Just brought my last gen Extreme out of retirement after two years of using Xfinity’s XB7 and XB8 gateways and the WiFi range degrades so bad in comparison to what I’ve been used to. It still works extremely well at close range, but I am sorely missing the more advanced capabilities of the Xfinity gateways. I dropped them to save money, but I think I might go back to the XB8 unless I can tweak with the Airport’s placement and settings to improve its performance.
I would suggest you put the $10/mo of router rental toward a set up like this:
Netgate 1100 internet gateway/router/firewall (
$209 at Amazon)
EnGenius EWS356-FIT access point (
$70 at Amazon)
If you install just one access point, you’ll need a Power over Ethernet (PoE) injector:
iCreatin Wall Plug Gigabit PoE Injector (
$11 at Amazon).
If you install multiple access points to cover a larger home use a PoE switch:
Netgear GS108PEv3 8-port managed gigabit Ethernet switch with 4 PoE ports (
$75 at Amazon).
With this you can configure:
- multiple, separate isolated Wi-Fi networks (such as for guest and your home automation),
- get security updates for the pfSense software running the router for years to come,
- set up a VPN server on the router, so you can phone home to provide tech support to your family members.
By contrast the Comcast equipment is completely inflexible and will likely be obsolete in three years, at least from a security point of view.