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Originally Posted by HIgolfers
Have had Century Link for home WIFI for 2 1/2 years and fed up with the slow speed. Paying $45 for 25 MBPS but not getting anywhere near that (some days slow as 3 MBPS). We live south of 466a and N of 44. Looking at switching to Spectrum. Spectrum offers one year deal for $45 per month for 100 MBPS and modem is free. A router is $5 extra per month. Do I need a router?
Obviously I am a novice when it comes to tech stuff. With Century Link all we have is a modem (which CL provided) - we are not renting the modem as it does not appear on our Century Link bill but I presume I will have to return it when I cancel service with CL. Or perhaps the CL modem is a combined modem/router?
I know I can buy a router or rent the one SPectrum offers but just wondering if I need it all. We use WIFI to for 3 televisions (all 3 use Amazon firestick and YOUTUBE TV) and for smartphones and MACBOOK, and Alexa. We also have a NETGEAR extender.
TIA for any guidance.
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Being that you are a novice I would go with Spectrum's one device that does both. If you have any problems they will trouble shoot it making your life easier. I just moved here and had Spectrum installed and am getting 117MB download on my 100 MB internet. Happy about that, as the actual is usually lower then the quoted. I am just north of 44.
Based on what you described you may want to consider having an Cat 5/6 Ethernet cable run from each of your TV locations back to where the modem/router is located. The router will have several direct Ethernet connections on the back of it. By direct wiring your TV's back to the router you don't have to worry about your WiFi range/strength for your TV's as you will not be using it for streaming to your TV. A direct Ethernet connection is always faster then a WiFi connection and not dependent on WiFi signal strength.
Then your WiFi will only be used for your other devices besides streaming to your TV's. You still might need an extender for your WiFi depending on the location of the actual modem/router in your home. The more central you can put it the better WiFi coverage you will have.