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IT Peeps - Combined router and modem

Discussion in 'General' started by Hyperdyne, Nov 23, 2022.

  1. Hyperdyne

    Hyperdyne Indy United SBK

    The household router is going bad and randomly loses signal and just overall has a mind of its own. Plus, it was installed in 2017 so it's due.

    Q1: I see at Best Buy they have combined router and modems. Is that system better or worse than a individual piece setup?

    Q2: My ex was a techy person and we have two networks in the house. One for all the devices and another for phones. I guess this is so the bandwidth doesn't get soaked up but there's only three of us here. Is this necessary?

    Thanks.
     
  2. Tristan

    Tristan Well-Known Member

    q1- I'm no expert but have had both setups and there's no practical difernce.

    q2- I do this for a living, and generally we prefer to have voice and data on separate networks (vlans) so that only the data goes thru the firewall (voice just has less issues that way).
     
    boxcrash likes this.
  3. Tristan

    Tristan Well-Known Member

    Beac should be along shortly to expound
     
  4. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    Depends on how reliable you like things and what you feel you need in feature set. If you are a bog standard user that just wants to surf the internet and not know anything else beyond that then knock yourself out with anything off the shelf from a box store. If you have a desire to do clever things and like your technology to do its job without having to be rebooted every 15 minutes then the combo boxes will just frustrate you.
     
    boxcrash, Once a Wanker.. and beac83 like this.
  5. Hyperdyne

    Hyperdyne Indy United SBK

    it’s been fairly reliable. I might have to reset every few months with the setup I had.
     
  6. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    I have my preferences and I almost never by combo devices when it comes to the network. I want routers to route, witches to switch and access points to wireless. You can do all that in single vendor, single interface management these days.

    Ubiquiti, TP-Link Omada and Engenius all play in that environment. If you want an all in one take a look at the Ubiquiti UDM - Unifi Dream Machine.
     
  7. notbostrom

    notbostrom DaveK broke the interwebs

    Get something you can mesh later if wanted or needed.
     
  8. beac83

    beac83 "My safeword is bananna"

    Yeah, what @Venom51 said.
     
    Once a Wanker.. likes this.
  9. pfhenry

    pfhenry Well-Known Member

    make sure the modem/ router is fast enough for the speed you pay for. ours modem/ router is 800mbps yet now we have 900mbps service... kind of a waste until we get a new one.
    If you have sheetrock or a lot of brick or concrete get an extender as well.
     
    Once a Wanker.. likes this.
  10. YamahaRick

    YamahaRick Yamaha Two Stroke Czar

    Make sure whatever you buy is approved by your carrier.
     
    Once a Wanker.. likes this.
  11. thrak410

    thrak410 My member is well known

    Where's the thumbs down? :p I hate "mesh" ... yeah lets reduce bandwidth everywhere! Sounds great!

    Another thumbs down... eff the carriers! Do what you want and whats best for you and your situation. One size fits all is what they offer, and it works for maybe 75% of the people. Until they get a taste of the good stuff :D
     
  12. auminer

    auminer Renaissance Redneck

    What's it matter when the beeb is slow as mole-asses?
     
    Sabre699 likes this.
  13. thrak410

    thrak410 My member is well known

    Thats only Sundays :crackup:
     
  14. boxcrash

    boxcrash Loading.....Please Wait

    Yep, I also totally agree.
    Especially when it comes to network traffic.

    Imagine one traffic cop trying to direct traffic to each respective area at a massive intersection where interstate traffic crosses, highway traffic, busy slower or faster moving bumper to bumper city traffic, pedestrian traffic, bicycle traffic all passes through.........all different types of vehicles or people along with all different speeds and volumes of traffic packed together, separated, etc.
    This is a combination device

    I would imagine if you broke down the circuitry and internals of the Ubiquiti UDM - Unifi Dream Machine, like the Pro, it is actually multiple hardware devices stacked and built into a single product with its own UI based management application.
     
  15. YamahaRick

    YamahaRick Yamaha Two Stroke Czar

  16. YoshiHNS

    YoshiHNS Mr. Slowly

    Up to a price point the combo units are fine. They will serve 90% of people no problem. If you are not a techy person, end your quest there.

    If you have poor wifi in part of the house, you can buy a wireless access point and use a network cable to connect it.

    If you do go separate, I think $80 is the bare minimum for a good modem, and $100 for a decent wifi6 router. Just beware that some routers now make you pay a subscription to use some features, which is complete bs.

    The only reason to separate wifi or network traffic is when you want devices to not be able to see each other. For example, I have a separate guest wifi that isolates each device on it. This way, people who come over have internet access but can't access my file servers or other devices. It has nothing to do with reducing the load on the router since everything has to go through it no matter what.

    Only other advice is since you're not an IT guy, don't do anything complicated.
     
  17. StaccatoFan

    StaccatoFan My 13 year old is faster than your President

    Don’t buy anything you don’t need. That opens you up to vulnerability you also don’t need.
     

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