link modem but I can send that guy back if ya think its lame or whatever.

I'm pretty sure thats a common reccomendation but I've never used anything but consumer stuff like a Linksys. Or I just bought a TP Link AC3150 that I am sending back because the 5G kept disappearing and after a few weeks the WiFi completely disappeared permanently.

Will I have a firewall and shit? Does a consumer router automatically have that or something? What modem should I get? I dont need much control, just want to set a custom DNS for streaming NHL games.

Anyways, this is too long. Thanks if you help me out.

For internet package, get the best internet-only you can afford (based on actual price and not some "deal" or "promo" pricing). If you do find a good deal/promo pricing, get a recording where a CSR tells you that you will be locked in at this price for X months. If they try to hike the price up on you, play back the recording. If you are out of the promo pricing period and they try to hike up prices even higher than non-promo pricing, you can threaten to leave but you don't really have any fallback if they just say OK and don't transfer you to retention. Based on all the terribad customer support on some ISPs, I'd just record any conversation you have with them.

Don't rent any hardware from them. Pick up this modem if needed, and any name brand router (remember you don't need a dual band router if you don't have any devices that can talk on the 5GHz band).

EDIT: More

Monoprice has good and cheap cables, but anything with high enough ratings will be fine. You'll need Cat5e Ethernet cabling if you want gigabit, but you really should be running 5e/6 even if you don't have gigabit NICs.

For router security, WPA2 on (WPA if no WPA2) with a non-dictionary password, WPS off. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES USE WEP.

Cool, just need the modem, router and access point functionality. Best value is usually modem separate with a combo router/access point. Something like this https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6141-Certified-Cablevision/dp/B00YUU5628/ for modem is fine, for router/access point depends how much area you need to cover for the WiFi and how fast. Multiple access points can be useful if covering a large area.

Wife’s friend bought a house out in the country and Blazing Hog was their best option. Blazing Hog sent a 4G netgear modem with their sim pre installed. I walked around the house with my laptop connected running speed tests to find the optimal location. They were able to get ~15 down and 10up. You will need to bring your own router and WiFi.

I also bought the same Netgear 4g modem to upgrade from an ATT MiFi at work with a simple SIM card swap. The modem has strong internal antennas don’t buy external antennas for it off of amazon. I have tried several and they don’t work.


NETGEAR 4G LTE Modem - Instant Broadband Connection | Works with AT&T and Alternate Carriers (LB1120) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5ASNTE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9QBoDb50C20FY

Most of this stuff is pretty easy to search for:

• If you want to use the pi than I'd recommend hassio https://www.home-assistant.io/hassio/installation/ it should work fine for what you want to do
  
  
• To make it work with zwave you can use any of the sticks on this page https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/z-wave/controllers/ . If you want to do both zwave and zigbee you'll need to use something like this one https://www.amazon.com/GoControl-CECOMINOD016164-HUSBZB-1-USB-Hub/dp/B01GJ826F8
  
  
• If you want to control home assistant through homekit you can follow these instructions https://www.home-assistant.io/components/homekit/ , I don't know how well it works since I haven't used it before.
  
  
• For a thermostat you can use any zwave one. It doesn't need to be smart, because you'll just be controlling it from home assistant. For temp sensors, they don't have to pair with the thermostat, just use any zwave temp sensor. I use this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZIRV40K , it's not the prettiest but it works pretty well.

So what you are renting is the modem which is that Optimum Arris 822. You can easilly buy this 6141 and stop paying them the $5-$10 a month to rent. Just call ahead or check your ISP website to see if they have a list of pre-approved or not.

The Airport Express is meant to be an express router. You may have the Airport Extreme but it is possible you are using that device as a router.

You're probably going to want to purchase a router with better range. Netgear is a popular consumer friendly option and a quick amazon or google should point you towards the one that fits your price range. A budget of $70+ would be preferable.

For routers, anything with decent reviews on Amazon will probably get the job done. I tend to go with Asus and TP-Link, but there are lots of good models out there. I've had mixed results with Netgear and Belkin in the past, but worth it if you find one on a good deal.

• Any of these TP-Link models would probably work for you.
  
• I would also highly recommend this T-Mobile branded Asus "refurb." (I've bought 3 of them in the past for various different uses, and they were solid each time).
  
  For a modem, anything DOCSIS 3.0 or up should do for most people. Eg:
  
  
• Linksys
  
• TP-Link
  
• Netgear
  
  Of course, if you have specific high-end needs, these might not quite meet those, but I doubt whatever xfinity has you using would either.

I've heard that AT&T is really inconsistent and drops all the time.

Comcast has been pretty good for me this last year. If you just want internet, they have a 50mbps plan for $35/month for the first 9 months. This isn't really written anywhere, but you can call or walk in. Ask if they offer student discounts too.

If you are going to be living in Davis for a while, you might want to buy your own cable modem for $70-90. ISPs charge something like $6-8/month to rent one from them, so the cost cancels out eventually. Both of these are approved by Comcast. The black one maxes out at 170mbps, the white on tops out at 300mbps (not that Comcast will give you anything close to those speeds, its just future proofing).

Motorola SB121 - 170mbps - $70

Motorola SB141 - 300mbps - $90

> Are there any solutions to improve powerline until a better one is established?

Nope. Such is the life of powerline. Erratic behavior is expected.

> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> I read about MoCA, and it sounds like a good, but expensive option (though the coax wiring is even more of a mess the the regual wiring is).

Cable lines are at least designed to carry data while powerlines are not. All you need is a cable connection between two places. It can be split as long as the splitters are of good quality and don't interfere with the MoCA.

This set is an affordable option: https://smile.amazon.com/Motorola-Adapter-Ethernet-2-Pack-MM1002/dp/B078HMDDVS/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=motorola+moca&qid=1562258609&s=gateway&sa-no-redirect=1&sr=8-3&x=0&y=0

Basically anything is going to be better than powerline.

For people looking for sim free and unlocked options I can recommend this Netgear modem
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5ASNTE

I have used it along with the $10 Tmobile plan at a few places around here and it works great. If you can get decent LTE signal from Tmobile you can get some remarkable speeds https://imgur.com/a/JlpeHh7

> zoom cable modem 3.0

Like: https://www.amazon.com/Zoom-DOCSIS-Cable-Modem-Model/dp/B0063K4NN6


If so, the specs look pretty good. Hopefully its not a faulty unit. Didn't even think about it being an outside line. Hopefully its just a bit of corrosion / improper seal on the line coming into the house then.

I have had Comcast in bellingham for the last 3 years and have only had an outage or slowdowns twice. The first outage was out for about 5 hours when there was a windstorm and then just last week I believe when there was another. The downside reason for these is that we up here in bham do not have under the ground fiber in a lot of areas as they are on the power lines in most cases.

Now, I am not defending comcast, but I also used to do networking for companies and 90% of the time people were having slowdown issues (not service issues) was because they were using an old/really bad router/modem. What I would recommend is not using the modem and router that they give you (they give you a combo now), they are complete shit.

1. They have xfinity wifi which if a bunch of people connect to will slow your connection down a lot.
   
2. a router is just like a computer. I could turn the computer you are reading this on into a router if I wanted to.
   
   Now with this in mind slow downs are all about connections. Connections are the bane of shitty hardware routers. Let's say that every time you go to a website you make 1 connection. well if you have 200 people on your router that is 200 connections per website. But that isn't really the case. Every time you go to a website you are going to be making at least 5-8 different connections, because of all the ads and other things that have been coded into the website. so lets say you have 4 people on your router and that is now 32 connections. Well now lets say you have 8 different tabs open per 4 people with 8 connections per tab now you have 256 connections. For a bad router that is getting up there and add to the fact that it is probably the modem router combo. It is going to be even worse in its ability to handle connections. This is even worse if you have xfinity wifi as while it may not affect your "speed" like they say it will overwhelm the router. My friend had one in the UW area in seattle. It was incredibly slow and we upgraded the router/modem to ones that I had them buy and now they have no issues what so ever.
   
   If you want to have less issues with slow downs you really need your own router and modem. here is what I would recommend.
   
   Motorola SB6121
   
   http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS/dp/B004XC6GJ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415128088&sr=8-1&keywords=motorola+modem
   
   D-link DIR-655
   
   http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Wireless-Extreme-N-Gigabit-DIR-655/dp/B000LIFB7S/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&srs=2529294011&ie=UTF8&qid=1415128174&sr=1-1&keywords=d-link
   
   These are the best for the price and they get the job done better than everything else I have tried without getting into really expensive business hardware. That modem is rock solid. Also the benefit of owning your own is that it pays for itself. You don't have the 8$ equipment rental fee anymore.
   
   TL;DR buy that stuff I linked above and 90% of your issues will go away. I can handle over 800 different connections at once on that router. AND IT WILL SAVE YOU MONEY IN THE LONG RUN.

He could have done much better for the money.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Archer-C7-Wireless-1300Mbps/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/ - The king of the cheap wireless routers. Can't go wrong for $100.

http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6190-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B016PE1X5K/ - The best modem you can buy. Supports even the 1gbps packages and is on the official approval list for Cox Cable.

I'll also recommend this. Either the SB6141 that /u/Demache linked to, which I've heard great things about, or the one I recently purchased and installed, the SB6121, which is currently $17.72 cheaper, but it only gets 172Mbps down vs 343Mbps on the SB6141.

As far as routers go, I've been using a WZR-D1800H that I bought refurbished last year with 0 problems. (other than bricking it myself. Note: DD-WRT is NOT stable on this router. I would highly recommend sticking with the stock firmware if you buy this.) When I did the research last year it seemed like this router was the best bang for your buck when it comes to being future proof, having high throughput, and reliability.

Are you renting/leasing the router? For the cable internet setups, it's best to get a dedicated modem by itself and buy an external router. The AIO modem/router usually has compromises and not really upgradable if you want faster wifi speeds.

Since it's from 2010, I'd upgrade the setup completely with a new modem (depending on what your provider speeds are) and a router (TP Link Archer C9 because it's what I use and provides great wifi speeds when you have dual band devices).

I would suggest the latest model 8 downstream channel model. Just so you won't have to upgrade agian for several years to a decade.

http://smile.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6141-DOCSIS/dp/B00AJHDZSI

Edit 1;

Well I just found an even newer model not listed in my search for some reason.

Here is the full list to make is simple for everyone:

4 channel http://smile.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS/dp/B004XC6GJ0

8 channel http://smile.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6141-DOCSIS/dp/B00AJHDZSI

Here is the latest 16 channel now available good for up to 700 Mbps or a couple hundred if they are capping channels. http://smile.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6183-DOCSIS/dp/B00MA5U1FW

Edit 2;

Fixed my links that weren't working and updated to the smile charity option.

If you have a digital phone service through your cable company you'll need this unit. Just make sure your company supports this unit before buying it. Check out the comments, questions, & reviews on the page for more information.

Arris TM822G Touchstone® DOCSIS 3.0 8x4 Ultra-High Speed Telephony Modem:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00721TUNS

since no one actually answered your question... yes it's possible, yes its advisable and this was the stick i used to do it:

https://www.amazon.com/GoControl-CECOMINOD016164-HUSBZB-1-USB-Hub/dp/B01GJ826F8

This stick has zwave and zigbee radios in it.

I started with vera, moved to smart things, then to HA on a pi with a zwave stick, started missing my ONE single zigbee lightbulb and went to a dedicated server with the HUBZ-1 stick.

I don't like how much work i had to put into HA, but i love how well it works when you decide to stop dinking around with goofy useless automations and custom additions. dont go too far down the rabbit hole of home assistant... its really freaking powerful and you could spend a full time job on making it do everything it's capable of.

I suppose it depends on the service provider, but I've always used Motorola Surfboard modems with my Comcast service. I recently purchased this sb6121, but would probably just recommend saving the money and getting a basic one like this sb5101u.

I purchased the former with the hope of future proofing and maximum performance for gaming, but I doubt it will ever make a serious difference. My gain was 1mb as per www.speedtest.net over the one I had been renting. $7 savings a month, it will be paid off in ~1yr.

It was the husbzb-1 from amazon. You have to set it up on a PC or raspberry pi via homeassistant. It’s not incredibly complicated (their are plenty of guides) but it’s not plug and play by any means. The benefit of it is you can pretty much use any smart device and integrate it into HomeKit.

I originally got it for sengled BR30 bulbs just cause Phillips hue is so expensive in that size. $10 vs $25 a bulb.

How tech savy are you?

But consider this - $8/mo for 12 months is 96.

A good reliable DOCSIS 3.1 modem (only modem, not router) is $170 on amazon today. That's less than 2 years and modems tend to live a long time unless you have lots of lightening.

Now lets add a router - we'll get fancy and do EdgeRouter & Unifi Wifi Access Point.

Edgerouter is $60, and a UniFi AP that will cover MOST households better than a Linksys is 100.

So you spent $330 up front for a REALLY good system. If it lasts you 4.78 years you broke even. Mine has lasted me 2 years already thru mulitple storms in the gulf coast. Well, teh modem isn't that old b/c I had a non gigabit for a while as we didn't have that option.

We need a little more info. Cable/internet company. Does you phone line get tied into your modem as well?

Without knowing anything else, my recommendation for a modem would be something like this

for a router, in your price range, I would recomend this pretty decent. lots of features. probably the best bang for your buck.

Taking one device off of the wifi probably wouldn't yield any noticeable changes.

Don't do it. Get a modem and get a router. I'd get a cheap refurb modem as the standards are changing and prices will drop.

When the cable modem standard changes (or you change to an incompatible provider) you just unplug the router, plug it into the new device and everything is ready to go; all your devices have their password, all your guests and all the devices you forgot about still are connected.

You didn't mention speeds or carrier so it's hard to spec it for you. I have had several friends get this router and recommended it many times and had zero complaints. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IUDUJE0/

I'd just get a cheap refurb router from Amazon, Arris SB6141 (these were $30 but jumped up to $40 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OMDZAV0 ) or SB6183 (dropped to $45 https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6183-RB-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B01ERK1JLM )and plug it in. Look and see what devices your provider supports and the speeds they support (my 6141 is up to 343Mbps but some carriers only support it to 110Mbps, I've had this refurb for 3 years and it's running great).

Your setup sounds exactly like what I'm about to move into. I can't afford to do this quite yet (because of just moving into a new house) but my plan is:

• ARRIS SURFboard SB6190 - this is compatible with Comcast's 200Mbps service. If you're getting slower service, check their compatibility list for a cheaper version
  
• Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite
  
• TP-Link 16-Port Switch - obviously if you're going to need more connections, get a bigger switch. I only need 16 for now
  
• Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC Lite
  
• Leftover wifi router set to AP-only mode for the basement since I only care about wifi in one room there
  
  Run wires to every fixed location (TVs, desktop, server, all wifi access points, anywhere you think you might put a computer). Set up the APs on different channels but with the same SSID and security. That will allow devices to roam between them.

Where in the heck do you live? I know everywhere has either Comcast or RCN. Time to switch off of DSL. You'll never hear me rave about RCN, but the bandwidth will make you quickly forget about the occasional hiccups.

Regarding Comcast, although SpeedTest is a contrived test (I find MSDN to be a better real-world test), they at least deliver: http://www.speedtest.net/result/1890326814.png

If you go to cable, get a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. I recommend the Motorola Surfboard SB6121 (it's a 6120 in a different housing). I think Comcast still provisions them as 6120s, but it's one of the few that 3-stars their tests, and the 6-to-4 and IPv6 works great. Not sure what RCN supports, but if they support a 6120 or 6121, get a 6121. The modem pays for itself in a year by avoiding the ridiculous modem lease rate ($7/mo @ Comcast).

> I haven't looked at that netgear overview but hopefully they mention that not all DOCSIS 3.0 modems are created equal.

No it doesn't. It is a really simple overview and doesn't even go into speeds or anything. But you make some very good points. I remember when I got my first upgrade to 100 Mbps (I was on 15 Mbps previously because that's what was available) I was looking at some DOCSIS 3 modems and was surprised there's still modems that are in-fact sold with just 2 channels for example and are around the same price point as 8 channel modems.

Example: On Amazon this Motorola SB6120 DOCSIS 3.0 "eXtreme" cable modem only has 4 channels and is $91.29

On Amazon this ARRIS SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 modem has 8 channels and is only $68.75.

Also of note, the ARRIS SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 modem has 4 channels and is $69.85.

So you've got to be careful. I chose the SURFBoard series because there are a bunch of them and if you go by just the branding or price point alone, you could get something you don't want.

Purchase any standard cable modem. If you want the same capability as what you currently have, make sure it has wifi built in as well.

Cable Modem only

Cable Modem with wifi built in.

The two I listed are just examples, you can shop around and find other brands for different prices. Just make sure on the specifications it says it's "DOCSIS 3.0" or something like that and it'll be compatible with Comcast.

DO NOT CALL COMCAST RIGHT AWAY! Only do that as a last resort since it's a pain. In most cases you can activate the new modem without calling. Take it home, disconnect your old modem and connect the new one to the cable line and hook it up to your computer. Plug it in and give it 10 mins to connect to Comcast. Open a web browser and the Comcast activation screen should come up. In put your account info, click activate and give it a good 30 mins to complete. Once you have working internet, return your old modem to the Comcast store (GO IN PERSON AND HAND IT TO A PERSON) and make sure you get a receipt.

If you have trouble activated and have to call, before calling take down the Serial Number and the Cable Mac Address on the bottom of the modem. You're gonna need to give that info to the rep so they can add it to your account.

Either way, you won't have to pay that stupid rental fee any more and you'll probably have better performance with your own modem.

There are a few options out there, Motorola's are consistently rated very highly. I've linked to one here that supports up to a 172 mbps downstream, but doesn't have a built in wireless router (you would have to plug in a wireless router to access the internet wirelessly). There are also a few options to pick from that include wireless routers, and/or support faster speeds if you need it (it won't make your existing connection faster though, it just supports a higher level of bandwidth).

https://smile.amazon.com/SURFboard-SB6121-DOCSIS-Retail-Packaging/dp/B004XC6GJ0

This would be a good option if you want a built-in wifi router:

https://smile.amazon.com/SURFboard-SBG6782AC-DOCSIS-AC1800-Router/dp/B00GJ7Y7MU

You will have to call Comcast to provision the modem (basically just read them the MAC Address on the bottom of the modem and wait a few minutes). I've done this twice, and it's been straightforward. You can always just tell them that you don't like the idea of hosting a public hotspot (which you do if you have a Comcast modem with built in wifi-- it broadcasts on SSID "xfinitywifi" and is accessible by anyone that has a Comcast subscription).

I highly recommend the Motorola Surfboard they have 6121 and they have a 6141. I bought my Motorola Surfboard I would sell you it but we might need it in the future. I believe it is docsis 3.0 I also think the 121 is not what you are looking for either.

Amazon.com link

Probably what you want

The website even says it is compatible with TWC, I know because when I had Internet only and got my own modem it was on the approved list. It's really nice I've had very little problems with this.

I only say this because I worked for ISP company that was the modem that gave me the least trouble. The symbols are easy to read. Also know this modem doesn't provide wifi- wireless you would have to get a router to do that or 3rd option that I don't like is modem/wifi combo.

Edit: I think I paid 70ish from local electronic store.

I really like the Netgear 1120 modem.

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-LTE-Modem-Broadband-Connection/dp/B01N5ASNTE

The plus side is it will hold its value much better as it also works on TMO and ATT. The reviews had someone say it worked great on Verizon.

You will always be better off with a separate modem and router. That one you linked is not even AC, only N.

I will link some models that together will perform significantly better than the one you linked. You could also get an even nicer router in your budget by getting one used/refurbished, but that probably isn't necessary unless you have lots of constant users.

Modem - $40

Router (Archer C7) - $65

I don't have any experience with that modem, but TP-Link is good value, and it is comparable to the modem you linked.

I only have a few ZWave devices right now, but I haven't had any issues with speed or reliability with the combo stick. This is the one I have, and it's pretty popular for Home Assistant.

Yes, if the bulbs were controlled via Home Assistant whether it was the UI, automations, scripts, etc, they were great. It just didn't update the state when I used the dimmer, which made most of my automations involving those lights useless (I have it set so a floor lamp connected to a Lutron Caseta plug-in dimmer turns on whenever the Hue lights turn on).

If the light in your daughter's room is a lamp that's plugged into a an outlet as opposed to a fixture, maybe a battery backup would work? I'm not sure though...I know whenever my UPS loses power and switches to the battery, it beeps like crazy, so that might not be much better....

Actually $130 on Amazon right now so that is pretty sweet.

Thanks for your recommendation!

Just looked at our bill; $10 a month for the router we are leasing from then. Awful. Gonna buy one and return theirs.

So in your experience is a modem swap pretty simple? Just unplug the one and plug in the new one and everything should go smoothly?

Yay information! Yeah I was looking into this SQM, seems like it's not usually easy to find what something offers. If I read correctly though, a docsis 3.1 modem solves this?
So what about,
Google: Google WiFi system, 1-Pack - Router replacement for whole home coverage - NLS-1304-25 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDJ0HVG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tAd6CbTTN35MG

And Arris: ARRIS SURFboard Gigabit DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem, 10 Gbps Max Speed, Approved for Comcast Xfinity, Cox and Charter. (SB8200 Frustration Free) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DY16W2Z/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.yd6CbAG8NBM3

Only problem with this is I dont get a lot of LAN ports, any suggestion on a good switch that I could put behind a TV to split off to hardwire multiple devices if needed?

Surely these Mesh APs wouldn't provide full lan potential if not hardwired to the modem.

>It's not inexpensive

yep, a little pricey, but if you live in an apartment building and know the neighbors, you could offer them wifi for a fraction of the price and pay for it. Coworker paid $10 a month to his neighbor.


> Although my routers range is crap



If you have the xfinity modem/router combo then ditch it. I had friend get a new Motorola SB6141 modem and a (refurbished) NetGear R6250. I recommend that combo to anyone of my friends who complain about their comcast and sway them by telling them they get charged $7-10 a month from CC to lease it. For about $150 you save $7-10 month and you have a way better setup. If you do drop the cable internet then you still have a very good router and can resell that modem on CL. So far, I have three friends who use this setup and have no problems.

The modem cost $80-90 depending on where you buy it. It was on sale for $50 on amazon for a refurb, but no longer is. From my understanding, the difference between the White and the Black Sb6141 is that the white one is retail and the black one is sold to companies who recirculate it.

The router is $75, but is refurbished. Most people frown on refurbs, but this is from amazon so

1. you can always return it with in the first 30 days if it fucks up
   
2. buy the 2 year plan for like $5 when you check out.
   
   I've purchased 3 refurbs myself and never had an issue with them.

There is no such thing as a "gaming" router or modem. All of that is marketing fluff.


Having both your own router and modem is a good idea. See here for good examples:

(I am assuming your USA)

Modem:

MOTOROLA 16x4 Cable Modem, Model MB7420, DOCSIS 3.0. Approved by Comcast Xfinity, Cox, Charter Spectrum, Time Warner Cable, and More. Downloads 686 Mbps Maximum (No WiFi) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A1E6BA2/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_S9xKCbK9FCPTA

Router:


NETGEAR R6700 Nighthawk AC1750 Dual Band Smart WiFi Router, Gigabit Ethernet (R6700) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R2AZLD2/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_qgyKCbRJE7W46

Wired is always better than wireless. However, if wired is not possible, position the router close to the device and use the 5g band. This is the closest thing to wired on a wireless connection.

The easiest solution:
return the new modem to comcast, as well as the old one

buy this

Save your parents $10 a month on rental fees, and ensure that they don't have an open wifi network run by and visible to Comcast in their home.

Yea it looks like there are other responses, but I'll mirror. A Docsis 3.0 modem if you buy one (link below) helps amazingly. I get consistent 25Mbps down and 4 Mbps up. When I had the modem they gave me it was very sporadic. Sometimes there are latency issues, but the speed is always spot on. Also if you are on wireless in Blacksburg, it sucks, radio interference and all from everyones wireless devices in apartment buildings, it kind of goes the way of cell phone signals on game day. Try plugging a ethernet cord straight into your router when its slow and see if that isn't the issue. If it is, there are ways to deal with that, but its always good to figure out if it truly is Comcast or not.

(http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B004XC6GJ0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347941339&sr=8-3&keywords=surfboard+6120)

Do you use Comcast VOIP? If you do, I know that can be harder to switch. If you don't I'd look at getting one of the Arris Surboards. I've always been a fan of them and they've worked well for me. I'd probably recommend looking at the Arris 6190 You can usually find them through Amazon's Open Box Warehouse for slightly cheaper.

I'm a fan of it because it supports 32 downstream channels while I believe Comcast's Gateway only supports 8. Most Comcast locations around the country have access to between 16-24 channels which means that you have more pipes to get your Internet from compared to only having 4-8 channels.

I was in a similar situation recently and purchased [this docsis 3.1 modem] (https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Gigabit-download-Compatible-Gig-Speed/dp/B01I5TJGSE/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1539276309&sr=1-7&keywords=docsis+3.1+modem)

You have to have a 3.1 modem to take advantage of speeds over something like 350 Mbps.

My local isp just started offering gigabit speeds and I purchased my own modem. I opted for the 500 mbps plan. my speed tests on speedtest.net and fast.com are averaging over 800 Mbps.


I don't know if my proximity to the source, or my modem are responsible for the increased speed.... Maybe it's both, maybe it's neither.


In either case, I have been really happy with the docsis 3.1 Netgear modem

Are you paying their equipment leasing fees? Or do you own your modem and/or DVR box? There are some upfront costs if you buy your own equipment, but it's cheaper in the long run. For instance, [Comcast compatible modem] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XC6GJ0/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER) is only $70 bucks, and if you're paying $7/month to lease their modem, that's 10months for roi.

There are also DVR's that take a cablecard instead of using their cable boxes. I'd have to research current boxes, but I know Tivo units are compatible with a cablecard from comcast (although I'm not sure if you would still get showtime/hbo).

Personally, I haven't had cable for years, and only pay for internet and tivo service. As someone else mentioned, once you've gone a month or two without it, you really don't miss it. You can buy an indoor HDTV antenna for under $50 that'll pick up all the local channels, and if your tv is under 3-4 years old, it's got a tuner built in, free HDTV over the air (but no DVR).

I have a Tivo unit, that I bought a couple years ago and I pay $15/month for guide/dvr service, and I have that plugged into my antenna. $15 is much better than whatever cable companies are charging for basic channels and HD and DVR service. Their new boxes are pretty much the same thing as what I've got, and I personally think the interface is much better than cable DVR's. Granted, I only get locals, but I have Netflix, Hulu, Tivo and 45Mbs internet for under $90/month.

I also managed to get AT&T to match comcasts new pricing when they doubled their speeds recently. Check AT&T's prices, and see if they're any lower. Don't be afraid to tell comcast that AT&T is offering the same package for $xx cheaper a month, and ask them to price match. Unfortunately, if you're under contract, they're less likely to renegotiate with you, since they know you're locked to an early termination fee if you want to switch.

Stuff like this is why I like to purchase my own router. Cable companies either want to charge you a rental fee or force you to be a hotspot to pay for the router.
Good routers are very reasonably priced. For example:
SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0

Edit: Well that was a cable modem. Let's post some routers instead. Thanks /u/A_Water_Fountain

ASUS RT-N66U

or something cheaper:

ASUS RT-N16

I went with this modem:
TP-LinkDocsis 3.0 Cable Modem

I spent a lot of time researching routers and reading reviews. I finally got the TP-Link AC1200 Gigabit Wireless Wi-Fi Router.

Full disclosure, I was trying to do this on a budget and weighed the reviews and price carefully. I almost got the TP-Link Archer 7, but there were just too many disgruntled reviewers on Amazon and The Wirecutter.

Good luck!

I don't use a "hub", I use a USB Z-Wave device paired with HomeSeer (home automation software running on a computer). While this isn't a hub in the sense of the word, it works much like one, but has a greater ability to expand.
This isn't the device I use, but this device works with both Z-Wave and Zigbee and may work for your needs (now and in the future):
https://www.amazon.com/GoControl-CECOMINOD016164-HUSBZB-1-USB-Hub/dp/B01GJ826F8

You will need automation software to run this device, HomeAssistant, HomeSeer, OpenHAB are a few of several options.

If you want a hub, buy a hub, I just want you to know about all the options.

Yeah as I was suspecting last night it's $22.50 per service or $45 for both + autopay discount and usual fees from comcast. I still think it's a good deal (at least if you care for live TV/sports) otherwise your best bet is to get 60mpbs internet for around $29.99 or the150mbps service you initially mentioned and bring your modem so you don't have to deal with any fees at all.

$59 at the moment https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6183-Docsis-Packaging/dp/B01ITIXYR0

I have the same, $40 a month with my modem at the promised speed. I've had Knology for years and WOW seems to be trying to improve some things where Knology did not.

A tech I talked to recommended this pricier modem: http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS/dp/B004XC6GJ0

Edit: Ack, meant to reply to never_comment...

> Would you happen to reccomend a decent modem? I will report back with a Speedtest when i receive the box.

recommend a modem.. hmm.. how much do you want to spend?

right now I'd stay away from the SB6190 modem - there's an issue with the Comcast firmware and the chipset that modem uses (which is odd since I beta tested a Linksys CM3024 that uses the same Puma 6 chipset the 6190 uses and the thing ran flawless during the beta).

You could go with an Arris SB6183.. that's a 16x4 modem and will handle 300mbps no problem.. https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6183-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B00MA5U1FW

Now.. if you want to future proof and be ready for DOCSIS 3.1, you could go with the Netgear CM1000..

Here's another list of what Comcast recommends. http://mynewmodem.comcast.net/ Like I said, stay away from the SB6190 for now, and also I recommend NOT getting any of those combo modem+router devices, my personal preference is to have the modem and router separate devices.

The Arris SB6121 is perfectly capable of saturating your 100 Mbps connection. In fact it can reach up to 172 Mbps down and 131 Mbps up. Plus it's cheaper. But remember this has only 1 ethernet port. So you will need to supplement this with a dual band AC router that has 4 ethernet ports. If you are planning to upgrade your Internet connection beyond 172 Mbps, then you should get the Arris SB6183. Because the Arris SB6183 is capable of reaching 686 Mbps down and 131 Mbps up.

Arris SB6121 specifications:
http://imgur.com/lgJZMcp

Arris SB6183 specifications:
http://imgur.com/0ly9O4j

Cheapest brand new Arris SB6121 $37.99:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00768SBAU?ref_=mw_olp_product_details

Cheapest brand new Arris SB6183 $79.99:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/B01ITIXYR0/ref=olp_tab_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Thanks for the info. I kept coming across the ones below in my research. Would you recommend one of these over the other? Or an entirely different recommendation? Thanks for the help

netgear 6400

Archer c7

Modems

Arris surfboard 6141

tp Link 7610

This is extremely important. I used to have the standard wireless gateway for which they love to charge you $8/month. It's not fast enough wirelessly to get you even close to those speeds, so don't bother.

I bought my own 2.4/5GHz Dual Band (300+450) 802.11n router, the TP-Link TL-WDR4300 and it has been great. It's only about $66 on Newegg. It's great, and much cheaper than the Belkin or Netgear competitors.

Now, I also have the Triple Play with voice because it's cheaper to have it than not, but that means I need a modem with phone service as well. I bought the Arris TM822G from Amazon for $127. It'll take a little over a year to pay for itself, but this way I don't have to rent theirs anymore, nor do I have a device that also transmits wireless frequencies sitting next to my router, causing interference. (Note: if you don't have voice, I recommend the Motorola SB6141 + a dual band router.)

Finally, I moved my modem and router down to the 1st floor living room where I spend most of my time using the internet. I was sitting next to it as I did this speedtest. Previously it was upstairs in the back of the rowhouse, with a lot of wall material for the signal to travel through. This is bad and will slow your connection down significantly, especially if you're only using the default Comcast hardware. Good placement can almost be as important as the equipment itself. Keep it centrally located, away from metal, electronics or interference causing devices.

For comcast gigabit you'll be needing a DOCSIS 3.1 capable modem such as the Arris SB8200.

For a router, for all in ones you can look at the typical Netgear R7000 or the Asus AC1900 if you want to keep it simple.

If you want something super reliable then...

Edgerouter X

or

Edgerouter Lite

or

Unifi Security Gateway

• 
  
  Ubiquiti AC Lite
  
  or
  
  Ubiquiti AC Pro
  
  (also wire in as many things as possible with quality Cat5e/6/6a cables)

I bought my own router and modem and get faster speeds because of it. I'm a heavy gamer so speed and stability across multiple devices is extremely important for me.

ARRIS SURFboard SB6190 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem : https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6190-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B016PE1X5K/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1468824877&sr=1-1&keywords=ARRIS+SURFboard+SB6190+DOCSIS+3.0+Cable+Modem

Linksys AC2600 4 x 4 MU-MIMO Dual-Band Gigabit Router : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UVN21DK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also suggest investing in some good Cat6 cables much higher data transfer rates than the normal cat5 most people use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5I7XC6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

May seem pricey to some people but this is something you will be using 24/7 for years so imo it's better to pay upfront for quality rather than go the cheap route and have nothing but issues. Also not renting equipment anymore pretty much makes them pay for themselves.

If you're in the US

• Buy a cable service package from whichever monopoly controls your region. Just search "cable service provider [city]"
  
• Buy a modem. This turns your cable into internet
  
• Buy a wireless router. This turns your hardline internet into wireless internet.
  
• Hook up all that stuff.
  
  You can rent these things from the major providers but after 10 months buying your own equipment will pay for itself and you can take it with you. The modem and router I listed are the ones I have in my apartment and I highly recommend. Good speeds and connectivity all over the entire place. It'll run you about $130. Definitely worth it. I've had mine for almost two years with no issues.

Ham radio associations like the ARRL probably have the best repository for beginners. A lot of the ham exam study guides and videos have good information for those wanting to learn about RF. I picked up some amateur radio books from the 60s at a local library book sale and they proved to be quite valuable guides.

Also, and I can't recommend this enough, pick up an RTL-SDR. For less than $30 and the cost of a diy antenna you can listen to literally anything from the LF to UHF range. Satellites? Old fucks on 2m? Air traffic? Garage door openers? ADS-B? You name it, SDR can do it.

Which modem do you have?

If you rent a modem from time warner, you may have better luck with buying your own - it pays off after about a year.

This is a great one from motorola.

I assume that you have a coax splitter wherever the cable reaches your house. That might be in a box outside or somewhere inside the house. From this splitter, coax cables run to the various outlets in your house.

It looks like there is only one coax port on the TG1682G: https://fccid.io/UIDTG1682-3/External-Photos/External-Photos-2853842

This means that the MoCA communication signal is sent back out through the same coax wire that the DOCSIS signal providing your internet access comes in. MoCA would then travel back to the splitter and out to all coax outlets attached to that splitter. Hopefully the splitter doesn't block MoCA signals. If so, you'd need to replace it with one that allows them through. Ideally you'd add a MoCA filter to the coax coming into the house before it gets to the first splitter in order to prevent your internal MoCA data from leaving your home.

You would then use a single MoCA 2.0 adapter like the Motorola MM1000 in your home-office with the incoming coax connected to its Network coax plug and your ethernet devices (via a switch or wireless access point) connected to its ethernet plug.

Well, I'm in a similar situation. I basically know what's causing problems but my ISP refuses to solve it and ignores the problem since they'd have to replace some hardware that works but barely.... So I'm in the process of changing. I have a lot of options though, open fiberoptics net that any ISP that wants to can deliver on.

​

I bet your neighbours have coax as well though, not friends with anyone of them and might be able to borrow their modem for a few hours in order to rule out the modem as a problem?

​

When it comes to a new modem, try creating a post in the thread I mentioned and you might want to include what ISP, lots of people there with a ton of knowledge on the subject.

Since you already have a router on the way, you could settle for a coax modem without a routing function. Might be cheaper to return the router and get a 2 in 1 but generally, modem and router is better then a modem/router combo.

This might give you some ideas on what to look for when buying a modem btw: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-things-to-seriously-consider-when-purchasing-a-new-cable-modem/

P.S. You might want to aim for a modem with 16 channels or more (you can view it as a road, more lanes = more traffic can pass trough and it will flow more evenly across the lanes). Check what your ISP supports first though.

Or something along these lines with 32 channels https://www.amazon.com/Next-Generation-ARRIS-Surfboard-SB8200-DOCSIS/dp/B01N6SKK1G

​

https://www.bestnetworkinghardware.com/top-10-best-cable-modem-review/

P.S. Very much not an expert at cable modems, just have some limited knowledge on them but the arris surfboard SB8200 looked pretty nice.

Literally just went through this! I had the cm700 modem and it would drop connections to Comcast frequently. I went through a couple modem/ router configurations starting with the R7800 and at one point had the Netgear AC3200 router. Having gone through $500+ in networking gear I can recommend the R7800. I’ve got the Netgear R7800 sitting behind the Arris SB8200 and it seems to be a great combo. Handles my roommates and I across the apartment streaming and gaming at the same time. Each of us has a few devices over WiFi and then I’ve got some devices over eth. Dynamic QoS seems good and the UI is decent.

TL;DR: Get the Netgear R7800 and the Arris SB8200

EDIT: Formatting and links

Cradlepoint, Mikrotik, and some others are probably great, but the Netgear units for $100-150 (link) are totally fine for casual home use: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-LTE-Modem-Broadband-Connection/dp/B01N5ASNTE/

With 3 bars of LTE they likely won't have any need for external antennas, but they have the option if that becomes necessary.

The BIG question to me is whether the Verizon plan is truly unlimited (often they say unlimited, but they throttle to almost nothing after a few dozen gigabytes), and if Verizon will allow it to be used in a modem?

If you have a plan with quota limits there is one potentially significant problem with using an LTE modem that broadcasts a wifi network; many devices assume that when they are connected to wifi there is no limit and they will automatically download large updates and default to using high bandwidth settings for streaming video, video chatting, etc. Some of that can be controlled in each devices' settings, but there's often still some surprises.

There's a good chance that the house was wired for cable TV so I'd recommend the MoCA option as well. These Motorola adapters work great.

https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6190-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B016PE1X5K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498755031&sr=8-1&keywords=sb6190

Buy this modem. It's $99 on Amazon Prime delivered today. Supports up to 1.4Gbps throughput for the coming 1GoFiber service they will be offering in the fall.

Cheaper than renting. As to the business plan im curious why you didn't opt to go with the 300/100 plan instead? It's only $200 versus the $100, gives you more speed and its dedicated. On a residential plan you share your access with the neighborhood. On the business plan you do not.

Sounds good!

I believe you're talking about this Motorola MoCA adapter?

One review suggested the Actiontek brand instead, due to some issues with the Motorola. There's about a $32 difference, so I'll have to see if that's justified.

Funny that Moto just went up in price by about $20 just a couple months ago after being at the $118 price point for almost a year!

Now I just need to figure out how and when to use the MoCA filters. If it's required that I plug one on the outside of the house (where the cable box is), that's not something I can do. If it's inside the home, I can do that.

I use this:
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Modem-Gigabit-Ethernet-Ports/dp/B01N5ASNTE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536690667&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear%2Blte%2Bmodem&th=1

with this:
https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-6000450-MIMO-Antenna-Connectors/dp/B00DN3J03O/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1536690667&sr=8-4&keywords=netgear+lte+modem

It's pretty cheap, I live in Oregon, outside of Portland, we rarely have bad storms and almost never have service disruptions that aren't an ISP making a mistake, but it's nice to have just in case :)

There are many factors to consider here. The rep is correct. Comcast has built their fastest speeds, 250 and above, on DOCSIS 3.1 backbone. So, the fact you are using a DOCSIS 3.0 modem/router combo 24/8 may affect your speeds. The DOCSIS 3.1 modems include a 32/8 DOCSIS 3.0 connection which supports high speeds as well. Just because the box claims to reach those speeds, doesn't mean the ISP will allow it.

The modem the representative is trying to lease to you is the XB6 which is a DOCSIS 3.1 modem/router combo. This will be the only way Comcast will attempt to spend more than a few seconds on troubleshooting your slow speeds. If you lease the modem, then Comcast can definitely say it is something on their system or wiring and will attempt to remedy the slow speeds.

I am on the Extreme Pro 400 and I use the Arris SB8200 and get between 415 Mbps and 430 Mbps, hardwired. Also, I am using a Ubiquiti ER-4 for my routing. I linked both items I use.

https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-Approved-SB8200-Frustration/dp/B07DY16W2Z/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1KXOCPAT1SECS&keywords=docsis+3.1+modem&qid=1567040076&s=electronics&sprefix=docsis+%2Celectronics%2C166&sr=1-3

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-ER-4-EdgeRouter-4/dp/B078PGCGN2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=er-4&qid=1567040382&s=electronics&sr=1-1

​

Disclaimer: This post is my own opinion. It cannot be considered or construed as an official response from Comcast.

These bonded 2.0 adapters give close to gigabit. Ethernet is still better since it is true full duplex VS TDD(Time Division Duplex). As long as you do not mind the 3.5 ms latency introduced by Moca 2, best option after Ethernet.

I think it's this one, maybe this one, but I'll have to check when I get home. Definitely a Motorola Surfboard series docsis modem at the very least though.

Now that you mention it, I also had Rocket League issues on Comcast with that modem back in new mexico so it could very well be a modem issue. Looking up the surfboard chipset, it seems like it is likely a puma 6 chipset so that would make sense. Could be the wifi router too, idk, haven't messed with that myself.

This is the cable modem I bought and it's worked flawlessly for me:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XC6GJ0

If you do purchase your own modem I'd recommend getting one that is DOCSIS3. DOCSIS2 modems should still work but you may not get full upload/download speeds.

As for the VPN there are a few things to take into account. For example, the VPN I use allows me to use it simultaneously for 2 devices, however, 1 of those devices can be my home router so all devices in my home go through the single vpn connection and I still have that second device slot available to run my cellphone through.

Feel free to message me and I will try to offer more advice if you'd like.

Well looks like it should work, you may need to route through digital audio though software like dsdplus to decode digital audio. I'm not seeing anything about it being encrypted.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=195

If you don't have one yet I recommend this rtl-sdr. There is also a version that comes with an okay antenna for about $5 more.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0129EBDS2/

You will want two of them, one that only listens to the trunking control channel and the other to do the voice frequency.

Any Docsis 3.0 Zoom modem will be perfect. They are tiny and do their job very well.

http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-DOCSIS-Certified-Comcast-XFINITY/dp/B0063K4NN6

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013C4L6OE?psc=1

The $50 one is perfect.

Ok.. Good to know. I've found this on Amazon, but it appears it doesn't come with an Antenna, and I can't seem to find a kit that contains one at the moment. What would you recommend as a good starter antenna that can pick up a decent range?

So for cellular data, there are actual 4G modems and routers out there. This device would replace the modem that Comcast would provide, and if you used your own router and/or range extenders, you could notice little difference. Keep in mind, LTE data for home use can be a challenge depending on what plan you have and service area - I have the Verizon "Unlimited", but it does throttle after 22GB.

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-LTE-Modem-Broadband-Connection/dp/B01N5ASNTE

That is just a quick example, but if you did have a Verizon jetpack, you might be able to transfer the service to a device like that. Once the service is transferred, you, in theory, could be able to use range extenders.

The middle floor should be a good idea depending on building materials - some will block signal worse than others.

Smart home setups can be a bit tricky for whole home coverage, but I think you can get some good results with using the right hardware. I currently have a small apartment but in my previous residence me and my roommate had a 3 floor condo with multiple smart devices including a nest, google home, streaming devices etc.

Take some time, review your options, and really buckle down on some research with the exact service options and devices you may want. As much as I dislike most cable ISP's, they typically have a more reliable connection at home compared to an LTE solution and typically do not have data caps/throttling.

To note, unless you're using stuff like a laptop, smartphone etc. I'd avoid the jetpack if possible.

You can buy your own modem, if you'd like. If you'll use it for a least a year you probably break even versus the lease costs for the one they "gave" you.

The modem I have is an SB6141. I've had zero issues with it.

The SB6121 is a little cheaper and quite similar; it has a lower (but still high) speed cap.

The router I have is an Asus RT-N66U. It's 802.11N, not AC, but I've been happy with it. I don't have devices that support AC yet anyway.

this is ABSOLUTELY the best way to go. I've listed my cable modem and router below. The router is pretty heavy duty, you could absolutely get a cheaper Wireless-N Router without sacraficing much, or any, quality. Just understand that you need to router because the cable modem is JUST a modem.

• ARRIS / Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem - $55 refurb
  
• ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router - $125 refurb

If your Cable Modem is not DOCSIS 3.0, look at the following two choices:
http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS/dp/B004XC6GJ0/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404748033&sr=1-2&keywords=sb6141

http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6141-DOCSIS/dp/B00AJHDZSI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404748033&sr=1-1&keywords=sb6141

For Wireless Routers, honestly 2.4GHz N150 or N300 is all you need at this time. If you want to have use for Wireless-AC at some point, get the lowest AC wireless router. Something like this would be ok for a need of AC routing: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1404748171&sr=1-4

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com has excellent resources on wireless routers. The first thing to learn is nearly all devices are 1 steam (i.e., you'll never see 1.9 GB/s speeds). They will explain a lot about N150, N300, AC(1200,1900,etc...). I personally am using a 5+ year old Cisco N150 wireless router and am probably still not hitting max speeds it can produce due to how cellphones/roku's/etc utilize so little of the available bandwidth.

Go for it, there's no contract with that plan. If it sucks, just leave them.

I don't remember if they charge extra for a cable modem or if they moved it to free. If it's extra just buy one from Staples with a $25 coupon from eBay and price match to their cheapest competitor:

>Which competitors will Staples price match?

>Staples retail stores will price match prices at competitors’ brick-n- mortar retail stores and at Staples.com.

>Staples.com will price match select competitors’ websites as well as Staples’ retail stores. These select competitors are: Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Office Depot, Office Max, Quill, Medical Arts Press, Reliable, Sam’s Club, Wal–mart, WB Mason and Xerox. Items must be sold and shipped by one of these competitors.

Usually one of these (Amazon often) will be really cheap but with that coupon (example) it'll be less.

They might not let you use the coupon and price match because the coupon is $25 off $75, but it's $61 on amazon.

The main benefit: you have a modem that works everywhere.

I purchased Motorola SURFboard from Amazon and paired it with my Apple Time Capsule I got from eBay. It was super easy to set up and I havent had any issues with either. However, I use a Mac and an iPhone so the Time Capsule works well for me.

Do you have a DOCSIS 3.1 modem? You'll need that, something like the ARRIS SB8200. You'll notice the statement you posted said Spectrum certification specifically, well the ARRIS has passed other providers testing for certification, and will likely be approved by Spectrum in the near future. The ARRIS Surfboard line is pretty much the go-to for cable modems.

For the best modem, get this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016PE1X5K

And in combination with this router, you will get every bit of speed you pay for:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S9SGNNS

I regularlly get ~180Mbps down. Good luck! (I only pay for the 150 down plan)

I'm a fan of the ASUS AC1750 and the ASUS AC1900 for general home use. If you want more bells and whistles like mesh capability, MU-MIMO, etc. You'll be paying a bit more money, but you can take a look at Orbi, Netgear and Google for mesh capabilities if you want to go that route.

Additionally, if you want to save some money in the long run, you can buy your own modem. ISPs generally (I'm not sure about Cable America) charge you between $8-$10 a month to use lease their modem. I'm assuming it is a cable modem with a coaxial cable coming in through the back? If it is, you can pick up one of these and install it. It pays itself off generally in 8 months.

These are much higher quality than what the ISP provides and all you have to do is shoot your provider a call and let them know you are setting up a new modem and would like to return theirs. All they need is the MAC address on the box!

i'd get the sb6183 not the sb6141=which is speed limited on twc.
https://twc-compatible-modems.com/
if you want something newer but still cheap, try the new zooms;
https://www.amazon.com//dp/B01A1E6BA2
video games are latency sensitive, so the more channels bound
the better. always buy a separate router, a suggestion like;
https://www.amazon.com//dp/B00KATWRIY
is more than adequate for a couple at home.

Saying DOCSIS 3.0 supports 1Gbps will probably end up being misleading to most people. Practically, it depends largely on other issues; primary among them the number bonded upstream and downstream channels.

DOCSIS 3 modems which support more than 8x4 (down/up) are only just now being released.

If you have something like:

http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-DOCSIS-Cable-Modem-5341J/dp/B0063K4NN6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418777025&sr=8-1&keywords=zoom+docsis+3.0

you'll be fine on the extreme tier here (quoted 150Mbps/20Mbps)

However, if we are lucky enough to get a ~300Mbps tier, you'll only be good-ish. I say good-ish, because at that point you'll want a 16x4:

http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6183-DOCSIS/dp/B00MA5U1FW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418777243&sr=8-1&keywords=SB6183

Getting the modem with the phone line in it definitely increases the cost and lowers your selection. I'd suggest taking a look at Comcast's list of approved devices. Which ones you can use also depend on your internet speed. Most will require DOCSIS 3.0 and the telephony standards and are a bit more expensive. Learn more here

https://customer.xfinity.com/help-and-support/internet/list-of-approved-cable-modems/

In the end the $200 Xfinity branded one at Best Buy may not be a bad deal.
This one on Amazon would probably work, but check the approved list first. https://www.amazon.com/Arris-Touchstone-TM822G-Ultra-High-Telephony/dp/B00721TUNS

One good and easy step you can take is to pick up one of these modems Amazon Link you will save $5 every month for no modem rental charges through Brighthouse and you will notice that your internet speed is much more consistent. I switched about 6 months ago and it has made a huge difference, like youtube videos will actually stream and not buffer over a 20MB/s connection. Reset counts on the Motorola modem: 0.

Google Video Quality Report basically verifies what you are experiencing in terms of speed fluctuations.

We've had a Nighthawk (one with 4 antenna, not 3) for a couple years and its been great. Covered a large house much bettee than our old one. This is just the router, which broadcasts the wifi, you still need a modem which I guess acts as a translator between the router and the provider's service.


Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781VN7W5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_mHIlDbDWCBADY


Can't say I know much about it, but I've heard that "Docsis 3.1" distinction is important. Maybe someone else knows more.


If you've been renting from Comcast you likely have a Modem/Router combo thats costing you around $100/year to rent, so still I'd recommend you switch!

I'm embarrassed to think about how long I put it off when we moved to Richmond. When I did the math on how much I spent in those years, I feel like an idiot. I'm good with tech so making sure I found a good one that would be the right specs wasn't even hard.

I got a combo of a very basic, small modem that fit the right DOCSIS version and an router that got good reviews for really good wifi coverage. No issues with either until recently, router got wonky and had to update firmware. It's totally worth it. If you want to have to do no work, here's what I have:

Router: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AC1750-Smart-WiFi-Router/dp/B079JD7F7G/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=archer+ac1750&qid=1570811359&sr=8-3

Modem: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CH8ZNJ0/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The modem doesn't have as high a download speed as some but it's still capable of more than twice my plan's speed.

Here are the suggestions:

Motorola SB5101u if you just want to keep service and essentially tread water. This modem is old, but still supported. It won't take advantage of the newer DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 technologies, but neither will your Comcast service.

Motorola SB6121 or SB6141 will allow you to keep service, be supported for a longer time than the older SB5101, and take advantage of DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 technologies

I use this netgear modem and this netgear router with 60mbps internet from Comcast. It is a bit pricey for the pair, but it is future proof in that it is docsis 3.1 so it is capable of gigabit. This pair has been great for me, and even though I only pay for 60 mbps, I never have issues with sputtering or buffering when streaming and never have issues on xbox live.
I would assume this netgear docsis 3.0 modem would also be reliable as well, and it is much cheaper. I've read on here about a defect in some docsis 3.0 modems that could cause latency spikes which could affect gaming so I would look into that if I were you and come to your own conclusion on that.

I'll suggest that you get them separate, mainly for two big reasons in my head:

1. As /u/wft_gamer pointed out below somewhere around here, combo units typically aren't as reliable (in my experience as well) and will lack features.
   
2. Separation allows you to only replace one of two devices, instead of one whole device in case. You'll want a reliable modem and a separate router also because you can replace just the router if you are so inclined to, such as when you're looking for some shiny new features, like 802.11ac or Gigabit Ethernet.
   
   I suggest getting the SB6121, which supports DOCSIS 3.0, something important that you'll need to keep in mind when purchasing modems so that you'll get the most bandwidth out of your connection. Then pick out a router that you like.
   
   If you are set on picking out a combined router/modem combo (again, not advised), here are key words you'll want to find (they're usually promoted somewhere on the box in big letters):
   
   

• DOCSIS (that's the cable modem standard)
  
• Wireless-N (That's a home router feature)
  
• 4-port (Router)
  
• Router/Modem (Okay, this one is sorta obvious.)
  

Forget the MiFi. Get one of these, pop the SIM card out of the MiFi and put it in that thing. Hook it up to your router. Not only will that not fail so often but it's easy to reboot with a power cycle.

Then get something like this and have it ping google.com. Set it up so if no pings work for 5 minutes straight (IE, more than it takes your router and the Netgear modem to boot up) it'll reboot the modem and router. You can also set it to auto reboot every night at midnight or something.

78754 here. Was renting TWC's DOCSIS 2.0 surfboard modem to use with our own router, getting ~15/1.5. Last week we took them up on their free modemswap service to upgrade to a 3.0. Didn't realize they'd send us a modem/router combo (Arris), but we entertained it for a few hours. It was garbage. Purchased our own SB6121, now we're getting ~50/5. Highly recommend purchasing your own equipment.
edit: formatting

Does the speed drop during certain parts of the day? For instance, the speed is fine in the morning, but in the evening it's extremely slow. This would most likely be because you're sharing a node with everyone in the apartment.

Next question is, do you have a Docsis 3.0 modem? Unless you also utilize a Concast phone system, I highly recommend you purchase your own modem and notify them of it. Then send back the one you're renting for $7 bucks a month.

I just went through the same situation (except I don’t need 150). BUY YOUR MODEM AND ROUTER. I’ve rented the modem/router combo from multiple ISPs over the years and they suck (poor range, internet cuts out randomly, needs constant restarts, etc). Plus it’s $132/year that you’ll never see again.

I bought a like-new router and modem from amazon, optimized the channel settings and my setup kicks 5Ghz signal to the furthest reaches of my apartment, something my previous rented modem/router combos could never do consistently.

Edit: my Setup. I saved some money by not buying brand new. The only component you really need to double check is the modem. Make sure Comcast accepts it.
Modem:
ARRIS SURFboard 16x4 SB6183 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem- Retail Package- Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ITIXYR0?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Router:
NETGEAR R6700 Nighthawk AC1750 Dual Band Smart WiFi Router, Gigabit Ethernet (R6700) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R2AZLD2?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

MoCA works great if you have coax in the right places (and it isn't carrying satellite—ordinary cable is OK). We use these and it makes a great link between floors.

Don't rent. Buy one. It'll easily pay for itself over a few months. There are different cables modems as well, the more common ones are 8x4 (8 downstream and 4 upstream). The newer ones are 16x4, which work with TWC's 200+ Mbps speeds. There are even crazier modems that just recently came out that can do 24x8, which supports nearly 1 Gbps.