Ports 2,3,and 4 on CM1200

[Rsteger]

I'm new here, so maybe someone can help me understand the purpose of ports 2,3,& 4 on the CM1200.  I had hoped to use these ports to send a signal directly to my TV (using Apple TV) and a LAN switch so that I can have hard wire connections in several rooms.  From what I'm reading, this Modem is not able to do this.  So I'm not really sure why I bought this version of the modem since I probably should have just picked up the single port version.  

I've read in this forum that ports 2 and 3 are only for LAN or aggregated devices (although I'n not sure exactly what these type of devices are).  

Obviously I'm not a network guy, so maybe I made the wrong purchase.  Is there a cable modem that supports DOCSIS 3.1 and has multiple ports I can use in the way I described above?  Is the CM1200 not the right modem for my application?  

Thanks

[plemans · Accepted solution]

A modem isn't the correct devices if you're wanting multiple devices connected. A modem/router is the correct device. 

Or go modem----router----switch. 

The cm1200 confuses a lot of people and there isn't good education done on it from netgear or isp's. Half the problem is that there are ISP's that support multiple public ip addresses. in those cases you can hook multiple devices to it. But those ISP's are rare. the big 3 (comcast, cox, spectrum) don't support more than 1 public ip address unless you pay for it or have a business class line. 

[plemans · Accepted solution]

A modem isn't the correct devices if you're wanting multiple devices connected. A modem/router is the correct device. 

Or go modem----router----switch. 

The cm1200 confuses a lot of people and there isn't good education done on it from netgear or isp's. Half the problem is that there are ISP's that support multiple public ip addresses. in those cases you can hook multiple devices to it. But those ISP's are rare. the big 3 (comcast, cox, spectrum) don't support more than 1 public ip address unless you pay for it or have a business class line. 

[FURRYe38]

Ports 2,3, and 4 are for ISP assigned WAN IP addresses. So if your ISP supportings having more than on WAN IP address going to the modem, then these ports would be use for this. So you could have up to 4 external wifi routers connected to the one modem. 

Check with the ISP for additional information regarding having more than 1 WAN IP address. Some ISPs may not support this. 

The CM series modems do not have a built in router. These are modems only.