Picking a modem and router

B

bopper

Member
I've been using an ATT hotspot and have been happy with it (streaming, browsing, occasional gaming, multiple devices). Compared to cable that's dead slow which makes me think that nothing really matters in the wifi world. I figure an Arris 16x4/3.1 will be more than fine. The router is hanging me up tho. AX is new since I last looked, 6 ghz is new, tri band is new. Price can rage from $100 to $300 and I can't really tell a difference. I've found plenty of articles describing what all the numbers mean, but not really. Can someone briefly describe the feature (ax, 2.5/5/6ghz, # of bands...), the problem it solves, and who would even have the capability to use it? Also a bit worried about devices not being able to use it.

A quality research source would be helpful too. All I'm finding are just word salads that don't really say anything.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
So you get internet from their cell tower? Not much you can do wifh that. You most likely will need to use their hotspot. if you plan on getting internet via phone line or coax then you can get your own modem and router.
 
B

bopper

Member
johnb35 said:
So you get internet from their cell tower? Not much you can do wifh that. You most likely will need to use their hotspot. if you plan on getting internet via phone line or coax then you can get your own modem and router.
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Oh… no. That was the setup for several years. I just moved to a house with internet service and am switching to it. It’s just been so long since I’ve read about internet that I forgot pretty much everything. The last time I had cable, 100mbps was pretty daggum fast. Now it’s just above entry level.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Depending on what internet speed you will be getting, the 16x4 cable modem is good up to 400mbps or so. I partial to Motorola brand modems. And as far as what router to get, I'm partial to Asus brand. You can get an AX1800 for under 100 bucks.


How big is your house? The 1800 is good for 3000sf.
 
B

bopper

Member
johnb35 said:
Depending on what internet speed you will be getting, the 16x4 cable modem is good up to 400mbps or so. I partial to Motorola brand modems. And as far as what router to get, I'm partial to Asus brand. You can get an AX1800 for under 100 bucks.


How big is your house? The 1800 is good for 3000sf.
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I'm also an Asus fan. I used to ave an RT-AC3100 but donated it when we moved to our now previous residence. I would have hooked it up and thought nothing of it, but now I have to make an educated purchase again.

It's 2000 sf and the router will be fairly central, so coverage shouldn't be an issue at all. I'm just looking at all the stuff that's out there.

Looks like that's a 4 stream router with good speed (by the numbers). I'm not sure how many bands or streams I could possibly notice, but 3 bands and 6/8 streams are more than 2 and 4. TPLink is more budget friendly for the triband and 6Ghz products. What would you say about this lineup? Would I ever see a difference between these routers? The heaviest usage we'd ever see are 1 Xbox, 1 gaming PC, 1 streaming device, 1 browsing PC.

$95: Asus RT-AX55, 2-band, 4-stream, 1201/574 Mbps
$190: TPlink AX75, 3-band, 6-stream, 2402/2402/574 Mbps
$200: TPlink AXE75, 3-band (6Ghz), 6-stream 2402/2402/574 Mbps
$300: TPlink AXE95, 3-band (6Ghz), 8-stream 2402/4802/574 Mbps
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
With only 4 devices, you really don't need a triband router I don't think.
bopper said:
I'm also an Asus fan. I used to ave an RT-AC3100
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I currently have the AC3200 but bought the AX3000 over a month ago to have as a backup for when the AC3200 dies, its already over 3 years old.
 
B

bopper

Member
johnb35 said:
With only 4 devices, you really don't need a triband router I don't think.

I currently have the AC3200 but bought the AX3000 over a month ago to have as a backup for when the AC3200 dies, its already over 3 years old.
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The only thing I'm getting hung up on is what bands and streams do. I get the theory (I think), but I have no idea what to expect in practice. Say I'm only using one band with 2 streams (seems standard). Two heavy gaming machines ought to be perfectly happy. What if I add another gaming device... then a streaming device... then a browsing device... and so on. The speed rating is probably a fairly useless number as they are incredibly high compared to actual consumed.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Tri band is new-ish since 'wifi6e' started shipping, it's just 802.11ax with more airspace in the 6ghz range. Some slightly older ac appliances would double up on 5 ghz radios claiming 'tri band', but would give you more 5ghz airspace by having a second radio/channel, similar to having two 5 ghz APs integrated. You'd need a 6 ghz adapter in your pc/device in order to leverage that, but it's not really conceptually any different than 2.4 vs 5 ghz, just more airspace.

'Spatial streams', usually just shortened to streams, are different sub-coded signals. If you've heard of 'MIMO' for using multiple antennas concurrently off of the same adapter, this allows them to be leveraged at the same time. You'd commonly see this in data rates, have a cheap AC adapter with a single spatial stream? It likely has one antenna and negotiates at a 433 mbit sync rate. Compare that to something like a laptop adapter with two antennas, if your router supports more than one spatial stream you could use them concurrently for a 866 mbit sync rate. Antenna amount isn't always equal to spatial stream amount, however. The 802.11n standard did a similar thing, so if you see 150/300/450 mbps that's usually spatial streams making the difference.

Most appliances should be able to reach 2k sqft, buying 6e now is more of a 'future planning' approach but I'd expect most devices to ship with a 6e adapter in the next year or so. Also keep in mind the 6 ghz coverage will be a little more limited than 5ghz based on the physical properties of the wave. $100 now means not spending it again on another device when you'd want to use that band, up to you if that fits your objectives.
 
B

bopper

Member
I'll probably wind up with a <$100 Asus. here's a thing I threw together to try to figure out what's out there. This is just info pulled off the mfg's sites, so there's probably some options they left out that might be better. a $100 premium to have a gadget that I won't even notice is probably not a good investment.
 

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beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Eh, debatable. 5 years down the line when you have a bunch of 6 ghz devices you could still be trucking along on your original investment/purchase instead of buying another unit. Although the new router might just be $100 by then so it ends up being an equivalent cost simply from a decimal perspective. With inflation you could argue that the future device would effectively be less expensive by a couple dollars.

I'd just pick whatever you feel you'd be happiest with.
 
B

bopper

Member
I got the AX3200 and a Motorolla MB8600. I figure a good modem is prety importnt since modem tech seems to advance fairly slowly. The router is a tri band 5ghz and seems to do well. It has a smart connect function that automatically picks which band to put devices on. I need to see if I can reposition it as the only cable hookup is in a corner of the house. There's an Xbox with 30', 2 interior walls, a fire place, a windowed exterior wall, and a solid brick veneer exterior wall separating it from the router. It gets 2/4 signal bars... whatever that means.
 
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