[SOLVED] Modem and Router seperate, or two-in-one?

[MHMabrito]

I'm having trouble finding out the proper answers between this question.

Looking specifically at these two together:

8-Stream AX6600 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Router - RAX70 | NETGEAR

Discover the RAX70 8-Stream, Tri-Band AX6600 WiFi 6 Router with WiFi speeds up to 6.6Gbps. Includes NETGEAR Armor™ Advanced cyber threat protection, MU-MIMO and USB 3.0 Port. Buy now.

www.netgear.com

Nighthawk CM2000 - DOCSIS 3.1 Multi-Gig 2.5Gbps Cable Modem | NETGEAR

Discover the Nighthawk® CM2000 2.5Gbps Internet Speed Cable Modem leveraging next-generation DOCSIS® 3.1 technology to deliver the fastest speed. Buy now!

www.netgear.com

Or just this alone:

Nighthawk CAX80 – DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem Router with WiFi 6 | NETGEAR

The Nighthawk AX8 WiFi 6 Cable Modem Router pairs DOCSIS 3.1 with WiFi 6 to give you the performance that today's smart homes demand. Buy now!

www.netgear.com

Is the Router + Modem setup that much better than a two-in-one to justify the price?

 

[kanewolf]

I'm having trouble finding out the proper answers between this question.

Looking specifically at these two together:

8-Stream AX6600 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Router - RAX70 | NETGEAR

Discover the RAX70 8-Stream, Tri-Band AX6600 WiFi 6 Router with WiFi speeds up to 6.6Gbps. Includes NETGEAR Armor™ Advanced cyber threat protection, MU-MIMO and USB 3.0 Port. Buy now.

www.netgear.com

Nighthawk CM2000 - DOCSIS 3.1 Multi-Gig 2.5Gbps Cable Modem | NETGEAR

Discover the Nighthawk® CM2000 2.5Gbps Internet Speed Cable Modem leveraging next-generation DOCSIS® 3.1 technology to deliver the fastest speed. Buy now!

www.netgear.com

Or just this alone:

Nighthawk CAX80 – DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem Router with WiFi 6 | NETGEAR

The Nighthawk AX8 WiFi 6 Cable Modem Router pairs DOCSIS 3.1 with WiFi 6 to give you the performance that today's smart homes demand. Buy now!

www.netgear.com

Is the Router + Modem setup that much better than a two-in-one to justify the price?

ALWAYS separate, IMO. Modems are more tied to ISPs. Routers are independent. Routers get new features, modems don't. Routers get replaced more frequently (to get the new features) than do modems.

 

[gggplaya]

I prefer separate, wifi standards change at a different schedule than internet standards change. When you buy separately, you can spend less money to upgrade just the components you need.

 

[kanewolf]

I'm having trouble finding out the proper answers between this question.

Looking specifically at these two together:

8-Stream AX6600 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Router - RAX70 | NETGEAR

Discover the RAX70 8-Stream, Tri-Band AX6600 WiFi 6 Router with WiFi speeds up to 6.6Gbps. Includes NETGEAR Armor™ Advanced cyber threat protection, MU-MIMO and USB 3.0 Port. Buy now.

www.netgear.com

Nighthawk CM2000 - DOCSIS 3.1 Multi-Gig 2.5Gbps Cable Modem | NETGEAR

Discover the Nighthawk® CM2000 2.5Gbps Internet Speed Cable Modem leveraging next-generation DOCSIS® 3.1 technology to deliver the fastest speed. Buy now!

www.netgear.com

Or just this alone:

Nighthawk CAX80 – DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem Router with WiFi 6 | NETGEAR

The Nighthawk AX8 WiFi 6 Cable Modem Router pairs DOCSIS 3.1 with WiFi 6 to give you the performance that today's smart homes demand. Buy now!

www.netgear.com

Is the Router + Modem setup that much better than a two-in-one to justify the price?

I wouldn't spend mega $$$ for the router right now. WIFI 6E (6 Ghz band) is just starting to appear. It is the router hardware that will provide many more benefits than regular WIFI6. If you have an AC router right now, a WIFI6 router is not a significant improvement. I would stick with a basic AC1900 router right now and let the 6E hardware mature, then get a 6E router.

 

[gggplaya]

Just buy a Docsis 3.1 modem with a 2.5gbe port and you should be set for quite a few years.

In terms of routers, I'm sure there'll be quite a few changes by the time you have to buy a new modem. Probably like Wifi 7 or Wifi 8 when it's time to retire your modem.

 

[MHMabrito]

I wouldn't spend mega $$$ for the router right now. WIFI 6E (6 Ghz band) is just starting to appear. It is the router hardware that will provide many more benefits than regular WIFI6. If you have an AC router right now, a WIFI6 router is not a significant improvement. I would stick with a basic AC1900 router right now and let the 6E hardware mature, then get a 6E router.

I wanted to spend mega $ because we have like 20-25 things on wifi. Can the AC1900 handle that?

 

[kanewolf]

I wanted to spend mega $ because we have like 20-25 things on wifi. Can the AC1900 handle that?

It would depend on what those 25 devices are doing. A dozen IOT smart bulbs, sure. Trying to stream 4K video to a half dozen TVs, NO. But probably neither will the mega $$$$ router.
The best thing to improve WIFI is to have multiple WIFI sources geographically distributed in your house with a wired connection tying all together.

 

[gggplaya]

I wanted to spend mega $ because we have like 20-25 things on wifi. Can the AC1900 handle that?

WIFI 6 is designed to handle congestion better than AC, thanks to OFDMA. But as long as it's not a large number of users trying to move lots of data at the same time you'll be fine with AC. If you have a small office or a bunch of people working from home, then WIFI 6 would be better.

 

[MHMabrito]

WIFI 6 is designed to handle congestion better than AC, thanks to OFDMA. But as long as it's not a large number of users trying to move lots of data at the same time you'll be fine with AC. If you have a small office or a bunch of people working from home, then WIFI 6 would be better.

Thanks, my wife and I both work from home - me 3 times a week, her permanently. Along with all of our smart home devices running. Seems like we may need wifi 6.

 

[bill001g]

Are your 20-25 things all wifi6. If not then there is not a lot of advantage because it will drop back and run wifi5..ie 802.11ac. The advantages are hard to see in real world installs even when you have all wifi6 devices.....I suspect that is because most devices do not support wifi6 and mixed testing with different devices gives strange results.

Even when you have wifi6 devices a lot of them do not support the highest encoding. Most phones for example only support 80mhz channels and most are 2x2 mimo. Then again extremely high speed wifi on a phone is kinda silly they just do not have enough storage to really need high speed downloads.

I am waiting until wifi6e is well supported before I change anything. By then all the software stuff will be sorted out since wifi6 and wifi6e use all the same encoding it is only the extra radio band with wifi6e. The extra radio band I suspect will be more important than anything else. Right now the problem is everyone stomping on each other.

 

[kanewolf]

WIFI 6 is designed to handle congestion better than AC, thanks to OFDMA. But as long as it's not a large number of users trying to move lots of data at the same time you'll be fine with AC. If you have a small office or a bunch of people working from home, then WIFI 6 would be better.

This is only applicable to WIFI6 clients, from the research I have done. If those 20 or 25 clients aren't WIFI6 devices, then you don't get this benefit.

 

[gggplaya]

Thanks, my wife and I both work from home - me 3 times a week, her permanently. Along with all of our smart home devices running. Seems like we may need wifi 6.

Are you doing both doing Xoom/Teams type meetings at the same time? What's your upload bandwidth on your internet plan? I would buy a router with a good QOS software to ensure you have good bandwidth more than worrying about which wifi system is best. For 2 people, and a bunch of IOT devices, AC router is fine.

 

[MHMabrito]

Are you doing both doing Xoom/Teams type meetings at the same time? What's your upload bandwidth on your internet plan? I would buy a router with a good QOS software to ensure you have good bandwidth more than worrying about which wifi system is best. For 2 people, and a bunch of IOT devices, AC router is fine.

We're on a verizon 2 gigbyte plan, 0and not all the time on meetings, but I would say occasionally. I think for now I'll just get the CM2000 Modem, and then the AC router.

 

[Bob.B]

We're on a verizon 2 gigbyte plan, 0and not all the time on meetings, but I would say occasionally. I think for now I'll just get the CM2000 Modem, and then the AC router.

Not an area I've fussed with but you might want to check with verizon to see what's on their approved/supported list.

 

[MHMabrito]

Not an area I've fussed with but you might want to check with verizon to see what's on their approved/supported list.

I know everything I listed was on their approved list.