I’m not sure where else best to post this, so please direct me if there is somewhere more appropriate.
I’m looking at getting cable again and still have a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. It looks like the biggest limiting factor is the speed but there are other mentions of “improved latecy and power comsumption.” If I’m not get a speed that exceeds 1Gbps, is the latency that much better for $160? I game a little online but hadnt noticed an issue in the past.
For that matter, is an AC wireless router is fine? The AX or Wifi 6 looked neat, but I’m just not sure the benfits are worth the cost. Any input is appreciated.
Newer DOCSIS standards allow for using more frequencies for both upload and download as well as newer techniques. If some frequencies on a network are reserved for 3.1, the frequency space for 3.0 will go down and so will your performance. The frequency space that used to provide 125mbps can now provide someone else with several hundreds of megabits, so you get kicked down to 75mbps for everyone else’s benefit.
DOCSIS 3.0 came out in 2006 and 3.1 in 2013, and 3.1 has already been succeeded by 4.0 in 2017.
Yeah that sounds like what was explained to me
And yet there are vanishingly few areas that have implemented DOCSIS 4.0. Most places are only now getting around to implementing 3.1 fully.
To be fair, DOCSIS 4 uses tk be called something stupid like “DOCSIS 3.1 full duplex” so a lot of areas reporting 3.1 may actually be running 4.
I personally would get a modem with DOCSIS 4 if I had to buy a new one. Replacing WiFi is quite cheap and if access points get flaky there’s always ethernet, but I would get the most up to date stuff on the upstream side just in case the ISP decides to upgrade their network.