Cable Internet Question

[daepp]

Why not a booster? My cable modem/router/wireless is 30 days old.

[MysticLlama]

As far as I know, there isn't really such a thing that just passively takes the signal and boosts it and rebroadcasts, so you have to integrate it into the network.

This adds a layer of complexity and latency. It may not be too big of a deal I guess, but I haven't seen people have a lot of luck with them.

If you have something current, is there a possibility of just relocating it to a more central place?

[TimT]

I had a similar dilemma, I wanted to put a TV in my kitchen, and have the install take up a very small footprint.. so I wall mounted a LED flatscreen on a tilt swivel wall mount.

I didn't want to have another STB in the kitchen and didn't want to run wires etc... my house has a stucco exterior, and the interior walls are plaster over wood lath...running wires through walls is a bit of and undertaking.

I got a HDMI splitter from Monoprice and a wireless HDMI transmitter from Brite-view it works really well, havent had any problems with dropped signal, etc..

Additionally I have an app for my Droid which allows me to control the STB over my Wi-fi...

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by MysticLlama

As far as I know, there isn't really such a thing that just passively takes the signal and boosts it and rebroadcasts, so you have to integrate it into the network.

This adds a layer of complexity and latency. It may not be too big of a deal I guess, but I haven't seen people have a lot of luck with them.

If you have something current, is there a possibility of just relocating it to a more central place?

I have 2 of these from Linksys. It is a "Wireless G Range Extender". Model is WRE54G.

[daepp]

How do they work Red Beard?

[red-beard]

Functionally, they make a new AP on a different channel.

In reality, they do work, but sometimes I had problems accessing some local network devices. Printers and drives were fine, but I couldn't access my HAVA streaming video system.

They do work beautifully if you're mostly just surfing/accessing e-mail.

[JavaBrewer]

I have TW cable and modem (Motorola) is not wireless. So...my configuration today is a new Netgear N600 wireless router plugged into the single wired LAN out of the TW modem. My work PC and supporting servers (all 2nd floor) are plugged (LAN) into the wireless router. The remainder of the home (1st floor home PC & blue ray player, 2nd floor PS3, and random smartphones) are wireless.

My issue is that the downstairs PC is temperamental with getting a connection and the LG blueray player refuses to download updates unless it is wired. So I am interested in the NG Powerline (through the homes existing AC wiring)...but I have heard that speeds are slow...slower than wireless. I was considering hiring out the pull of LAN wires from my attic to the first floor. I guess that will cost $200+ so what make more sense...pulling the wires or going with the Powerline stuff? Sorry to pile onto this thread but I believe it is relevant to the OP.

[stomachmonkey]

I'd pick cable whenever possible.

[campbellcj]

I have a similar setup as well - TWC Motorola cable modem w/ integrated router and wireless access point. I hard-wired everything that's stationary in that area including my desktop PC, NAS, PS3, AT&T microcell, etc. Lots of gizmos in two separate spots so I pulled a single Cat6 and put a gigabit switch in the second spot. Laptops, phones and ipads as well as the upstairs Apple TV run on the wireless no problem.

I would either go wireless or pull some ethernet cable vs. a powerline or other solution, which I've heard mixed reports about.

Previously I used a Linksys wireless range extender same as James (Red Beard) mentions but it is no longer necessary with the newer wireless routers, and was only 802.11G whereas the newer stuff is 802.11N (faster if your client devices support it - Apple TV does).

[MysticLlama]

802.11n also has the side benefit of usually having way better range than g for a given power level for whatever reason.

But if all of the equipment is 30 days old, it may be n already?

Maybe it's just about shuffling the location.

[mikester]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

We get the internet from Time Warner Cable. It works great, but in another part of the house I want to hook my home entertainment (Apple's iTV has an ethernet in connection) to the internet. At that location I have the legacy coax connection. Can I hook up a separate cable modem here to get connectivity for my home theater? Can you have two modems at one house? And would you have to pay a monthly fee for that second modem, or could you just buy an aftermarket modem.

And info would be appreciate.

David

Having built most of the TWC Cable modem network back in the early 00's I think I might be able to give you some answers.

You can't go out and just buy another modem. I'm not sure TWC even lets you use your own modem these days. Back when I was managing the modems we did not.

You CAN have more than one modem in the house but why run that extra wire and pay that additional cost when you could just have an Ethernet run from where you're existing router is to where you want the new device to connect.

You probably plug the modem into a router, if it isn't a wireless router you should get one of those. I'm not sure Apple's iTV supports wireless or not. IF not you can always buy a wireless bridge. This is like a wireless network adapter but instead of being a USB connection it will connect to the device you want wireless via a standard Ethernet cable. To the iTV it'll look like it's on Ethernet but the bridge will connect to your wireless network.

If you can run an ethernet you'll get much more predictible performance but 802.11n is quite good so if you have a quality router and good signal the bridge will probably be fine.

Personally - I have most of my house wired with Ethernet.

If you're in one of the areas that was adelphia previously I did not do those.

[red-beard]

Newegg has power line adapters on sale...

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[rnln]

It's Cable modem -> switch -> router -> PC
|
laptop
The laptop is pluging directly into the switch. This is temporarily because the second router is bad and I have not getting a new one yet. PC is ok now, but laptop is very slow. Strange thing is when I do speedtest, the speed on the laptop doesn't show that low.

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

rnin,

If the cable modem is just a simple broadband modem with no routing capability then the proper configuration would be.

modem->router->switch

I read you have it as

modem->switch-> router.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I had cable and recently ditched it for not-as-fast (but MUCH cheaper) standard DSL through the local phone company (I wanted to cut the cord completely with Comcast - they suck, but I digress).

Long story short I have a Motorola Surfboard Extreme wireless router (top-of-the-line, in the box, works perfectly) that I was going to list on CL for $100. If you want it, PM me. It's an excellent router and should work with Time Warner.

Price negotiable - I just don't need it and would like to get something for it (I paid $140 or so about 5 months ago IIRC).

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I had cable and recently ditched it for not-as-fast (but MUCH cheaper) standard DSL through the local phone company (I wanted to cut the cord completely with Comcast - they suck, but I digress).

Long story short I have a Motorola Surfboard Extreme wireless router (top-of-the-line, in the box, works perfectly) that I was going to list on CL for $100. If you want it, PM me. It's an excellent router and should work with Time Warner.

Price negotiable - I just don't need it and would like to get something for it (I paid $140 or so about 5 months ago IIRC).

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I want to do the same thing. I had Comcast "business class" 20mb for home provided by my company however the IT policy changed (no thanks to me) and I dropped it for regular cable.

The regular cable is, in my opinion, terrible. It's slow during peak times, often down without warning (which also takes the home phone out with it) and the service is terrible on the consumer side.

Ho has the the change to DSL been for you? Speed aside, which I don't really need, how is everything else?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by rnln

It's Cable modem -> switch -> router -> PC
|
laptop

I'm still not clear what you have going on or why.

The Cable Modem will do one of several things. It's primary function is to connect your network to your ISP's. It is acting as a basic router. If it has one ethernet out it will be capable of providing at least one IP address or several IP addresses to your network. If it can supply several then all you need is a simple HUB to connect multiple devices. If it can supply only one IP address then instead of a HUB you'd add a router with multiple ethernet out and or wireless to create a larger network on your end.

That's pretty much it.

Unless you have something going on where you need to create multiple separate networks on your end the mix of equipment you have seems like overkill, unnecessarily complicating things for no gain.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

BTW - I understand the connectivity of the powerline device - one "transmitter" plugged into the wall and the router. But how many "receivers" can you have

Re: powerline devices... I had 5 in my house, one acting as feeder in the garage next to the modem, 4 as receivers throughout the house - all the same brand, obviously. Worked great for 7+ years... Occasionally one stopped working, you unplug it and replug, wait 10 seconds, done... Sometimes one got hot, I let it rest and swapped a spare for a day, I never had one "breakdown" completely... Not a bad solution if you don't want to go wireless.

I recently stopped using them when some construction in my house allowed me to route cat5 cable, and the ipad mandated wireless. Check out the *speed* on those bricks, they are slower than cable, maybe even than modern wireless, not sure. Also some get interference from stuff, like a running dryer, and as people said, they need to be plugged directly into the wall, so if you are maxed out and need to go thru a surge protector, no dice..

The funny thing was when a guest would come to my house and ask for a wireless key to connect their laptops, and I handed them that powerbrick and an ethernet cable.. most looked at it like it came from outer space... I guess people aren't aware of the powerline thing..

[rnln]

ok, I found another extra router in my closet (had many before) and hook it up to the laptop behind the switch. The whole circuit is as Modem -> switch -> 2 routers -> several computers on each routers. Let call PC1 on router1 and laptop on router2.

I can make them all work but not at the same time. I have to connect the modem directly to each router and reboot the modem in order for it to work, but if I connect modem to router1 and reboot modem, router2 is out. Then I connect modem to router2 and reboot the modem, router1 is out. If I have the whole circuit connected and reboot the modem, nothing works. I have been switching back and forth connecting the modem to each router multiple times but can't have both working. I use to be able to do this when I had DSL but now I can't with cable.
Anyone has any good hint?
Thanks.

[stomachmonkey]

You have too many devices on your network that left in their default settings will compete for control. I'm not surprised it does not function properly and would be shocked if it actually did.

You're Cable modem is most likely a router, if it is, all you need is/are hub/s to add devices to your network.

If your cable modem does not act as a router then you add 1 router and hubs behind it.

Every device on a network requires it's own unique IP address.

The modem supplies at least 1 IP address to your network, if it is a router as well it can supply as many as you'll ever need via DHCP.

By default consumer routers are configured to act as DHCP servers. You should only have one DHCP server, you have at least 2 if not 3.

You are way overcomplicating this.

[stomachmonkey]

Let's start from scratch.

What is the total number of computers that you are trying to hook up?

How many of them do you want to run wired and how many do you want to run wireless?

How many different rooms are they in or if in the same room how far apart are they?

Look on the back of the cable modem, how many Ehternet jacks are there?

What brand and model number is the cable modem? Look for a sticker on the back.

Same question with the routers and switch.