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Looking for cable and voice modem with two ethernet ports
I bought a Netgear CM500V Cable and Voice modem (no router) to replace my Xfinity modem/router. I don't need an integrated router because I have a Nest Mesh WiFi, which includes its own router already. However, I like to connect my cable broadband to my desktop computer via an ethernet connection, and since the Nest router also connects to the modem via ethernet, I need two ethernet ports. The CM500V otherwise meets my needs perfectly, but when I took it out of the box, I discovered it has only one ethernet port.
Does anyone know which Netgear cable and voice modem has spec's close to the CM500V but also includes two ethernet ports? I called Netgear to ask, and after waiting an hour on hold, I finally reached a customer service rep who suggested two models (C6220 and C6250), but on further research, I found that both have integrated routers which, as I said, I don't need. I also don't need a modem that supports 1000 Mbps or more download speed (nor do I want to pay for that kind of speed).
Do I need to be looking at another manufacturer to meet all my needs?
Thanks for any suggestions or guidance you can offer.
> [...] I have a Nest Mesh WiFi, which includes its own router already.
> [...]How many LAN Ethernet ports does it have? (Has it a model number?)
> [...] I need two ethernet ports. [...]
Perhaps, but not on your modem.
Almost certainly, your Internet service provides one external/public
IP address, which means that you can connect only one client device
directly to your modem. If you have multiple client computers/devices,
then that one device connected to your modem must be your (NAT) router,
and all your other client devices must be connected to the router (LAN
ports).> Do I need to be looking at another manufacturer to meet all my needs?
No. You can look, but the same will be true for anyone's stuff.
The wiring might be more convenient if you could connect both a
router (WAN/Internet port) and a computer/device directly to the modem,
but that wouldn't work. There are some modems which have multiple
Ethernet ports, but, for users with typical service (one external/public
IP address, only one port on the modem can be used; the other ports are
useless.If the _router_ doesn't have enough LAN Ethernet ports, then you can
use a network switch to expand one of those to serve more devices. But
that wouldn't work for a modem port.
2 Replies
> [...] I have a Nest Mesh WiFi, which includes its own router already.
> [...]How many LAN Ethernet ports does it have? (Has it a model number?)
> [...] I need two ethernet ports. [...]
Perhaps, but not on your modem.
Almost certainly, your Internet service provides one external/public
IP address, which means that you can connect only one client device
directly to your modem. If you have multiple client computers/devices,
then that one device connected to your modem must be your (NAT) router,
and all your other client devices must be connected to the router (LAN
ports).> Do I need to be looking at another manufacturer to meet all my needs?
No. You can look, but the same will be true for anyone's stuff.
The wiring might be more convenient if you could connect both a
router (WAN/Internet port) and a computer/device directly to the modem,
but that wouldn't work. There are some modems which have multiple
Ethernet ports, but, for users with typical service (one external/public
IP address, only one port on the modem can be used; the other ports are
useless.If the _router_ doesn't have enough LAN Ethernet ports, then you can
use a network switch to expand one of those to serve more devices. But
that wouldn't work for a modem port.Thank you. After I posted my original question and did some more reading, I realized I had asked the wrong question. As your reply indicates, I can only have one internet connection, and that needs to connect to the router. So I should have asked how else I can maintain an ethernet cable connection to my computer. The answer, I deduced from reading other posts, is that I only need the one ethernet connection in the modem to connect to the router, and I can to connect the computer by ethernet directly to the Nest router's LAN port. I did that, and all's good. So thanks for confirming what I came to understand with some additional research.