Gigabit over wifi

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Gigabit over wifi

rojkind

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#205300 7-Nov-2016 21:59

Got the bigpipe elite plan, loving the speed but not really reaching its maximum potential as all of our devices at home are on wifi 99% of the time.

I get around 200-290 Mb/s over wifi on the 802.11 AC network using the Huawei HG-659. I have a 2014 Macbook Retina.

I've been looking at modems, particularly the Asus AC-68U. Would I see a decent increase in speed? From what I have read online I believe it will cap out around 400-500 Mb/s under optimal conditions.

Has wifi technology not caught up to gigabit internet? Or is there a solution...

Sideface

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#1665393 7-Nov-2016 22:23

Q. Has wifi technology not caught up to gigabit internet?

A. No.

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chevrolux

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#1665394 7-Nov-2016 22:23

Evening team, @sbiddle, generic comment about wifi not being a replacement for cabled ethernet required in aisle 3, Thank you.

Linux

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#1665395 7-Nov-2016 22:24

For a start WiFi is half Duplex

sbiddle

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#1665397 7-Nov-2016 22:29

I'm interested to know what uses the OP has for more than 200Mbps.

No you can't get Gigabit over WiFi (unless you buy 802.11ad) and yes you're just throwing away money buying an Asus router.

If you want Gigabit a $1.50 Ethernet cable is your fix.

rojkind

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#1665448 8-Nov-2016 07:35

Thanks for the replies. Ethernet it is.

sbiddle

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#1665450 8-Nov-2016 07:43

If you want to spend ~$800 on a new TP-Link router and 802.11ad adapter you can get 2.3Gbps over WiFi but as that's 60GHz it will only be within the same room.

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sbiddle

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#1665451 8-Nov-2016 07:45

rojkind: Thanks for the replies. Ethernet it is.

It would help explaining why you need more than ~250Mbps. 99% of people have no use for such a speed either internally on their network or for an Internet connection. The only benefit of having a 1Gbps connection for 99% of people is better speedtest.net results.

If you're transferring large amounts of data between PC's then WiFi is always the worst option anyway since it's half duplex. Ethernet is always the best option.

tdgeek

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#1665452 8-Nov-2016 07:46

Linux:

For a start WiFi is half Duplex

I thought that was just for repeaters?

darylblake

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#1665453 8-Nov-2016 07:48

This is silly. You are getting 290Mbps. I cant even think of any reason for needing any more speed.

And you want the convenience factor of WiFi AS well? I mean, why on earth would you need more than 200Mbps for any one application? If you need a gig for whatever ridiculous reason, perhaps downloading a LOT of files then plug in an ethernet cable.

Short of spending about $2000 on a few ZoneFlex Ruckus R500's or something better this is insane.

sbiddle

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#1665454 8-Nov-2016 07:49

tdgeek:

Linux:

For a start WiFi is half Duplex

I thought that was just for repeaters?

Nope all current 802.11 WiFi standards are half duplex. A radio is either in TX or RX mode and switches between the two.

A repeater makes things worse because it ends up being in half duplex for the RX/TX from the remote side and half duplex for the uplinkc which is why it basically halves the speed.

jonb

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#1665483 8-Nov-2016 09:05

Have a read of these threads too:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=66&topicid=197871

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=158&topicid=204550

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amanzi

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#1665850 8-Nov-2016 16:39

Just out of interest - what's the quickest 'real world' WiFi speeds you all have seen? I'm on the new 200/20 VF cable plan and can consistently get that over 802.11ac WiFi. The Ubiquity Pro access points support a theoretical 1300Mbps, but I wonder what that translates to in actual use?

allio

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#1665887 8-Nov-2016 17:02

My R7000 gets the same speeds as any AC1900 class router (including the Asus) and tops out at around 50-60MB/s (i.e. around 500mbps) with good 5Ghz signal.

Getting speeds faster than that is possible but involves some very swiftly diminishing returns.

chevrolux

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#1666130 8-Nov-2016 23:08

sbiddle:

If you want to spend ~$800 on a new TP-Link router and 802.11ad adapter you can get 2.3Gbps over WiFi but as that's 60GHz it will only be within the same room.

Huh! Cool. Didn't know that anyone had made a 802.11ad device. Now we just need UBNT to make it look good and scalable so we can have one in each room.

Is 802.11ad ratified yet though?

sbiddle

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#1666227 9-Nov-2016 09:04

I don't think .ad is going to go mainstream yet. 802.11ax will first.

I saw the TP-Link router at CES where it was launched doing 2.3Gbps running iPerf to a tablet.