I have Comcast Xfinity Blast at the family beach house, with the rental modem. At the annual beach party, there were 13 people each with a phone and a mini or a lap top, around 20 devices plus the TV. I was going to stream all the music for the party but it was a frustrating experience when the I guess the wifi got over loaded and the music stopped; other people were having issues all the time too. I sort of anticipated the problem and also had an older modem hooked into the cable modem but the devices seemed to opt for the strongest signal. Or sometimes it looked like the device couldn't even see the Comcast modem. I guess this is the future and I need to prep for my 6 nephews to be there next week. What modem should I get to run 25 devices, compatible with the Comcast system? Seems like $120 is doable to replace a $10 a month rental fee. I assume this is becoming an issue for a lot of people with data heavy roommates.
With most routers you can login to the settings control panel and limit bandwidth to certain computers connected to it. Thus you can set higher priority to your computer or the main computer.
There's usually an option to make a guest wifi. Connect the important stuff to the regular wifi, and make guests use the guest wifi.
I think you are getting your modem / router terms mixed up. These days most modems that ISPs rent to you also contains a router thus adding to the confusion. You issue is mostly likely with the internet bandwidth (and not your wireless connections). 1. don't plug in another router so close to your existing one. If anything you made the situation worse by adding another channel of wireless interference. 2. you need to limit bandwidth to the wireless guest network. If your comcast router is not capable of doing that, then you would need to invest in a wireless router that can. I am not sure if there's a modem + wireless router combo that does it.
After re-reading, I agree with this. What you need is to a) Buy your own Modem (Device that connects to cable line to make internet) and b) Buy a better Router with multiple antennas. I rock a Motorola Surfboard SB 6121 DOCSIS 3.0 as a Modem and an Asus RT-N16 Router. Granted, both are a couple of years old and there may be better/newer products out there right now but I've had a lot more than 20 devices on them at once without issue.
I agree with xerobull. The best practice is to get a modem with separate router for distributing signals. Surfboard SB6183 is a great modem that will handle the internet speed boosts a lot of areas are seeing (up to 300mb/s down). I am in need of a router upgrade myself, maybe someone else will recommend one.
I agree with what everyone has said. Make sure whatever modem you get, it has at least eight downstream channels to take advantage of the speeds you actually pay for. I use the SB6141; it is a nice middle ground between the other two modems mentioned Also, a simple solution would be looking at the layout of your house and seeing if the router is positioned in an ideal location.
Check with Comcast, they were switching out all modems for upgrades. They might be issuing docsys 3.0 modems which could help. You could also be experiencing trouble with the Comcast dns servers which are crap. On your music device try pointing the dns server to 8.8.8.8. Really connecting that many devices has more to do with the router than anything else. Should get a dual band router and place your main devices on the 5.0 and allow guests to feed off of the 2.4. Your router may just need a hard reset as well. Hope some of this helps.
So this one Arris/Comcast black box that came with the system is a modem and a router? And I need to replace it with the two items above? Since the X1 box is a cloud based DVR system are there any compatability issues I need to consider? Will it pair up automatically or will I need to program one or the other?
The one next to me here at the house is: TG862G/GT. It looks just like the one at the beach on the outside, Comcast standard. DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem - Requires Comcast Internet Service. Capable of Internet download speeds up to 320 Mbps and upload speeds up to 120 Mbps based on your Comcast provided service. Supports both IPv4 and IPv6 802.11n Wi-Fi Router on 2.4GHz (Backwards compatible with 802.11b/g) and 4-port Gigabit Ethernet Router Supports 2 Voice Lines, Comcast Xfinity service required. Ideal for streaming HD Video and gaming on multiple devices at a time USB 2.0 Host Port Advanced MIMO antenna configuration for optimal throughput and coverage
Correct. It's a modem and router all in one. If you get your own modem (Motorola SB6141 should be fine) and your own router, you will get better performance, and you'll save the $7 monthly Comcast rental fee. It will not interfere with your X1 box. However, I would strongly advise that before you buy any equipment, that you isolate your problem to being a wireless one, and not something else. I would plug in an ethernet cable into the modem/router combo and see your hour internet performs
I think your combo modem/router is probably fine. It'll cost $200 or more to replace it with a separate modem and router. One thing you can do is try enabling the router's QOS engine to give priority to your main devices and limit the priority of your guest devices. People use it to give priority to gaming machines or streaming devices. Another thing you can do is add a 2nd cheaper(dummy) router connected by Ethernet cable to the main router as a WAP(wireless access point). The 2nd router shares the same cable bandwidth as the 1st router, but users get better connection speeds because they're closer to one of your routers. I have my modem and main router in my basement and then converted my phone lines to Ethernet connections by changing the connector wiring. I added a 2nd router on the first floor opposite side of the house and I have a switch in the "computer" room above my garage for hard wired connections but I could add another router up there too. The key is to setup the routers to use fixed channels so they both don't try to use the same channels.
Keep your modem, buy a new router. Turn off Modem's Wifi functionality. Use new Router to distribute your signal. Also, maybe Comcast itself was facing issues with the increased bandwidth usage over a long weekend.
His modem is fine. He needs to turn off ROUTING on the modem, and then find a good wireless router with bandwidth limiting.
I highly recommend the Asus RT-N66U wireless router. The thing is a damn work horse. Reliable and fast.
Use a wired connection. There is only much bandwidth in the air and many people trying to talk at the same times cause congestion.
I ordered an ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router, refurb for $88. I'll hook it up by ethernet to the Comcast modem, unhook the old netgear and try to turn off the Comcast wifi. Thanks guys
I still think you need to keep using the built in wifi with updated priority settings along with your new router setup in a different part of the house to get better coverage. The Asus router you got is fine but it's a few generations behind(came out in 2011) the latest router technology so it probably would work better sharing the workload with your current modem/router combo. Newer(more expensive) routers support faster wifi standards and usually have faster cpus and possibly more memory.
