Need help finding the right modem and router

countrynerd09

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Mar 27, 2014
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Hey everyone,
finally thought id sign up for this site and pester you all with a question.

I am currently looking to upgrade my current wireless router and modem(netgear cg3000d) to ones that will provide better range and speed as well as still have a usb port of some type.

I have been seriously looking into getting two separate devices instead of one that is a router and modem. I currently have COX cable.

The following are the modems ive been considering:

motorola sb6141
Cisco DPC3010

the following are the router im looking at:

linksys ea6900
linksys ea3500
netgear ac1900


looking to keep cost to a minimal but willing to pay extra if its worth it. let me know what you all think i should do
 
I have the Motorola SB6141 modem and I love it. It has worked flawlessly. I am not a fan of Linksys so my vote would be the Netgear router. My favorite consumer router is the Asus brand. After that I like the TP-link and Netgear brands.
 

countrynerd09

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Mar 27, 2014
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Primarily wireless. One thing I have been looking at is the channels. Cisco and Motorola both have 8 channels down and 4 up making it quite fast and reliable. I'm just curious though, why don't you like linksys? Does linksys not compare well with other brands?
 
I have a long history with Linksys. I purchased my first Linksys product in 1997. Back then Linksys products were cheap but they were buggy. I always had problems with them. In 2003 Linksys was bought out by Cisco. After a couple years under Cisco the product got better but the prices also increased. I purchased a Linksys home router during the time Cisco owned Linksys and was underwhelmed. It worked ok but it had a premium price. In 2013 Cisco sold Linksys to Belkin. I actually like Belkin products but so far I have not seen any price drops. Are they good, maybe, probably. But there are as good or better out there for less price wise. If you google "best" or "top" home routers and start looking through the sites you won't see Linksys mentioned very often. I just tried it. I googled best home wifi routers. After looking through the first 4 review sites only one mentioned Linksys. All of them mention Asus and Netgear. Is this because Linksys is not good? I don't really think so; I think it is because they are not the best value for the money. There are people that have them and really like them. When it comes down to it, that is what counts. Are you happy with what you purchased....
 
On the modem, I thnk you will be happy with either the Cisco or the Motorola as they both have DOCSIS 3.0. You may want to go with whichever is cheaper. If you go with the Motorola make sure you get the white (retail) model and not the black (OEM) model. Some of the cable companies will not help you if you have the black model and there is a problem with your service.
 

countrynerd09

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Mar 27, 2014
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Well the current modem/router that I have now was given to me by cox. Recently over the past four months, Internet signal has been up and down, the network itself doesn't always broadcast, signal barely reaches all corners of the house, and cox disabled the USB port on the back so I can't use that either. I feel that by upgrading, I can fix all of those problems. What is the difference between the Motorola Retail and OEM models? I thought they were both sb6141.
 
They are both SB6141. And as far as I know they are the exact same besides the outside. But if you look at reviews of the modem (like on Amazon and such) you will see over and over where people who purchased the OEM (Black) model were denied help and denied OS upgrades for their modem from their ISP because it was not a retail model (white).
 

countrynerd09

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Mar 27, 2014
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haha well that's dumb. alright i think im gonna just go with the Cisco DPC3010 for the modem. still looking into a router though. i did look up the linksys ea6300 but like abailey said, im not too fond of the prices. anyone else have any specific models that they would suggest? looking for DOCSIS 3.0, USB ports(2.0 or 3.0), good range, and speeds of at least 25MBps
 

montosaurous

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Aug 21, 2012
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If you want 25MB/s then you're going to need AC. In which case, make sure your wireless NIC's actually support it. I would still recommend Linksys, or even Netgear. Maybe Asus if you absolutely have to. But I would avoid everything else.
 


Wow I did not notice that. Countrynerd09, did you mean 25MBps, or 25Mbps? I assumed 25Mbps when I read your post as that is a pretty decent internet speed from an ISP for home use. Most ISP's can't deliver 25MBps speed to the house. Now if you specified 25MBps because you are going to be transferring files between PC's or maybe a NAS device and your laptop or something then I can see it. Just remember to get that kind of speed you will probably need wireless AC which is going to be more expensive. That includes a wireless AC card on the device you are using also.
 

countrynerd09

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Mar 27, 2014
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I am talking about both actually. If I can get that speed for both witless and LAN then I will be happy. I have a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, an hp laptop and a desktop. Everything but the desktop is wireless obviously. And yes I ment 25MBps. That why I want to upgrade, because the current devices we have don't support that speed... Atleast that I'm aware of. And if it does, it's bottle necking somewhere or getting bogged down.