5G home wireless broadband adopters

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mutey

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#299037 4-Aug-2022 20:43

Hi,

Long time geekzone reader and former lurker here

I wanted to detail some initial ookla performance test results from a 5G home wireless connection to encourage others to perhaps share a little of what they have seen with their 5G home wireless connections as well.

I have only had my 5G home wireless for a few days and with a full 5/5 bars of 5G signal strength on the first couple of webtests to ookla I saw over 800 Mbps down to a wired gig connection.

Full disclosure :

I'm with 2 Degrees as a customer , I dont work for them or any other associated or competing provider[s] and I have no skin in the game of whom you wish to use as a provider.

I am connecting with the ISP provided Nokia Fastmile unit.

I'm unsure why but after the first couple of web run tests it seems ookla doesnt want to let me run another test directly through a browser

Just seems to time out on server selection.

Although when i retest using the applet on the fastmile lcd touchscreen I am seeing :

462/108

I am unsure of the reason for the large discrepancy from the initial webrun tests done after its first bootup and retesting today with the units inbuilt application although this seems to be a little suspicious.

I hope some other NZ 5G home wireless broadband users pop up and add their own experiences with whichever provider they have chosen and their overall impressions.

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#2950801 4-Aug-2022 22:09

Is there a reason you didn't choose Fibre instead?

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mutey

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#2950803 4-Aug-2022 22:19

I had fibre previously, I have turned off the chorus box and router, this is faster and cheaper at least where i am located.

I was intrigued to see how fast this really was and to try this setup out.

PJ48

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#2950804 4-Aug-2022 22:24

It may be cheaper, but there is no way 5G will match the stability and consistent speed of gigabit fibre, especially once more people start connecting to the shared cell tower

Linux

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#2950814 4-Aug-2022 23:02

If 5G is faster than Fibre then you were on a restricted Fibre plan....

rogercruse

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#2950815 4-Aug-2022 23:08

coffeebaron:...Is there a reason you didn't choose Fibre instead?...

We had fibre from Vodafone and their provided a Ultra Hub Plus router. This router works for their fibre and non fibre customers and has a 4G sim card that acts as a backup when necessary.

We moved into temporary accommodation while we waited for a new home to be completed. And the 4G card provided excellent service. It was meant to be for only 6 weeks, but the lasted nearly six months as we got caught up with COVID-19 lockdowns.

When we finally got to our new home with a Fibre installation, the Ultra Hub Plus router again worked perfectly.

Being Vodafone, the home address still shows as our old address after repeated attempts to get Customer Services to amend this. All monthly billing is sent via email.

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#2950816 4-Aug-2022 23:18

@rogercruse How is your post related to this thread?

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rogercruse

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#2950820 4-Aug-2022 23:49

Linux: @rogercruse How is your post related to this thread?

relying on router that connects using 5G (or 4G) shouldn't be considered as a poorer service. It will also work when you're NOT 'at home'.

ajw

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#2950864 5-Aug-2022 10:23

Fixed wireless access very popular in the US. And am aware that more cellsite congestion causes slowdown.

https://www.lightreading.com/broadband/fixed-wireless-access-(fwa)/a-look-at-fwas-pyrrhic-victory-over-cable/a/d-id/779421?

deadlyllama

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#2950868 5-Aug-2022 10:42

mutey:

Hi,

Long time geekzone reader and former lurker here

I wanted to detail some initial ookla performance test results from a 5G home wireless connection to encourage others to perhaps share a little of what they have seen with their 5G home wireless connections as well.

I have only had my 5G home wireless for a few days and with a full 5/5 bars of 5G signal strength on the first couple of webtests to ookla I saw over 800 Mbps down to a wired gig connection.

Where in the country are you? I'd be keen to hear others experiences with this too.

I know "Fibre is better" but FWA is often cheaper and good enough. I'm sure this is why Chorus pushed the base fibre plan speed to 300/100 so they could say "definitely faster than 4G FWA." They're only just now trying to compete on price with the 50/10 stuff, and they're clearly trying to do it without reducing ARPU on the plan most people have.

mutey

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#2951055 5-Aug-2022 15:42

Central City Auckland New Zealand.

I'm ok for once in my internet lifetime of connectivity to not pay the most I can possibly afford to get more speed, coming from someone who started as a user on 300 baud modems connectiing to BBS's and internet gateway services on upwards, I remember the joy at my first faster than 56k modem connection I had access to in the mid nineties overseas.

Its got to the point where even with reasonably high usage this just does what i need and has a lower power requirement and one less socket to plug in and saves me $25 a month and my data usage is seen as within the limits for their fair usage unlimited plan.

Getting UFB for me again isnt out of the question, but I feel a few people must commit to using the 5G bandwidth they have purchased to nudge it towards a successful investment for them , it's only a 12 month commitment for me.

Wireless internet technology has leapt forward since i moved to my location; initially I had a terrible wireless home wireless device from whoosh I think for a few months and that was like going back in time a decade or me speedwise while waiting to be able to get back onto adsl and then later got access to fibre.

I see this as nice new piece of technology to try out that also provides my primary internet access.

quickymart

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#2951065 5-Aug-2022 16:09

I'm sure 5G is good and has its place, but my personal opinion is it's not a fibre replacement. You're always going to be limited by (as John says) however many people are on the cellsite you're connecting to at the time.

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Gilco2

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#2951136 5-Aug-2022 18:38

would love 5G but would also be happy with 4G wireless broadband instead of using mobile phone plan. Maybe one day some will be available

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alasta

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#2951162 5-Aug-2022 20:44

Tech enthusiasts love to bash fixed wireless products, but if you only need a connection to do emails and basic web browsing then there is no way you'd notice the difference. I used a 4G connection for a couple of years and it was perfectly fine for my needs.

PJ48

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#2951172 5-Aug-2022 21:40

alasta:

Tech enthusiasts love to bash fixed wireless products, but if you only need a connection to do emails and basic web browsing then there is no way you'd notice the difference. I used a 4G connection for a couple of years and it was perfectly fine for my needs.

You are right, but heaps of people like to video call/ video conference these days even on basic connections. My daughter was on fixed wireless in central wellington for a year, and had all sorts of issues with video conferencing. It all disappeared when they had fibre installed. My guess was that cell phone tower load in central Wellington is fairly congested.

So it is brilliant when it works, but when it doesn't, it doesn't.

afe66

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#2951353 6-Aug-2022 17:20

I remember using my palm pilot 3 with serial connection to Nokia cell phone in UK 2000-2, as I locumed around UK.

Was actually reasonable for text based services, websites.

You youngsters don't know how lucky you are...

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