4G Wireless Broadband Intl Speeds vs Fibre Intl Speeds

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › 4G Wireless Broadband Intl Speeds vs Fibre Intl Speeds

sigod

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#268039 24-Feb-2020 21:21

Hi, I was just doing some international speed tests on my Spark wireless home broadband connection in Queenstown. Some of them seemed kind of slow.

Here are the results from netmeter.eu :

Sydney - Ping: 70ms, Download: 43.09 Mbit/s, Upload: 2.82 Mbit/s

Los Angeles - Ping: 172ms, Download: 19.74 Mbit/s, Upload: 0.38 Mbit/s

Chicago - Ping: 234ms, Download: 5.34 Mbit/s, Upload: 0.29 Mbit/s

Frankfurt, Germany - Ping: 338ms, Download: 0.86 Mbit/s, Upload: 0.25 Mbit/s

Obviously these speeds fluctuate during the day with increased loads on the network and are often worse.

I was wondering if I would see an increase in download speeds from international servers if I switched to say Unplan Fibre 100?

Also am I better off being closer to my wifi modem than moving the modem and switching to fibre and being further away eg -50db (wireless broadband) strength vs -67db (with fibre) strength?

Spyware

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#2426653 24-Feb-2020 21:29

You are better off not using netmeter.eu

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sigod

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#2426655 24-Feb-2020 21:41

Ok, which do you suggest nzspeedtest?

hio77

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#2426658 24-Feb-2020 21:46

speedtest.net is a better option. all of the testing services to suffer when you dont test in ideal situations though.

Sound to me like your also testing over wifi which introduces another medium of contention.

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sigod

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#2426660 24-Feb-2020 21:52

I was testing over wifi because that's what I use the most, but I can test directly connected to the modem.

sigod

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#2426668 24-Feb-2020 22:13

Ok testing directly from speedtest.net yielded much better results except Amsterdam which was 322ms 17.41 Down and 9 up.

Thanks for the advice. Would I notice a big increase in these international speeds over wifi if I went with fibre though?

coffeebaron

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#2426681 24-Feb-2020 22:36

A fibre connection will reduce your latency and give you a consistent base speed. With a better baseline, your WiFi should be better. However whatever you have for your broadband connection, using Ethernet for your local connection will always produce the best result from that connection.

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hio77

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#2426683 24-Feb-2020 22:45

Are you using 5ghz?

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sigod

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#2426695 24-Feb-2020 23:05

2.4GHz 40MHz

sbiddle

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#2426704 25-Feb-2020 06:38

sigod:
2.4GHz 40MHz

You do realise how bad that is? You should never use 40MHz channels on 2.4GHz unless you literally live in the middle of nowhere with no other wireless signals for kilometres! Even then it's still not a good idea.

You should only ever use 20MHz channels on 2.4GHz

sigod

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#2426753 25-Feb-2020 09:58

Ok I changed it back to 20

cbrpilot

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#2426843 25-Feb-2020 12:25

As others pointed out this can be a very difficult question to answer.

The international connectivity for Wireless Broadband versus Fibre Broadband is the same. However obviously a different access network. And it is possible that the access network could colour the results - but its not guaranteed. If you want a more predictable experience then Fibre is the way to go.

Also please note that international connectivity is a very complex topic. By using any speed test result you're testing the connectivity path to that exact server sitting in that network. That may be very different to what you are trying to connect to.

Completely ficticious example:

Let's say that you are testing to a speedtest server in Chicago which is hosted by "Service Provider X". But if are actually connecting to a service hosted by "Bobs web-hosting service" which interconnects through "Service Provider Y" then your speed test result is not measuring the same thing and the result may be misleading.

To get a more concrete feel on what it would be like best reach out to other uses of the service you're planning to use and ask what their experience has been.

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

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sigod

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#2427112 25-Feb-2020 20:09

I just noticed on a few international websites I was on they seemed to be more stable on my 2degrees 4g data connection on my phone than on the 4g Spark wireless broadband even with a direct connection to the router.

I know I will get more data with spark fibre, but if it's going to be just as "unstable" as 4g wireless broadband then there isn't much point changing.