Best Router/Modems?

[CC268]

Right now I am renting some modem/router combo from Cox. Probably getting ripped off. I'm ready to take control of my own life and have decided to purchase my own modem/router.

I'd prefer to spend the money and get good quality stuff. I used to have a separate modem and router, but it looks like there are more of these router/modem combos.

I have heard good things about the Netgear Nighthawk which is a modem/router combo and is $185 on Amazon, which isn't too bad. I know the ARRIS Surfboard stuff is good as well.

So what do you resident experts recommend?

Thanks.

 

[RJM62]

That really depends on your Cox package, whether or not you have VOIP, and how important the various features of the modem / router are to you.

In other words, what's most important to you? Are you looking for raw WAN speed, the best WiFi speed, the best WiFi coverage, multi-band WiFi support, advanced routing features, throttling / bandwidth control (for example, to tame the bandwidth use of Prime Video or a teenager who's constantly eating up bandwidth downloading porn playing online games), or something else?

My personal preference is to use separate routers and modems, mainly because routers (especially wireless routers) tend to obsolesce or die more quickly than modems do. So I'd look at a good, DOCSIS 3.1 32x8 cable modem, and then a suitable router for your needs. That should future-proof you on the modem side for five years or more.

Rich

 

[CC268]

That really depends on your Cox package, whether or not you have VOIP, and how important the various features of the modem / router are to you.

In other words, what's most important to you? Are you looking for raw WAN speed, the best WiFi speed, the best WiFi coverage, multi-band WiFi support, advanced routing features, throttling / bandwidth control (for example, to tame the bandwidth use of Prime Video or a teenager who's constantly eating up bandwidth downloading porn playing online games), or something else?

My personal preference is to use separate routers and modems, mainly because routers (especially wireless routers) tend to obsolesce or die more quickly than modems do. So I'd look at a good, DOCSIS 3.1 32x8 cable modem, and then a suitable router for your needs. That should future-proof you on the modem side for five years or more.

Rich

Thanks for the response. We live in a 1300 sq.ft condo so we don't have a lot of area to cover. It is just my wife and I. So I suppose speed is the most important. I don't think I need any fancy features.

There are so many options out there is becomes a bit overwhelming. I know ARRIS makes nice stuff so I have been browsing their site.

 

[CC268]

ARRIS Surfboard SB6183 seems to be a popular option for modem.

 

[RyanB]

For a router, we’ve used an Apple AirPort Extreme for atleast the past 8 years and it’s been excellent. Easy setup and great performance.

 

[RJM62]

Thanks for the response. We live in a 1300 sq.ft condo so we don't have a lot of area to cover. It is just my wife and I. So I suppose speed is the most important. I don't think I need any fancy features.

There are so many options out there is becomes a bit overwhelming. I know ARRIS makes nice stuff so I have been browsing their site.

I've been pleased with Arris, Motorola, and Zoom. But that doesn't mean the others are bad. I've just not had much experience with them.

What I think is more important right now is to go long in terms of capabilities. The Arris SURFboard SB8200, Netgear CM1000, or the Motorola MB8600 all support DOCSIS 3.1, 32 x 8, and Gigabit speeds. DOCSIS 3.1 is appealing to ISPs because they don't have to upgrade their wires to increase their throughput, so I expect adoption to be rapid; so since you want to buy the thing and speed is your priority, you may as well buy a bleeding-edge modem that's as future-proof as possible.

On the router side, I like the Linksys WRT3200ACM right now for most home and SoHo users. Pricey, but solid and fast, in my experience. It's also flashable with most custom firmware if you want to go that route. I've also heard good things about the Netgear Nighthawk X8 from the kid who works for the local cable company, but I have no experience with it. He also recommends either the Linksys WRT3200ACM or the Netgear Nighthawk X8 to his side clients.

I really don't do much of that sort of work anymore, however, so I'm sure there are other good routers out there that I've never heard of.

Rich

 

[denverpilot]

For a router, we’ve used an Apple AirPort Extreme for atleast the past 8 years and it’s been excellent. Easy setup and great performance.

The AirPort regularly ranks lower than most of the big name competition in testing, and is usually double the price.

They’re also horrendous to manage and set up if you don’t have Apple clients.

That said, my house is covered by three older model Airports and they work fine, but my 10 MB/2MB Internet isn’t exactly pushing anybody’s networking gear to anywhere near any limits since we moved out here.

The main unit needs a reboot roughly monthly to maintain full speed connections to the remotes for whatever reason. I’ve measured and tracked it for a long time and notice when it’s doing it without even thinking about it anymore and just pop it in the head with the iPhone Airport Utility.

If/when the Apple products start to truly get eradicated from the house, the next setup will be Ubiquiti products for the APs and a probably MicroTik router for the top. Never again consumer grade gear.

 

[RyanB]

The AirPort regularly ranks lower than most of the big name competition in testing, and is usually double the price.

They’re also horrendous to manage and set up if you don’t have Apple clients.

That said, my house is covered by three older model Airports and they work fine, but my 10 MB/2MB Internet isn’t exactly pushing anybody’s networking gear to anywhere near any limits since we moved out here.

The main unit needs a reboot roughly monthly to maintain full speed connections to the remotes for whatever reason. I’ve measured and tracked it for a long time and notice when it’s doing it without even thinking about it anymore and just pop it in the head with the iPhone Airport Utility.

If/when the Apple products start to truly get eradicated from the house, the next setup will be Ubiquiti products for the APs and a probably MicroTik router for the top. Never again consumer grade gear.

You know a lot more about this type of subject than I, but after using various other brand routers (NetGear, Linksys etc.) the AirPort Extreme has by far been the best. Speed wise and reliability. We have had it for atleast 8-10 years now and it hasn’t given us a lick of trouble. I have nothing bad to say about it.

 

[bflynn]

I have an older Nighthawk, ac1900 and it's able to do everything I want and more. I'm getting sorely tempted to disable internet late at night and force my son to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

 

[CC268]

I've been pleased with Arris, Motorola, and Zoom. But that doesn't mean the others are bad. I've just not had much experience with them.

What I think is more important right now is to go long in terms of capabilities. The Arris SURFboard SB8200, Netgear CM1000, or the Motorola MB8600 all support DOCSIS 3.1, 32 x 8, and Gigabit speeds. DOCSIS 3.1 is appealing to ISPs because they don't have to upgrade their wires to increase their throughput, so I expect adoption to be rapid; so since you want to buy the thing and speed is your priority, you may as well buy a bleeding-edge modem that's as future-proof as possible.

On the router side, I like the Linksys WRT3200ACM right now for most home and SoHo users. Pricey, but solid and fast, in my experience. It's also flashable with most custom firmware if you want to go that route. I've also heard good things about the Netgear Nighthawk X8 from the kid who works for the local cable company, but I have no experience with it. He also recommends either the Linksys WRT3200ACM or the Netgear Nighthawk X8 to his side clients.

I really don't do much of that sort of work anymore, however, so I'm sure there are other good routers out there that I've never heard of.

Rich

I guess I am hesitant to spend that kind of money on a modem alone (speaking about the SB8200), when were only getting 50 mbps (~6MB/s). I don't have any plans to pay for gigabit internet (not saying it wouldn't be nice to have hardware capable of it though).

I think at this point I am leaning towards the Arris SB6183. I'd buy the SB6190, but it has the Intel Puma 6 chip, which has had some big issues. So that model is a no go. So I basically comes down to the SB6183 or spending $200 for the SB8200, which seems overkill at this point.

Routers is where I am struggling to decide. So many choices. At this point I am thinking one of the following:
- TP-Link Archer C7 (seems to be one of the best bang for your buck)
- ASUS RT‑AC68U

I keep hearing about Ubiquiti

 

[CC268]

The AirPort regularly ranks lower than most of the big name competition in testing, and is usually double the price.

They’re also horrendous to manage and set up if you don’t have Apple clients.

That said, my house is covered by three older model Airports and they work fine, but my 10 MB/2MB Internet isn’t exactly pushing anybody’s networking gear to anywhere near any limits since we moved out here.

The main unit needs a reboot roughly monthly to maintain full speed connections to the remotes for whatever reason. I’ve measured and tracked it for a long time and notice when it’s doing it without even thinking about it anymore and just pop it in the head with the iPhone Airport Utility.

If/when the Apple products start to truly get eradicated from the house, the next setup will be Ubiquiti products for the APs and a probably MicroTik router for the top. Never again consumer grade gear.

Tell me more...I keep hearing abut Ubiquiti. If you were in my position what modem & router would you purchase?

 

[sferguson524]

The AirPort regularly ranks lower than most of the big name competition in testing, and is usually double the price.

They’re also horrendous to manage and set up if you don’t have Apple clients.

That said, my house is covered by three older model Airports and they work fine, but my 10 MB/2MB Internet isn’t exactly pushing anybody’s networking gear to anywhere near any limits since we moved out here.

The main unit needs a reboot roughly monthly to maintain full speed connections to the remotes for whatever reason. I’ve measured and tracked it for a long time and notice when it’s doing it without even thinking about it anymore and just pop it in the head with the iPhone Airport Utility.

If/when the Apple products start to truly get eradicated from the house, the next setup will be Ubiquiti products for the APs and a probably MicroTik router for the top. Never again consumer grade gear.

This... I have been running Cisco Meraki gear in my house for about 5 years now, and couldn't be happier. Does everything I want, and then some. I was fortunate to get the gear for free by attending their webinars.. When the licenses finally run out, it will likely be replaced with ubiquiti

 

[CC268]

tell me MOAR about Ubiquiti! I'm about to head over to reddit and read up on this.

 

[denverpilot]

tell me MOAR about Ubiquiti! I'm about to head over to reddit and read up on this.

The access points aren’t routers. AFAIK they don’t make cable modems, so you’ll still need one of those also. The APs also need server software running on a Windows box or Linux box to configure them, or they make a little USB stick sized “server” with their software on it.

And they kick butt once they’re configured and working.

Watch out, on older models they had non-standard PoE if you’re using PoE.

Probably not the setup for everyone, but I like them. They’re total overkill for home use.

The APs run about $80 for just an AP on Amazon for their latest model(s) with 802.11ac. They also sell three packs.

 

[RJM62]

The AirPort regularly ranks lower than most of the big name competition in testing, and is usually double the price.

They’re also horrendous to manage and set up if you don’t have Apple clients.

That said, my house is covered by three older model Airports and they work fine, but my 10 MB/2MB Internet isn’t exactly pushing anybody’s networking gear to anywhere near any limits since we moved out here.

The main unit needs a reboot roughly monthly to maintain full speed connections to the remotes for whatever reason. I’ve measured and tracked it for a long time and notice when it’s doing it without even thinking about it anymore and just pop it in the head with the iPhone Airport Utility.

If/when the Apple products start to truly get eradicated from the house, the next setup will be Ubiquiti products for the APs and a probably MicroTik router for the top. Never again consumer grade gear.

I've never used MicroTik, but the last time I checked, Ubiquity product setup was beyond what the average home user could configure without professional assistance.

The access points aren’t routers. AFAIK they don’t make cable modems, so you’ll still need one of those also. The APs also need server software running on a Windows box or Linux box to configure them, or they make a little USB stick sized “server” with their software on it.

And they kick butt once they’re configured and working.

Watch out, on older models they had non-standard PoE if you’re using PoE.

Probably not the setup for everyone, but I like them. They’re total overkill for home use.

The APs run about $80 for just an AP on Amazon for their latest model(s) with 802.11ac. They also sell three packs.

I think home users who can handle the configuration are few and far between. But they're top-notch once you finally get them set up.

Rich

 

[CC268]

The access points aren’t routers. AFAIK they don’t make cable modems, so you’ll still need one of those also. The APs also need server software running on a Windows box or Linux box to configure them, or they make a little USB stick sized “server” with their software on it.

And they kick butt once they’re configured and working.

Watch out, on older models they had non-standard PoE if you’re using PoE.

Probably not the setup for everyone, but I like them. They’re total overkill for home use.

The APs run about $80 for just an AP on Amazon for their latest model(s) with 802.11ac. They also sell three packs.

So talked with some folks on reddit...here is where I think I am headed:

- ARRIS SB 6183 (I can update this later to an SB8200 if I ever upgrade to gigabit speeds) ($68)
- Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateway ($110)
- UniFi AP AC Lite (still need to figure out if one of these will cover my 1300 sqft condo sufficiently) ($80)

I have a really nice desktop (I've shared it here before) that I could run it on. I'm on Window 10. I assume it will work with that.

Sounds like fun. I like stuff like this, but I don't know much about network stuff.

 

[CC268]

I've never used MicroTik, but the last time I checked, Ubiquity product setup was beyond what the average home user could configure without professional assistance.


I think home users who can handle the configuration are few and far between. But they're top-notch once you finally get them set up.

Rich

Interesting...is it really that hard to get the Ubiquiti stuff configured using their software?

 

[denverpilot]

Interesting...is it really that hard to get the Ubiquiti stuff configured using their software?

It has a lot of settings and not a lot of hand holding. I wouldn’t tell my mom to buy one.

 

[RJM62]

I guess I am hesitant to spend that kind of money on a modem alone (speaking about the SB8200), when were only getting 50 mbps (~6MB/s). I don't have any plans to pay for gigabit internet (not saying it wouldn't be nice to have hardware capable of it though).

I think at this point I am leaning towards the Arris SB6183. I'd buy the SB6190, but it has the Intel Puma 6 chip, which has had some big issues. So that model is a no go. So I basically comes down to the SB6183 or spending $200 for the SB8200, which seems overkill at this point.

Routers is where I am struggling to decide. So many choices. At this point I am thinking one of the following:
- TP-Link Archer C7 (seems to be one of the best bang for your buck)
- ASUS RT‑AC68U

I keep hearing about Ubiquiti

I've owned two TP-LINK routers and I wound up returning both of them. The first one was clearly defective. The second one, an Archer C7 V.2, might not have been. I had an undiagnosed ground problem at the cable drop which may have been at fault.

Wally World didn't care. They yawned and gave me a refund on the Archer C7, and I drove around the corner and bought the Linksys WRT3200ACM from Sam's Club. That's a real workhorse. It also runs DD-WRT splendidly.

The ASUS RT‑AC68U is also very popular with DD-WRT users, who tend to be a notch or two above average in terms of tech savvy. I've never used an ASUS router so I can't speak from experience about them, but they have a good reputation.

Rich

 

[denverpilot]

@CC268 their security gateway will be harder to set up than their APs. That could be entertaining. I don’t like their command line, mostly because it’s odd, not because it’s bad.

 

[CC268]

It has a lot of settings and not a lot of hand holding. I wouldn’t tell my mom to buy one.

Yea idk I'd have to run an ethernet through the walls/ceiling up to the AP as well. Seems like a lot of work.

 

[RJM62]

Interesting...is it really that hard to get the Ubiquiti stuff configured using their software?

It's not "hard" so much as it's not intuitive. People with a basic grasp of networking can do it. Most home users ... probably not so much.

Rich

 

[CC268]

It's not "hard" so much as it's not intuitive. People with a basic grasp of networking can do it. Most home users ... probably not so much.

Rich

Well I'm no dummy! I'm a real engineerrrrr

 

[denverpilot]

Yea idk I'd have to run an ethernet through the walls/ceiling up to the AP as well. Seems like a lot of work.

We had one at the office sitting on a desk for a bit until we could pull the cable into the ceiling. It worked about as well either way.

You said it’s a bit over 1000 sq feet? I very much doubt unless you have something metallic in the walls that it wouldn’t work just parked nearly anywhere. If it’s in a far corner of the apartment layout and two walls between it and the bedroom you might see it boot you back to 2.4 GHz, but even then, I doubt it.

We’re covering a massive space with four of them. We found that SOME clients (peering at Apple here over my glasses) want badly to be on 2.4 GHz (noisy and overloaded in most office parks and apartments) instead of 5.8 GHz, so we turned the TRANSMIT power down to low on 2.4 and now only about five clients out of 100 even get on the 2.4 side. The clients “think” the 2.4 is weaker so they join on 5.8 and stay there.

If I hold my hand all the way around my iPhone shielding it and it’s crappy antenna system and go outside the building past the metal film glass windows and door and steel construction framed walls with concrete filler, it’ll drop me to 2.4 and I’ll still run 20-30 Mb/s.

 

[RJM62]

Well I'm no dummy! I'm a real engineerrrrr

Well, then go for it if you like. They're good equipment. They're just... unintuitive.

I almost went with Ubiquiti this last time, but I bought the Linksys WRT3200ACM and wound up liking it. The situation was that I needed a router that could run DD-WRT, I needed it on a Sunday, the Archer C7 hadn't worked out (possibly not through any fault of its own), I didn't feel like driving two hours each way to Micro Center, Sam's Club is in the same shopping center as Walmart (where I had to go to return the C7 anyway), and I knew that Sam's Club would take the Linksys back with no hassle for 90 days if I didn't like it. I wound up loving it.

Mind you, I used to hate Linksys stuff. I thought sure I'd be returning it, but I was wrong. I guess they've gotten better since Cisco bought them.

Rich

 

[CC268]

We had one at the office sitting on a desk for a bit until we could pull the cable into the ceiling. It worked about as well either way.

You said it’s a bit over 1000 sq feet? I very much doubt unless you have something metallic in the walls that it wouldn’t work just parked nearly anywhere. If it’s in a far corner of the apartment layout and two walls between it and the bedroom you might see it boot you back to 2.4 GHz, but even then, I doubt it.

We’re covering a massive space with four of them. We found that SOME clients (peering at Apple here over my glasses) want badly to be on 2.4 GHz (noisy and overloaded in most office parks and apartments) instead of 5.8 GHz, so we turned the TRANSMIT power down to low on 2.4 and now only about five clients out of 100 even get on the 2.4 side. The clients “think” the 2.4 is weaker so they join on 5.8 and stay there.

If I hold my hand all the way around my iPhone shielding it and it’s crappy antenna system and go outside the building past the metal film glass windows and door and steel construction framed walls with concrete filler, it’ll drop me to 2.4 and I’ll still run 20-30 Mb/s.

Idk this sounds like something I would enjoy doing and learning about, but I'm sure once I got into it I'd be cursing away lol. I might be better off waiting to get into this once I have a house, idk. I need to watch some YouTube videos on setup. Like I said earlier...in this case I might be better off with the ole consumer setup. SB6183 and some router. Or just keep renting this one from Cox lol. I'm not too worried about software setup as I am having to run ethernet cables to some location in the ceiling. I'd have no idea how to do that correctly. I know I could likely just park the AP in the office on my desk, but I like to do things the right way I guess lol.

 

[denverpilot]

Well, then go for it if you like. They're good equipment. They're just... unintuitive.

I almost went with Ubiquiti this last time, but I bought the Linksys WRT3200ACM and wound up liking it. The situation was that I needed a router that could run DD-WRT, I needed it on a Sunday, the Archer C7 hadn't worked out (possibly not through any fault of its own), I didn't feel like driving two hours each way to Micro Center, Sam's Club is in the same shopping center as Walmart (where I had to go to return the C7 anyway), and I knew that Sam's Club would take the Linksys back with no hassle for 90 days if I didn't like it. I wound up loving it.

Mind you, I used to hate Linksys stuff. I thought sure I'd be returning it, but I was wrong. I guess they've gotten better since Cisco bought them.

Rich

That setup would be my second choice. I liked DD-WRT when I had it and needed it for some odd wireless routing/bridging at the old house.

(An AP with DD-WRT on each end of the link went to the stuff upstairs that needed public IPS carried all the way to it. The KAPA LiveATC feed also just happened to be up there too, and those APs just ran for years streaming 24/7 and never needed anything touched on them.)

 

[denverpilot]

I know I could likely just park the AP in the office on my desk, but I like to do things the right way I guess lol.

I do it all pretty and correctly at work, and at home there’s networking chit scattered all over my desk and the cradenza behind it because... it would be like going to work to get out the fish tape and put the crap where it belongs. LOL.

Same problem with my own web servers and stuff. They’re slapped up, set up to patch themselves, and ignored at home. Ha.

Doing IT work at home, blows. Especially if you work from home at times. Let’s see, we’ll clock out of “real work” and start working again... no... I’m going to the garage to break something or to the airport... haha.

 

[CC268]

I do it all pretty and correctly at work, and at home there’s networking chit scattered all over my desk and the cradenza behind it because... it would be like going to work to get out the fish tape and put the crap where it belongs. LOL.

Same problem with my own web servers and stuff. They’re slapped up, set up to patch themselves, and ignored at home. Ha.

Doing IT work at home, blows. Especially if you work from home at times. Let’s see, we’ll clock out of “real work” and start working again... no... I’m going to the garage to break something or to the airport... haha.

Yea..at this point I'm just gonna keep it simple with an arris modem and a router (not sure which one). Setting up a sweet home network sounds intriguing, but that is getting way over my head and I would likely need someone to come in an install the ethernet cable for me (who knows how much that would be).

 

[CC268]

Well, then go for it if you like. They're good equipment. They're just... unintuitive.

I almost went with Ubiquiti this last time, but I bought the Linksys WRT3200ACM and wound up liking it. The situation was that I needed a router that could run DD-WRT, I needed it on a Sunday, the Archer C7 hadn't worked out (possibly not through any fault of its own), I didn't feel like driving two hours each way to Micro Center, Sam's Club is in the same shopping center as Walmart (where I had to go to return the C7 anyway), and I knew that Sam's Club would take the Linksys back with no hassle for 90 days if I didn't like it. I wound up loving it.

Mind you, I used to hate Linksys stuff. I thought sure I'd be returning it, but I was wrong. I guess they've gotten better since Cisco bought them.

Rich

I guess I am just hesitant to spend $200 on a router for 50mbps internet speeds

 

[Hang 4]

I had a WRT1900 which was nothing but problems. Constantly needed to be rebooted, dropped connection etc. I tried open source firmware and it didn't help.
Switched to Google mesh about a year ago and haven't touched anything since. I know a lot of networking savvy folks don't like the lack of configurability, but if you just want to turn it on, set a password and forget about it, it's been great

 

[CC268]

Hell idk if you guys have seen the Ubiquiti AmpliFi system, but that looks like the way to go for a home user that doesn't want to setup an "enterprise" grade home network @denverpilot @RJM62

Or Netgear Orbi which is supposed to be even better.

 

[denverpilot]

Hell idk if you guys have seen the Ubiquiti AmpliFi system, but that looks like the way to go for a home user that doesn't want to setup an "enterprise" grade home network @denverpilot @RJM62

Or Netgear Orbi which is supposed to be even better.

Co-worker who isn’t techy at all has the Orbi and likes it, but it’s probably overkill for an apartment.

Forgot that Ubi has their own “mesh” system. Same problem, too much stuff for a small space, but now I’m thinking about it for my house. Haha.

 

[CC268]

Co-worker who isn’t techy at all has the Orbi and likes it, but it’s probably overkill for an apartment.

Forgot that Ubi has their own “mesh” system. Same problem, too much stuff for a small space, but now I’m thinking about it for my house. Haha.

My initial research shows the Orbi is the better product although they are both supposed to be very good.

 

[weilke]

I have a modem, a firewall and then a hardwired Ubiquity Pro on each floor of the house. In a condo, I would not go through the cost and effort of a Ubiquity installation. I'll just assume that one 1200sf condo is surrounded by many others like it. I would consider getting something like the basic sonicwall SoHo with a integrated access point to have a good grip of what is happening on your network.

 

[denverpilot]

I have a modem, a firewall and then a hardwired Ubiquity Pro on each floor of the house. In a condo, I would not go through the cost and effort of a Ubiquity installation. I'll just assume that one 1200sf condo is surrounded by many others like it. I would consider getting something like the basic sonicwall SoHo with a integrated access point to have a good grip of what is happening on your network.

Lordy I didn’t think of the low end SonicWalls. We had a lot of problems with one in commercial service but it was mostly because it was old and overloaded. We use them for remote sites at people’s houses for nailed up IPSEC tunnels and they work fine. Forgot they can be had with WiFi built in now. They’re decent little firewalls.

 

[CC268]

I have a modem, a firewall and then a hardwired Ubiquity Pro on each floor of the house. In a condo, I would not go through the cost and effort of a Ubiquity installation. I'll just assume that one 1200sf condo is surrounded by many others like it. I would consider getting something like the basic sonicwall SoHo with a integrated access point to have a good grip of what is happening on your network.

I agree...I think I've come to the conclusion that the Ubiquity setup is not the way to go for now.

 

[RJM62]

Yea..at this point I'm just gonna keep it simple with an arris modem and a router (not sure which one). Setting up a sweet home network sounds intriguing, but that is getting way over my head and I would likely need someone to come in an install the ethernet cable for me (who knows how much that would be).

Running Ethernet is no big deal. You need a drill, a screwdriver, a fish tape or rod (depending on the run), a hook to grab the cable out from inside the void, and a cable tester. Fish tapes can be had for about $15.00 if it's a short run. Inexpensive cable testers that check only for continuity, shorts, and crossed wires cost about $10.00 and are good enough for someone who doesn't run cable or diagnose faults for a living.

A helper also, well, helps; but they can be literally anyone. One person pulls, the other feeds and makes sure the cable doesn't kink. We're not talking rocket surgery here. It can also be done alone -- I've done plenty of cabling jobs alone -- but a helper makes it easier and faster, especially if the starting point isn't visible from the end point.

One thing that's very important, especially on a long run, is to test the cable before you run it. Temporarily crimp a connector on each end of the cable you intend to run and connect it to the tester before you bury it in the wall. Few things elicit cuss words so efficiently as realizing after you run a cable that there's a break or short in it somewhere.

Rich

 

[nauga]

Hell idk if you guys have seen the Ubiquiti AmpliFi system, but that looks like the way to go for a home user that doesn't want to setup an "enterprise" grade home network...

FWIW I have an AmpliFi system with a couple of extra access points ("mesh points") covering a sprawling two-story "house" and it's been flawless for a bit over a year (not long, but there you go). Absolutely painless to set up and manage. I was surprised at the coverage of the mesh, given the area I needed covered and what it has to penetrate.

Nauga,
meshy

 

[jsstevens]

I do it all pretty and correctly at work, and at home there’s networking chit scattered all over my desk and the cradenza behind it because... it would be like going to work to get out the fish tape and put the crap where it belongs. LOL.

Same problem with my own web servers and stuff. They’re slapped up, set up to patch themselves, and ignored at home. Ha.

Doing IT work at home, blows. Especially if you work from home at times. Let’s see, we’ll clock out of “real work” and start working again... no... I’m going to the garage to break something or to the airport... haha.

The shoemaker's children have no shoes, as the saying goes. Yep, me too. I do tech support at home but I hate tech support at home...

I'm ready to replace my router and modem as well. We have multiple 10's of second drop outs all over the house. Can't tell if it's the wireless Linksys I bought of the clearance rack at Sam's club a few years ago, the cable modem Spectrum supplied (well, Brighthouse before Spectrum bought them) or the crummy service from Spectrum in general. But there are only two choices for high speed internet where I live: Spectrum and Century Link.

The house is 3200 square feet and one level so it's spread out, which also may contribute. I get two semi-circles (they are not shaped like bars) of WiFi signal in the far reaches of the house. I've changed channels and a couple of other settings and gotten rid of some of the drop outs we used to have. Like the printer disappearing...

But the router's still got issues. Like the device table filling up with instances of the printer that it doesn't recognize as a printer. Same MAC and IP address. "Clearing the device table" (which is actually rebooting the router) "fixes" it for a day to a week, then they're back. Oh, and the parental control software in the router? Resets every 24 hours if you're not on the default 192.168.1.1 IP address. Known bug for years. Never fixed. I'm not bitter, much.

John