Is using the router and modem my cable company provided for my internet putting my privacy at risk? And if so, I have heard of openWRT routers but it seems like there’s quite a bit of a learning curve with that but even if I got one would I need a non cable company branded modem as well? Any specifically that anyone here would recommend?
Would using something like a Glinet Beryl travel router increase privacy in this scenario if you just used WiFi repeater mode and only connected to that router or would your cable provided router still be able to decrypt all of your traffic due to being unable to change their DNS settings? To be honest I know very little about networking I just want to increase my privacy to the fullest extent possible
I would hardwire that Beryl unit to your ISP’s router (Beryl WAN to ISP Lan, or even just skip the ISP’s router entirely and plug the Beryl into the modem) and pretend their wifi doesn’t exist. Do you have physical access to the network gear and/or roommates that might be weirdos about it?
I did hardwire it to the modem and it’s been awesome once I figured out what I was doing lol thank you so much for all of your help! Someone else mentioned changing the DNS settings is important for privacy, would you recommend to edit the Netmask and Gateway as well (I’m just using the same ones the ISP gave me in DHCP) or is changing the DNS enough?
Changing DNS is a good idea, but leave the netmask and gateway alone.