Modem/Router Recommendations

[kehrnal]

My wife and I recently moved to an area where we have Mediacom as our ISP.  Their modem/router combo is awful and I'm tired of paying rent for an electronic device.  I host my own Raspberry Pi-based NAS and Airsonic music server for Chrome-casting at home and port-forward for outside-the-network listening.  I'm looking for a router that's got at least two ports on the back (1 for the Pi and another for my battle station).  In the family we have ~15 other devices (lots of chromecast audios and google home minis + phones/laptops/tablet) that will interact via wifi.
What I'm really looking for: I want something that I can get inside of and make the network my own.  Specifically I want to be able to set up freedns, set up bandwidth allocation to specific devices, allocate static internal IPs, etc.  There are just so many options I don't know where to start.  I've got a total budget of ~$300-$350 for modem and router so I'm looking for quality.  For the modem it has to be at least DOCSIS 3.0 for Mediacom compatibility.  I just need help weeding out the junk.

[Augustin]

I have similar use. One computer and lots of wifi devices. Im using an ex-lease intel nuc i got cheap for router & NAS. That might be within your budget and do all the things you want. Sorry I cant help with modem. ISPs are dicks with modems.

[Donut417]

8 hours ago, kehrnal said:

or the modem it has to be at least DOCSIS 3.0 for Mediacom compatibility. 

You will need to check these suggests against their supported device list if they have one.

• SB6183
• CM500
• CM600
• Any Docsis 3.1 modem if they support theses at all

Those are the cable modems I see suggested. I would no buy anything below a 16x4 modem. DONT buy any 32x8 Docsis 3.0 modems, they use the Puma 6 chip that is known to have issues. What kind of channels you need is based on what speeds you want and have. The more channels a modem supports the faster speeds you can get. 

[kehrnal]

5 hours ago, Donut417 said:

You will need to check these suggests against their supported device list if they have one.

• SB6183
• CM500
• CM600
• Any Docsis 3.1 modem if they support theses at all

Those are the cable modems I see suggested. I would no buy anything below a 16x4 modem. DONT buy any 32x8 Docsis 3.0 modems, they use the Puma 6 chip that is known to have issues. What kind of channels you need is based on what speeds you want and have. The more channels a modem supports the faster speeds you can get. 

Thanks! The person I spoke on the phone with initially said only certain devices were compatible and they had to be DOCSIS 3.1. This info was incongruous with some of their web documentation stating certain DOCSIS 3.0 modems were compatible. When I probed with that information the person spoke with a colleague and came back to say ANYTHING DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 was compatible. This was nice, but also opened the entire bag of worms. 

 

Is there a particular reason you recommend this specific models?

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, kehrnal said:

Thanks! The person I spoke on the phone with initially said only certain devices were compatible and they had to be DOCSIS 3.1. This info was incongruous with some of their web documentation stating certain DOCSIS 3.0 modems were compatible. When I probed with that information the person spoke with a colleague and came back to say ANYTHING DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 was compatible. This was nice, but also opened the entire bag of worms. 

 

Is there a particular reason you recommend this specific models?

Those are the ones I see recommended else where. Arris makes good modems with the exception of the SB6190, but it’s intel's fault that the Puma 6 chip is shit.