80Mbps vs 100Mbps

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › 80Mbps vs 100Mbps

jasonwaiheke

277 posts

Ultimate Geek

#195791 4-May-2016 14:01

Hi all,

I have just called to upgrade my current package from 80GB at 50Mbps to Unlimited at 100Mbps. Obviously time has come to spend a little extra per month to remove the data cap and go unlimited... But, is the extra on top of this to go from 50Mbps to 100Mbps worth it, will I see any change, or should I stick with the speed I have and just go for unlimited data? We have one desktop connected, and at nights a smartphone or 2 and maybe a laptop as well. We stream video from the likes of TVNZ on demand and you tube.

I have been looking online to try and get an understanding of what this means and how much faster it will be, but am still a little unclear. Am I going to see an increase in my speed, or am I as some articles say simply increasing my capacity but things will still come at the same rate. If things wont be faster then I don't see the point in paying for the extra 50Mbps.

I have seen the highway analogy, but how trues is this?

HELP!

PeterReader

6018 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1546616 4-May-2016 14:01

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

you have reset your modem and router
your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing - you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap
your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing
you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

Your ISP and plan
Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)
Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)
Your general location (or street)
If you are rural or urban
If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin
If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service
If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

These links are referral codes: Sharesies | Mighty Ape

timmmay

20574 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1546627 4-May-2016 14:04

I doubt you'll see any practical difference going from 50 to 100Mbps. Most things in NZ are latency sensitive. If you watched multiple high def streams at once, served from NZ, maybe it would help.

Sideface

9349 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1546628 4-May-2016 14:06

Are you talking about HFC cable, or fibre?

Sideface

jasonwaiheke

277 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1546630 4-May-2016 14:10

I have seen this article which explains it in one way, how true is this?

http://www.plugthingsin.com/internet/speed/

Although what I really want to know is will it be faster or not?

Jason

jasonwaiheke

277 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1546659 4-May-2016 14:11

It is Cable, the co-axial variety, same as what we use for the TV

Sideface

9349 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1546664 4-May-2016 14:28

jasonwaiheke:

It is Cable, the co-axial variety, same as what we use for the TV

You have Vodafone Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) cable - which has significant issues, and behaves differently from fibre.

You have two speed options: 50Mbps down and 2Mbps up, or 100Mbps down and 10Mbps up.

I have used both, and am currently on 100/10 Mbps with unlimited data.

The problem with HFC cable is "peak congestion", which causes downstream speeds to drop significantly during peak hours (typically from 7pm to 10pm).

My "100Mbps" connection typically falls below 50Mbps downstream during peak hours.

What does NOT fall is the upstream speed of 2Mbps or 10Mbps.

The real difference between the the 50/2 and 100/10 connections is the upstream speeds - 10Mbps is much better than 2Mbps, particularly if you have multiple users.

Whether or not to go for unlimited data is a completely separate matter - but in my opinion 80GB per month is not nearly enough if you have a fast connection like HFC.

Hope this helps.

Sideface

jasonwaiheke

277 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1546700 4-May-2016 15:31

Thank you, the question was not around data be it 80GB or unlimited as we had made that choice already, it was weather the extra to go from 50/2Mbps to 100/10Mbps on top of this was worth it.

Jason

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Sideface

9349 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1546715 4-May-2016 16:11

jasonwaiheke:

Thank you, the question was not around data be it 80GB or unlimited as we had made that choice already, it was weather the extra to go from 50/2Mbps to 100/10Mbps on top of this was worth it.

Jason

I think that the higher speed is worth it.

I changed down from 100/10 to 50/2 for several months on a trial basis.

The slower connection was definitely worse (with multiple users), so I changed back to 100/10.

It all depends on what your requirements are - I needed better upstream bandwidth. (see above)

Sideface

darylblake

1162 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1546735 4-May-2016 16:32

Personally I think the extra upload would be good.

If you are happy with the current speed, then why would you pay extra?

You may have trouble doing multiple streams with a 2Mbit upload so if you want to watch something and someone else wants to watch something else on an Ipad or something, or if you have dropbox or google drive / icloud backup at the same time that could clog up the upload. But other than that going from 50Mbps down to 100Mbps down won't make a huge difference. I get 62mbit down and can download close to 26GB in 1 hour. On a 50Mbps connection you will do something similar. So its only if you think the upload is restricting your online experience, and that is how I would determine if you want to go up to the next speed bracket.

jasonwaiheke

277 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1547243 5-May-2016 16:07

Thank you,

I guess for what I use it for I have been happy with the speed I have been getting (it is better than work) but I don't stream a lot, but the other half does, she watches more or less every thing online as opposed to TV purely for the convenience of timing.

I guess it was also a combination of feeling that the speed was reasonable and not really causing any issues, preferring Cable over ADSL, not having fibre and not knowing there was a faster option to switch to. I think my wife may see the difference when it comes to watching stuff online, and I guess this is where the focus would be anyway unless we download heaps which we don't.

I don't expect much to change for general browsing.

Will see how it goes, but we are in a way future proofing our connection speed I guess.

Jason.

raytaylor

4014 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1548379 8-May-2016 19:37

With web surfing, your point of diminishing return is about 4mbps.

In simple terms, trademe is not going to be any faster at 80mbps than 4mbps.
This is something all the high speed promotional material fail to convey.

However when you get into bandwidth intensive applications, such as online video streaming, then yes your requirements will be more than 4mbps, but you wont notice much difference above 10mbps, unless there are more than two people in the house streaming at the same time.

So the difference as stated above is upload.

When you are posting a 2 minute video to facebook or youtube, then having the faster upload speed can help.

Thats about the only real tangible benefit to a typical consumer. Most consumers dont make use of their upload.

Most subscrbers that download over 100gb of data per month would use less than 10gb in upload.

Ray Taylor

There is no place like localhost

Spreadsheet for Comparing Electricity Plans Here