Fibre - WiFi - machine 'chain' speeds thoughts.
Discussion
Time to change broadband contract, and we've got full fibre in the street now and that's all I'm being offered. We've made 50mbps work with a couple of gamers in the house and me occasionally working from home. Usual streaming in an evening. I'm sticking with Plusnet.
However, I'm just working out a few things:
- While I can pay for silly speed up to 900mbps, I'm surely only as fast as the other parts of the 'chain' such as (Hub 2) router, pc or phones etc attached.
- we only use WiFi from (Hub 2) router
- small house, no need for mesh.
- only one really powerful PC, the rest are modest phones and laptop or pc.
So going from our current 50mbps (usually nearer 40mbps) to 145mbps will be basically as fast in reality as we need - and 900mbps will 'need' wires connections, faster/better router, fast ethernet cards, faster laptops or phones etc to truly benefit from it?
However, I'm just working out a few things:
- While I can pay for silly speed up to 900mbps, I'm surely only as fast as the other parts of the 'chain' such as (Hub 2) router, pc or phones etc attached.
- we only use WiFi from (Hub 2) router
- small house, no need for mesh.
- only one really powerful PC, the rest are modest phones and laptop or pc.
So going from our current 50mbps (usually nearer 40mbps) to 145mbps will be basically as fast in reality as we need - and 900mbps will 'need' wires connections, faster/better router, fast ethernet cards, faster laptops or phones etc to truly benefit from it?
hstewie said:Our internet can occasionally go slow, maybe if the county is full of tourists and we get a wet day...
When we notice it's slow, fast.com usually reports 3Mbit/s or less.
Over the past couple of years, our normal speed has crept up from about 12M to 35 or 40M.
All we've noticed is 'go slows' are less common.
4G data, OTOH has gone to the dogs with o2.
When we notice it's slow, fast.com usually reports 3Mbit/s or less.
Over the past couple of years, our normal speed has crept up from about 12M to 35 or 40M.
All we've noticed is 'go slows' are less common.
4G data, OTOH has gone to the dogs with o2.
I m going to bump upto 1gbps as soon as I get my first wifi 7 device, which should comfortably carry that bandwidth.
Quite happy for the moment with 500mpbs on wifi 6. That s about as fast as my wifi 6 devices and router can handle.
The rule of thumb I use, is to half the ISP connection speed compared to the fastest theoretical router / device connection.
I’m not one of these fast enough people. I want the fastest connection I can get for a reasonable cost, to make the internet as seamless as possible. 1gpbs is only £5 a month more than a 500mbps connection. Good wifi 7 routers have dropped below £200 quid also. All quite reasonable expenses in my eye.
Quite happy for the moment with 500mpbs on wifi 6. That s about as fast as my wifi 6 devices and router can handle.
The rule of thumb I use, is to half the ISP connection speed compared to the fastest theoretical router / device connection.
I’m not one of these fast enough people. I want the fastest connection I can get for a reasonable cost, to make the internet as seamless as possible. 1gpbs is only £5 a month more than a 500mbps connection. Good wifi 7 routers have dropped below £200 quid also. All quite reasonable expenses in my eye.
Edited by wyson on Sunday 6th July 19:33
They do try to flog you stuff you don't need.
I am on TalkTalk 150 which varies according to load.
Out of contract, they write and say I can stick with what I've got at 30.70 and have an inflation increase every year or
I can have exactly the same with a 2 year contract for 30.70 and a £3 a year rise ( why would I do that?) or
I can pay 48 quid for the 900 (I think) and it will go up 3 quid every year thereafter. So that's another no.
I am on TalkTalk 150 which varies according to load.
Out of contract, they write and say I can stick with what I've got at 30.70 and have an inflation increase every year or
I can have exactly the same with a 2 year contract for 30.70 and a £3 a year rise ( why would I do that?) or
I can pay 48 quid for the 900 (I think) and it will go up 3 quid every year thereafter. So that's another no.
camel_landy said:
Latency is key.
Unless you're doing big data transfers, anything above 100Mbs is irrelevant and latency becomes the most important measure.
...and even though you might be in a small house, don't underestimate a decent network.
M
We are only on 70Mbps and can stream GeForceNow, 4K Netflix, and someone doing a Teams meeting at the same time with no issue, however that's with the TVs, Shield, and study all running off ethernet, latency sits at 10-15ms, and some days we get through nearly 100Gig of data usage.Unless you're doing big data transfers, anything above 100Mbs is irrelevant and latency becomes the most important measure.
...and even though you might be in a small house, don't underestimate a decent network.
M
'Weapons grade WiFi' however is a different matter, I've essentially have had to put a mesh node in everyroom that hasn't got a wired connection to ensure we can get at least 50Mpbs in every room, so have 5 nodes for a 4 bedroom bungalow, with 3 being back hauled with ethernet. If I'm honest probably could do with a 6th node, for the far end of the house/cover the garage properly.
If we got the chance to upgrade to proper Fibre, 150Mpbs would be more than enough, but don't skimp on the WiFi setup. Sadly I don't think we're getting proper Fibre into the house any time soon
.Edited by gangzoom on Monday 7th July 06:42
I've been on 70Mb for a while now as I've had the Zen lifetime price guarantee so been reluctant to move. I'm going up to 900Mb next week from a new supplier because it is around the same price as currently and not much more expensive than the same supplier on 500Mb.
I mainly connect via WiFi but do have a Deco Mesh with WiFi 6E which should be capable of the full speed. The main Deco unit has a 1GB upper limit for wired connections so wouldn't go any higher for now. My work computer is wired to a second Deco unit with the mesh itself WiFi only. I find this gives the best balance of reliability and lack of wires everywhere.
The main reason for me going to a much higher speed is reliability during school holidays. We have two of us WFH most days and during holidays the kids want to stream YouTube etc while the family member looking after them may also be watching something different. It was just getting too much for my connection and I was dropping work calls too often to maintain professionalism. It will also be useful for gaming because I have PC Gamepass and like to try new things. Nothing more annoying than spending 10 hours downloading a game for it to be rubbish!
I mainly connect via WiFi but do have a Deco Mesh with WiFi 6E which should be capable of the full speed. The main Deco unit has a 1GB upper limit for wired connections so wouldn't go any higher for now. My work computer is wired to a second Deco unit with the mesh itself WiFi only. I find this gives the best balance of reliability and lack of wires everywhere.
The main reason for me going to a much higher speed is reliability during school holidays. We have two of us WFH most days and during holidays the kids want to stream YouTube etc while the family member looking after them may also be watching something different. It was just getting too much for my connection and I was dropping work calls too often to maintain professionalism. It will also be useful for gaming because I have PC Gamepass and like to try new things. Nothing more annoying than spending 10 hours downloading a game for it to be rubbish!
You won't need "faster ethernet cards" unless your laptops or pc has 100Mb cards, which is highly unlikely.
145Mb will almost certainly be perfect for you. I have 850Mb down and the ONLY time that bandwidth gets used is downloading movies - where I get a 16Gb file in about 4 mins! - but I never need it that fast. I'm on 5G hence the speeds - costs me £20 a month.
Any router that has Gb ethernet ports will handle your 900Mb. Wifi won't utilise it all. I've just done a speed test from my Suface Pro 9, in bed!, router in room next door. 300Mb down (I get 850 on my LAN connected PC). Wifi 6
145Mb will almost certainly be perfect for you. I have 850Mb down and the ONLY time that bandwidth gets used is downloading movies - where I get a 16Gb file in about 4 mins! - but I never need it that fast. I'm on 5G hence the speeds - costs me £20 a month.
Any router that has Gb ethernet ports will handle your 900Mb. Wifi won't utilise it all. I've just done a speed test from my Suface Pro 9, in bed!, router in room next door. 300Mb down (I get 850 on my LAN connected PC). Wifi 6
Edited by Griffith4ever on Monday 7th July 08:01
I've had 900mbit/sec fibre for over a year and it's very nice. However, the only time I ever come close to using all the speed is when downloading/updating Steam games on the PC. It's extremely quick to do huge game downloads or patches as it can pretty much max out the connection. PS5 downloads are fast too but they don't use as much of the bandwidth as Steam can use if you let it.
Aside from that, I see no functional difference to the previous 75mbit/sec FttC that I had. However, the price was actually lower and the router is much better for WiFi (plus it came with a disc that meshes directly with it whereas before I was having to run a seperate 3-disc mesh to get decent WiFi coverage).
If you can save a bit of money and go for 500mbit/sec I'm sure it would be more than good enough. Probably even 300.
Edit: Actually, it's good for Usenet downloads too. If I use 3x servers I can pretty much max it out.
Aside from that, I see no functional difference to the previous 75mbit/sec FttC that I had. However, the price was actually lower and the router is much better for WiFi (plus it came with a disc that meshes directly with it whereas before I was having to run a seperate 3-disc mesh to get decent WiFi coverage).
If you can save a bit of money and go for 500mbit/sec I'm sure it would be more than good enough. Probably even 300.
Edit: Actually, it's good for Usenet downloads too. If I use 3x servers I can pretty much max it out.
Edited by Lucas Ayde on Monday 7th July 13:04
For me the biggest advantage to that speed are updates. 500mbps laughs in the face of a 2.1GB Apple update. I m hoping 1gbps will laugh even harder. Whatever you want to do, you don t have to think twice nor plan ahead when speeds get in this range.
I ve tried various speeds over the years, from dial up, to 10mbps, 50 mbps, 70 mbps etc. I think 150gbps was when you start to feel free and not have to think about your connection speed. I wouldn t accept anything below that, with 300mbps being a comfortable starting point. The faster the better!
Most recently, I didn’t have time to complete an online course in the time given, so I downloaded it. Was about 8gb in total. Again didn’t think twice, clicked download and carried on working as normal. I think it was complete in 7 or 8 mins. With a 50mbps connection, I would have had to stop work and nurse that, or do it in the evening.
I ve tried various speeds over the years, from dial up, to 10mbps, 50 mbps, 70 mbps etc. I think 150gbps was when you start to feel free and not have to think about your connection speed. I wouldn t accept anything below that, with 300mbps being a comfortable starting point. The faster the better!
Most recently, I didn’t have time to complete an online course in the time given, so I downloaded it. Was about 8gb in total. Again didn’t think twice, clicked download and carried on working as normal. I think it was complete in 7 or 8 mins. With a 50mbps connection, I would have had to stop work and nurse that, or do it in the evening.
Edited by wyson on Monday 7th July 13:49
With Wifi6 on a 5GHz channel you should be able to get at least 200Mbps,and with line of sight to the access point / router, 500+. My wife gets about 250-300 on her laptop with 2 internal walls between her and he access point. If its possible to run a cable to your gamers PC it's well worth doing though, it'll get the full internet speeds and faster ping times.
I have no need for the 750Mbps my PC gets on a wired connection, but it is nice on the occasion when I download a large file, or when my backups run to the NAS at 1Gb/s.
For reference, streaming 4K video uses about 20-25k. Our internet/TV cable provider sent us a new TV box the other week and it's internet only, with no connection to the Coax like our old box, so having it wired via a 1Gb switch rather than competing with other devices in the house over wifi is nice.
ETA: I hadn't realised Hub 2 is Wifi 5, while in theory Wifi5 can do 400BMbps or so in practice you're more likely to get up to about 250 in my experience.
I have no need for the 750Mbps my PC gets on a wired connection, but it is nice on the occasion when I download a large file, or when my backups run to the NAS at 1Gb/s.
For reference, streaming 4K video uses about 20-25k. Our internet/TV cable provider sent us a new TV box the other week and it's internet only, with no connection to the Coax like our old box, so having it wired via a 1Gb switch rather than competing with other devices in the house over wifi is nice.
ETA: I hadn't realised Hub 2 is Wifi 5, while in theory Wifi5 can do 400BMbps or so in practice you're more likely to get up to about 250 in my experience.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 7th July 13:53
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