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Searching through this forum I have found some great info, but I am posting in hopes to find some more specific advice.

I have Centurylink DSL, and I can only use an Action Tec modem. I tried 3 other brands routher/modem combos as well as have a tech come out and confirm that Action Tec was the only way. (There may have been some solution, but none that was worth the trouble, especially after buying/returning 3 other router/modems.)

I ended up purchasing an Action Tec 1000a. Wired connections work fine, but the Wifi is less than impressive. I have a wireless IP security camera setup, and the system is less than reliable on my current Wifi. I have already tried repositioning cameras and router placement without much luck. The video streams cut in and out constantly as the signal fluctuates. Using computers/phones only compounds the problem. The 4 cameras are less than 50ft away from the router, and go through no more than 2 walls (standard studs/drywall) if not only one wall. I have measured the Wifi signal (Wifi Analyzer app) compared to a Linksys AC1200+ I have on hand, and the 1000a loses by a margin.

At this point I see two options that do not include wiring the cameras.

1)Add an access point which I feel may hurt more than it may help

2)Make the 1000a a transparent bridge, wire the Linksys to it, and use the Linksys as the gateway. Also the Linksys supports AC, so I figured I would put the cameras on the 2.4ghz and computers/tablets/cellphones on the 5ghz network.

Does anyone have any constructive criticizm or advice for me? Is there a better way that I am missing? I would be happy to hear all of your input.

I don't know where you're at (even when it's under one name, the former Bell system is a hodgepodge of tech due to the whole break-up and subsequent Baby Bell era), but I've never had any real difficulty using non-Actiontec modems with CenturyLink (or indeed US West before that, as I was an early DSL adopter). In fact I'm posting this via CenturyLink using a Netgear DG834G modem/router/WAP (though the WAP part is turned off as it is single-band and I have a WNDR3700v2 doing WiFi duties). For me the only real trick with getting a modem talking to CenturyLink is to get the settings right, as they differ from the default settings for most ADSL2+/VDSL modems out of the box.

But, like I said, YMMV. You can just hang your Linksys off the the Actiontec and have it serve the cameras, without even setting up bridging. You get two layers of NAT, which might be a problem with gaming and some other uses, but for general internet (and handling the cameras) it will work fine. You'd probably want to turn off the WAP in the Actiontec to prevent interference (I don't suppose the Linksys was running when you were having all the issues with the Actiontec? There really are only 3 channels at 2.4GHz). However the routing prowess of the Actiontec is probably not great, so if you're dealing with a lot of traffic, using it as nothing more than a bridge to the internet is probably your best option.

Why not turn OFF the wireless portion of your modem/router and ONLY use an access point for the wireless? (Maybe that's what you're suggesting in #1, but from your phrasing it sounded like you were worried e.g. about interference from the other.) If your Linksys 1200 is free and good quality, then I think you can simply not use the DHCP and other router functions and only use it for WiFi. (Ah, I see UberGerbil has similar suggestions.)

(Who knows, though, now that they've gone to the expletive cloud connect have-to-have-an-internet-connection-to-reach-your-router paradigm.)

Now me personally, I'm days away from attempting to switch off the wifi from my Linksys router and switching to Ubiquiti Unifi. If you haven't seen these puppies, you can add as many APs as you want and they all cooperate for better coverage. They are ONLY wireless access points, note, not routers.

Also, I have some wireless IP cameras, and the wifi in them SUUUUUCKS. It may not necessarily be the fault of your ActionTec. I have one that can't reliably connect to my wifi even when it's in the same room, and the others would periodically drop their connections. Maybe it's the fault of my router, I loathe my Linksys so much I'm willing to blame it for everything. Nevertheless, I abandoned wireless connections for the IP cameras entirely and went wired, and they've been much better. I'm still relying on the wifi signal for most of my monitoring (e.g. through an old android phone), so any drops are probably on that end.

(edit for typos)

I always turn off the router functionality of modem/routers from my ISPs. I also make sure that the wi-fi is turned off. Then I put my own wi-fi router behind the modem, so that I can manage all the network on my own. I've got an ASUS RT56-U that works great with my various webcams and IP cameras.

My only concern with a setup like that would be the security of the cameras broadcasting to the wifi reciever(s). Whatever setup you go with, make sure the cameras are transmitting their video streams encrypted(should be by default, though we have a wired system that toggles it) and change the default passwords and disable remote administration of your networking equipment.

Also, what cobalt said. The poor signal may not be the fault of the modem at all. What model of camera are they?

Thank you all for the replies, you gave me a lot of useful info to work with.

Uber, I am in north-west florida. I do not have a problem putting devices behind the actiontek, but anything non-actiontek as a ADSL2 modem is a no-go where I am at. I thought it was just me at first, so I had the technician come out and run whatever diagnostics he could. I also tried adding a belkin router to it as an access point at the time, and had nothing but configuration issues from what I recall (this was about a year ago). I spoke with Centurylinks "technical support"... I am no expert but I knew more than they did, the people I spoke with really didn't have a clue about networking in general. They said they couldn't help me with any of the "advanced settings" and that I would need to pay someone else to do it. That was just to configure an access point. I ended up getting it figured out but the belkin was an older model and as bad as the actiontek.

Also, the actiontec did poorly all by itself without interferance from any other routers/devices in the area.

Cobalt, what I meant about the access point was to make it wireless as well as opposed to wiring it to the router. As was mentioned, that would probably not help much as I still rely on the actiontec's wifi to connect to the access point. I might get a boost in signal to the cameras, but that wouldn't necessarily solve it.

They are Zmodo cameras. They do stream encrypted (WEP) and I always change passwords. I also keep remote administration disabled. This protects from the average script kiddy and nosey neighbor, but unfortunately most camera systems coming from overseas have major security vulnerabilites in the firmware (includes most name brands). I read an in depth article about it a little while back, the author notified the vendors long before it was published and nothing has changed so far as I know. He was actually able to use both the NVR and the security cameras to compromise the entire network in a couple different ways. The good news is someone really has to be looking for it and know what they are doing. If I can find the article I will post it, it is a good read if you are into that stuff.

Update: I went ahead and hooked up the linksys behind the actiontec. WOW what a difference, I did not even turn off the actiontec's 2.4 ghz network off yet. All 4 cameras are streaming at 20 frames in "High" quality (notice the quotes, the vendors advertise 1080p, but I would say it it more like 480p... regardless the actiontec could hardly handle low quality at 10fps).

aeb28 wrote:

Update: I went ahead and hooked up the linksys behind the actiontec. WOW what a difference, I did not even turn off the actiontec's 2.4 ghz network off yet. All 4 cameras are streaming at 20 frames in "High" quality (notice the quotes, the vendors advertise 1080p, but I would say it it more like 480p... regardless the actiontec could hardly handle low quality at 10fps).

Great, glad you got it sorted!

My first job whenever I get one of those bundled modem/ap combos from an ISP is to either throw it away and get a plain modem, or disable as much functionality as I can and turn it into a bridge for a 'real' router. Those ISP-provided units are generally bough in huge quantities from the lowest bidder, so the quality is exactly what you paid for it.

What really irks me is when the ISP has the balls to turn around and charge me a rental fee for the pile of junk.