don't know what router to get for AT&T U-verse

demonikal

demonikal

New Member
We have AT&T U-verse as our internet service provider. It's DSL. Our download speed is 18 Mbps and I can't remember what our upload speed is. The only reason I want to get a router that is not one made by AT&T is because as far as I know they don't offer routers with 802.11n capability. I just bought a new laptop (see in signature) and it has 802.11b/g/n capabilities, but the place I use it most is on the opposite side of the house that the router is. I can't move the router, because the AT&T technician wired the line coming in from outside directly to that part of the house (the kitchen on the farthest north side of the house) and my bedroom is on the farthest south side of the house.

So I just need to know what router choices I have for AT&T U-verse with 802.11n capability, if there are any. johnb35 once gave me router choices for Comcast, but that was when I was seriously considering switching to Comcast, so that doesn't help now.
 
You can still use the router I mentioned as a second router or repeater. From what I just researched on my phone the u verse router doesn't have n capability.
 
johnb35 said:
You can still use the router I mentioned as a second router or repeater. From what I just researched on my phone the u verse router doesn't have n capability.
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I was under the impression that having a second router in the same home created conflicts. Or is that only if you have two ISPs running in the same home?
 
It only causes an issue if you have two routers trying to give DHCP.
 
voyagerfan99 said:
It only causes an issue if you have two routers trying to give DHCP.
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Yeah, well, I'm just planning on replacing my ISP router completely with the one johnb35 recommended to me a bit ago (via PM). I don't need two routers. And I don't have a static IP address, so I guess there would be issues if I added a second one along with my ISP one.
 
Unfortunately, if you have uverse, you have to use their modem/router and use a second one to expand your network. The routers I recommended won't work without a modem in front of it. Its not that hard to setup a second router.
 
johnb35 said:
Unfortunately, if you have uverse, you have to use their modem/router and use a second one to expand your network. The routers I recommended won't work without a modem in front of it. Its not that hard to setup a second router.
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Okay, I think I'm understanding you now. However, I'm not worried about the set-up process of anything.

Would the connectivity basically work like this: U-verse router 802.11g to other router. Other router 802.11n to my laptop? Or it just doesn't work like that?
 
Do you want to connect the 2 together with an ethernet cable? If its possible, thats the simplest way of setting it up. What you would need to do is ethernet cable from lan port on uverse router to lan port on new router. Change internal IP of second router to match first router. For example... Say uverse router is 192.168.1.1, change second router to 192.168.1.2 just change the last number by one. disable dhcp on router 2, let router 1 handle all IP addresses.
 
johnb35 said:
Do you want to connect the 2 together with an ethernet cable? If its possible, thats the simplest way of setting it up. What you would need to do is ethernet cable from lan port on uverse router to lan port on new router. Change internal IP of second router to match first router. For example... Say uverse router is 192.168.1.1, change second router to 192.168.1.2 just change the last number by one. disable dhcp on router 2, let router 1 handle all IP addresses.
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Yeah, I think that'd be possible. The Uverse 2WIRE router has 3 more available ethernet ports. One is used to go to wall which connects to outside the house. One is connected to our Vonage VOIP adapter. One connects to my mom's HP laptop there in the kitchen. Last one goes thru floor in kitchen, across house in basement, and back up thru the floor in my bedroom for my desktop PC. My laptop is what I'd be using wirelessly, as well as my mom's Chromebook.

Thanks john, sounds simple enough.
 
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Does AT&T offer a modem only, and not a wireless router/modem combo? If so, get that and buy your own wireless router.
 
WRXGuy1 said:
Does AT&T offer a modem only, and not a wireless router/modem combo? If so, get that and buy your own wireless router.
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Not sure. I'll look into it. Maybe I'll get on AT&T live chat or something. The router, called 2WIRE (same router that Comcast uses or at least my best friend that has DSL with Comcast), as far as I know is also a gateway. I have no clue what a gateway is, but if that helps describe what I need....cuz I really don't know the difference between a modem and a standalone router.
 
You can't get your own modem if you are getting uverse. Nothing else will work with it but their own router.
 
johnb35 said:
You can't get your own modem if you are getting uverse. Nothing else will work with it but their own router.
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Okay john. I wasn't ignoring the info you gave me. Was just going to look into it. But now that I know, I won't bother contacting them. Gonna try to save up for the router that supports 802.11ac, assuming some day ac becomes fairly standard on wireless cards, also hoping that AT&T gets into gear and starts offering speeds as fast as Comcast (the only reason I don't appreciate AT&T as much).
 
ATT will never offer speeds that fast as far as I'm concerned. They would have to rewire everything. And I wasn't biting your head off lol. Just making sure you understood that you couldn't use a modem of your own since its uverse, its a different technology then actual dsl. Its sort of like fiber optic but not.
 
johnb35 said:
You can't get your own modem if you are getting uverse. Nothing else will work with it but their own router.
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John, I'm talking about an AT&T provided modem. Most ISP's have a standard modem and a modem/router combo. No need for him to get one with a built in router if they have one without it.
 
I'm just not sure how far you would be away from it and how powerful they are. My girlfriends mom has one but usually only about 20 feet away from it when I'm there. I'll check the model number when I'm there next.
 
johnb35 said:
I'm just not sure how far you would be away from it and how powerful they are. My girlfriends mom has one but usually only about 20 feet away from it when I'm there. I'll check the model number when I'm there next.
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Okay, I guess I should look up the specs on my 2WIRE router. Not sure if the frequency makes a difference on the power. This is what my new Dell laptop is Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-N 7260 AGN @ 5GHz. Not sure if that 5GHz even makes a difference or if that's just marketing stuff.
 
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