Keeping a small budget in mind, what would you all recommend to get me started? And maybe point me in the direction of some used/refurbished shops in Canada.
Also, I currently using a Hitron ISP provided modem with eero 6e Pro for mesh. Should I get away from that with a Motorola modem and high quality router? My connection is 1Gbit download.
Thanks in advance.
If your ISP is giving you a reliable Gbps, you can stick with their modem, but there are plenty of reasons to ditch it.
Any monthly rental fees add up fast even it it’s just $5.
You’re stuck with whatever stripped-down features and sluggish firmware updates they push. So again it really depends on how happy you are with their device.
ISP gear usually has mediocre Wi-Fi, and can choke under heavy use, especially if you’ve got a lot of devices online at once. You may also want to better position your APs in the future (in ceilings, walls, etc.)
With your own modem/router, you control updates, security, and performance, plus you can pick something future-proof like multigig LAN ports and 10G uplinks to NAS , switch, etc.
Power is another consideration. My ISP modem/router device pulled 20 to 30 watts, and it was impossible to position the WiFi to get good value from the power consumption.
Also see:
One thing I’ll add for anyone finding this thread later: for a 1 Gbit connection, the bottleneck is rarely the raw ISP speed. It’s almost always routing quality, Wi-Fi placement, or how many devices are competing at once. I remember @shybry747 telling me about his challenge with Wi-Fi signal at home.
You can often get more real-world improvement by separating roles instead of replacing everything at once. Keep the modem, use a capable router or firewall, and treat Wi-Fi as its own layer with properly placed access points.
Also worth noting that “budget” does not have to mean consumer-grade. Used or refurbished prosumer gear often outperforms brand-new consumer routers at the same price point, especially once you factor in stability and longevity.
Curious to hear what setups people are actually running long-term at home on gigabit+ and where they’ve seen the biggest gains or the plan for them.
With cable modems (DOCSIS), you are not able to update the firmware. Only the cable company / ISP is allowed to update the firmware. From a strictly modem discussion as opposed to the router, firewall, or access point, what the cable company provides may be no worse than what you could buy yourself. One thing I dislike about using the cable company provided modem is that they (Spectrum) have locked out the signal levels page from the paying customer.