First let’s explain the anatomy of your home network. You have your Internet Service Provider, hopefully us, then the wire comes into your house or business. It then plugs into a either a modem for telephone or cable providers or a power supply for a Wireless connection (like us). Some modems then go to a router some are routers are included inside of the modem.
In our case the power supply has a port parked LAN that you run a small Cat5 cable to a router. That router then retransmits throughout your house. Sometimes, if your house is larger than 2000 square feet you might need something called an “extender” or “mesh” unit that can increase the signal to the other side of your house.
OK now that you know how it works let’s talk options. You can go to Best Buy, Amazon, Office Depot, Walmart and buy a modem. They used to cost about $50, now they have these new super sized routers that run $100-$300. Do they run better than the old ones? Not really. They are designed for people who use high bandwidth and use many connections such as gaming and streaming. In fact you can run 9gbps on those routers, even with cable at 100mbps it’s a joke that they are wasting such spectrum and there are plans to even come out with a “5G” router that uses 100mhz signals. We know what they’re doing, trying to wipe out our industry so they have less competition. The local computer stores tend to overcharge for their routers or sell you really bad routers that easily break down in a few years. We admit we like Netgear first, Linksys second, and a distance last place Belkin routers. A few other companies like ASUS have a decent router too.
The problem happens with these super expensive routers like ORBIS routers, these routers put out 80mhz retransmissions on two separate 5ghz frequencies. 95% of your devices work on 2.4ghz which they also transmit on. I understand Amazon Fire Stick now runs only on 5ghz, we’re not happy about that. What’s the problem with these routers? WE transmit on 5ghz, that means if you are transmitting two separate signals of 80mhz (regular and guest networks) the chance that you are wiping out our signal to your house is VERY HIGH!
What’s the answer? Well first off when the salesman says “if you want the best router…” tell them you want to cover your house, turn off your 5ghz (gigahertz) Access point(s) and use the 2.4ghz router so did you really need to spend that much money on a router you will hardly be using to blast out our spectrum? It’s a waste of money is what it is.
One more idea, Washington Broadband offers routers as well, the initial price is $25, we’ll set them up so you don’t have to turn off your 5ghz. Then we’ll charge you $5 a month (no contract but you do have to return the router if you leave us). It includes a monitoring portal for your cell phone so you can control your kids Internet. Those big expensive modems don’t offer that.
Don’t waste your money on the overpriced routers that are meant for 100mbps Internet wired connections not for a wireless network like ours. Thanks for taking the time to research this with us.