Cable modem or router

[dexgreen]

Hi all,

This is a followup to my prior question today ... I have a desktop which is hardwired and a laptop which I need wireless for. My question is: Should I get a cable modem with wireless capability instead of getting both a cable modem and a separate router. The reason for this is that I will only be hardwiring my desktop so why get a wireless with many ports that I will never use.

Yesterday I got a Motorola Extreme Cable Modem Docsis 3.0 (have not opened it yet) and also a Asus AC68R router (also not opened yet). I am thinking of replacing them with a solid cable modem with wireless. I assume that I can simply press a button on the cable modem to disable wireless as I do not like having wireless on all the time.

Bottom line: If I do not care about how good the wireless connection is to my laptop (I only care about the speed on my hardwired desktop), am I better off just buying one device (cable modem with wireless) instead of getting both a router and a cable modem. Any recommendations on the best cable modem with wireless assuming I have a solid computer with Comcast Extreme 105 as my ISP ?

Thanks again,
Derrick

 

[sinshiva]

i'd like to think that the ISP would give you a modem/router combo that would have the required NAT performance, but i doubt it. you'll more than likely get better wired performance with dedicated devices

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
What I have seen on modem/router combo, router is less robust, wireless is not dual band, unless you bridge it, you get performance hit with double NAT. My modem has router but I didn't even bother looking at it, I just asked my ISP tech support to download different f/w to put it to bridge mode permanently and I have been using my own router. R7000 with dd-wrt f/w. B4 I used RT-N66U, RT-AC66U, both of them just
worked fine for my family's needs. My priority is stability, I am not shooting for speed demon. Life is short, why hurry? It is nice to be retired comfortably, LOL!

 

[L&LD]

TonyH,

Life is short; why not let the machines hurry?

With the ISP connection you have, I would be opening up the new toys and only if they didn't meet your expectations (doubtful) would I even consider an ISP supplied modem/router combo.

 

[TonyH]

OT;
L&LD, really I myself am slowing down now. Mind is going at 100mph+ but body is going at 60mph, LOL! I am on the wrong side of 70, age wise. Not even a major user of our home network. I am just handy man for it. On other hobbies, I used to do 50wpm on CW in HAM radio, now comfy at 30wpm. I resigned from first chair euphonium section in our community concert band. I am in "Take it easy mode"