Hardwiring Straight From Cable Modem To PC (No Router)

[Crosseyed Sniper]

Hi,

I just picked up a new Cat6a cable and wanted to get your thoughts about the way I should hook it up. Right now, I am using the typical setup- cable modem to router then out to my pc. With this setup I am getting a consistent 73 Mbps, but when I connect directly from the cable modem to my pc, I get a steady 94 Mbps!! Yeah, the speed increase is awesome, but I can't help but wonder if I am putting my pc more at risk this way? What would you all suggest I do? Please explain why.

Thanks!

[soup]

If you only have one PC using the internet connection why not wire the PC straight to the MODEM, obviouslly the router is adding some overhead to the connection.

Apart from the one PC issue [1] there are no downsides to NOT having a router in the loop.

 

 [1] Keep in mind you will need some sort of software firewall (gazzillions of them:both  free [2]and low cost) as Modems do not act as one(routers act as a hardware firewall)

[2] Windows has one built in and I have heard lots of good things about the Zonealarm one.  I use neither, as my hub(MODEM/Router combo) copes with firewall duties

[manikyath]

if your router impacts your internet speed that much i think its time to chuck it out...

 

as for the straigth wiring to your pc: theres no problems doing so, but i generally recommend a router both for expansion sake, and for security sake.

 

even if just for when grandma comes over and cant access the WWW with her iPad surfacebook pro.

[soup]

6 minutes ago, manikyath said:

even if just for when grandma comes over and cant access the WWW with her iPad surfacebook pro.

I would be rather miffed if my granny came around and spent time on the 'net.

 

Mind you a granny with a surfacebook pro is obviouslly very rich so she would leave me lots in her will( when my real gran passed( ) she left me the choice of ornaments from her house  ).

[soup]

14 minutes ago, manikyath said:

if your router impacts your internet speed that much i think its time to chuck it out...

+1

14 minutes ago, manikyath said:

as for the straigth wiring to your pc: theres no problems doing so, but i generally recommend a router both for expansion sake, and for security sake.

+1 (whether that be seperate MODEM and Router or a MODEM Router combo)

[Crosseyed Sniper]

Both my grandmas passed away years ago.  

 

I will pretty much be the only person connected to the net at my house. Unless my cat decides she wants a tablet to watch mice videos on Youtube!

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, soup said:

I would be rather miffed if my granny came around and spent time on the 'net.

 

Mind you a granny with a surfacebook pro is obviouslly very rich so she would leave me lots in her will( when my real gran passed( ) she left me the choice of ornaments from her house  ).

and you missed an opportunity of ranting about the people calling surfaces ipads

 

really tho, sometimes its just convenient to have wifi or a spare port to plug a cable into.

[soup]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

and you missed an opportunity of ranting about the people calling surfaces ipads

I am far to polite to get into all that, besides which I thought you were just being "down wit' tha yout' "

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

really tho, sometimes its just convenient to have wifi or a spare port to plug a cable into.

Very true.

[Crosseyed Sniper]

I failed to mention in my original post that there is a Cat5e cable running from the modem to router, which explains why I see a drastic reduction in speed. The Cat5e cable is the weakest link. 

[manikyath]

4 minutes ago, soup said:

I am far to polite to get into all that, besides which I thought you were just being "down wit' tha yout' "

well, a while back my grandpa got a "tablet" and i was worried about the crap he got because he didnt call it an ipad..

ended up being the latest iPad, not the most high end model offcourse, but certainly not a bad one.

 

so.. i'm guessing he got that thing at an apple store, so if i have to say one thing about apple store salesfolks is that they helped out my grandpa really well on picking a device that suited him best. (they didnt even get him a high storage model, but neither did they get him the 16GB brickpad...)

 

and best of all: the buttons are big enough for his old man fingers

--

its kinda sad to think about, but i've grown to accept peole call all forms of tablets "ipads" to the point i'm worried about "old people" not calling them ipads.

 

3 minutes ago, Crosseyed Sniper said:

I failed to mention in my original post that there is a Cat5e cable running from the modem to router, which explains why I see a drastic reduction in speed. The Cat5e cable is the weakest link. 

except cat5e gladly does gigabit. the cable between my modem and my router is even a regular ol' cat5 i think. and i'm gladly pulling 200Mbps.

[soup]

1 hour ago, Crosseyed Sniper said:

I failed to mention in my original post that there is a Cat5e cable running from the modem to router

Wouldn't have thought that was an issue[1] . Cat5e can easily handle your speeds (it will do up to Gigabit). 

 

Whilst Cat6 will cope with upto 10 Gigabit speeds it only does so over relativiely short distances (150 feet or so[2]).  Whilst 6a gets over this distance problem ie can cope with the same speeds as 6  does but over greater lengths (350 feet or so[2]).

 

So look elsewhere than your wiring, is the Router old and f***ed ? Change it (or eliminate it all together if you are sure you will never need more than one PC connected at a time).

 

[1] Unless the Cat5e is so old you would be better off with wet string (try replacing it with a new patch cable[ 0.5 metres or so $1.00~ Cat6 $2.00 or so, for that sort of price difference I would go Cat6, but wouldn't expect it to solve my speed problems])

[2] Sure the actual numbers are on the web somewhere.

[dalekphalm]

10 hours ago, Crosseyed Sniper said:

I failed to mention in my original post that there is a Cat5e cable running from the modem to router, which explains why I see a drastic reduction in speed. The Cat5e cable is the weakest link. 

Can you list the exact make and model number of both the Modem and Router you currently have? There could be any number of reasons for what is happening, but we really don't want you to come to the wrong conclusion.

 

That Cat5e cable had nothing to do with your speed bottlenecks, unless the cable was simply defective. Cat5e cables in general are perfectly suitable for your particular networking needs.

 

9 hours ago, soup said:

Wouldn't have thought that was an issue[1] . Cat5e can easily handle your speeds (it will do up to Gigabit). 

 

Whilst Cat6 will cope with upto 10 Gigabit speeds it only does so over relativiely short distances (150 feet or so[2]).  Whilst 6a gets over this distance problem ie can cope with the same speeds as 6  does but over greater lengths (350 feet or so[2]).

 

So look elsewhere than your wiring, is the Router old and f***ed ? Change it (or eliminate it all together if you are sure you will never need more than one PC connected at a time).

 

[1] Unless the Cat5e is so old you would be better off with wet string (try replacing it with a new patch cable[ 0.5 metres or so $1.00~ Cat6 $2.00 or so, for that sort of price difference I would go Cat6, but wouldn't expect it to solve my speed problems])

[2] Sure the actual numbers are on the web somewhere.

For Cat6, it's 55m (180ft), and Cat6a is 100m (330ft)