Modem & Wireless Router Questions

Time-Warner cable is my ISP. I am using a Motorola Surfboard modem, model: SB5101U and an Apple Time Capsule, 500GB, bought in mid 2008. About 2 1/2 to 3 years ago Apple did a power supply and firmware upgrade to this Time Capsule. I own the Motorola SB modem - it's not a monthly lease from Time-Warner. I live alone in a small one level patio and use two devices on my LAN : a MacBookPro bought from Apple in mid 2008 and a new iPad Air. I just recently bought a Sony DVD Blu-ray player with built in wifi so I could downstream movies from Netflix. That's the issue - the handful of moves I have downloaded all get the download interrupted at least once and they download slow. My modem/wireless router are old. Would I likely benefit from a new modem and/or wireless router? If so please recommend brands and models. Obviously I have a low level of technical/computer knowledge! I do no gaming and downloading movies would be the only goal in updating my modem and wireless router. Sometime in 2014 I will replace my MacBookPro with a higher end IMac - if that is a consideration in this situation. U-verse is available for me but only for internet and phone - no U-verse TV service. I have heard that U-verse is faster than TW Cable - meaning most ISP providers have various levels of internet service and for each they say "Up To XXX" speed and that U-verse comes closer to their advertised internet download speeds than Time-Warner - but I am not sure about that. The only put off is that when I checked into U-verse, ATT wanted $238. to set it up at my house for internet only (that did include the first months service). I am one very confused old man on these issues and I just want to add the ability to efficiently use Netflix via my LAN!
Edit: this router is on sale today (Amazon) for $99.99 - but is it a good choice for my needs? ASUS RT-N66W Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router (White Version)

Added Information: I used the CNet on line "Speed Test" several times this morning with ONLY my MacBookPro turned on - I ran the test five times between 9 and 10 AM - which should not be a time frame with lots of computers on line clogging up the system. Nothing on my MBP was open except Safari to access the CNet test.All my speed results were in KBPS (kilo bites per second) as follows: 12001, 9118, 11899, 10884 and the last test at 10 AM 13673 kbps. How does my speed compare to the AVERAGE ISP wireless LAN home user?
Thanks, Bill.

Unless the Surfboard modem is having issues, ti's still a great modem for Cable. They have improved the Time Capsule and Airport extreme but unless there are issues with yours, that pause could be something else like network congestion between your ISP and that site.

Thanks

Dennis,
Thanks for the reply. I added CNet speed test information to my original post - do you consider that a reliable speed test? If so, what do you think about my wireless connectivity speed?
Thanks for all your help!
Bill

tarheel said:

Time-Warner cable is my ISP.....

Added Information: I used the CNet on line "Speed Test" several times this morning with ONLY my MacBookPro turned on - I ran the test five times between 9 and 10 AM - which should not be a time frame with lots of computers on line clogging up the system. Nothing on my MBP was open except Safari to access the CNet test.All my speed results were in KBPS (kilo bites per second) as follows: 12001, 9118, 11899, 10884 and the last test at 10 AM 13673 kbps. How does my speed compare to the AVERAGE ISP wireless LAN home user?
Thanks, Bill.

Click to expand...

Hi Bill - assume by 'tar heel' that you live in NC (I'm in the Triad)?

I also have TW cable, renting their modem (which needs replacement!) and have a new Airport Extreme router; usually use Speedtest Net although TW has their own speed site - my DL (download) speeds are typically 10-20 Mbps - your speeds are about 9-14 Mbps which should be fine for 'streaming' movies, especially in SD (standard definition) - I stream a LOT of movies & TV shows (Amazon & Netflix mainly using a Roku device).

Now you could certainly upgrade your modem & router with the latter using a faster speed (such as 802.11 g/n or even ac), but the 'bottleneck' will still be the signal coming into your modem and during evening peak hours your bandwidth will drop - when I stream at night the movies/TV shows will occasionally drop out and have to re-buffer - yes, it's irritating but my only option would be to pay TW more $$ for a faster connection. If this issue is only occasional you might be able to just live w/ it w/o investing more money in new equipment - so please post back your thoughts - Dave

Thanks RadDave,

Yes, I am in North Carolina. Born in Charlotte and have lived in Raleigh but for the past 36 years I have been in Wilmingon.

You said your download speeds were in the range of 10 - 20 Mbps, faster than my Time-Warner download speeds of 9 - 14 Mbps. Taking the median download speed from each of us and the difference is 15 Mbps for your downloads versus 12 Mbps for mine. That's not a big difference but I wonder it it's just enough to make Netflix downloads smooth and without interruption most of the time? I have very little technical expertise and I had no idea if a faster modem or router would boost my speeds but I guess the gain, if any, would be marginal as I pay Time-Warner for what they call their "Standard" internet service with two levels below it and three levels above it. If I bumped up one level it would move me to their "Turbo" internet service with speeds up to 20 Mbps versus what I have now that's up to 15 Mbps - but it's a good point that each piece of the chain has to be able to handle the higher speed or the increase to Turbo is without any real speed gain. The cost increase for Turbo service from Time-Warner is an additional $10.00/month plus the taxes on the increase. I'll think about this. Thanks for your input.
Bill

Up'd my TW to the 30 Mbps tier a couple years ago - speed tests have never come back at less than 30, except when TW is down - typically 32-34 and on occasion 40 - that's testing via wifi on my MacBook Air. I found 20 to be pretty good when I had that, but still the too occasional glitch with HD streaming.

At 30, it's a pretty rare occasion I have an issue streaming. I stream from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu's HDX, Hulu, HBO and a great many others via the Roku and online. Simultaneously, with perhaps a couple of machines on the web. The rare glitch I have now (except youtube which glitches on me at every speed and location I've ever tried) are the service, rather than the ISP or my speed. Even at 30, while pretty good most of the time, Netflix is by far the worst offender of all the services I use. I'm not sure moving to 30 from 20 took care of any of the Netflix issue.

Hi Bill - wife & I go to WV Beach about twice a year (usually stay @ the Holiday Inn) - just a 4 hr drive and love getting to the ocean that quickly.

At the moment I'm on the Turbo service and have not noted a big difference in my streaming experience, i.e. I still get occasional disruptions - over the last few nights I've streamed several films from Amazon w/o a disruption - I don't mind a few disruptions, so how many are you getting and is it that much of an annoyance? Just trying to say that this streaming is not going to be perfect. Dave