Moving to Gigabit Fibre - likely speed increase?

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Ghostextechnica

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#272670 8-Jul-2020 15:14

So I'm currently with Vodafone on the 'Unlimited Fibre 200' plan - which in theory caps me at 200 down.

I live in Mt Eden in the middle of central Auckland - so should be reasonably close to key infrastructure.

However, I'm currently getting the variable speeds below (measured on my iPhone via wifi - but always standing in the same place near my router). Nothing ever close to 200. My question is, if I upgrade to Vodafone Gigabit Fibre can I expect to see the speed increase when I'm already not hitting my existing speed cap?

Current speeds

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#2519376 8-Jul-2020 15:18

Test on Ethernet. Bandwidth depends on latency, so you may not see any more speed on a single connection. You will get more throughput if your network and router can handle it, with multiple users or things like BitTorrent.

sbiddle

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#2519377 8-Jul-2020 15:19

There isn't an answer to that question - the only answer is "it depends".

It depends if you're connecting on 2.4GHz or 5GHz, what type of router you're using, what channel bandwidth you're using, and what spec your client devices are - 2x2 or 3x3.

In general I consider around 150-200Mbps to be a benchmark speed for WiFi - that's the sort of speed that could be expected in a typical environment to mobile devices. Anything above that is a bonus, and to a mobile device will make zero difference anyway.

Dugimodo

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#2519384 8-Jul-2020 15:32

Wifi is no good for measuring internet speed, too many other limiting factors. And gigbit is much faster than any wifi device can benefit from.

At home I have a 100/20 fibre connection. On my smartphone it tests about the same as yours (maybe a bit more consistent but never over 80) , on my PC I can hit the 100M limit every time on speedtests as long as I use the nearest server.

Not many home users really need the speed IMHO, I am a heavy user and 100M is great.

Ghostextechnica

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#2519385 8-Jul-2020 15:32

That's the tricky part.. to move to gigabit fibre I need to pay more per month and lock myself into a 12 month contract. However, I have no clue at this stage if it will benefit me at all.

My household does quite often have multiple devices using the network similtaniously (me gaming or on conference calls, wife on netflix, kids on youtube etc) - so potentially could be some benefit there with additional speed.

I have a Netgear NightHawk R7000 as my router, which has both 2.4 and 5ghz connections available.

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#2519386 8-Jul-2020 15:36

you are limited by wifi.

so going to gigabit fibre will NOT increase your iphone wifi internet speeds.

sqishy

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#2519396 8-Jul-2020 15:49

How many devices wifi or cabled used at peak any one time etc.

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#2519400 8-Jul-2020 15:52

Ghostextechnica:

That's the tricky part.. to move to gigabit fibre I need to pay more per month and lock myself into a 12 month contract. However, I have no clue at this stage if it will benefit me at all.

My household does quite often have multiple devices using the network similtaniously (me gaming or on conference calls, wife on netflix, kids on youtube etc) - so potentially could be some benefit there with additional speed.

I have a Netgear NightHawk R7000 as my router, which has both 2.4 and 5ghz connections available.

how many people in the house and what do they use internet for?

if 12 people streaming or downloading the answer is yes, if 1000 people checking email then no

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Scott3

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#2519402 8-Jul-2020 15:52

Location and distance pretty much doesn't matter for fiber. connection Dosn't get worse at distance like ADSL. (perhaps a few mS more ping if you are 100's of kilometers from the test server).

But as other's had said, your connection to your phone is being bottle-necked by your WiFi. No point spending more money on faster connection as this bottleneck will remain.

Either live with your connection speed, of spend effort (or money) getting the WiFi better. Franky your WiFi is pretty slow and highly variable.

Getting a new iphone & router / access point that supports WIFI6 would be the spend money soultion.

Making sure you are using 5.4Ghz Wifi and checking different channels would be the cheap solution.

Linux

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#2519412 8-Jul-2020 16:03

At home on my 2degrees Gb connection over Wi-Fi ac my connection averages between 700 - 800Mbp/s down and 500Mbp/s up and this is not even WiFi ax

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hhan

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#2519417 8-Jul-2020 16:10

I think the answer is NO.

Spend your money in upgrading your wifi.

HamishOneNZ

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#2519419 8-Jul-2020 16:11

Hi,

With Fibre Max the actual max user speeds will vary and is impacted by various factors including how you're connected to the internet (using a Gigabit Ethernet cable is better than Wi-Fi, which would have a large impact on speed), the hardware and software used, number of devices connected, time of day, and where the data is downloaded from.

In really good conditions, we expect you'll get max download speeds of up to 700-900 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 400-450 Mbps (via the network cable).

However, if you're only using devices via Wi-Fi I don't think you would t get the full benefit of a gigabit connection and would probably be best to stick with what you currently have.

Kind regards,

Hamish

One New Zealand

cyril7

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#2519424 8-Jul-2020 16:35

Ghostextechnica:

Snip..............

My household does quite often have multiple devices using the network similtaniously (me gaming or on conference calls, wife on netflix, kids on youtube etc) - so potentially could be some benefit there with additional speed.

Gaming, not too sure what bandwidth it uses and it will depend on the game being played but from my observation, probably < 10Mb/s of bandwidth, ie not that much, gaming typically likes lower latency however.
Conference call < 2Mb/s for most services ie Zoom, Teams etc.
Netflix, HD is around 6Mb/s, 4K around 15Mb/s and thats assuming we are back on full speed streams after Covid
Youtube, depends on what device and what resolution, but typically < 3Mb/s unless its 4K stuff on a large screen and <6Mb/s

So if you and your wife and say 3kids were all on the internet its less than 40Mb/s max.

So as you can see nothing there to skuttle your 200Mb/s connection. As others have said your speed tests via wifi on an iphone will not reflect what your service really is capable of delivering. Try an ethernet connection.

Edit: also just because you are in Auckland implies you should expect better serivce, the nature of fibre services means a similar experience can be delivered at any point in the country assuming your ISP has sufficient backhaul into your area, which most larger ISPs do, so other than a little increase in latency someone in a small town in the middle of the country on fibre will get the same/similar experience.

Cyril

Ghostextechnica

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#2519446 8-Jul-2020 17:43

Some great responses - thanks all!

I’ll do an Ethernet cable test later this evening - but very interested now in the recommendations to upgrade my router. The Netgear NightHawk R7000 was very well reviewed as a gigabit router back when I bought it but it is quite a few years old now.

I’m a little confused at how people with stock routers are getting 700 down.. is the R7000 really worse than the ones Vodafone provide?

Would a nighthawk Rax40 (a Wi-Fi 6 router) be likely to make a big difference?

cyril7

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#2519453 8-Jul-2020 17:57

All the routers you speak of and use are the last type and brand I would ever go near, infact I would probably go with out than deploy one of them.

Cyril

quickymart

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#2519472 8-Jul-2020 18:36

What's wrong with using the router from your provider?

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