Post edited 8:44 pm – January 7, 2012 by tploy

I am just passing along some of my experience regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the all in one modem/router and separate devices. My father has his DSL service through ATT and has the 2wire combination DSL Modem/Router for some time. When first installed it worked fine although the Wireless Router seemed to have a very short operating radius, Less than 15 Feet. Over time however, when he sent Printing projects from his computer to the networked HP 7680 All in one they would incomplete print and end up lost even disappearing from the Printers available list. It was quite difficult to diagnose the problem but it was eventually found and fixed. Quite Simply. What happened is since his DSL Modem in more than 3 Miles from the Sub Station he has a weak signal to his DSL. Thus in inclement weather the connection drops intermittently due to interference. So, when the DSL Drops connection it attempts to reconnect automatically. However while the DSL is not in full connection with the server it drops all connections in an attempt to reset. Quite understandable actually. Thus while doing it's normal reconnection cycling all normal communications are reset, including the router functions. Thus anything on the network using protocols initiated by the router also are affected. Thus problem was discovered as to why the computer couldn't print and was loosing the printer as well as anything connected to the network. My solution use a separate router not affected by upstream connection resets. So, I shut off the Modem's internal Wireless Server and installed a separate Router and a higher Quality N band Wireless Server rather than the low quality G band Server. Now everything on the network works wonderfully no matter what the weather is like. The DSL Still re-cycles the up-link as needed but now the networked computers, Scanners, Printers are still able to communicate to each other and properly function no matter the status of the DSL Service. And with the higher quality N Band Wireless Server the operating radius is considerably greater  closer to 150 feet now. A great Improvement. True there is a greater investment in Equipment, and there are more components, but the quality is well worth the aggravation reduction. In some instances using an all in one Router/Modem is OK but it doesn't always make for a better choice than using separate components. Where if one goes bad it can be quickly replaced. I also found a solution for extending a home network to a greater radius than 300 feet by using a device called a Bridge to expand the coverage area. It helps to connect a wired network printer to a wireless network when you don't have a wireless option available for that model printer.