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Forum Discussion
Number of Downstream/Upstream Channels for a Nighthawk X6 AC3200 R8000 Router
I own a Nighthawk X6 AC3200 R8000 router in my home. It's more than capable for what we need. I'm interested in upgrading my internet service with my local provider. Since I don't use one of their mo...
The r8000 is a router only device.
It isn't a modem and doesn't have an integrated modem.
What modem are you looking at?
That is an excellent question. I'm naive enough to not know the difference. In order to increase the internet speed in my home, the customer service at TDS is asking me how many downstream/upstream channels my modem contains. I thought he was talking about the router. Is the modem a separate device connected to my computer?
nhench7 wrote:That is an excellent question. I'm naive enough to not know the difference. In order to increase the internet speed in my home, the customer service at TDS is asking me how many downstream/upstream channels my modem contains. I thought he was talking about the router. Is the modem a separate device connected to my computer?
A modem connects to the ISP line and to your router's WAN port. A router is not a modem so it doesn't have up/downstream channels. A modem is not a router. As a rule of thumb, the more up/downstream channels a modem has, the more bandwidth it can handle
the modem should have the coaxial line running to it with ethernet out that runs to the R8000
nhench7 wrote:
Is the modem a separate device connected to my computer?
Yes. But you have to be careful to get a modem that is in line with the technology your ISP uses.
The most common Internet technologies are cable and DSL. Fibre to the premises is also increasing. (Every Internet service has "fibre" somewhere in the network, so just seeing that in the sales guff is no guarantee that you will get fibre at your end.)
Increasingly, ISPs supply customers with a joint modem/router. In some cases this is because the network operator tells the ISPs to do that. (This is what happened in the UK.)
Experienced users like to buy separate modems and routers. In this way they can get a router with more features then a combined modem/router. They also get something that they can still use if they change from one network technology to another. They can just change modem.
