Frequently Asked Questions

We know that many of you have a lot of questions when it comes to buying your own modem, so we’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions to help you through your process.

Can I Purchase My Own Modem?

Yes, absolutely! However, not all modems are compatible with all carriers. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see a modem supported by Carrier A that’s not supported by Carrier B. There are various network technology reasons for these restrictions, so it’s important that you always check your carrier’s modem list to see which are compatible. We’ve gone through the trouble for you though and have compiled a list of the more current supported modems for the popular carriers. Click on your carrier’s name above to get started.

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Is It Worth It To Buy Your Own Modem?

Unless your ISP is one of the few that still doesn’t charge for a modem, you are almost always better off financially buying your own. You’ll likely break even within 1-2 years based on the average modem rental fee of about $10 a month, some actually go up to $15 a month for fancier modem + WiFi router combinations. Find your carrier above and click on the link to see which modems are compatible with your service.

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Should I Upgrade My Modem or Router?

This largely depends on your personal situation and if the modem and router independently are no longer able to support your speed needs. It’s possible that upgrading one or the other could solve your speed problems.

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Does Buying A New Modem Increase Speed?

Buying a new modem can increase your speed, but only if your current modem isn’t fast enough to support the full speeds of your internet service speed. It will not make your speed any faster than what your internet service can provide.

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Is Buying A Used Modem A Good or Bad Idea?

In our opinion yes, this is definitely a bad idea. Used modems are generally tethered to the previous subscriber and will have issues getting provisioned onto a carrier’s network. In fact, it’s possible that you may not even be able to get provisioned at all and will be stuck with an expensive paperweight.
For that reason, we only recommend that you buy new modems from reputable sellers, preferably from Amazon.com (with Amazon.com as the seller and not third party sellers) or BestBuy.

Sold by Amazon

Why do we say not to buy from third party sellers on Amazon? Unless the seller is purchasing directly from legitimate distributors, it’s possible that the buyer obtained it through the gray market and could be tied to a previous owner’s account, even if they never used it.

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What Is the Difference between DOCSIS 3.0 vs DOCSIS 3.1?

DOCSIS 3.0 was released in 2006 and supports maximum downstream speeds of up to 1 Gigabit with maximum upload speeds of up to 200 Mbit. DOCSIS 3.1 can support maximum downstream speeds of up to 10 Gigabit speeds with maximum upload speeds of up to 1 Gigabit.

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Is A DOCSIS 3.1 Modem Worth It?

If you can afford to spend a little bit more then yes, it’s definitely worth in the long run, more-so if you’re a person who generally uploads large amounts of data often. While DOCSIS 3.0 can support up to Gigabit speeds, and is probably more bandwidth than any average user would ever need, it is severely limited in upload speeds at only 200 Mbit max compared to DOCSIS 3.1’s maximum upload speed of 1 Gigabit. Since DOCSIS 3.1 is backwards compatible with DOCSIS 3.0, you can futureproof yourself for probably the next ten years.
You never know how your internet usage can change in the future, so spending an extra $50 or so on a DOCSIS 3.1 modem will save you the trouble of paying $100 more in the future to upgrade with a replacement later.

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Do I Need Both A Modem and Router?

A router is a necessity if you plan on using more than one computer on your network, and especially if you’re trying to use WiFi on your other devices, like a phone or tablet. As far as needing a modem + router 2-in-1 combo device, this is largely a personal preference. It might be ideal for those tight on physical space or who may find setting up a standalone router intimidating (although it’s really not too difficult to do these days – YouTube is full of videos to help you with this).

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I Have A Modem + WiFi Router Combo From My ISP, Can I Buy A 2-In-1 Device Like This?

Yes, you can purchase a modem + WiFi router combo similar, and perhaps even identical, to what your ISP offers. Keep in mind that some ISPs like to provide their own corporate branded devices, so you won’t be able to purchase those same exact ones outside of their store (if they even allow it). We have a list of modem + WiFi router combo devices for many carriers, just click above on your carrier to find your device.

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Can I Buy My Own WiFi Router?

You sure can and it’s actually a lot more straightforward than buying a modem since you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues from carrier to carrier. We have an excellent list of some of the best WiFi routers on the market for just about any price range. Click on the WiFi link above in the menu to find one for yourself.

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Is Buying A Router Worth It?

A router is a necessity if you plan on using more than one computer on your network, and especially if you’re trying to use WiFi on your other devices, like a phone or tablet. You can choose to buy this separately from your cable modem or buy a modem + WiFi router combination if you want to consolidate devices. Check out our links above, we have great selections of standalone routers as well as combo devices supported by each carrier.

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What is WiFi 6?

WiFi 6 (Industry Standard IEEE 802.11ax) was officially certified in September 2020. It represents the latest generation of industry standard WiFi technology. WiFi 6 was developed to improve upon WiFi 5 as higher bandwidth, lower latency needs have expanded since the advent of 4K streaming content and the fact that more and more devices are becoming wirelessly enabled and are used simultaneously.

Previous WiFi standards were developed at a time when video streaming wasn’t as popular, and certainly not in as high of resolution, as it is today. This may have worked fine if one person at a time was using it streaming a 1080P video while doing some web browsing. However, if four people in the house are all streaming 4K video content and browsing through social media photos at the same time, you’d be in for some serious buffering delays and degradation of quality.

You can browse some of the more popular WiFi 6 routers by clicking the WiFI link up above.

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What Is The Difference Between WiFi 5 and WiFi 6?

WiFi 6 is capable of a maximum theoretical speed of 9.6 Gbps across multiple channels, which is over 2.75x faster than the 3.5 Gbps theoretical threshold of WiFi 5’s technological limitations. Additionally, WiFi 6 better handles Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) traffic with so many different devices utilizing it all at once, demanding high throughput and fewer dropped packets. As mention in the previous question, WiFi 6 is better equipped to deal with the higher networking demands that the future will require.

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Is It Worth Getting a WiFi 6 Router?

This really depends on your networking needs and if you absolutely must have that level of cutting edge performance from your network. Generally speaking though, most people would be just fine buying a nice mid-range WiFi 5 router as that’ll suit their needs for quite some time to come. However, if you’re frequently streaming multiple 4K videos, while video conferencing and downloading large files all at the same time, then yes you could benefit immediately from a WiFi 6 router.

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Can I Get WiFi On My Desktop Computer?

Some desktop computers today actually do ship with WiFI integrated into the motherboard along with your traditional Ethernet cable. You would need to consult with your device manufacturer’s user manual to determine if this is included in your computer.

However, if you find that you do not have this feature, it’s actually very easy to add it on after the fact.

For those of you who may not feel comfortable opening up your computer and installing a WiFi PCI Express network card, there are external USB based devices that can add this right away without even picking up a screwdriver. Be forewarned though that the maximum throughput of the USB based device may not be as fast as regular WiFi network card due to speed limitations on USB 2.0/3.0 throughput.

This mini USB device is highly recommended on Amazon and people love how easy it is to setup:

TP Link Nano AC600 (Without External Antenna – Mac/Windows friendly)

For those of you who may need better antenna boosting since your computer is far away from your router, this one is a better choice:

TP Link Nano AC600 (With 5dBi External Antenna – Mac/Windows friendly)

For those who are comfortable opening up your computer, you can buy a WiFi network card like this one and enjoy maximum WiFi speeds from it.

TP-Link WiFi 6 AX3000 PCIe WiFi Card (Windows 10 Devices Only – Not Mac Friendly!)

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Is WiFi Faster Than Ethernet?

It largely depends on what speed your Ethernet is running at. If you’re running on a legacy 100 Mbit Ethernet network, then modern WiFi is absolutely much faster than your Ethernet, possibly by up to a factor of 10x or more! A more current 1 Gigabit Ethernet network will definitely be much more competitive with modern WiFi, but even that could still be much slower since the maximum WiFi 5 spec goes up to theoretical 3.5 Gigabit top speed.

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If You Buy A Wireless Router Do You Have To Pay For Internet?

Yes, you must still pay for internet service.

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