What speeds can I reasonably expect from Unplan Fibre Max

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › What speeds can I reasonably expect from Unplan Fibre Max

astroboy

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#242916 20-Nov-2018 09:06

I've finally gone to Fibre, and I'm wondering what speeds I can expect from Unplan Fibre Max. Theoretically, I can get 900Mbps down and 400 up, but during testing I'm getting around 340 down and 220 up (2017 Macbook Pro and iPhone XS). I know this is wifi, but my devices support 802.11ac so I was hoping for faster. In most day-to-day situations, I don't care, but one of my reasons for fibre was for Internet backups, so I'm hoping to get maximum upload speed, at least for the initial backup. I've ordered an ethernet hub, so I may get different speeds once I can check Gigibit ethernet.

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#2129981 20-Nov-2018 09:14

Wi-Fi is shared bandwidth with all other Wi-Fi access points around you so it's best effort if you want faster then move to Ethernet

John

SpartanVXL

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#2129993 20-Nov-2018 09:26

It also depends on the other end. Any particular service might not have enough bandwidth to go full speed on your end, but you'll find you're able to run other things at the same time with your leftover bandwidth.

cbrpilot

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#2130034 20-Nov-2018 09:40

Just throwing out there that this is heavily dependent on your own hardware as well. The Huawei HG659B router that we sell with the plan is capable of the 900/400 speeds to a local speedtest server. However there is a huge amount of PC hardware out there that is not capable of that kind of throughput. Even with a gigabit NIC and a "modern" PC, lots of people still struggle to get the full speed out of their hardware (be that because of spyware on their PC, or software firewall or old drivers for their hardware etc).

My views are my own, and may not necessarily represent those of my employer.

shk292

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#2130057 20-Nov-2018 10:22

astroboy:

I've finally gone to Fibre, and I'm wondering what speeds I can expect from Unplan Fibre Max. Theoretically, I can get 900Mbps down and 400 up, but during testing I'm getting around 340 down and 220 up (2017 Macbook Pro and iPhone XS). I know this is wifi, but my devices support 802.11ac so I was hoping for faster. In most day-to-day situations, I don't care, but one of my reasons for fibre was for Internet backups, so I'm hoping to get maximum upload speed, at least for the initial backup. I've ordered an ethernet hub, so I may get different speeds once I can check Gigibit ethernet.

Ethernet hubs also share bandwidth between devices, so if you have really ordered a hub, you may not get much improvement. Let's hope you've actually ordered a switch

DarkShadow

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#2130061 20-Nov-2018 10:39

shk292:

Ethernet hubs also share bandwidth between devices, so if you have really ordered a hub, you may not get much improvement. Let's hope you've actually ordered a switch

Can you buy an actual hub nowadays even if you want to?

shk292

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#2130066 20-Nov-2018 10:47

DarkShadow:

shk292:

Ethernet hubs also share bandwidth between devices, so if you have really ordered a hub, you may not get much improvement. Let's hope you've actually ordered a switch

Can you buy an actual hub nowadays even if you want to?

Anything's available on the web if you look hard enough. Just can't understand why some still refer to hubs when they were superseded about 20 years ago

astroboy

71 posts

Master Geek

#2130271 20-Nov-2018 13:59

cbrpilot:

Even with a gigabit NIC and a "modern" PC, lots of people still struggle to get the full speed out of their hardware (be that because of spyware on their PC, or software firewall or old drivers for their hardware etc).

Yep - that's why I put my hardware in the post. I'm assuming the recent Macbook Pro will be fast enough.

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astroboy

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#2130274 20-Nov-2018 14:01

DarkShadow:

Can you buy an actual hub nowadays even if you want to?

I've bought a docking station, which has a Gigabit ethernet port and which connects to my Macbook Pro via Thunderbolt 3

Jase2985

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#2130499 20-Nov-2018 16:45

you device is likely only a 2:2 802.11 device which has a maximum speed of 866mbps, taking into account everything associated with that you will only ever see less than half of that. so seeing 340mpbs down is getting up there in terms of speed.

even if it had the new step up, a 3:3 wifi thats only 1300mbps so halve that and take off a little you would likely only see 500mbps or so.

you should be able to see the speeds on ethernet though

Hammerer

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#2130509 20-Nov-2018 17:47

astroboy:

I'm getting around 340 down and 220 up (2017 Macbook Pro and iPhone XS). I know this is wifi, but my devices support 802.11ac so I was hoping for faster.

I wouldn't want to be your neighbour if you're expecting to hog all the bandwidth. You may soon be hoping that you can keep all that throughput if you start a neighbourhood "arms" race because you interfere with everyone's Netflix.

In my neighbourhood we watched a race to grab as much bandwidth as possible on the 5GHz channels. Neighbours having bandwidth issues were upgrading their routers only to find others were doing the same. The net effect was nobody got what they wanted. We're even competing for bandwidth with a high-powered router a 100m away, admittedly they're in line of sight.

Even worse, last year I could see 15 APs; this year I can see 21 APs probably due to a new subdivision facing us.

Fortunately, we're barely affected by this because we've always tried to cable all gaming, server/backup and streaming devices (computers, TVs, casting devices) except phones and tablets.

astroboy

71 posts

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#2130550 20-Nov-2018 18:21

Hammerer:

astroboy:

I'm getting around 340 down and 220 up (2017 Macbook Pro and iPhone XS). I know this is wifi, but my devices support 802.11ac so I was hoping for faster.

I wouldn't want to be your neighbour if you're expecting to hog all the bandwidth. You may soon be hoping that you can keep all that throughput if you start a neighbourhood "arms" race because you interfere with everyone's Netflix.

In my neighbourhood we watched a race to grab as much bandwidth as possible on the 5GHz channels. Neighbours having bandwidth issues were upgrading their routers only to find others were doing the same. The net effect was nobody got what they wanted. We're even competing for bandwidth with a high-powered router a 100m away, admittedly they're in line of sight.

Even worse, last year I could see 15 APs; this year I can see 21 APs probably due to a new subdivision facing us.

Fortunately, we're barely affected by this because we've always tried to cable all gaming, server/backup and streaming devices (computers, TVs, casting devices) except phones and tablets.

WTF? Show anything in my post about grabbing all the bandwidth. Looking at my phone I can see one Wifi network - mine.

Don't worry. You don't have to be my neighbour

hio77

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#2130565 20-Nov-2018 18:43

Jase2985:

even if it had the new step up, a 3:3 wifi thats only 1300mbps so halve that and take off a little you would likely only see 500mbps or so.

you should be able to see the speeds on ethernet though

with the hg659b it wouldn't get that high on wifi (it's 2x2), Ethernet Absolutely those things are power houses for what they are!

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

richms

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#2130567 20-Nov-2018 18:52

shk292:

Anything's available on the web if you look hard enough. Just can't understand why some still refer to hubs when they were superseded about 20 years ago

Because the actual terms are repeating hub or switching hub, so hub actually covers both types.

Richard rich.ms

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#2130568 20-Nov-2018 18:57

astroboy:

WTF? Show anything in my post about grabbing all the bandwidth. Looking at my phone I can see one Wifi network - mine.

Don't worry. You don't have to be my neighbour

Yeah, sorry if I came on too strong.

You might be interested in comparing your test results with those in smallnetbuilder.com's Router Chart which is a database of tests they've run that you can filter for the interface type you're using, e.g. 5GHz up/down throughput on AC1200:

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/old-tools/charts/router/bar/116-5-ghz-updn-c

richms

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#2130569 20-Nov-2018 18:58

The most I have had over wifi to a phone has been 450 each way on 3x3 5GHz, that wasnt with a free router tho, and was standing directly under the accesspoint.

If you're adding ethernet to the mac with a USB device, there is serious variance in the performance of them, some chipsets are barely able to break 100 meg despite being "usb 3" devices and linking at gigabit speeds. Also USB ones tend to take more CPU than PCIe devices. Basically a gigabit ethernet connection is taxing for lots of hardware and can hit bottlenecks even when you're able to transfer across a lan at close to gigabit speeds on the same hardware.

Richard rich.ms

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