jbow
One more question... for now. I think I have it narrowed down to either a Netgear N900 or N6300. I am leaning toward the N6300 and possibly setting up a bridge with two 6300s (I have been reading too). I hope you will tell me if I am missing something obvious. If one or both have a built in modem and I can just disconnect my current modem and use the Netgear and it will work, then OK. I am just tired of things not working and am ready to do whatever I need to do to stream video and music, run 3 or 4 laptops, 4 smartphones, an ipod touch, and maybe three iPads.. and a BluRay, Onkyo A/V receiver, and who knows what else. The 6300 says it will run up to 12 devices and bridged several, like thr BluRay, TV, and A/V will be hardwired... and I assume I will have mo betta wireless by having two routers bridged... but I know not this.
Of course I will try one first and if everything works well then I will stay with one.
Is my thinking flawed?? I appreciate the help and you are very helpful!
Julien
Understand that this is a bit beyond anything I have set up yet, but your scenario is going to be the norm in the near future. So some of this is an educated guess, based on what I do know. I like the plan with two routers bridged. I don't see a version of the R6300 with a built-in cable modem. It does have the gigabit ethernet port for connecting to a cable modem.
Which brings up another question. What modem do you have?
Does it support docsis3? If it does, it will most likely say so on the label.
If it doesn't say anything, it is most likely docsis2, and will not fully take advantage of greater bandwidth from your provider.
We are looking at two things here.
1. Maximizing bandwidth (via the modem and your ISP, which is Comcast).
2. Getting the most effective and reliable distribution of that bandwith via the router(s).
On #1: I see Comcast offers a 50Mbps plan and a 105Mbps plan.
Either of these would allow 1 active modem on your account, assuming their structure is similar to Charter. A second modem would require paying for two internet services.
I do have customers who are doing that. Currently, Charter is including the modem with the service (on new accounts), so there is no extra lease. I'd check with Comcast to see if they may be doing the same. There is no competition between cable providers. In any given area, you will only have access to one provider. It's not a monopoly thing. It has to do with the complexities of delivering the signal through the physical system.
At any rate, 50Mbps is a lot of bandwidth. Verify that your modem is up to snuff.
Run some speed tests on a computer physically connected to the modem. Wireless connections will always be a bit slower.
Downstream should be 40 or better. Upstream will probably be around 4.
If you see that, your modem is probably ok and the cable system should be in good shape.
On 2: Two routers should give you awesome distribution. You would connect the yellow ethernet port of the second to one of the 4 outputs of the first.
Both routers will have unique SSIDs. Netgears come with a default SSID and password already set up, and I am comfortable using them.
I don't believe they will act as one network, but what you are really looking for is internet access for several individual devices, so I don't think that will be an issue.
If it turns out you need a second modem for increased bandwidth, you will have most of what you need already.
If nothing else, those 6300's look future proof for quite some time.
Keep us posted as this develops.