OK, my company has about 14 people working there and we have a variety of wifi and ethernet connected devices. We have frequent issues with service failing. TWC/Spectrum in Durham NC / RTP. I don't think any other service is available in the office park though I hear Google fiber and ATT fiber might be available soon.

The existing cable modem / router (Arris...not in office today...dont know model) is in the back warehouse so I have a wireless router connected via ethernet in one of the offices for wifi.

I have an unmanaged Netgear 24-port switch hooked into our ethernet network for the office. This plugs into on of the ethernet jacks on the back of the cable modem.

What I am using for the wifi router is actual called a range extender...this didn't work as the cable modem was too far from where the extender needed to be so its hooked via ethernet. NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Desktop WiFi Range Extender (EX7000-100NAS).

We are getting static IP service hooked up in the next few days.

Two main questions?

-Is this Arris cable modem/router up to the task - the tech that came out today said to get something more robust but TWC/Spectrum customer service said it was fine.

-Is there a better wifi router than the Nighthawk thing I should be using? This will be remote from the modem via ethernet via the 24-port switch.

Thanks

JB

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo Jones:
We have frequent issues with service failing.

If Internet uptime is critical, you need a failover Internet service so that when your primary Internet service fails, your router will automatically 'failover' to utilize your backup service. If you don't have Internet service available from two ISP's (ex. TWC/Spectrum and ATT), it can be done by using a cell phone's data service as a backup, assuming you have an unlimited data plan.

Cradlepoint make routers that can failover to a cell phone (or other device such as a laptop PC with a SIM card for your wireless data account) that you connect to the router to provide your network with Internet access. Thus, when your primary Internet service fails, you'll be able to feed Internet access from the cell phone through your router to users.
Cradlepoint MBR1200B

Jimbo, which one of these is how your "network" is setup?

Setup as in # 2

The TWC guy said we needed a modem/router with better DHCP.

Would assigning static local IP addresses to the various computers solve part of that problem?

JB

Configure connectivity as follows:

• Connect incoming cable to current Arris modem/router
• Disable WiFi broadcast from Arris router/modem (i.e. use it just for addressing)
• Connect Arris router/modem to Netgear switch
• Connect as many of these wired access points as necessary to the Netgear switch to cover your office with WiFi (likely no more than two if your business is small)

Using these WAP's you can position them in the best locations possible for WiFi delivery and also configure as many SSID's as you like (including a guest network). The WAP's should have a very strong WiFi signal throughout the entire office. And forget about the static IP stuff. The only static IP's I assign are to printers that power down and sleep so deeply they sometimes disappear on the network. A static IP prevents that problem.

The fail over recommendations above are very good.

FortiNet makes a nice cellular backup unit called a FortiExtender. This takes a SIM directly in the unit, rather than an attached wireless modem, like the CradlePoint.

I've used both, and they both work well.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo Jones:
Setup as in # 2

The TWC guy said we needed a modem/router with better DHCP.

Would assigning static local IP addresses to the various computers solve part of that problem?

JB

Do you allow employee phones on the network? If so, you're probably looking at 2-3 devices per worker, So ~30 or more. That's a lot for consumer grade hardware.
I've also seen phones & other devices choke/kill some network infrastructure (all cheap netgear/linksys/etc consumer devices). You don't have enough controls to diagnose & fix - you either ban the device, replace equipment or chase your tail.

IMO, the cable modem should only be connected to 1 device, that you have control over & feeds your internal network. If you want a static IP, the modem will likely be dictated by your ISP. Beyond that, you can go cheap to outrageously expensive - depending on your fault tolerance & pocketbook.