What Does 32 Download and 8 Upload Bonded Channels Mean?
How to choose the right cable modem
When information technology comes to choosing a cablevision modem for your dwelling house net service, you have two choices: Pay up each month to hire a beat out-up, aboriginal model from your internet access provider, or buy your own make-new device for a fraction of the cost over time. Information technology's not a very difficult conclusion.
What's tougher, however, is picking the best cable modem. A couple years back, I bought a new cable modem (a Netgear CM700-100NAS, which is thoroughly decent, admitting somewhat expensive at the time), and I realized that modem manufacturers often highlight terrific features — 32 x viii! DOCSIS three.1! Gigabit speeds! — without e'er actually explaining what these features mean, or why they might be beneficial to your dwelling setup.
- Best Wi-Fi routers available correct now
- Know the differences: Modem vs. router
With that in mind, here'due south an updated guide that can (hopefully) demystify modem specs. I can't tell you which modem is correct for your home, since that depends on your cablevision provider, your internet service package and your budget. But once you understand what all the cabalistic terminology means, you'll find that there are probably a scattering, rather than dozens, of choices worth considering.
Modem or modem/router?
First things commencement: How happy are you with your router? If you lot upgraded your router recently but bought your modem one-time around the signing of the Announcement of Independence, y'all probably merely need a standalone cable modem. Modern routers are compatible with only about every modem on the market, so just make certain your firmware is upgraded, and yous'll exist all set.
(If y'all're still using a router provided past your cable company, you lot should ship it back and buy a new router immediately. As with modems, cable companies usually charge exorbitant rental fees for subpar routers, and it takes less than a year for a new router to pay for itself.)
| Cyberspace service provider | Monthly cable modem rental fee |
| Comcast | $14 |
| Spectrum | Included with service |
| Cox | $7-$x |
| Frontier | $ten |
| Suddenlink | $10 |
| Sparklight | $8 |
| Wow | $fourteen |
| Mediacom | $11.50 |
If your router is also looking a bit long in the digital molar, though, a cablevision modem/router combo — besides called a gateway — is one possible mode to go. These devices are exactly what they audio similar: digital receivers that tin can pick up a indicate via a coaxial cable and and so transmit the wireless bespeak across an entire business firm.
For small homes and apartments, they tin become the job done, although Tom's Guide doesn't usually recommend modem-router hybrids. If something goes wrong, your unabridged internet setup is shot, and it'south easier — and cheaper — to upgrade modems and routers separately.
DOCSIS protocols
When y'all buy a modem, you'll see one acronym featured very prominently: DOCSIS. Nearly modern modems use either the DOCSIS 3.0 or three.1 protocols, but neither manufacturers nor retailers ever really explain what this means or why the stardom is important.
DOCSIS stands for "Data Over Cablevision Service Interface Specification." It's the protocol that lets an ISP provide cyberspace service through a coaxial cable. It just means that your modem tin can provide broadband internet access.
DOCSIS 3.0 and iii.1 are merely version numbers. The exact differences between them basically boil downwards to speed and the number of simultaneous channels. The bottom line is that if your ISP offers net speeds of more than 1 gigabit (i,000 Mbps, or megabits per second), a DOCSIS three.1 router is a better investment. But since the average broadband speed in the United States is somewhere in the neighborhood of only 66 Mbps, DOCSIS 3.0 will be fine for the vast majority of users.
Of course, this could change in the future, but by then, DOCSIS 3.one modems volition probably be cheaper. A decent DOCSIS iii.0 modem ranges from $50 to $80; DOCSIS 3.1 modems tend to fall between $150 and $199, though prices are coming downwardly to the lower end of that range.
Upstream and downstream channels
When you expect at a modem, yous'll often come across a number somewhere in its description, which can exist annihilation from 8 x iv to 32 ten 8. Information technology'due south non at all articulate what the average user is supposed to glean from this. The skillful news is that it's merely a description of how many downstream and upstream channels a modem has.
The number before the "x" represents how many downstream channels the modem has. Roughly speaking, that correlates with how much download information your ISP can provide at whatever given fourth dimension. Just about every modem provides many more downstream channels than upstream ones, considering ISPs and finish users alike are more concerned with downloading content than uploading information technology.
Don't sweat this part too much, unless you lot want the absolute acme-tier packages your cable company tin can provide. Just remember that all other things existence equal, college numbers are better. Any new modem you lot buy should have at least 16 downstream channels; anything less is probably either one-time or underpowered.
Upload and download speeds
Some of the most important things you can learn about a modem are its upload and download speeds — and yet, somehow, these always gets shoved about halfway down the page on a retailer'southward or manufacturer's website. You'll see descriptors like "up to 600 Mbps" completely devoid of context.
Showtime off, any y'all see advertised is always a download speed, never an upload speed. And so if a modem advertises a speed of 1 gigabit, that means it tin can pull up to i,000 Mbps from your Internet service provider. Upload speeds tend to be much slower — somewhere in the neighborhood of i-quarter the download speed. (Recollect the discussion before about downstream versus upstream channels.)
All the high speeds may seem tempting, but call up: You can't draw more data than you pay for from your Internet service provider. If your modem is capable of pulling one.4 gigabits but you subscribe to a plan that caps your speed at 25 Mbps, y'all're going to become 25 Mbps. Buying an extremely fast modem is more well-nigh future-proofing your setup than pushing it to its limits, unless you're willing to spend a tremendous corporeality of money on a monthly plan.
Also, remember that "Mbps" means "megabits per second," not "megabytes per second." (Eight bits make a byte.) If you subscribe to a 50-Mbps plan, your maximum download speed volition be somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 megabytes per 2nd. That's fast, but you lot're not going to go a 50-gigabyte game or an enormous cache of photos in mere minutes.
Isp compatibility
The terminal thing you'll have to check is whether your modem is compatible with your Internet service provider. Most modems are compatible with whatsoever cable company, merely some aren't. Big companies like Comcast and Cox support but about anything, but smaller networks may not. There'southward no hard-and-fast reason for this; it'due south just the style it is. Cablevision companies run enormous networks, and they want to be 100 per centum certain that a production is compatible earlier they authorize information technology for use. The company must also exist willing to button out firmware updates on a regular ground, which is easier for some modems than for others.
There are 3 methods of checking whether a modem is compatible with your Internet service provider, although but one of them is foolproof. The first, and simplest, is to but google "[Internet access provider] compatible modems." Come across what your search turns up. There'south probably an official listing somewhere on the Internet service provider's own website — Comcast (opens in new tab) and Cox both list compatible modems, for case — although the listing may not be upward-to-the-minute current.
Isp modem compatibility pages
The second method is to check the Approved Modems (opens in new tab) website, which exists for this very purpose. Some of the pages haven't been updated in a while, merely it'south a good place to outset.
Finally, you tin e'er just phone call your ISP. Y'all may have to sit down on concord for a while, but it's the only way to get a 100-per centum definitive answer on whether a modem y'all want to buy is supported. (If your ISP cannot give you a definitive reply, ask to speak to a managing director or a specialist, or consider getting a new ISP; this should not be a hellaciously difficult question.)
Once you get your new modem dwelling, yous'll probably have to remember your Internet service provider and provide the device'southward MAC accost. This is usually printed on the bottom of the modem, but if not, yous can access the modem's IP address later on plugging it in via Ethernet. (Google "(brand name) modem IP address" on your telephone, or on another network, if the instructions don't include it.) Some ISPs offer an automated process to do this through an internet browser, but it varies depending on the provider and model.
What almost security?
Unlike routers, which have settings you can suit to make them more than secure, there'southward not a lot of security considerations to keep in listen when shopping for a router. That said, the occasional security result does pop up. For example, a software vulnerability in modems that use Broadcom's systems-on-a-chip could allow a hacker to seize command of the modem and serve upwards malicious websites. Broadcom says it'south issued a fix, so you can e'er check with your ISP to brand sure that your modem is secure. (Yous're dependent on your Internet access provider to issue these firmware updates, and they don't always come out in a timely manner.) Investing in one of the all-time antivirus programs besides offers some, though not total, protection.
Lesser line
That'south really all you demand to know to buy a modem: blueprint, DOCSIS, channels, speed and compatibility. With those specs in mind, all you need to practise is pick a budget and a brand, and you'll be able to find at least a few models that friction match your specifications.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-buy-cable-modem,review-5607.html
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