Thinking about upgrading my home network to something a little more robust...

Time Warner Cable recently tacked on a $4 rental fee per month for the crappy RCA modem they provided, so I ordered a Motorola SB6121 SURFboard modem to replace it which should pay for itself in a little over a year. I wanted to take this chance to upgrade some old network gear in the house since we've recently seen an increase in internet usage. There are currently 3 laptops, 3 desktops, 2 tablets, and 4 smartphones sharing my internet daily. At least 3 of those devices are constantly streaming from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc. I feel like the aging setup I currently have (TWC-provided RCA modem + Linksys WRT160N V2 router + assorted wireless adapters) just isn't cutting it (I could be, and probably am wrong so let me know if I am). I should point out that my internet connection is 10/1, but I often get over 20Mbps download speeds. It's not enough to saturate my current setup, but things feel sluggish when under heavy load, which is often.

Since I have the SB6121 modem coming in soon, I wanted to upgrade the router to the Linksys EA3500 and whatever adapters I can to Linksys AE3000's. This way, the two wireless desktops, which also see the heaviest traffic, can operate on the 5GHz spectrum.

Would the proposed setup be a noticeable improvement over my current configuration? I know that my internet bandwidth is limited by my provider, so I'm hesitant to spend another $120 on top of the $80 I spent on the modem if there's nothing to be gained.

 

As long as your wireless cards are "N" rated then you would be able to take advantage of those routers and I'm sure you'd see smoother use when everyone's connected. I'm using a D-Link DIR 655 D-Link Xtreme Gigabit Router (DIR-655) Wireless N3... and it runs 4 wired devices & 4 laptops & 1 tablet & 2 I Phones without any problems. My son can easily game while I'm watching Netflix on my laptop with my daughter on her I Phone & her laptop at the same time, & finally the wife on the tablet and it all runs smooth as silk..

 

+1 to that

the routers ISP's provide are almost never of the best quality, you should notice a difference when youy get your new one, and just make sure your wireless router/card is "N" rated as said above