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Ravenwoods's avatar
Ravenwoods
New Contributor
11 years ago
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Upgrade modem to DOCSIS 3.0 - modem and rounter questions and capatiblity

I need to upgrade my old SB5120 modem to a DOCSIS 3.0.  I work at home for a major corporation - and need to have very fast internet speed.

1. Does anyone have any suggestions as to getting a new SB, Cisco or Netgear?  (preference or differences in brands?)

2. I also have a Netgear WNDR3400 and I'd like to upgrade that as well. The "fastest" and seemingly the most preferred seems to be the Netgear R7000 or the Asus RT-AC68U - but I don't want to just buy the "fastest" - if I cannot take advantage of the speed.  Should I really be looking at slower (and less expensive) routers?  AND - are there compatiblity issues I need to consider? 

3. And - I currently have Premier service.  For all practical matters - what would be the advantage to upgrading to Ultimate?  I don't do gaming and very little streaming (some via Roku) - but DO need to be able to download as fast as I possbly can.

Thanks for any support and help you can provide!

  • Health_Edge's avatar
    Health_Edge
    11 years ago

    Tiffany offers good advice, but Im a huge nerd, so I want to chime in too. :-)

    1. I would suggest the SB6180. The problem is they are hard to find, but they have the best diagnostics. ONLY buy it from Cox. Don't buy 2nd hand. If you cant find that go with the SB6141 which comes with a free DIR-615. Router is junk, but its good enough to have as a backup incase of hardware failure (storm, etc). 

    2. For router I would go with the RT-N66U. The RT-AC68U is good, but I doubt you have many (if any) Wifi AC devices, so its probably more router then you need. The RT-N66U is the best Wifi N router out on the market, period. It's firmware features are almost specifically design for Small business applications. If your in a rush, and need something you can by from Bestbuy, then get the RT-N66R. Only difference is R is for retail and cost 150$. 

    3.I would need more data to be sure, but I think your fine with Premier. Ultimate is an expensive upgrade and requires a Professional Install. If money doesn't matter, sure, go for it. If not, how large are the files usually your downloading/uploading? How many of them do you send?  how are you sending them? If your VPN bottlenecks the connection (which it may) there would be no point increasing your tier.

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  • Ravenwoods's avatar
    Ravenwoods
    New Contributor
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the info.  In the list of modems, I can purchase these at various retailers - correct?  And if I do - is there an issue with firmware updates that Cox will push to ISP-owned devices vs. consumer purchased devices?

  • Health_Edge's avatar
    Health_Edge
    Valued Contributor III
    11 years ago

    Tiffany offers good advice, but Im a huge nerd, so I want to chime in too. :-)

    1. I would suggest the SB6180. The problem is they are hard to find, but they have the best diagnostics. ONLY buy it from Cox. Don't buy 2nd hand. If you cant find that go with the SB6141 which comes with a free DIR-615. Router is junk, but its good enough to have as a backup incase of hardware failure (storm, etc). 

    2. For router I would go with the RT-N66U. The RT-AC68U is good, but I doubt you have many (if any) Wifi AC devices, so its probably more router then you need. The RT-N66U is the best Wifi N router out on the market, period. It's firmware features are almost specifically design for Small business applications. If your in a rush, and need something you can by from Bestbuy, then get the RT-N66R. Only difference is R is for retail and cost 150$. 

    3.I would need more data to be sure, but I think your fine with Premier. Ultimate is an expensive upgrade and requires a Professional Install. If money doesn't matter, sure, go for it. If not, how large are the files usually your downloading/uploading? How many of them do you send?  how are you sending them? If your VPN bottlenecks the connection (which it may) there would be no point increasing your tier.

  • Ravenwoods's avatar
    Ravenwoods
    New Contributor
    11 years ago

    Health Edge - thx for the advice.  I cannot find the 6180 (found a couple used ones??) - so I'll go with the 6141.  And I looked at some info on the RT-N66U - we're generally partial to ASUS - so this sounds like a good fit.  I do not know what an AC device is - so guessing I do not have one. 

    I typically login to many corporate applications (some very slowly) - and also download large spreadsheets (5m or less).  So hopefully, I'll be much speedier fairly soon!  Thx again!