Any Reason To Use A Separate Router Than The One Built Into The Cable Modem?

[RogerThat99]

I have Comcast / Xfinity. They provided a new cable modem that has a built in Wifi Router. I have always used a separate wireless router.

Is there any reason NOT to use the one built into the modem?

Is there any benefit to using a separate router?


Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[squirtnmyload]

I just went with xfinity also (fuck verizon fios) and the one thing i noticed about the xfinity router is that there is another signal being broadcast as a hotspot for other xfinity customers. I called to ask about the security of this, and any speed reductions to what i'm paying for and they assured me that there would be no problems with either.

 

[squirtnmyload]

So as an xfinity customer, you will automatically be able to get on wireless for free anywhere someone has xfinity.

It will come up on your phone/device as "xfinitywifi"

 

[spectracular]

I have Comcast / Xfinity. They provided a new cable modem that has a built in Wifi Router. I have always used a separate wireless router.

Is there any reason NOT to use the one built into the modem?

Is there any benefit to using a separate router?


Thanks in advance for your input.

Control. The modem only has so much cpu power. When you ask it to perform router duty, as well as modem duty it cannot dedicate as much resources as it would if it only had one job. There should be a firewall in there too. This is essentially what keeps you safe from the outside eyes. By building your own , or using separate boxes, you can configure more precisely what can and cannot get through and and what pace. For instance, I use VOIP for phone. I have VOIP traffic given a higher priority than let's say email. I only have so much bandwidth and want to use it efficiently.


Hope this helps

 

[RogerThat99]

the one thing i noticed about the xfinity router is that there is another signal being broadcast as a hotspot for other xfinity customers. I called to ask about the security of this, and any speed reductions to what i'm paying for and they assured me that there would be no problems with either.

I saw that when I was reading up on it. I am not crazy about someone using my router as an access point. I wonder how that works with your IP address? Are they using their own IP address or using yours? I don't know much about it.

Paging C-2 and Forensic.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

I used to run a separate Linksys router for one reason really, if I dumped my internet service and went with another provider, all I had to do was plug in the router and not have to change all the settings on my devises. Came in handy a couple of times. Then my old router died and I just went with the Xfinity box for now.

 

[squirtnmyload]

I saw that when I was reading up on it. I am not crazy about someone using my router as an access point. I wonder how that works with your IP address? Are they using their own IP address or using yours? I don't know much about it.

Paging C-2 and Forensic.

Yeah, i would like to hear what a pro thinks other than the xfinity people.

 

[sergeantmike]

Went through this recently... Suddenlink kicked up bandwidth here in Havasu and part of the upgrade was a 2nd modem dedicated to internet. Original modem just runs phone now. Inbound upgraded cable splits in the house and feeds both modems and then I couple that to a Netgear Router to feed the hardwired things in the house.

Internet speed is very good, phone is clear and WIFI security based on my router password.

Do I understand how all this works? No way... but it works so I got that going for me:thumbsup

 

[C-2]

I know the quality of these devices sucks these days - I was changing out Motorola modems about every 6 months before I switched my account over to a business account.

Leasing the modems made switching them out possible - if I had bought my own modem off the shelf at BestBuy - I would have been SOL.

Because of the shitty quality of modems/routers these days, I would lease one as opposed to buying one. Even a Cisco 4500 tanked after about 18 months...as opposed to its grandfather, the Linksys 54G which is about 15 years old and still works like a charm.

If you run just basic services, like a home network, I'm not sur ethere is any downside to a router/modem combo. If on the other hand, you use a separate modem and router, then it's kind of like having twin motors - twice the potential for something failing, and as you know, troubleshooting connectivity issues sucks ass. At least with a leased modem/router combo, you could swap the unit out fairly painlessly.

If you want to run a separate router... if the Xfinity/Comcast modem is set to bridge mode, then you should be able to use your existing router without any worries. If you want granular control over your devices, then you can buy a router with DD-WRT, which has QoS so you can control data like Spectracular does (VOIP, email pport 25 if you use an email client like desktop Outlook, SSH, and several other services).

They sent me a business class Ubee DDW365 modem/router unit - but the router interface is locked down, which makes trying to control it useless. I researched it and found the router is locked down to bridge mode, which opens the door for plugging in another router without worrying about 2 routers fighting for control, double NAT etc. So now, on 1 port of the Ubee modem, I use a Buffalo router with factory installed DD-WRT, which I really don't tweak much. On another Ubee modem port, I do my shady crap behind a Netscreen 5GT Firewall appliance, which is outdated by about 10 years, but serves its purpose, and is on its own separate internal network.

The Xifnity hotspot - W-T-F? - disabling that "feature" would be a priority. As you correctly suspect, somebody could use that connection to surf kiddie porn, and it would be your public facing IP address that shows up on the other side. Skids are all about that too - using their neighbors wifi connections to hack and do other bad stuff.

 

[Patyacht]

If you are going to use the service provider's modem/router you will be leasing for about $10/mo so if you buy your own after X months you will be free and clear. But more importantly, look at the providers restrictions they build into their Modem/routers. For example SuddenDeath aka SuddenLink restricts their Modem/routers to 20 IP addresses. In this day with the automated home it is really easy to exceed 20 IP addresses. Thus not all devices requiring ip addresses will get them. You can force them on then another device will be dropped. You leave home with your phone and tablet then other devices will get on the network then you come home and bingo your phone/table or both can't get on. Typically a 3rd party home router gives you 253 usable ip addresses of the 254 total. 1 is used by the router.

P.S. When I talked to SuddenDeath about this issue they do not care. It's their way of restricting data I believe.

 

[C-2]

I For example SuddenDeath aka SuddenLink restricts their Modem/routers to 20 IP addresses. In this day with the automated home it is really easy to exceed 20 IP addresses. Thus not all devices requiring ip addresses will get them. You can force them on then another device will be dropped. You leave home with your phone and tablet then other devices will get on the network then you come home and bingo your phone/table or both can't get on. Typically a 3rd party home router gives you 253 usable ip addresses of the 254 total. 1 is used by the router.

P.S. When I talked to SuddenDeath about this issue they do not care. It's their way of restricting data I believe.

I've never heard of that, wow.

Typically you are assigned 1 IP address. With a router, you have the full 65,536 address range (192 only, you also have 10 and 172 ranges which are big numbers) available for internal IP addressing (devices connected to your router) via DHCP.

So they encode their firmware to limit DHCP to 20 addresses? WTH?

Some fun IP facts....
We are out of IPv4 addresses, all 4 billion of them. That's why my "dynamic" IP address has not changed for the past 2 years.

The new IPv6 addressing scheme is so big....some comparisons include...

......many, many more IPv6 addresses as there are grains of sand on earth....

more addresses than can be found in every cell in every human on earth....

more address than raindrops that have ever fallen on earth,

or simply,

47,261,439,850,130,342,147,690,917,698 IP addresses FOR EACH HUMAN ON EARTH! Come on Suddenlink! :swear:yikes

The actual number is:

340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

 

[rivermobster]

That's pretty f'n crazy...