Trying to get rid of that pesky $10/month Comcast fee

[Nailezs]

Hey guys, title says it all.

I know that I need a cable modem and a router. Router needs to have 4 1Gb rj45 ports and excellent wireless - I live in an apartment building with close to 24 other wireless networks in range. I've been out of the equipment game for awhile and I haven't done much reading-up on hardware in years, so I'm really out of touch on the newest stuff.

If possible I'd like to keep the total cost for modem and router under $240 (that way it pays itself off in 2 years!), but if the gear has excellent staying power I would be willing to go up to $300.

If there is anymore info you need let me know!

PS: If there is a similar recent thread feel free to slap me in the back of the head and post a link!

 

[kn00tcn]

router doesnt have to be gigabit, can use a cheap gigabit switch for transferring between clients (in case there is a good wireless router with only megabit, it should still be a consideration)

i suppose a ~$90 modem leaves plenty of room for an expensive router, do you care about DD-WRT or tomato?

 

[kerlin219]

I have comcast and have been using a Motorola sb6121 for well over a year no issues , it's about 65 dollars as for router can't help you there mine socks for wireless but all my stuff tvs pcs and set top boxes are all hardwired.

 

[Nailezs]

router doesnt have to be gigabit, can use a cheap gigabit switch for transferring between clients (in case there is a good wireless router with only megabit, it should still be a consideration)

i suppose a ~$90 modem leaves plenty of room for an expensive router, do you care about DD-WRT or tomato?

I recall that tomato is a custom firmware for a router, is DD-WRT the same?

The software in the router matters little to me as long as I can set up wifi, security, etc. and the software has no major issues. The router just needs to do what a router does.

What do you mean by using a gigabit switch for transferrin between clients?

 

[erocker]

SB6141 + Asus RT-N56U

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320062
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825390001

I've been using these for a while and they're great. The SB6141 is just a pure cable modem, supports DOCIS 3.0. I have no complaints with the N56U, all the options are there and the wifi range is very good. 180 bucks give or take.

 

[newtekie1]

Do you use wireless a lot or is everything important wired?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825188005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320177

 

[kn00tcn]

oh right, make sure it's a docsis 3.0 modem with multiple channels

what speed are you paying for & what do you expect to have? if you ever end up at crazy fast speeds (like 250mbit), i dont think the earlier docsis3 modems will be able to handle that unless they have lots of channels

what i was saying about transferring is that i keep seeing decent routers that have all the useful features & hardware.... except they use 100mbit ethernet ports for some reason (consider the fact that the ps3 launched in 2006 has a gigabit port), so such a router might be great for wireless + lots of clients + lots of connections like torrents, but ends up being slow to transfer large files across wired computers, so in this case you could simply get a <$20 gigabit switch (this also lets you have more than 4 wired clients)

 

[Cybrnook2002]

You live relatively close to me (I am in MI), I have a couple wireless AC/Gigabit routers, known very well for the wireless performance, as well as two Motorola Surfboard docsis 3.0 gigabit modems at my house not in use.

The first router I have is the Netgear R7000 - BNIB - rated as one of the best mid/upper tier routers on the market
Second router is the TP-Link Archer C7 ver2 - BNIB - rated as one of the best routers for the $100 and below bracket.

PM me in you want to bundle something together.

 

[Nailezs]

Do you use wireless a lot or is everything important wired?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825188005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320177

My desktop is wired, but that is it. Everything else is wireless, and my roommate uses it a lot as well. Wireless is important because that is where the potential for the most network bandwidth lies (lays? idk), especially between my laptop and desktop.

oh right, make sure it's a docsis 3.0 modem with multiple channels

what speed are you paying for & what do you expect to have? if you ever end up at crazy fast speeds (like 250mbit), i dont think the earlier docsis3 modems will be able to handle that unless they have lots of channels

what i was saying about transferring is that i keep seeing decent routers that have all the useful features & hardware.... except they use 100mbit ethernet ports for some reason (consider the fact that the ps3 launched in 2006 has a gigabit port), so such a router might be great for wireless + lots of clients + lots of connections like torrents, but ends up being slow to transfer large files across wired computers, so in this case you could simply get a <$20 gigabit switch (this also lets you have more than 4 wired clients)

Paying for 105/20, and i usually get at least that much bandwidth. At work i get ~800/800 hehehehehe.
Ah, I understand your switch point now.

You live relatively close to me (I am in MI), I have a couple wireless AC/Gigabit routers, known very well for the wireless performance, as well as two Motorola Surfboard docsis 3.0 gigabit modems at my house not in use.

The first router I have is the Netgear R7000 - BNIB - rated as one of the best mid/upper tier routers on the market
Second router is the TP-Link Archer C7 ver2 - BNIB - rated as one of the best routers for the $100 and below bracket.

PM me in you want to bundle something together.

I'll keep you in mind, thanks! That netgear looks phenomenal! Anyone have any opinions of it?

SB6141 + Asus RT-N56U

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320062
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825390001

I've been using these for a while and they're great. The SB6141 is just a pure cable modem, supports DOCIS 3.0. I have no complaints with the N56U, all the options are there and the wifi range is very good. 180 bucks give or take.

erocker what do you think of the dual-thread modem that is able to go up to 600Mb up?

 

[twilyth]

If you need more than 4 ports, that can be hard to find in a wired+wireless router. Most of my stuff is hardwired so I didn't need the wireless transmitter for much. Instead I got an 8 port wired router and just added a couple of wireless gateways. Both the router and gateways were dirt cheap and work well.

 

[newtekie1]

If you need more than 4 wired ports you're better off getting a 4 port router and an additional switch.

 

[AsRock]

The SB6121 will do the job perfectly, the 1st time you use it comcast will update it and you might have to phone them, I did not have to phone them when i swapped it out with there slow ass one but last time i spoke with one of the comcast people he said i should of had to but.

Used it for years now without a single issue
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825122015&cm_re=sb6121-_-25-122-015-_-Product

As erocker said the SB6141 is a worthy option too.

 

[twilyth]

If you need more than 4 wired ports you're better off getting a 4 port router and an additional switch.

I already had 2 switches. I'd hardwire everything if I could but unfortunately there are a few things like my phone that only connect via wireless.

 

[Nailezs]

Thanks guys (literally, i hit the Thanks button for you all). I decided on a Motorola SB6121 and Netgear R7000 from Cybrnook2002, he's a great guy!

 

[Aquinus]

The SB6121 will do the job perfectly, the 1st time you use it comcast will update it and you might have to phone them, I did not have to phone them when i swapped it out with there slow ass one but last time i spoke with one of the comcast people he said i should of had to but.

Used it for years now without a single issue
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825122015&cm_re=sb6121-_-25-122-015-_-Product

As erocker said the SB6141 is a worthy option too.

The SB6141 supports more downstream channels. The 6121 supports 4/4 DOCSIS 3.0 streams (downstream/upstream,) whereas the 6141 supports 8/4. So the 6141 theoretically can deliver twice as much bandwidth as the 6121, however that may not matter for most people, just something worth noting.

 

[AsRock]

The SB6141 supports more downstream channels. The 6121 supports 4/4 DOCSIS 3.0 streams (downstream/upstream,) whereas the 6141 supports 8/4. So the 6141 theoretically can deliver twice as much bandwidth as the 6121, however that may not matter for most people, just something worth noting.

Yes i know, i have had the SB6121 some years now and it's never failed me so was speaking more from experience of having the unit. The units do get hot and makes me wounder if the 6141 could actually handle such load over time in a none air conditioned room.

But yes as the price is only like $20 odd dollars different it's worth the consideration as other wise their should be no difference which is why i noted at the end what erocker suggested.

I download though that unit 11.3MB so it can do whats needed for today's connection.

 

[Aquinus]

Yes i know, i have had the SB6121 some years now and it's never failed me so was speaking more from experience of having the unit. The units do get hot and makes me wounder if the 6141 could actually handle such load over time in a none air conditioned room.

But yes as the price is only like $20 odd dollars different it's worth the consideration as other wise their should be no difference which is why i noted at the end what erocker suggested.

I download though that unit 11.3MB so it can do whats needed for today's connection.

Touche, but DOCSIS with 4 bonded downstream channels has an upper limit of about 150MBit iirc, so it's not like you have much overhead to go faster where 8 bonded channels can theoretically do up to ~300MBit. Just food for thought, but as you said, it probably doesn't matter.

 

[Nailezs]

Yeah i considered the differences between the SB6121 and the SB6141 but in the end practicality won out. I read that DOCSIS 3.1 modems will start to come out sometime next year, so it didn't make much sense to pay for a modem that had triple the capability of my capability to use it, with the next gen of modems so close. I highly doubt Comcast is going to up their speeds by 3x within the next two years, and even if they do, I don't need more than what I have now.
If/When I do need a DOCSIS 3.1, I'll buy one then, and use the hell out of the one I'm getting.

 

[AsRock]

Touche, but DOCSIS with 4 bonded downstream channels has an upper limit of about 150MBit iirc, so it's not like you have much overhead to go faster where 8 bonded channels can theoretically do up to ~300MBit. Just food for thought, but as you said, it probably doesn't matter.

Was not trying to sound touchy, well some time before comcast will offer any thing reasonably priced at those speeds. Downloading a game @ 90Mb\s should be good for most people it's the upload speed is were you get hit.