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We just moved into a new house in rural America. The ISP is a coop which ran fiber optic cable to our house. They said we don't need a modem due to being fiber optic and said we need to supply a router. Beyond that they don't really know much more. I would like to get a Nighthawk 1900 Wifi Router but don't know how to tell if it will be compatible, and the ISP doesn't either.
Any advice or things specific things to look for would be appreciated.
Re: Getting the right router for fiber optic cable
Generally fiber terminates in an ONT ("optical network terminal") that gives you an ethernet internet connection, If the coop includes phone services, there might also be a phone jack.
Do you have something like that? If you do, the Nightwork will work.
Re: Getting the right router for fiber optic cable
Generally fiber terminates in an ONT ("optical network terminal") that gives you an ethernet internet connection, If the coop includes phone services, there might also be a phone jack.
Do you have something like that? If you do, the Nightwork will work.
Re: Getting the right router for fiber optic cable
Just wondering if you need more help in selecting a router, where to place it in the house, purchasing cable to hook everything up and configuring?
How big is the house? How fast is the Internet that you are getting from your fiber connection? How many computers and devices are you connecting up to your router? What kinds of connections do you need? Wireless 5GHz, 2.4GHz, or wired.
Re: Getting the right router for fiber optic cable
Yes, I would appreciate any addtional insights. Thanks
Our ISP just layed 1 mile of fiber optic to our house and we are bringing it into the house and setting up next week. The house is small now (really an 1100sq ft cabin) but we are expanding to be a 4 bedroom house. We anticipate 1 TV, 2 iphones, 2 ipads, and 2 laptops to be the normal load, with guests occasionally increasing to 2 Tv's and 3-5 iphones and 3/5 ipads, and 4 laptops (this is only once or twice a year). We will be running cable tv and lots of streaming via Netflix and Amazon. Although we will have phone, we will actually be using VOIP as our primary. We will not be doing heavy gaming. We want to have the largest WIFI range we can get so we can sit on the porch/deck and be connected. I do want at least one of the laptops to have a wired connection. Also, we plan to run a line from this out to the workshop and put a router out there (about 75' away) to set up WIFI. Not sure if we need both 5 and 2.4 GHz, but want to be sure we have the ability to bring in new stuff later.
We are starting out with download speed of 15MB/sec and upload of 6MB/sec, although if that is not enough we will go to the next level of 25 and 25 (which is the top for our ISP).
Re: Getting the right router for fiber optic cable
Are you a COSTCO member? They have COSTCO only versions of Netgear routers that are a little less expensive.
You will not need all that much for a 25/25 connection. But I am not sure how well you will be able to stream HD movies on 25/25. And the load of a few devices will not require all that much either. A few R7000's will probably suite you just fine. But how many and where they are placed will be determined by your floor plan.
The higher and closer to the center of the house for your main router the better the coverage it will provide and the less likely it is you will need more than one for the house. The farther you are away from the router the slower the wireless network speed will be, but with only 25/25 it won't make much difference as long as you are getting signal.
Recommend you have network cables run throughout the home to every room while you are expanding the home. Also run a network cable out to the workshop. Recommend you use CAT7 cables because they are very high speed, have less signal loss over distances and they are only a little more expensive than CAT6 cables. Also do not use less than CAT6 cables. The cable system should terminate where you place your main router.
You may need only one R7000 for the house and one R7000 for the workshop depending on the house layout. But if your ISP runs your Internet to one side of the house, instead of to the center, and the house becomes spread out you might need one more R7000 run in Access Point (AP) mode connected by network cable running to the opposite side of the house.
There is an additional new piece of hardware that you should consider. Netgear has started making something called Orbi. These are units you spread out in the house and they work together to give you wireless network coverage. One of these could be placed in your workshop. COSTCO sells an exclusive three piece set and two piece sets are available at other retailers.
Re: Getting the right router for fiber optic cable
It looks like COSTCO has their version of the R7000 on sale for 139.99 until Feb 28th. They call their version a AC1900 and their box says it is a R6900.
Re: Getting the right router for fiber optic cable
Thanks Lee for the great advice and guidance, also for the Costco tip. I picked up the Nighthawk 1900 today and will install next week. Appreciate your help.
