Should I keep My router or not?

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Dean Earls

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May 19, 2013
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Hey Guys,

I have a Linksys EA 6500 Router which is connected to my supplied Motorola modem from TWC. We have had a few modems as we always seem to have issues with our internet. Intermittent in the past and slow at times. We currently have 20mb line.

We have a lot of devices, 2 smart tvs, 2 macbook pros, 2 iphones, Apple TV, playstation 4, and 1 destop computer wired via ethernet. At all times we at least have the 2 phones and a computer and a tv connected. Sometimes more sometimes less.

I have now upgraded to TWC Ultimate 100 Bundle, the new modem arrived today and I have yet to set it up, its an ARRIS DG1670A (platform: D3 AWG2 Modem)

Does this require a secondary router? If not should I keep my router active? I do like certain features of my router such as the cloud storage option, guest access and remote login from anywhere via an iOS app.

Also does having the gues access active have any effect on performance even if no one is using it?

Any tips for ultimate performance set-up would be greatly appreciated, and your opinion as to why i should or should not keep the router in the chain.


Thank you!
 
Solution
photonboy
Hi,

Assuming I looked at the correct specs your GATEWAY looks like a great device, so I wouldn't use anything else.

1) If your router supports AC it almost certainly supports the previous standards like "N" so I doubt that's an issue.

2) Just keep the Gateway as is, unless you discover a good reason why it's better (super Wi-Fi or something). Since it's "AC" it's fairly new and probably has good "N" support as well.

"More control" is great and all, but again unless that control allows you to do something you couldn't before there's no point. There may even be some issues with trying to use two devices together if it's not done correctly such as Network Address Translation. Probably it would be okay, but... why bother if there's no...
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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You now have a "Gateway" device which comprises both the MODEM and ROUTER components in one unit so that is the ONLY thing you need. You'll still want to setup your wi-fi network as secure (WPA2 or whatever your devices support). Setup your wi-fi password and login with each wi-fi connected device.

If you have an existing Router put it away.

As for "performance" I'm not quite sure what you are getting at:

1) Internet access is limited by your ISP account bandwidth

2) Local WIRED access will simply work up to the bottleneck of whatever drive you have (or if you only have 10/100 for a network chip and not Gigabit which would limit LOCAL transfer speeds to roughly 11MB/second)

3) *Wi-Fi access:
This is limited by the router, how good your wi-fi adapter is, and signal strength (distance and blockages such as walls).

You should have enough bandwidth to stream HD video locally so unless you need more performance there's nothing to worry about.

4) Dead Spots?
If you have wi-fi dead spots or very poor signal strength you can get a wi-fi Extender.

SUMMARY:
- Should need the GATEWAY ONLY, then setup your wi-fi secure network
 
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digitaldoc

digitaldoc

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http://www.arrisi.com/products/product.asp?id=684

http://www.linksys.com/en-eu/products/routers/EA6500

Looking over the specs of the gear, I would disable the router function of the gateway device, and keep the Linksys EA6500 router. This is for 2 reasons:

1- The Linksys you have uses the AC standard, and the router function built into the gateway appears to be N. I would not want to take a step back, especially given the increasing number of AC products coming, like smartphones.

2- In general, you will have more control over your own router, than you will have over one from the cable company in terms of settings.
 
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Dean Earls

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May 19, 2013
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Thanks for your help! Well see that is what im afraid of the last time I had an actual modem from TWC that done both apple tv struggled to play movies etc. So i think the bottom solution may work best for me, but thanks for the valuable input!



Thank you. I didn't know you could turn off that side of it. I agree im pretty sure the linksys will always outperform it, ready my above comment about previous TWC modems that done both.

Here one for you, I have recently been swapping between WPA2 and back to WEP, I am having weird issues when using viber or skype voice calls on my iphone when connect to wifi, the call will stay connected but i cant hear anything, happens almost 99.9% of the time, while on 4G its perfect but eating my data plan. I suspected it was because I previously changed from WEP to WPA2, because it start happening around this time from what I remember, but I changed back to WEP and its still happening. There is even posts online suggesting the iPhone 5 has problems with WPA2 but i still cant figure it out, any ideas please?

Is there any optimum settings for these routers and modems? Cheers!

 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Hi,

Assuming I looked at the correct specs your GATEWAY looks like a great device, so I wouldn't use anything else.

1) If your router supports AC it almost certainly supports the previous standards like "N" so I doubt that's an issue.

2) Just keep the Gateway as is, unless you discover a good reason why it's better (super Wi-Fi or something). Since it's "AC" it's fairly new and probably has good "N" support as well.

"More control" is great and all, but again unless that control allows you to do something you couldn't before there's no point. There may even be some issues with trying to use two devices together if it's not done correctly such as Network Address Translation. Probably it would be okay, but... why bother if there's no issue?

3) Network security like "WPA" etc varies in how secure it is. You want the HIGHEST LEVEL that all your Wi-Fi devices support properly. Really it's the Wi-Fi adapters that are being talked to but many devices have the Wi-Fi hardwired in (see the manual for the adapter, or just TRY it to see if it works with the security level you chose)

4) Wi-Fi bandwidth:
You generally don't need very much bandwidth at all to transmit HD video. Even basic Wi-Fi adapters/routers usually get at least 3MB/second depending on signal strength. That's over 10GB/hour. Not quite enough for BluRay but should be enough for anything else.

Again, your device probably has PLENTY of bandwidth for your needs. If it works fine, but you have a blank or weak area then just get a Wi-Fi Extender ($30+). They simply plug into a power plug in the spot that redirects the signal optimally (such as to avoid a cement wall or something that's in direct line-of-sight between your Router and Wi-Fi device).

Other:
If you ever consider local storage, the WDMYCLOUD is great. It connects to your Gateway/Router via an Ethernet cable and can be accessed by every device on your network. For Wi-Fi it's limited by your devices Wi-Fi connection speed (maybe 7MB/second or higher?). For WIRED, it's about 60MB/second. I use it for PC backups, and store videos to send to my WDTV LIVE to play on HDTV.
 
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