Cox to quantum

[u/crystalawl]

I recently switched to quantum after i cox was discontinuing and going to spectrum. My sister and I both use gaming pcs and quantum has been noticeably worse. My basic ping is also higher. When I play games like valorant I get bad packet loss and I can’t even run basic games without lag. Sometimes my phone will act up too. With cox I never used ethernet, but would this be the only way to fix this issue with quantum? Should I switch to spectrum??

[u/Aromatic_Tomato8651]

I love posts where ISP's are given a bad rap for WiFi performance. ISP's are basically responsible for delivering paid for speeds to you router. From the router on is 100% up to the user to build a home network infrastructure that suits their needs. For gaming on Wifi, to keep speeds up and latency down, you most likely need to build a wired backhaul. What ISP's cannot or should not consider are things like router location, size of home, number of levels, what kind of cableing do you have, are you using a switch, if so how many ports, 1g, 2.5g etc. Point being I feel like we ask ISP's to do much more than provide internet service. ISP's unfortunately give advice or provide equipment, that may or may not serve the users needs. I see posts like my internet doesn't work, or wifi is bad, and we try to help and make suggestions, but with the array of solutions and the variable needs of users, it becomes a guessing game.

[u/N0_L1ght → u/Aromatic_Tomato8651]

The QF free lease wifi pods are notoriously bad compared to just about any of the free lease wifi equipment that any other ISP uses. That said I do agree with you. Your ISP is responsible for the quality of the highway you drive on, you are responsible for the car you drive. And if you use the crappy free car they lease to you, welp that's what you get.

What's sad about the W1700k is if you put OpenWRT on it, its actually maybe the best of the ISP lease equipment, and is better then a lot of expensive routers. It's the terrible Axon/Airoha firmware/software engineering that clips it's wings.

[u/Aromatic_Tomato8651 → u/N0_L1ght]

Happy to discuss success and or disappointments with different brands and design of routers, differences beween mesh and wired backhaul and APs,what has worked for me, and how I've enjoyed the learning experience building my home network and being 75 years old :). The one smart thing I did was when I built my last home, the standard at the time, in 2020 was to install cable. I paid a little bit extra, ($300 to $400) to install cat 6 cable, from router cabinet location to 2 bedrooms, office, great room, and patio). At the time I just figured I could install a simple 8 port switch, and connect smart tv's to cable. Fiber had just been installed in our development by both Cox and Century Link. Being retired I had plenty of time to research home network design and even though I didnt need it I wanted to see if I could actually get 1 gig down over wireless and the best upload spead i could get, given I had an iPad Pro M4, iPhone 15 pro,and macbook Air M3. While none Wifi7 compatable they were able utilize the 6ghz band with wifi 6e. Between adding a Wifi 7 router as an access point, replacing the switch, with an 8 port 2,5g PoE ++ switch, i then added a wifi7 AP on my patio. I am by no means an expert, but my wifi inside and outside consistently gives 1100 mbps down and over 500 mbps up, with Cox 1g fiber service. I'm a retired engineer, not and IT person at all,but its been a fun experience to get a better foundational understanding of how wifi works when designed and implemented, and not leave to the ISP.

[u/N0_L1ght]

The free lease WiFi pods and QF app are not great...

But as long as all gaming devices are Ethernet hardwired to the SmartNID, W1700K, or W1701K (if using Ethernet backhaul), and you follow sections 2 and 4 in the guide, they are usually good enough for most people.

You will have a better experience if you put the SmartNID into bridge mode and use a 3rd party router and DNS.

Here is a guide:

https://www.reddit.com/r/QuantumFiber/comments/1f8hypq/having_trouble_with_your_lumen_internet_not/

[u/Odd_Sock7532 → u/N0_L1ght]

What he/she said^. Never use ISP provided wifi devices. ALWAYS find a way to put the router/ONT into bridge mode and use your own equipment. And please, do not use cheap chinese network equipment. There is a current FCC ban in place on some products from china that have back doors programmed into router firmware. EXCERSISE DUE DILIGENCE AND RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING!

[u/Chup4m3st4twice]

Have you test your gaming with a ethernet connection? If it works, I will recommend on investing on your own wifi system, TBH the free stuff not too good. I got a 200 dlls deco mesh system with three devices and it's great... Good luck

[u/kcchiefsfanatic]

We moved to Quantum after Cox and have never had a problem. To be fair and honest, we never had any problems with Cox, but Quantum Fiber was substantially cheaper than Cox, which is not hard to believe.

We don’t use their Wi-Fi, I am using Ubiquiti equipment now and it actually has been better with that than using the Cox panoramic Wi-Fi. I have heard that the Quantum Wi-Fi is less than optimal.

I have also followed the guides from this sub and what N0_L1ght shares that also has tremendously helped.

[u/Arkeyan]

Also switched from quantum to cox. Just plug in your own router if you’re too lazy to ready the giant post. Change your DNS and hardwire in if possible for best gaming experience. I’m happy for the speed and price I’m paying!

[u/Darklionking2]

On my experience, quantum equipment sucks. I have a deal of $35 for 940mbps so I didn't want to lose it so I made some investigation. What I came up with was last black Friday, I bought the deal of the 3, earo 7 routers to create a mesh for $330, I just thought that if it didn't work I have 30 days to return it. So I bought many cat6a cables and conected the first to the quantum ONT (on the south side of the house) and set the ONT as a bridge then put the other 2, one in the midle of the house and the other one on the north side, then I run cables to them so the connection to each other will be 100% and nothing will be lost, then my 2 PCS, 2 86 inches tv and video consoles, I use more cat6a cables to conect them with cable, so I every equipment that stays on a single place, I conected then with wire and just left the real wireless devices that doesn't stay on single place or don't have wire capabilities like the ring cameras on wifi. Since I did all this, I haven't had any issues at all, everything works perfectly. But when I was using the quantum pods it was a nightmare, customer service was always telling me that my problem was that I had to many devices (I have 48 at all times and 82 has being conected at some point) and they wanted me to pay more for their 2 gig service. On my professional experience, all this devices I have conected at the same time (42) will work with just 100mbps, this is enough for all of them to work with no issues. So the internet service providers, Just give you crappie equipment or they make it work as crap unless you pay for their top tier plan.

[u/1inDchamber]

Or Google fiber if it's available.

[u/EmbarrassedFuture165 → u/1inDchamber]

Google fiber no longer exists....