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accordionman

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Hello, my name is Ed "the accordionman" and before you ask; yes, I do play one of those "accordion things".

Looking forward to learning much about tech on this forum. I have been around the funny looking boxes since the early 80's when there were NO hard drives. So, although, I'm not an IT guy, I have been tinkering for some time.

My present equipment is a custom built gaming computer that I bought about 6 yrs ago, but bought it for "market day trading". It has 24 gig of Ram with 3 (2 output) video cards. At that time, I was pushing 5 screens, all with different graphics. I now have eliminated 2 of them, so I'm down to 3 screens. Do I need 3; no, but I Had 5 so 3 fits my set up fine; why not use them.

Running windows 10 on a Comcast Router/Modem.

I think that's it.
 
You're giving me more credit than I deserve. No, I'm just running the router/modem that Comcast gave me with Windows' 10. The reason I write "router/modem" is that they are combined into one. Only reason I know that is that I looked into get my own router to improve the stuff they give you and I cannot unless I buy 2 separate units; which I'm not going to do. Hope that clears this up. Sorry if I mis stated what I had.

Ed
 
Haha. No problem at all. I just took advantage of the lack of clarity to make a joke, I didn't mean to correct you. I did understand what you meant.

I was also considering the possibility of getting a new gateway. It's not a bad idea since the ones you are given are usually basic units that lack many features, but it wasn't really worth it for me.
 
Investing in your own modem is really worth it IMO. My connection is 100/10 but I consistently get 111-117 down and 11 up using my own hardware. You can pick up a decent wireless router for 30 bucks (I used a Rosewill wireless router for years).
 
Trotter Tech

What would the advantages, if any, be for me to invest in my own router vs the one that Comcast supplies ?
I've always been curious about that. In addition, I have no clue what the wiring would entail to split the two, but continue with the services for my phone and TV ?

Ed
 
From my own personal experiences the equipment furnished by ISP's is usually not the greatest. The modem that Charter furnished never gave me full speed, but rather ran consistently 10% or more below the speed I was paying for.

As for the router, you can buy an all-in-one device that is both a modem and a router but having them separate gives you more flexibility. I have upgraded my router three times since buying my modem (this is over several years). My current one is an upper end TP-Link wireless router. Each time I have changed routers was to gain more functionality, such as access to new wireless bands or more broadcasting antennae. My latest upgrade was simply because I won the router and it was much better than the one I had.

Wiring between the two would require a single ethernet cable that should come with the router. It will go from the port on the modem to the designated port on the router. I would perform a little extra setup, like changing the default name and password and things like that.
 
It could be useful if, for example, you need to set up a Firewall. Setting up a Firewall in your machine is fine but not as effective.

Most benefits would be noticable when running a server. Built-in firewall, built-in DDNS (which is really not a big deal) and probably some other things I don't know about. Maybe some have built-in IDS, although I don't know if this is possible or even useful, seeing how malware is always improving.

Of course if you are getting speed improvements that'd be beneficial for anyone.

Some people also choose routers based on their compatibility with this. Doesn't seem like something I would care about much though. It does seem useful though.
 
Welcome aboard AM. :cool:

I guess some ISPs cheap out on modems but mine from Spectrum is a $350 unit and I get over 200 Mbps down and over 10 Mbps up. When I started over 10 years ago when it was Time Warner it was 15/1.

On top of that, no rental. :dance:
 
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