Hey so I just changed to 1Gb speed with Xfinity and bought a new modem (Netgear AX5400) with better sq ft capability. I feel like I’m missing something here. I have my desktop direct connected to the ISP provided XB8 Modem and I get ≈950Mb download speed. If I direct connect to the router after bridging the modem I only get ≈80Mb download speed. Should I even be using a router? Why is it bottlenecking the speed so much even though it is 1Gb capable? The ISP provided modem can obviously act as a router but I thought disabling the router part of it and using a standalone router would have been better? Any assistance would be great.
Your Netgear AX5400 is a router, not a modem. Unless you’ve configured your XB8 in bridging mode, it is also acting as a router. That gives you double NAT which is going to slow you down some.
Your choices are to bridge the XB8 or eliminate the Netgear.
Yeah even when I bridged the modem it only helped with directed wired speeds by 10Mb. Is there a benefit to using the router?
The benefit to using your own router is increased flexibility in configuration.
If you are happy with the XB8 as a router, then there isn’t much benefit to using your own router.