NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
CM400 Modem and N300 Router
Hello everyone,
I bought the Netgear CM400 modem for my Xfinity 100 mbps internet plan. However, I need to access the internet at different rooms in my house, so I was thinking about purchasing the N300 router. Are they compatible? More importantly, do I need to buy both or one or the other by themselves would be able to supply internet wirelessly to my entire apartment?
4 Replies
The CM400 is a cable modem only. You can directly hook a single device to it and be able to use it. If you want more than 1 device, you'll need a router.
I would recommend more than a N300 router if your speeds are the 100mbps plan. Its not much more to upgrade to a dual band router. They'll give you more capabilities for minimal cost over the N300.
I appreciate your answer. I am sorry for the silly questions, but it is my first time buying a modem and/or router. Do I still need the modem or could I just use a better router than the N300? If the answer is yes, what kind of router should I get?
You need a modem and a router.
https://www.lifewire.com/difference-between-modem-and-router-4159854
They do make combo devices but I generally don't recommend people buy them because the ISP controls the firmware on them.
Main reason I recommend at least a dual band device is the diffrence between the 2 bands.
2.4ghz: broadcasts further and through more materials. Downfall to this is that its much lower bandwidth. (slower)
5ghz doesn't broadcast as far but has a quite significant speed improvement. Much better if you plan on streaming anything over it.
Today's a great day to shop for routers as its cyber monday. If you're not wanting anything fancy and aren't covering a whole lot of area, a basic dual band router will cover most situations. I'd go for a newer generation wireless ac router as well.
