Moving to Gigabit Fibre - likely speed increase?

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richms

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#2519481 8-Jul-2020 19:16

If you're not going to use gear that can benifit from the speed then about the only thing that you would gain going to a faster plan is more upload speed helping with it choking up when a phone or something is doing an icloud backup or similar.

Use a decent router, current iPhone and you will get the speed your current plan offers, not those low ones in the screenshot. Perhaps then upgrade the speed if you feel you want your spotify or netflix to download faster. No upgrade from 100 to gig will do anything speedwise for normal phone usage like scrolling thru facebook or liking cats on instagram.

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Ghostextechnica

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#2519501 8-Jul-2020 19:53

quickymart:

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

Based on my testing the stock router from Vodafone is both slower and doesn't have the range my Nighthawk has. I can barely get a signal in my bedroom with the stock one, whereas with the nighthawk I can stream in HD.

On the phone thing - I only use my iphone to speedtest as a quick judge of how things are looking. I work in software development and at times if everyone else in the family is streaming video and I'm on a conference call, screen sharing and using high-bandwidth programs I do experience issues with call quality on my rig.

Which (reasonably priced) modems are people using that are getting decent speeds over Wi-fi?

cyril7

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#2519502 8-Jul-2020 20:00

Hi, I agree the stock isp routers typically have crap wireless and many deliberately limit client numbers to prevent overload.

I suggest you look at WiFi products that are separate from the router. A couple of Unifi ac lite aps with wired backhaul to your isps router will be a good start.

Cyril

Lias

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#2519700 8-Jul-2020 21:40

Ghostextechnica:

Based on my testing the stock router from Vodafone is both slower and doesn't have the range my Nighthawk has. I can barely get a signal in my bedroom with the stock one, whereas with the nighthawk I can stream in HD.

On the phone thing - I only use my iphone to speedtest as a quick judge of how things are looking. I work in software development and at times if everyone else in the family is streaming video and I'm on a conference call, screen sharing and using high-bandwidth programs I do experience issues with call quality on my rig.

Which (reasonably priced) modems are people using that are getting decent speeds over Wi-fi?

That nighthawk may provide you better WiFi coverage and speed than most stock ISP routers, but performing as a router and providing an internet connection is a different story. Your nighthawk, along with pretty much anything similar you can buy in Noel Leeming, is generally pretty garbage tier, and even something that costs $800 is often worse than a free ISP router for anything except the WiFi connection.

The most popular choice round here tend to be Ubiquiti gear, Edgerouters or USG's coupled with separate WAPs. I highly recommend checking out this post: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=66&topicid=197871

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

michaelmurfy

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#2519744 9-Jul-2020 01:21

So I've got a little more of a technical router guide in my signature but short story is don't, just don't get a Netgear or Asus router.

Reason being - they're totally rubbish. And Wireless AX is a standard still in draft and may change at any given point so I'd hold off personally shelling out money on something that is still not final.

If you want a good router that is also cheap then I personally recommend the Cambium R195W which is only $113.85 (+ shipping) from Go Wireless. There is also a UFB setup guide Here (from Go Wireless also) along with a review from me here. This is a seriously impressive router for the price as it boasts actually very good WiFi, and can do Gigabit speeds no problems (like seriously, I could not stress it under any tests).

I know many people (above) have said grab xx and xx but if you want a cheap solution that works well then you can't look past the Cambium. Sure, these solutions or even a Mesh solution like the Ubiquiti AmpliFi will get you better wireless coverage but for your basics the Cambium has got you pretty well covered. As always though, I recommend using your ISP's provided router as in most cases this is the better solution unless if you're an advanced user. Ensure your 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks are using the same name and password so your devices will pick up the best they're compatible with.

Also ensure you're using modern devices. An old iPhone as an example won't be able to fully use what your wireless router puts out.

As many others have said however - no, for your use you likely don't need Gigabit but seriously most people on Gigabit don't need it. If you want it then just go for it but I don't think you'll notice much difference.

And lastly, @sbiddle I think you're being unnecessary harsh with your expectations on WiFi. With your installations I am sure you're happy with 150-200Mbit but in my situation right now where I am in the house with my laptop connecting to the furthest access point for some strange reason because I am nearly in the centre of both of them I am still able to achieve over this (300-350Mbit, normally this is 600-700Mbit sitting in the lounge as an example) on a laptop with an Intel 2x2 wireless chipset - modern wireless, when deployed correctly using decent products, no layer 7 shaping and no other things in the way like per-client shaping work great, that is why I've set my target benchmark speed at 400Mbit these days. You may want to revisit your expectations or find out what you're doing wrong with your deployments :) - I managed to get above 450Mbit over WiFi on the Cambium R195W also.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Batman

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#2519754 9-Jul-2020 07:10

to OP:

i get 680Mbps with wife iPhone 7 on my lousy *Asus router (not sarcastic!) and 600Mbps with my year old laptop (2x2) wifi.

940Mbps with 5 year old desktop & ethernet

* - the Asus does everything you want of it as a single entity. but it cannot do anything fancy - all the "fancy" functions either don't work or slows down the router. and it randomly kicks out my apple products + one or two other occasional bugs if you fiddle with it.

sbiddle

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#2519755 9-Jul-2020 07:17

michaelmurfy:

And lastly, @sbiddle I think you're being unnecessary harsh with your expectations on WiFi. With your installations I am sure you're happy with 150-200Mbit but in my situation right now where I am in the house with my laptop connecting to the furthest access point for some strange reason because I am nearly in the centre of both of them I am still able to achieve over this (300-350Mbit, normally this is 600-700Mbit sitting in the lounge as an example) on a laptop with an Intel 2x2 wireless chipset - modern wireless, when deployed correctly using decent products, no layer 7 shaping and no other things in the way like per-client shaping work great, that is why I've set my target benchmark speed at 400Mbit these days. You may want to revisit your expectations or find out what you're doing wrong with your deployments :) - I managed to get above 450Mbit over WiFi on the Cambium R195W also.

I don't think I am being harsh.

The reality is the vast majority of residential homes only have a single router, and many now default to 80MHz channels on 5GHz by default. People are going to complain about coverage and performance using this because as we know 5GHz is essential these days for good performance, but if you're going to only have a single AP/router in many homes you can't really have both coverage AND speed.

If people are perfectly happy getting 200Mbps over WiFi anywhere in their house then setting 5GHz to 20MHz channels (rather than 80MHz) will do wonders for coverage and stability, but will drop maximum speeds by ~400Mbps

mdf

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#2519900 9-Jul-2020 11:02

michaelmurfy:

...

If you want a good router that is also cheap then I personally recommend the Cambium R195W which is only $113.85 (+ shipping) from Go Wireless. There is also a UFB setup guide Here (from Go Wireless also) along with a review from me here. This is a seriously impressive router for the price as it boasts actually very good WiFi, and can do Gigabit speeds no problems (like seriously, I could not stress it under any tests).

...

I missed that review, but FWIW I've just been testing a Cambium R201 I had in a box. I've been pretty impressed. Routes gigabit, simple enough to set up, and I've been impressed with the Router Limits integration. Great for managing school holiday device time and filtering.

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