Options for home internet?
Discussion
So - bit of background…
I live in a private site as part of work and BT’s ownership of the incoming copper ends approx a quarter mile away. That point onwards has telegraph poles and old copper.
The site is going through the process of going fully digital (voip phones, all data).
There are two homes here and we have just about survived with copper but I’d like to get something a bit quicker.
Currently have BB supplied by Sky and are seeing speeds of 20 Meg average.
Work are not going to run a fibre link from the cabinet (around 1.2 miles away). BT or another supplier are never going to run fibre at their own cost to two houses.
Work have offered to supply a super fast link to the houses but neither I or the other Tennant are keen to have our internet info stored on a work server.
Next door has managed to get decent speeds - 200 mbps using a “3” 5g router but has to put it in an upstairs window with clear line of sight to the sky.
I borrowed it for a day and moved it around but my issue seems to be the fact I have a number of trees in the garden and no line of sight. I was getting 4g most places and very occasional 5G upstairs but it would drop out every minute or so.
Wondering if I could build a system using a mast and directional antenna?
NW London for reference.
Thoughts?
I live in a private site as part of work and BT’s ownership of the incoming copper ends approx a quarter mile away. That point onwards has telegraph poles and old copper.
The site is going through the process of going fully digital (voip phones, all data).
There are two homes here and we have just about survived with copper but I’d like to get something a bit quicker.
Currently have BB supplied by Sky and are seeing speeds of 20 Meg average.
Work are not going to run a fibre link from the cabinet (around 1.2 miles away). BT or another supplier are never going to run fibre at their own cost to two houses.
Work have offered to supply a super fast link to the houses but neither I or the other Tennant are keen to have our internet info stored on a work server.
Next door has managed to get decent speeds - 200 mbps using a “3” 5g router but has to put it in an upstairs window with clear line of sight to the sky.
I borrowed it for a day and moved it around but my issue seems to be the fact I have a number of trees in the garden and no line of sight. I was getting 4g most places and very occasional 5G upstairs but it would drop out every minute or so.
Wondering if I could build a system using a mast and directional antenna?
NW London for reference.
Thoughts?
Your work will arrange for the line to be fitted, but there's very little likelihood of them routing any of your browsing traffic through the office network and it would likely fall foul of GDPR if they did so. It'll almost certainly just be supplied direct from an ISP.
The other obvious option is Starlink if you don't have a moral objection to giving mElon your money.
The other obvious option is Starlink if you don't have a moral objection to giving mElon your money.
Alex, thanks for that - as far as I’m aware, All internet traffic is stored on servers for x amount of time.
Head of IT said it would be ok as I could have a private server but I have no idea how that works or what he means.
I’d love starlink but the monthly puts me off - I could potentially use the “3” system if I level the garden but I’d really rather not.
Head of IT said it would be ok as I could have a private server but I have no idea how that works or what he means.
I’d love starlink but the monthly puts me off - I could potentially use the “3” system if I level the garden but I’d really rather not.
I’m running the 3 5G router. Regularly getting 350+MB. We have it in the best room pointing in the vague direction of the mast and then run TP Link deco mesh wifi from there.
Might be more of an option if it’s not the only wifi link in the house? They do have an external antenna socket, could potentially have this mounted on the roof?
Might be more of an option if it’s not the only wifi link in the house? They do have an external antenna socket, could potentially have this mounted on the roof?
Ideally the 3 solution would be best but the router my colleague got next door has no input for an external antenna - is there a Router and an antenna I could buy to go with it then just use a 3 sim? (If that’s what it is) his looks like a sealed unit.
I’ll take some pics tomorrow of what I’m up against.
I know there are both multi-directional and single directional antennas with pros/cons of each.
How do I know where my nearest mast is?
I’ll take some pics tomorrow of what I’m up against.
I know there are both multi-directional and single directional antennas with pros/cons of each.
How do I know where my nearest mast is?
If you don't need to have access back in to your home then starlink or 4G/5G. The latter is a lot better with external aerials if you were struggling to get much.
Personally I would take the offer of a fibre line from your work and then use a full tunnel VPN provider for a few quid a month to secure the traffic past their firewall. It's what a couple of mates of mine do still and what I used to do on a work provided line.
Personally I would take the offer of a fibre line from your work and then use a full tunnel VPN provider for a few quid a month to secure the traffic past their firewall. It's what a couple of mates of mine do still and what I used to do on a work provided line.
pidsy said:
Ideally the 3 solution would be best but the router my colleague got next door has no input for an external antenna - is there a Router and an antenna I could buy to go with it then just use a 3 sim? (If that’s what it is) his looks like a sealed unit.
I’ll take some pics tomorrow of what I’m up against.
I know there are both multi-directional and single directional antennas with pros/cons of each.
How do I know where my nearest mast is?
https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=234&MNC=20&type=LTE&latitude=51.59303818578192&longitude=-0.31458562961636993&zoom=12&showTowers=true&showIcons=true&showTowerLabels=true&clusterEnabled=true&tilesEnabled=true&showOrphans=false&showNoFrequencyOnly=false&showFrequencyOnly=false&showBandwidthOnly=false&DateFilterType=Last&showHex=false&showVerifiedOnly=false&showUnverifiedOnly=false&showLTECAOnly=false&showENDCOnly=false&showBand=0&showSectorColours=true&mapType=roadmap&darkMode=false&imperialUnits=falseI’ll take some pics tomorrow of what I’m up against.
I know there are both multi-directional and single directional antennas with pros/cons of each.
How do I know where my nearest mast is?
5G masts haven't been updated on the site.
I know private schools that provide staff accommodation that have extended their wifi network to the housing, but all traffic passes through their proxy/content filter. The staff complain, but they are free to get their own broadband installed and be free of any restrictions, but few to do this.
xeny said:
How do the economics of doing this and using a decent VPN work out?
This.pidsy said:
Alex, thanks for that - as far as I’m aware, All internet traffic is stored on servers for x amount of time.
They can store what they like, if you run everything over a VPN it'll all be encrypted and they won't be able to view it.Discussed this all with IT earlier today.
Suggestion was that we could get FTTP to one of our houses that is on the main road and then run our own Fibre cable to these cottages and put the gear in these.
Using the roadside property as a proxy address.
Virgin didn’t like that Idea at all. BT will only do a survey at cost which is fine but were very unsure about having their kit at the end of a 300m private run so think that idea is out of the window.
They will pay for the Starlink kit but that leaves me with the monthly (which is completely fair) but I’d rather not be spending £75 a month if I can help it.
The idea of a VPN on work network could be possible but I’ll have to discuss.
The 5G antenna is still my preferred option but I dont know what kit exactly I need.
Thanks for all the replies - any more input is appreciated.
Suggestion was that we could get FTTP to one of our houses that is on the main road and then run our own Fibre cable to these cottages and put the gear in these.
Using the roadside property as a proxy address.
Virgin didn’t like that Idea at all. BT will only do a survey at cost which is fine but were very unsure about having their kit at the end of a 300m private run so think that idea is out of the window.
They will pay for the Starlink kit but that leaves me with the monthly (which is completely fair) but I’d rather not be spending £75 a month if I can help it.
The idea of a VPN on work network could be possible but I’ll have to discuss.
The 5G antenna is still my preferred option but I dont know what kit exactly I need.
Thanks for all the replies - any more input is appreciated.
I have the '3' branded NR5103E with the four external antenna sockets.
Its unlocked and i use it with a Voxi (Vodafone) SIM but it lacks cell locking as an option, so it has a tendancy to jump around between masts, which gives us download speeds which vary between no connection to >200Mbit. My nearest mast is a couple 100m's away but it seems to want to pick a mast a km away, offering the same bands, so its hard to stop it selecting the further mast without cell locking.
I have it configured in IP passthough so i can use my own router but on its own its pretty good with Wifi6 connectivity with good range.
When it works its great and beats our available broadband speed by a factor of nearly 10 but the mast jumping and perhaps other cellular network (weekend) issues means its not for us, so im going to be selling it shortly.
Its unlocked and i use it with a Voxi (Vodafone) SIM but it lacks cell locking as an option, so it has a tendancy to jump around between masts, which gives us download speeds which vary between no connection to >200Mbit. My nearest mast is a couple 100m's away but it seems to want to pick a mast a km away, offering the same bands, so its hard to stop it selecting the further mast without cell locking.
I have it configured in IP passthough so i can use my own router but on its own its pretty good with Wifi6 connectivity with good range.
When it works its great and beats our available broadband speed by a factor of nearly 10 but the mast jumping and perhaps other cellular network (weekend) issues means its not for us, so im going to be selling it shortly.
We have a three 5g router, in fact we're on the second one!.
We are right on the fringe of the reception range.
First time round was last year and we took one on 30 days trial so we could determine if it was a viable alternative to Virgin and, if so, allow us to negotiate from a better position with Virgin for the package which was BB and TV.
The device was a Zyxel NR5103e which gave downloads of 400-500mb provided it was placed in one of the upstairs windows otherwise it would default to 4g. the upstairs window location was fine because its wifi range far surpassed the Virgin one and great wifi was available throughout the house. anyway virgin agreed to drop the monthly rate so we signed up again with Virgin and sent the Three router back at no cost.
We've stopped again with Virgin and went for a Three 5g setup again, this time on a rolling 1 month contract. This time they sent us a ZTE MC801e which has provided a consistent 90ish download but prob about once every few hours it might buffer when watching TV via it.
Three's tech support said that we should expect around 90-100 download but couldn't say why it would sometimes buffer. the buffering issue has pretty much gone away so maybe they have increased bandwidth on the local mast or perhaps they were throttling it when it was providing TV signal for hours on end. I've also not even tried moving the most recent router to anywhere else in the house to see if it might even increase the speed etc.
Apart from the occasional buffering which lasts only a few seconds it's been great and at £24 / month cancel any time great value too.
it seems from Three's web site that the first router we had from them was in fact the most recent design
We are right on the fringe of the reception range.
First time round was last year and we took one on 30 days trial so we could determine if it was a viable alternative to Virgin and, if so, allow us to negotiate from a better position with Virgin for the package which was BB and TV.
The device was a Zyxel NR5103e which gave downloads of 400-500mb provided it was placed in one of the upstairs windows otherwise it would default to 4g. the upstairs window location was fine because its wifi range far surpassed the Virgin one and great wifi was available throughout the house. anyway virgin agreed to drop the monthly rate so we signed up again with Virgin and sent the Three router back at no cost.
We've stopped again with Virgin and went for a Three 5g setup again, this time on a rolling 1 month contract. This time they sent us a ZTE MC801e which has provided a consistent 90ish download but prob about once every few hours it might buffer when watching TV via it.
Three's tech support said that we should expect around 90-100 download but couldn't say why it would sometimes buffer. the buffering issue has pretty much gone away so maybe they have increased bandwidth on the local mast or perhaps they were throttling it when it was providing TV signal for hours on end. I've also not even tried moving the most recent router to anywhere else in the house to see if it might even increase the speed etc.
Apart from the occasional buffering which lasts only a few seconds it's been great and at £24 / month cancel any time great value too.
it seems from Three's web site that the first router we had from them was in fact the most recent design
Thanks again for all the input.
The walls in these cottages are about 12 inches thick - they don’t build them like this anymore!
I’ll need to mesh anyway whichever system I get.
Currently- the router on the copper line is downstairs so there’s not much reception diagonally upstairs but it’s never been an issue.
Currently I think EE are the only ones whose default router has the capability of an external antenna (which is an add on to the basic package.
Designed for rural areas- not black spots in London but would do the same job.
I could mount it on the chimney and see how it goes.
Work have been really good about it to be fair and are willing to pay for any kit. I’ll just pay monthly.
The walls in these cottages are about 12 inches thick - they don’t build them like this anymore!
I’ll need to mesh anyway whichever system I get.
Currently- the router on the copper line is downstairs so there’s not much reception diagonally upstairs but it’s never been an issue.
Currently I think EE are the only ones whose default router has the capability of an external antenna (which is an add on to the basic package.
Designed for rural areas- not black spots in London but would do the same job.
I could mount it on the chimney and see how it goes.
Work have been really good about it to be fair and are willing to pay for any kit. I’ll just pay monthly.
Can you not just get a 5g SIM card and something like this?
Router
https://www.solwise.co.uk/5G-CPE_H8860
Aerial
https://www.solwise.co.uk/A-OMNI-297-V1-01
Solwise are great, very helpful if you give em a call
Router
https://www.solwise.co.uk/5G-CPE_H8860
Aerial
https://www.solwise.co.uk/A-OMNI-297-V1-01
Solwise are great, very helpful if you give em a call
I also have a Three Zyxel NR5103E, which has four external antenna sockets (which I don't use), I believe that's what all customers get in 2023. You can check coverage on https://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Network/Coverage or similar pages from O2, Vodafone etc.
We're 700m from the shared mast, it's line of sight from our roof but I have our router downstairs so there are a few brick walls in the way. We're getting 260 Mbit down, 18Mbit up, 28ms ping, and paying £20/month on an 18 month contract. I'm using it in passthrough mode to my BT HomeHub 5 bought on eBay, the signal is good around our brick walled house. Three customer service is atrocious, but once you've got it working the service seems to be 100% reliable.
We're 700m from the shared mast, it's line of sight from our roof but I have our router downstairs so there are a few brick walls in the way. We're getting 260 Mbit down, 18Mbit up, 28ms ping, and paying £20/month on an 18 month contract. I'm using it in passthrough mode to my BT HomeHub 5 bought on eBay, the signal is good around our brick walled house. Three customer service is atrocious, but once you've got it working the service seems to be 100% reliable.
Edited by -Pete- on Saturday 30th September 19:07
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff