Just wondering what Modem is best out there now?? So many to choose from! I have FIOS internet and we get roughly 85/85 upload/download speed. Our house is roughly 5300 sq ft, with 3 levels, basement, 1st floor, 2nd floor, so I need a pretty good wireless strength/connection. For the main computer I plug straight in, rather than using wireless for the computer. Thanks for suggestions.
For the best Fchat experience, I'd go with a Hayes: (didn't we all have these as kids? I did!) Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Robert. I don't have FIOS, and you didn't give any really useful information regarding your current setup, so I'm having to make some assumptions here. I hope this post is helpful. Just to clarify for you, what it sounds like you are interested in is a wireless "router". Since you have FIOS, you are pretty much locked in to using their hardware (aka a gateway) for internet access. Often times gateways provided by a service provider are an "all-in-one" device: a modem which also has wireless capabilities built in. If you are having issues getting complete coverage in your house, the reason is likely because you are using the built in wireless features of the gateway. Normally, the wireless capabilities in these devices really are sub-par and should be avoided. Here's the bad news. Roughly speaking, you have a house that is approximately 1,800 sq ft per floor. Unfortunately, unless your router is relatively central on the middle floor of the house, a consumer grade wireless router may not really do it for you. If you really need better coverage, you have a couple of options: 1) Wire ethernet through the house (or to a key location on each floor) and add a wireless access point there which is connected back to the gateway via ethernet. This would probably be the best option for getting maximum coverage, as each floor would have it's own access point. 2) Use powerline network adapters to extend "wired" ethernet to each area of the home where you need connectivity. 3) Turn off the wireless features on the FIOS gateway and Add an additional wireless router between the FIOS gateway and the rest of your network, and then hope that you have enough power to cover the house. ----- As for top end wireless routers, Asus, Netgear, and D-Link, are IMO the top manufacturers currently. What you will want to look for is 802.11AC dual band with beamforming technology, at minimum. This would the the Asus RT-68ACU class of routers as an example. Beyond that, there are now routers out from each of these manufacturers that advertise "Tri-Band", aka AC-3200, ability... however, I can't say whether or not that is a game changer or not. The third band is another 5Ghz band, which in my experience, has actually had worse range on our router than the 2.4Ghz band. So a Tri-Band router may not actually be a good option for you considering the size and setup of your house. ---- If you can give a bit more information about I'm sure someone here at FChat would be able to help some more: 1) Do you actually need coverage in every room of your home? Do you have spots now that aren't covered? 2) Where is the closet that has your fios equipment located relative to the rest of the house? 3) How many devices will need to be connected to the wireless network at any given time? Hope this is helpful, Robert
Adding to Robert's great reply... need VoIP as well? Not all modems have that capability internally. Also, if you choose a third party solution then any future tech support will be fractured (finger pointing elsewhere). Just something to consider.
OK, so I really know nothing about modems!!! 1. Yes it would be nice to have better/faster access on all levels, I just assumed a different router would do this for the house. FIOS had an ad for a new router they are pushing, supposed to give wider coverage, up to 300' from the house or some crap, they want $200 for the thing, so this is what got me wondering about replacement router. 2. Router is located on 1st floor in my office. 3. aahhhhhh!! I will try this option!! Thanks for explaining so well for me. I suck at all this technology stuff. Literally, I plug in my Mac and go, that's about the extent of my knowledge!! Thanks again!!
Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Networks UniFi AP Enterprise WiFi System UAP-3 (Pack of 3): Computers & Accessories Never look back.
if you can afford it consider the nighthawk costco has them at 180 otherwise most netgear linksys or motorola cable modems are fine
Ok... this may sound meanish but I need to fix some posts above. First, there are three components to this system Modem: This is what takes your Internet connection and "converts" it to Ethernet (the big phone jack looking thing) Router: This allows your one Internet connection to be shared with multiple devices in the home. (For you tech people, of course it does a lot more than that). Access Point: This is Wi-Fi. This is a wireless interface for Ethernet. (Again, simplified). The device you get from your ISP will do all three of the functions above. But, that limits a few things. One, your range, as you've discovered. Two, the number of Ethernet (wired) jacks. Let's dispell another myth. You don't need the latest Wi-Fi 11ac. Your Internet speed is 85Mbps. For Internet that's really good. For Wi-Fi, that is slow. 802.11n (came out about 2009) can supply WAY more than 85 Mbps. So unless you are doing a lot of intra-home transfers (gaming, local server storage etc) there is no reason to get the latest and greatest. What you need is coverage. To get that, I recommend one good AP per floor. But, ideally they are wired. Do you have any Ethernet wires in your home? Need this answered before I recommend anything further. Also, let me know your budget. If you budget isn't bare bones I wouldn't recommend any equipment that was mentioned in other posts. GT
I have to disagree with this recommendation. This is 11n only which isn't all bad, but 11ac doesn't cost much more. The real bad thing about these APs is that they are 2.4GHz only. That is VERY bad in almost any environment. And lastly, I just don't like Ubiquiti gear. GT
Kids!? That's what we shared at *college*! FWIW, I've got Comcast Xfinity for both Internet & TV (No home phone, although the box supports them.) Has 4 ethernet ports and seems like good wifi range. It also costs ~$100 a month though. Cheers, Ian
Wi-Fi range is typically much more prevalent horizontally. This is due to antenna design and common structure building techniques. I've seen a strong AP cover 5000 sq ft on one home floor but highly unlikely in a home like the OPs. GT
GTHill - so what are your personal preferences for home users in terms for strictly AP? Maybe we can break it down in <$200, and > $200 range. Thanks
For access points, I like Xclaim Wireless I'm biased because I used to work for Ruckus (the parent company) but even though I'm not there any longer, I still think its a great product. I would stick with the XI-2 or XI-3. GT
The Xi-3 (cheapest model with 802.11ac capabilities) is a $250 "business class" access point. Am I correct that this does not include any routing capabilities? Can you please explain why you would go that route instead of, say, purchasing the $170 Asus RT-ac68u (extremely well reviewed at amazon) for home use at a significant cost savings, and simply putting it into access point mode?
Thanks for the info GTHill. EnzymaticRacer - that a good question as well - because I do have an RT-N66U(similar vein) which has served me well.
apparently your ISP supplied modem is adequate as you are wired directly to it, it's not a modem that you are having issues with... there is no reason for any of the wireless routers not to function in your house... the house size is within the range of most routers available... if there is signal loss between the router and device any where in your house, there is something that is blocking ( absorbing ) the signal ( Faraday shield ) if cell phones work any where above ground then it's not the house... investigate the antennas on router ( placement near metal shelving etc ) and devices and why signal is being blocked. I use a std Cisco router for in home network in a much larger structure without issue... including guests...
