Do I Need a New Cable Modem If I’m Stuck at Work From Home?
Welcome to Tech 911 Week . Since many of us are stuck in our homes or apartments, I answer at least one of your questions about working from home on a daily basis . (And I might even do one big, dramatic summary if you keep sprinkling me in my inbox or in the comments.)
So, without delay, here’s today’s question. I’m going to rephrase this because a friend phrased it the other day on Facebook, and I’m not sure if they would like their name to be associated with the problem. So, in the interest of privacy, this is what they wanted, as I reiterated.
Question:
I have to work from home for a trendy tech company and it takes too long to upload and download my work. I upgraded my internet plan using Comcast, but does that mean I also need a new cable modem?
Correct answer:
I’m going to go with the good old “It depends.” However, I first want to thank you for actually owning your own cable modem instead of coughing up $ 14 or so every month for Comcast to lease you one of their Mecha modem / router combinations. There is no reason why you should pay rent for something that you can purchase yourself. Of course, this also means that you have to buy a new cable modem if or when your Internet data plan exceeds the capabilities of your modem.
In this case, I asked my friend for more information and he mentioned that he switched to Comcast’s 300Mbps data plan. He did not mention that his service plan was before that, so there is a possibility that he needs to buy a new cable modem in order to be able to maximize at those speeds, downloads, that is, since “300Mbps”, as we know , this does not mean 300 Mbps round trip.
As it turned out, his Netgear CM500 cable modem was more than adequate for the task. A quick Google search confirms that it supports speeds up to 680Mbps – more than enough for a 300Mbps data plan. And while I could go into the technical details of what 16×4 means as part of its configuration, it doesn’t matter to most. It is Comcast compatible and, most importantly, Comcast itself confirms that it supports 300 Mbps.
This bit is important because you should never assume the manufacturer is right when it comes to cable modems. Double check your ISP’s cable modem compatibility list to make sure that whatever you have or are about to buy works with the company’s service and can run at whatever speed you expect. If you don’t see your modem in the list or don’t see it at all, call it.
Note: If you also get phone service through your ISP, meaning when you actually connect a VOIP phone to your modem, you will probably need a more powerful (and expensive) cable modem. These are the breaks; don’t buy a new, cheap, regular modem and assume it will work with your VOIP setup.
But maybe it’s not the cable modem …
I also think it’s important to know that upgrading your data plan through your ISP and buying a new cable modem may not actually give you the speed boost you expect. If your home Wi-Fi network is poor or not powerful enough, or if you are trying to access your files from a location quite far from your main router, or there are many things between it and you (including walls), then your setup is wireless. the network may be more to blame than your data plan.
To be honest, I would research this first. Find the level of service you pay for in your ISP’s monthly bill and walk around the house by running fast.com or speedtest.net at different locations to see if you are getting the fastest speeds where you are. usually use your different devices. Otherwise, fixing your wireless setup should be a priority, then worry about faster internet services from your internet service provider.
How do you do this, you ask? First, make sure your router is in the center of your home. To do this, you may need to run the Ethernet cable across the floor and ceiling, rather than to a tiny closet in the far corner of your house, which is farthest from your desktop. It will pay dividends, trust me. (And if you’re in quarantine, you’ll have plenty of time for projects like this!)
Plus, if you’re expanding your router’s signal with a Wi-Fi extender or network setup, know that every hop you make in the chain — from router to repeater to another repeater and to your laptop — can cut your costs. bandwidth is doubled every time. If your mesh does not have a dedicated backhaul and your access points are not close enough to each other to have a reliable connection, simply expanding your network to where you need wireless coverage can get you online, but it can be very slow.
As always, use wired Ethernet whenever possible for the best speeds. Grab the dongle and plug your laptop into the ethernet port on the wall (using a reliable Cat6 cable as I prefer to be future-oriented and it’s hardly more expensive than Cat5 or Cat5e). Use Ethernet cables to connect your APs and router together, which can be annoying, instead of extending your wireless network with Wi-Fi.
I know it’s a pain in the ass. But I just converted the house from fully wireless to wired, and now the family can finally enjoy the gigabit Ethernet speeds they paid for – speeds they never had as they relied on crappy cable modem / router and extenders to try and fill your home with wireless. They could save tons of money by dialing their internet plan number to match the capabilities of their network; or they could upgrade their network like I did, with the APs connected to the primary switch (and router) via an Ethernet cable, and actually enjoy the super-fast speeds they paid for.
This is just my wordy way of saying that your internet data plan might not be something you should blame for slow internet speeds at home at first. This is part of the equation, of course, but you’ll also want to make sure your wireless network is working properly. If or when you upgrade your data plan and get a new cable modem that supports it (if applicable), make sure you do the same process – go around your house, check your speed, and set up your Wi-Fi network – to make sure you don’t just pay your ISP for a service you never see.