Transitioning from ISP's modem/router to my own

[mmb3030]

I'm a fairly new customer to Wide Open West (WOW) cable internet, and have been experiencing poor performance and signal dropping from the Arris DG860 wireless modem/router WOW supplied.

The contracted repair tech frankly told me that I'd probably always experience these issues unless I switched to my own separate modem and router. I have moderate experience dealing with computer issues, but I have no idea where to start with wireless networking equipment.

We are on WOW's 15mbps/1mbps service. My wife and I are not gamers, but we do sometimes (often unsuccessfully) use HD streaming on Amazon Prime or through DirecTV. My wife does a lot of work from home on a VPN, so a reliable connection is pretty important. She's mostly just moving files back and forth when she's on there, not major downloading or uploading.

So where do I start with a cable modem and router? I want quality equipment, but I don't want to overspend on equipment that we'll never fully utilize. WOW told me that any cable modem with DOCSIS 3.0 should cover me for some time. Any suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[oct]

To bypass your isp router, all you half to do is buy a 3rd party router in most cases. All router come with instructions and will work with factory config.

In my opinion, the first concern should be:

1.Dose your isp router/modem need to be put in bridge mode? ( I would advise you to contact your isp and get instructions on doing this step. In most case they can do this remotely.)

2. How big of a foot print do you need? (Most router will easily cover 20-30 feet, depending on number of walls and type of material. )

3. What wifi band 2.4 or 5mhz? Or dual band router? ( if you live in an area with a lot of wifi traffic replacing your router might not help your problem.)

4. How many device do you plan on being wireless? ( the more devices that are on a wifi band the slower it will be. In my opinion, installing ethernet cables is always better. Other technology that should be considered are powerline adapter or wifi extenders if the device are more then 30 feet away from router. )

5. Security, I do NOT encourage people to use routers factory settings. Due to the fact that your wife is using this router for work I would advise you to make sure her computer is wap2 compatible.

6. What type of wifi cards are devices useing? G/N/AC? ( all AC router are backwards compatible with older models but to take advantage of the higher data rate both ends of the wireless connections have to be AC.)

In conclusion, without knowing the layout of your home or the type of devices your networking. I would consider buying ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router (if your going for a AC network) or NETGEAR N750 Dual Band Wi-Fi Gigabit Router WNDR3400 (good cheap router).

 

[mmb3030]

I really appreciate your reply. Based upon the info below, do your recommendations change at all?

1. Are you referring to putting the modem/router in bridge mode after I've added a 3rd party router?. Aside from improving performance, I'd also like to stop paying WOW $7/mo for the modem/router, so I was hoping to swap it out entirely for my own.

2. Footprint doesn't need to be too large. 90% of our computing happens within a 30ft radius of the router location. The signal gets weak upstairs on the opposite side of the house, but I'd probably consider a signal repeater or something if it really became an issue.

3. I've mostly been considering dual band routers. WiFi traffic isn't particularly busy in our small, spread-out neighborhood, though.

4. Our total wireless devices are two laptops, two iPhones, one iPad, the DirecTV video bridge, and a smart TV. No more than one or two are ever in use at any one time.

5. My wife's computer is wap2 compatible, so I'm sure I'd have to figure out how to take advantage of that later.

6. It doesn't appear that any of our current devices are compatible with AC (mostly a/b/g/n).

 

[oct]

I really appreciate your reply. Based upon the info below, do your recommendations change at all?

1. Are you referring to putting the modem/router in bridge mode after I've added a 3rd party router?. Aside from improving performance, I'd also like to stop paying WOW $7/mo for the modem/router, so I was hoping to swap it out entirely for my own.

2. Footprint doesn't need to be too large. 90% of our computing happens within a 30ft radius of the router location. The signal gets weak upstairs on the opposite side of the house, but I'd probably consider a signal repeater or something if it really became an issue.

3. I've mostly been considering dual band routers. WiFi traffic isn't particularly busy in our small, spread-out neighborhood, though.

4. Our total wireless devices are two laptops, two iPhones, one iPad, the DirecTV video bridge, and a smart TV. No more than one or two are ever in use at any one time.

5. My wife's computer is wap2 compatible, so I'm sure I'd have to figure out how to take advantage of that later.

6. It doesn't appear that any of our current devices are compatible with AC (mostly a/b/g/n).

1. Yes, buy any router and plug ethernet cable into any port on isp modem and plug other end into 3rd party router. The correct port on 3rd party router should be labeled "internet" or be a different color then all the other ports. The reason I would encourage you to put isp modem into bridge mode is because problems can happen with multiple dhcp services handing out ip's. By putting your isp modem into bridge mode it disables dhcp in the isp modem.

2. In my opinion, it is better to have a modem with no wifi capability, and purchase a 3rd party router. The firmware in combo modems (your current isp modem is a combo modem) in my opinion lacks many key futures that budget router provide and are much easier to configure. Also if you ever have a problem with your hsd connection all you have to do is unplug your router and connect a computer directly to modem to test were the problem might be occurring. Your isp will have an approved list of cpe. It dose not matter the modle or brand, just get a modem with docis 3 compatible modem from the list of approved cpe from your isp.

3. Tech support, the $7 dollars you pay extra a month is tech support and cpe rental fee. If your area is prone to thunderstorms you might not be able to get the savings. Modems are easily damaged by thunderstorms, if you purchase your own modem you will be responsible to replace the equipment.

In conclusion, I would advice you to take your current modem and swap it out at your isp. There should be no charge if you take it up to the office yourself.

After a different modem, monitor your hsd and see if the problem continues.

If problem's occur, I would start trouble shoot the quality of your cable signal. All modems log the quality of the cable signal. To access the log you might need a password/login from you isp. Type 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.100.1 in a Web browser.

The log will look like this: http://forums.cox.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/5/8203.signal.png

Or

The log will look like this. Click the hsd tab at top of page: http://setuprouter.com/router/arris/dg860a/login.htm