New Router needed for Time Warner Cable internet

[Mianake]

Hi


I confess, like another user below, to being sort of bewildered by the options out there, and don't really understand the technical aspects of routers etc. I am in Los Angeles, with ATT DSL 3 mps and no idea if Uverse will ever make it here. Plan to switch to TIme Warner Cable 50 mbps down. Have a combo NEtgear router;modem with a Netgear WNA 3100 adapter on my pc and the speed shown on Network is usually around 104 during the day. Recently got 2 iphone 5c, 2 verizon android tablets, and wife has laptop. only two of us in house, neither games, wife says she can't really watch movies, connection too slow. Two story house, about 3800 sq ft trouble getting good connection upstairs, tho the wifi extender has helped. When I now upload to cloud, it pretty much chokes off other activity.

I would hope I will find the speed increase inpressive when I go from 3 to 50 (even if I am only getting half of either). It seems to me I want

1. reliability, i would rather sacrifice a bit of speed etc to avoid devices taht seem to drop a lot, tho that may be a uniform feature

2. Range. I don't really understand how the various routers vary in that respect, it seems they increase speed, or throughput as you go up the ladder in price, but not sure how that impacts range.


I had pretty much planned to get the Motorola SB 6141, and Netgear AC 1900 Nighthawk (or ASUSRT-AC68U), though I still don't really understand if I need AC 1900. And I am troubled by customer reviews - while the bulk are 5 stars, a surprising number for each are 1s since they say the device starts dropping the network.

Some other points of confusion

!. Mr Higgens in the 2015 buying guide suggests AC 1900, yet in earlier review of the two first ones, suggested it was more than most folks need, and the difference between 1900 and 1750 was irrelevant for most of us.

2. I still don't get what these impressive speeds do if my interenet connection is 50. I admit I don't know what I don't know, but I don't think I care about our devices speaking to each other very much.

Lastly, will the WNA 3100 adapter work, or do I need something else. Seems like the
TP-LINK TL-PA4010KIT AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit, up to 500Mbps is a big seller and inexpensive.


Thanks much for making it thru this longwinded question.

 

[L&LD]

I would recommend the RT-AC68U with the latest RMerlin firmware (currently 378.51).

The original / older reviews of AC1900 class device recommendations was a nod to their 'beta' status at that time. Tim has eaten his hat in a later article.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/does-an-ac-router-improve-n-device-performance.19533/


The adaptor you have should work, but you might see better reliability and performance with these more current models.

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Catego...ort=ReviewScoreDesc&PageSize=40&ViewMode=Icon

The first 6 or 7 in the link above may give you substantially higher performance with an AC1900 class router than what you currently have.

Powerline adaptors are something I personally shun. Too many situations make them unreliable or inconsistent. Like simply putting a load of clothes to dry in a dryer.

With your large home, the location of the router will make a huge difference in the available throughput of your most used devices. You may have to also setup an AP on the other floor (again; in a central location) to have the best coverage possible.

Consider also using the hggomes fork which offers the highest possible Tx power for supported Asus routers, while also being built on the latest available RMerlin firmware. The RT-AC68U with this firmware may be all you need to fully cover your home wirelessly and with the throughput demanded of your network by you and your wife.


The new ISP level of service should help with choking your connection when uploading to the cloud.

A new AC1900 class or higher router will ensure that you get as much of that newfound speed to all your devices, whether wired or wireless.

 

[stevech]

U-verse. Just say no.

OP's first sentence says he's not geeky-savy, so let's over promoted the fancy stuff.

I suggest that spending more on an '11AC router is not prudent unless you do a lot of PC to PC big file transfers. Or Time Warner sells you 100Mbps or more. ($$$$).
I have TWC at 5/30 and have used several $50-100 routers chosen carefully (read that no Netgear, D-Link, and no-names). All worked well and never needed rebooting. I lease my modem from TWC so they can't finger-point as they love to do, and then charge you $50 for "no trouble found - might be customer-owned equipment at fault"

 

[L&LD]

Nothing fancy here. Proven and stable AC1900 class router with additional care taken by RMerlin with his fine tooth comb to remove even more bugs and annoyances where possible.

 

[sfx2000]

U-verse. Just say no.

OP's first sentence says he's not geeky-savy, so let's over promoted the fancy stuff.

If U-Verse is Fiber to the Curb, then it's pretty awesome, very comparable to Verizon's FIOS - if it's xDSL, then it's really down to how far away from the CO or concentrated DSLAM.

 

[jegesq]

Let's see if I can help you out. I'm also in Los Angeles and am a TWC subscriber on their 300/20 tier. TWC has many different plans, and if all you're going to do is upgrade to their 50/5 plan, you have several choices about what kind of equipment you want to use.

Your post is somewhat all over the map, and I think you will find it more helpful if you focus on modems and routers separately, and then focus on client devices.

Hi
I am in Los Angeles, with ATT DSL 3 mps and no idea if Uverse will ever make it here. Plan to switch to TIme Warner Cable 50 mbps down. Have a combo NEtgear router;modem with a Netgear WNA 3100 adapter on my pc and the speed shown on Network is usually around 104 during the day. Recently got 2 iphone 5c, 2 verizon android tablets, and wife has laptop. only two of us in house, neither games, wife says she can't really watch movies, connection too slow. Two story house, about 3800 sq ft trouble getting good connection upstairs, tho the wifi extender has helped. When I now upload to cloud, it pretty much chokes off other activity.

You don't mention what Netgear combo modem/router you're using so no way to evaluate it and whether you need to upgrade at all.

First though, if you're going to switch to TWC, I hope you realize you do not need to buy your own modem. You can lease one for about $5 per month and do just fine with it. If you want to buy the SB6121 or the Netgear CMD31T are the only one's that are approved at the low-end of the spectrum. And if you're only going to use a 50/5 plan, you don't need anything more expensive than these (and that would include the 6141 or the 6183, both of which would be overkill for your intended speeds). So either lease the modem from TWC or get one of these two, but don't overspend for something you're not going to need (you will only be bonding 4 channels down, so you don't need an 8x4 or 16x4 modem).

I would hope I will find the speed increase inpressive when I go from 3 to 50 (even if I am only getting half of either). It seems to me I want
1. reliability, i would rather sacrifice a bit of speed etc to avoid devices taht seem to drop a lot, tho that may be a uniform feature
2. Range. I don't really understand how the various routers vary in that respect, it seems they increase speed, or throughput as you go up the ladder in price, but not sure how that impacts range.

I had pretty much planned to get the Motorola SB 6141, and Netgear AC 1900 Nighthawk (or ASUSRT-AC68U), though I still don't really understand if I need AC 1900. And I am troubled by customer reviews - while the bulk are 5 stars, a surprising number for each are 1s since they say the device starts dropping the network.

You don't "need" AC1900, and a good AC1750 router will work just fine. For several years, I've been using an ASUS AC66U as my principal router with my 300/20 internet service, and I get great range, and terrific speeds (I have about 18-25 devices connected at any one time). Rock solid. If you want to spend more money, then go with an AC1900 router, like the RT-AC68U, which is a very stable, solid router. But again, for the light sort of use you're planning on, you don't need to spend the money on anything more.

Some other points of confusion

!. Mr Higgens in the 2015 buying guide suggests AC 1900, yet in earlier review of the two first ones, suggested it was more than most folks need, and the difference between 1900 and 1750 was irrelevant for most of us.

Not confusing at all. You will not notice any difference in terms of real world performance between a 1750 or 1900 if all you're using it for is light browsing, some modest file transfers and watching videos online.

2. I still don't get what these impressive speeds do if my interenet connection is 50. I admit I don't know what I don't know, but I don't think I care about our devices speaking to each other very much.

By "impressive speeds" I assume you are referring to throughput and physical link layer connection speeds. Again, if all you're using a router for is to route basic internet traffic, and you're not doing LAN file transfers, then it will not have much real meaning for you in the real world.

Lastly, will the WNA 3100 adapter work, or do I need something else. Seems like the
TP-LINK TL-PA4010KIT AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit, up to 500Mbps is a big seller and inexpensive.

I think you're confused. Your WNA3100 is a USB an 802.11n 300Mbps adapter (meaning it's two streams) that will continue to work with any new ac-class router you buy. It only works only on the 2.4ghz band, but it will continue to work. You could do better with an 802.11ac USB adapter with a new router, but the speed gains might not even be noticeable if you're using a 50/5 plan.

Powerline is an entirely different concept for connecting a client device to a router, so I don't know why you would mention it in the same sentence as the WNA3100.