Getting Spectrum was going to buy own modem and router

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TylerUC

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Jun 18, 2013
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I am going to be getting Spectrum internet service. They are advertising that I can get a modem for free but need to pay $5 a month to have WIFI enabled so I was thinking of buying my own equipment to try and get a better quality modem and router and avoid the wifi charge.

I have been doing some reading and a preliminary decision on a modem is the TP LINK 7620. Do any of you have any comments or advice regarding this modem?

As far are a router goes, I have looked at them a bit but have not decided on one. Any suggestions in particular or things I should look out for? I was thinking maybe the TP-Link AC1200 (Archer C1200) or Net Gear R6100-100PAS.

 
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You should definitely get a separate modem and separate...
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As long as the modem is on the list of acceptable devices in your area it will work. It also depends on the speed of the connection you are getting, some of the spectrum connections use 24 bonded channels so you would need a better modem since that one only does 16. I think it only matters if you are getting the 300mbps connection but spectrum is a combination of a number of older cable companies so again it depends what they offer where you live.


The routers you have listed are both solid basic routers and are good choices for people that do not have end equipment that can use the more advanced features
 
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You should definitely get a separate modem and separate wifi router. Spectrum is going to start upgrading markets outside Hawaii for gigabit Internet in 2018, and a 16x4 modem won't cut it if you want to get higher bandwidth when it reaches you. Also, the 802.11ax standard may be on new routers next year or in 2019, and that will be better for throughput than 802.11ac (not nearly as good as 802.11ad at 60 GHz, which you can find in some routers today, but 802.11ax at 5 GHz would have much better propagation characteristics over air than 802.11ad). Keeping them separate lets you upgrade incrementally (I usually sell old stuff on eBay when upgrading).

The C1200 and R6100 are mediocre in the RAM department (just 128 MB), and the R6100's transmit power is only 390 milliwatts and its CPU clock speed is anemic at 560 MHz. Plus, both of those are just 2x2 MIMO, so throughput will be lower (all other things being equal) than a 3x3 or 4x4 MIMO router (see mcsindex.com).

If you want to stay in the $60-$90 range new or refurbished or used, you can check out the D-Link DIR-880L and TP-LINK Archer C2600. The DIR-880L has a 800 MHz CPU and 256 MB of RAM, the C2600 has a 1.4 GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM. Both have transmit power above 970 mW on both 2.4 and 5 GHz. And you can upgrade the antennas for higher gain if you need some extra coverage. The DIR-880L is 3x3 MIMO and the C2600 is 4x34 MIMO, so that's 50% and 100% more throughput in Mbps respectively than the C1200 and R6100, for about the same amount of money.
 
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The TC-W7960's wifi is only 802.11n at 2x2 MIMO, so at best I'm guessing you can pull down only 120 Mbps from your Internet plan (using the 40% Phy to throughput average). And it's an 8x4 modem, so Spectrum recommends it only for its 100 Mbps plan and not higher (which would require a higher bonding profile). Spectrum in my area used to offer a 300 Mbps plan and 8x4 can't be provisioned for that, much less for the gigabit plans that are coming in 2018.
 
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Yes.

But it was $60 to max out my current plan ATM vs spending a few hundred $ to do things the right way (separate modem, router, WiFi) for a future upgrade that may never come and I don't know what it will be.
 
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Thanks for all the input. I checked out the archer C2600 and it looks good. A little more expensive but more future proof with better performance.

Now I have another question. How does the modem I selected fair? Is it worth getting a different modem or sticking with what spectrum sends me and using my own router?

I will be getting the 60Mbps package. The other other available is 300 and I don't want to pay that much at this time.
 
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Since Spectrum offers their modem for free, the only reason you might want to pay for your own is if Spectrum's is somehow more error prone. I bought a Zoom modem with Time Warner Cable before the Spectrum transition, and it was nice to not have to worry about DHCP, there were few reboots due to uncorrectables or high SNR, etc. All the 60 Mbps plan needs is an 8x4 modem. You can try out Spectrum's free modem and see how it goes first.
 
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Thanks, that is what I decided to do, just ordered the service. Need to pick up in a few days.

I am researching the C2600 and see some not so good reviews on Amazon for it.
 
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A large part of the problem with consumer reviews is people have unrealistic expectations....then again manufacture try to make them think wireless can run at those magic high numbers.

The main factor in how a router performs in the house it is placed in. It is almost impossible to say that just because it works in one house it will work in another. The second issue is the end equipment is 1/2 the problem. So you could have the best router made and a crap end device and your connection will still be crap. The largest issue with wireless end devices is the vast majority are portable running on batteries so they tend to favor longer battery live over high output power on the radio.

Future proofing is very hard to say. The cost of these routers have come down a lot and likely will continue to come down. Used to be you paid a fortune for simple 802.11ac.

You have to also evaluate how likely the feature is to be on future products. Things like mu-mimo likely will be since that is mostly firmware. Still even that will not come fast because people will be resistant to replacing a expensive cell phone just to get that feature.

The 4 antenna/feeds are much less likely to be on many devices. 4 antenna take up too much room in a small device for the extra benefit. It is also very hard to get the spacing correct for them to work. Pretty much you only see this on some hi end internal PCI-E cards that go in desktops.

Then you have feature like the 200mhz encoding on the 2.4g band. This is a non standard extension of the 802.11n protocol. They used a encoding used in 802.11ac on the 2.4g band. Although many manufactures do this and they are compatible it is not part of any official standard. Some devices....like apple products...refuse to build device that do not follow the standard exactly so you never will be able to use that feature. It only works when you are very close to anyway.

This is a hard call on future since the price has come down. Routers that claim 1200 speed (ie using 2 antenna feeds) match most current devices. The issue is a router that uses 3..ie 1450 is about the same price even if the equipment can't actually use it. I suspect another couple years and you will be able to get 4x4 mumimo routers for under $100.
 
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One bad thing about TP-Link is that they have a reputation for minimal QA testing during initial firmware releases, so I notice some dismal reviews for the model circa 2013. It's hard to grok what the average semi-literate Amazon consumer identified as the problem, since they'd inevitably blame the router even if the problem is from in-band congestion caused by their neighors. But I will say that the C2600 does very well for throughput (https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32871-tp-link-archer-c2600-ac-2600-wireless-dual-band-gigabit-router-reviewed?showall=&start=4) and is one of the most affordable MU-MIMO wifi routers.
 
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Thank you all. I ended up with the C2600 and am setting up now. Seems to be great. Just have another question. When my Pc is hooked up directly to the modem I Ping-22...DL 71.43 Mbps....UPL 5.82 Mbps on speedtest.com

After hooking up the router and going on wifi I got a a Ping and DL speed of just about the same but my Upload was alot lower it was in the 1-2 Mbps range.

I was reading about enabling QoS and increasing the Mbps, so I put them from 100 to 300. My connection is bouncing between 54 Mbps and 117 Mbps. I ran speed test and ended up with Ping 72...DL 62.73...Upload 5.85.

Just wanted some input on the following because I am new to all of this.
 
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