change UPC routers

pdelahunty

I would like to get a really good router and I don't mind paying premium price. We use the Internet at home a lot and have a number of devices that connect regularly. The signal is just not strong enough to reach all areas of the house. I know nothing about routers however. Are they easier to configure for UPC and does anyone have any recommendations?

pdelahunty

Btw - all but one of my devices support 5ghz

Apiarist

UPC router is a combination of the cable modem (which decodes the data signal from the cable) and the actual router (which passes data between your devices and the internet). As far as I know, you cannot use some other cable modem to decode UPC's signals. So you will have to leave UPC router connected to the cable socket. To extend the WiFi range you can do one or more of the following:
1) buy a "WiFi extender"
2) connect a good "wireless router" to the UPC router and switch off WiFi on the UPC router

who_me

If you go for a new router, some things to look out for would be: simultaneous dual-band (2.4GHz & 5GHz, so old & new devices can connect) and MIMO (not always prominently advertised, but is an important feature in routers & Wifi devices for boosting speed). Mine is a TL-WDR4300 which is very good, it's a N750 router (meaning a total of 750Mbps of bandwidth, 300 for 2.4GHz network, and 450 for the 5GHz network). The best out there would be AC1750 routers, though you might not be able to avail of the bandwidth unless you have recent/modern devices.

For a bit more techie info, there have been several generations of (poorly named!) Wifi: 802.11b (or just "B") with speeds of 11Mbps, A & G with speeds of 54Mbps, then N with speeds up to 450Mbps (if the devices have MIMO), and now AC with speeds of up to 1300Mbps. These are maximum speeds, typically you'd do well to get about a third of this in real-world usage.

Each 2.4GHz router uses one of the 11-13 channels to minimise interference with neighbouring Wifi networks. Starting with the N generation, you could use "wide channels" (basically using two channels at once) to double your speed. However, because there's so much traffic & interference now in the 2.4GHz radio band, most routers will now turn this feature off (called the "Good Neighbour Policy") to avoid anyone hogging the radio waves. This is why it's important to get a 5GHz router, that radio band is almost completely unused still so you can always have wide channels turned on. With AC, the wide channels are wider again (80-160MHz instead of 40MHz) which is why AC is so much faster.

Having 2.4GHz is still important though, as older devices can't see 5GHz networks. Plus, 2.4GHz networks typically have better range than 5GHz, so it's great to have both.

In terms of usage, I connected the WAN port of my new router to any of the LAN / Ethernet ports on the UPC box. Then I turned off the DHCP (automatic network configuration) on the new router so the UPC box alone is still doing that.

Shane1989

If I connect a new AC Router to my existing UPC Cisco 2425 and turn off the wifi on the Cisco will I experience any issues with my home phone. It's provided by UPC too.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The Wi-Fi range and speed is just not good enough with the UPC provided Cisco Modem Router.

Cheers.

greasepalm

no should not as my 3 wireless phones are hooked up to base unit which has a white phone cable into router.
i had the same issue with laptop wifi on/off added a router for main room now connects grand.