Need help choosing a router...no idea what I'm doing!

Tigerbite · Sep 30, 2015

My wife and I are swapping from AT&T to Charter next month. She's always complaining about how the internet sucks (45Mbps) but I'm sure it has to do with the modem/router combo we have, I guess, really don't know. The combo is in my room, so I have my desktop/ps4 hard wired into the router and have no problems.

Anyways, when we make the swap, I thought maybe I'd help her out and get our own router instead of Charter's $5/month router, but I have no idea what kind of router I would need, since I see them ranging from $15-$300.

Like I said earlier, my desktop/PS4 would be hard wired into the router. She uses her laptop/phone/tv basically just browsing the web or streaming, nothing more than that.

So, if you can point me in some sort of direction that would be fantastic! Speeds with Charter is going to be 60Mbps, might bump it up to 100Mbps down the road, but right now, we're cutting out the TV and just trying to save some money.

DeadlyDays · Sep 30, 2015

First off, unless you have like FTTH(which I don't remember charter offering?), you have a coax copper cable coming into your house for the internet. That means you need a Modem to demodulate the signal and give you an Ethernet connection. You want one that supports DOCSIS 3, and then charter has a methodology of validating the modem on the network, you may have to call them to figure that out. My area Charter provides them free, no rental charges, and the ones they send out are actually nice motorolas, They sent the newer version of the one I had bought myself(which was a nice one).

For the router, Wireless N is enough you don't need an AC router. Figure out if you want/need dual band or not. Wireless operates on either 5.0Ghz or 2.4Ghz, older wireless devices do not support 5.0Ghz. A dual band router will provide 2 networks at the same time on both frequencies. Wireless N standard is 300Mbps theoretical speeds, realistically 120Mbps+ on a decent one. AC is like 1300Mbps, but only on 5.0Ghz, lower on 2.4Ghz. AC will be fully backwards compatible to N and G, N is backwards compatible to G. So no worries there.

Make sure you get a router, not an access point, since AP's usually don't have LAN ports.

Other than that, get what has good reviews with the features you need

Tigerbite · Sep 30, 2015

DeadlyDays :

First off, unless you have like FTTH(which I don't remember charter offering?), you have a coax copper cable coming into your house for the internet. That means you need a Modem to demodulate the signal and give you an Ethernet connection. You want one that supports DOCSIS 3, and then charter has a methodology of validating the modem on the network, you may have to call them to figure that out. My area Charter provides them free, no rental charges, and the ones they send out are actually nice motorolas, They sent the newer version of the one I had bought myself(which was a nice one).

For the router, Wireless N is enough you don't need an AC router. Figure out if you want/need dual band or not. Wireless operates on either 5.0Ghz or 2.4Ghz, older wireless devices do not support 5.0Ghz. A dual band router will provide 2 networks at the same time on both frequencies. Wireless N standard is 300Mbps theoretical speeds, realistically 120Mbps+ on a decent one. AC is like 1300Mbps, but only on 5.0Ghz, lower on 2.4Ghz. AC will be fully backwards compatible to N and G, N is backwards compatible to G. So no worries there.

Make sure you get a router, not an access point, since AP's usually don't have LAN ports.

Other than that, get what has good reviews with the features you need

So, you're saying something that's relatively cheap, such as this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0098QV038
would be fine for me? And yes, we get a free modem from them.

giantbucket · Sep 30, 2015

i've had plenty of luck with TP-Link products. router, switch, small switch, modem+router, wifi dongle, etc. i would not hesitate to pick one of their units.

DeadlyDays · Sep 30, 2015

Probably, the reviews say the antennae's are not great but I doubt that is different than most antennae's you will get. In the right environment they probably work fine. Remember signal comes off the flat part of the antennae, not the pointy end.

So yes, it is probably fine. How big is the area you are trying to cover, and how thick are walls, what will be between you and the router when you are using wireless. Metal is the worst, drywall is not a big deal. Microwaves are a nono of course. You are probably looking at like ~50ft(good connection, lower quality(low bars) farther away) indoor coverage max on most routers, down to ~25ft in a bad environment. In an ideal environment outdoors range is much higher, so it all really depends on location and materials.

You can get 3rd party antennae's that screw on, but don't spend much on them because they don't provide that much of a boost even if the ones you get are bad.

But like I said, the wired environment will be identical on this one to other ones except for any additional options the others might have, but unless you are an advanced user you won't care. They say it isn't compatible with DD-WRT, which network enthusiasts typically flash onto routers for additional functionality(advanced networking stuff) Actual performance will be fine.

Most bad router experiences are due to bad environment, or receiving a faulty router. So luck or expecting more out of the router than you should.

That router comes with 100Mbps ports, so it physically will never be able to transmit higher over a wire, including the wire leading to the internet. You can see that in the router specifications in the comparison chart.
You can get routers with 1Gbps ports(1000Mbps)

Tigerbite · Sep 30, 2015

DeadlyDays :

The router will actually be placed at the end of the house. The only thing between it and other devices is lovely drywall and wood. The furthest it would be going would be our living room TV which is probably about 40-45 feet away from the router itself. The wife is usually about 30 feet away from it.

Would I really need a router with 1Gbps port if our speed from Charter is only 60Mbps or would the 100Mbps be fine...seems like it would be fine, unless I'm missing something.

Thanks again for the help.

DeadlyDays · Sep 30, 2015

You are correct and understanding it fine. If you never plan on having over 100Mbps internet on this router, or using more than 100Mbps network connection via LAN, then there is no problem. LAN has minimal overhead, people tend to get 90+Mbps on Lan Cables with 100Mbps ports that I've seen.

giantbucket · Sep 30, 2015

the 1Gb/s ports are nice when you are transferring files from one computer at home to another computer at home ON THE SAME NETWORK. this way both machines can exchange data at speeds up to 1Gb/s, regardless of what is happening outside your home.

if your home network is just a bunch of people using the internet, then no you don't need 1Gb/s ports.

if your home network has a server / media server, and mom watches a show while kids watch movies which are all stored on a server in the basement, then yes you would definitely benefit from 1Gb/s ports, on the router AND on the server (but not necessarily on each "client" machine)

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Need help choosing a router...no idea what I'm doing!

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