WiFi 6 set up

[Chester Hansen]

Hey everyone. I am moving into a new house and am wanting to have a good home internet set up. I live in Utah and the only real ISP is xfinity by Comcast. I was planning on getting their 1gigabit speed download internet package and getting a good quality modem and router. So here is my question. I was looking at the nighthawk mesh WiFi (netgear ax1800) setup that supposedly supports up to 1.8 gigabits Or the nighthawk ax6 (netgear ax4300) which should support over 2 gigabits. However, xfinity requires a coax cable which neither of these have. So I would also need a modem to take in the coax connect that to what ever router I choose. So would it be better to just get an all in one modem router that supports WiFi 6 or should we get a separate modem then have one of the above routers and if so which modem would be a good fit? What are some ideas to have a good but not over the top expensive WiFi 6 capable internet set up?

 

The new house will also have a basement apartment and our plan is to include internet Into their rent but we would like to have them have their own network and password for our security. Would we need a new access point for this or can we configure the router to produce two networks with different passwords? (I think I’ve seen something about doing that by changing the ssid? I’m not sure I’m a novice in terms of home networking)

 

thanks in advance for the help and advice. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

13 minutes ago, Chester Hansen said:

ts up to 1.8 gigabits Or the nighthawk ax6 (netgear ax4300) which should support over 2 gigabits.

THese speeds are very therotical, real life speeds are more like 300-500mbit for most devices.

 

13 minutes ago, Chester Hansen said:

So would it be better to just get an all in one modem router that supports WiFi 6 or should we get a separate modem then have one of the above routers and if so which modem would be a good fit? 

Seprate modem is almost always a better buy

 

14 minutes ago, Chester Hansen said:

The new house will also have a basement apartment and our plan is to include internet Into their rent but we would like to have them have their own network and password for our security.

Most devices support something like a guest network, but that will make it something like a chromecast wont work. If you want 2 different network, your gonna need something more advanced than a home router can give you.

 

 

[Chester Hansen]

Ok so when getting a separate modem what should I look for? Does the modem also have to be WiFi 6 capable? What should I be looking for?

[Chester Hansen]

Also where would a switch come into play? Does that just give me more Ethernet ports? Or does it accomplish something else too?

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Chester Hansen said:

Ok so when getting a separate modem what should I look for? Does the modem also have to be WiFi 6 capable? What should I be looking for?

Modem shouldn't have wifi, it just converts the coax to ethernet for the router.

 

something like the sb8200 or cm1100 or cm 1200 is the goto for the gigabit plans.

 

1 minute ago, Chester Hansen said:

Also where would a switch come into play? Does that just give me more Ethernet ports? Or does it accomplish something else too?

Switch connects to the lan ports on the router, and just gives you more lan ports.

[Falcon1986]

48 minutes ago, Chester Hansen said:

However, xfinity requires a coax cable which neither of these have.

Isn’t Comcast a cable ISP? Their coaxial cable plugs into the Xfinity gateway, which you can connect to via ethernet or wireless. You can connect your own wired devices to the gateway over ethernet, not coaxial.

 

55 minutes ago, Chester Hansen said:

I was looking at the nighthawk mesh WiFi (netgear ax1800) setup that supposedly supports up to 1.8 gigabits Or the nighthawk ax6 (netgear ax4300) which should support over 2 gigabits.

You’re buying into the advertisement hype. Please read the devices’ specification pages to see how these “speeds” are broken down. For example, the RAX20 is advertised as supporting 1800Mbps, but that theoretical maximum is a combination of 600Mbps on 2.4GHz (802.11n devices only, with channel bonding) and 1200Mbps on 5GHz (and that’s usually at an 80MHz channel width). No one will have a device that simultaneously connects to both bands to take full advantage of this speed, plus no single device will reach these theoretical speeds in the real world.

 

Sorry, Netgear’s WiFi devices are just not what they used to be.

 

And I hope you realize that WiFi 6 is not finalized yet. But that doesn’t stop companies from implementing what they think it should be and to get sales from early adopters... who don’t know about the upcoming WiFi 6e.

[Guest]

If you don't want a 1TB data cap, you will probably just want to use there modem. For the price increase of unlimited data with your own modem vs xfi using there modem. It's cheaper to just rent theirs. I personally just have it set to bridge mode. If you don't care about that, then probably the Arris SB8200 as I know they allow it. xfinity actually only allows a small handful of 3rd party modems on its gigabit plan.

 

All of those routers listed would be limited by the gigabit Ethernet ports they all have regardless of whats advertised. Those speeds are also theoretical as stated above and unrealistic.

 

As far as 2 separate networks, you would want 2 separate access points.

 

With this setup I would personally recommend ubiquiti's lite products, however the cost of entry is higher and they don't have a WiFi 6 AP out yet, I have however found it much more reliable and configurable than netgear's products.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Unless you have a very specific need that the ISP router does not cater for.

Based on the comment above I'd use the providers router, until WiFi 6 is ratified and WiFi 6e Access Points come out.  Then when the time comes plug a new WiFi 6e Access Point into the router and turn off WiFi on the router.

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Modem shouldn't have wifi, it just converts the coax to ethernet for the router.

Every modem I've gotten from an ISP has built in WiFi.

44 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

And I hope you realize that WiFi 6 is not finalized yet. But that doesn’t stop companies from implementing what they think it should be and to get sales from early adopters... who don’t know about the upcoming WiFi 6e.

WiFi 6e is faster indeed, but has absolutely pathetic range. If he needs something now WiFi 6 is still an excellent choice.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, dizmo said:

Every modem I've gotten from an ISP has built in WiFi.

Then thats not just a modem, its a combo unit with a modem, router and access point and switch in one

 

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

WiFi 6e is faster indeed, but has absolutely pathetic range. If he needs something now WiFi 6 is still an excellent choice.

6e isn't faster, it just gives you more bands, same encoding as 6. Unless your 5g bands are used, speeds will be the same

[Lyphiard]

2 hours ago, Nayr438 said:

As far as 2 separate networks, you would want 2 separate access points.

Not sure why you'd want two separate access points.

 

Many WiFi access points support multiple SSID's and VLAN's. They can bridge clients connected to different SSID's into different VLAN's on a trunk port.

 

Your optimal setup in terms of security would be finding a router that supports creating multiple LAN's. For example, 192.168.0.0/24 would be for your home LAN and 192.168.1.0/24 would be for your tenants. Both of these can be configured to NAT to the same public IP address assigned by Comcast, but they wouldn't be able to talk to between each other.

 

Simply buying two different access points and plugging them into the same router / LAN won't offer you any real security, apart from maybe the ability to disable your tenant's WiFi individually from yours.

[Alex Atkin UK]

4 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Then thats not just a modem, its a combo unit with a modem, router and access point and switch in one

 

6e isn't faster, it just gives you more bands, same encoding as 6. Unless your 5g bands are used, speeds will be the same

In real-world terms its probably faster, because you have a better chance of being able to use 160Mhz channel width without hitting interference or DFS.

Down side is, its going to be a while before most things support it.