Home networking - how fast can you go WITHOUT ethernet?

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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So I may finally have a solution to my slow broadband. If things work out, I will eventually have a choice of speeds up to 516Mbps.

However, I won't be able to cable the house with ethernet. I'll have a couple of rooms with desktops that need fast always on and a variety of devices around the house that will be fine with any kind of broadband.

What's the fastest speed I can push to 2 PCs in different parts of the house WITHOUT using ethernet?

802.11ac has some big numbers but it looks like real world it might top out at 120 Mbps or so. Powerline numbers are all over the place.

Mayeb the question is....with this setup is 516Mb worth it? Or would I get the same actual performance from 250?
 
If you have a choice of up to 512 mbps then I am assuming you are looking at Virgin Cable who offer from 100>512, I can't find anyone else offering those speeds.
If you want speed without wiring then the only options are Powerline or WiFi I have both on Virgin 100Mbps and there is not a great difference between the two but I have a flat with only breeze block walls so I get a pretty decent WiFi signal throughout the house so I am perhaps atypical.
If it is Virgin they do a 30 day rolling contract would it be possible to start off with the 100Meg and perhaps a WiFi booster and work up until you get an acceptable speed on your non wired PC's as its going to depend on the construction of the house and the location of the PC's.
 
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Gone are the days when the decision was ....
"Do I upgrade my 33k modem to the latest 56k?"
 
chuckles said:
Gone are the days when the decision was ....
"Do I upgrade my 33k modem to the latest 56k?"
Click to expand...


Some days...I can still hear my modem logging in.............
 
802.11ac is fine for speeds but only if you're within a decent distance of the AP, I get a solid 866Mbps connection (actual throughput is around 600Mbps). As with all wireless though the throughput will nosedive once the distance creeps up...

Mesh systems work pretty well, but still have limitations as per above.

Homeplugs are pretty robust tbh, and you are far more likely to reach the your 500+Mbps consistently with them than what you are with consumer WiFi.

802.11ax WiFi is out there but unless you've got 802.11ax clients then this will make no difference, same goes for 4x4 WiFi configurations.

TL;DR
802.11ac will do fine within limited distances, otherwise either run your own cabling or use homeplugs
 
I remember them also and pdp computer teminals
Snapper67 said:
Loving the old modem stories, I was around in the days of accoustic couplers (e.g. pre modems). 300 bps max.

Dougie.
Click to expand...
 
Geoffb1964 said:
I remember them also and pdp computer teminals
Click to expand...

If anyone else is reminiscing, just dial up any fax number - you'll here that old sound ...............

Dougie.

p.s. My first ever CV tells me I knew the full Hayes AT command set lol
 
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My text alert is still the sound of a final selector... The exchanges went ever so quiet when everything went digital.
 
I tried all sorts but ended up running an ethernet cable. Couldn't for the life of me work out a route for it, but ended up going round outside the house and back in with external graded cable. Easier than I thought and rock solid fast connections. I usually have my laptop plugged into it and do notice a difference if I am on wifi slightly with the internet (80mbps down/20mbps up) but massively when copying/reading from the NAS.

My first port of call would be ethernet.

T
 
We have Virgin's 512Mb service at home. My main PC is connected via Ethernet and always above 512 down/40 up. Both my and the wife's laptops use the WiFi and average between 250-300 down/35-40 up. Wifey's Android tablet struggles to get more than 100 down and 25 up but our iPhones and my iPad hit over 400 down and 40 up all the time. I've got no idea why the Apple kit is so much better on WiFi.
 
Bristolian said:
We have Virgin's 512Mb service at home. My main PC is connected via Ethernet and always above 512 down/40 up. Both my and the wife's laptops use the WiFi and average between 250-300 down/35-40 up. Wifey's Android tablet struggles to get more than 100 down and 25 up but our iPhones and my iPad hit over 400 down and 40 up all the time. I've got no idea why the Apple kit is so much better on WiFi.
Click to expand...

Your wife's Android will be running 2.4ghz whereas your other kit will be running on 5,00ghz.

Dougie.
 
Neilc28 said:
802.11ac is fine for speeds but only if you're within a decent distance of the AP, I get a solid 866Mbps connection (actual throughput is around 600Mbps). As with all wireless though the throughput will nosedive once the distance creeps up...

Mesh systems work pretty well, but still have limitations as per above.

Homeplugs are pretty robust tbh, and you are far more likely to reach the your 500+Mbps consistently with them than what you are with consumer WiFi.

802.11ax WiFi is out there but unless you've got 802.11ax clients then this will make no difference, same goes for 4x4 WiFi configurations.

TL;DR
802.11ac will do fine within limited distances, otherwise either run your own cabling or use homeplugs
Click to expand...

Perfect - thanks. Sounds like it's worth giving the top speed a go - by BT Mesh should handle it.

Any recommendations on powerline? Tech sites all say Devolo Magic 2 but the Amazon reviews are awful.
 
Snapper67 said:
If anyone else is reminiscing, just dial up any fax number - you'll here that old sound ...............

Dougie.

p.s. My first ever CV tells me I knew the full Hayes AT command set lol
Click to expand...

We were agents for Panasonic fax machines for a while. We had customers complaining that some numbers they rang never succeeded in connecting. It transpired that any international numbers involving satellite hops failed.
The delay was too long. The calling machine started the handshake process but the delay was too long so it just shut off. I used to be able to mimic the reply signal. 400hz if I remember correctly.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Perfect - thanks. Sounds like it's worth giving the top speed a go - by BT Mesh should handle it.

Any recommendations on powerline? Tech sites all say Devolo Magic 2 but the Amazon reviews are awful.
Click to expand...

I use TP-Link (AV600), they work well and include two ethernet sockets so they allow the use of a wired connection if required/suitable (remember you can also get flat ethernet cable). May or may not be the ideal unit for you but the option of ethernet sockets built in is worth looking out for.
 
The biggest problem with powerline adaptors is the dhcp addressing. They often clash with the router on who is doing what. Requiring a reboot of all, plus router.
Sky Q likes to mess up local addressing as well.
 
Harlequin565 said:
My text alert is still the sound of a final selector... The exchanges went ever so quiet when everything went digital.
Click to expand...

2000 or 4000 type? 4000 was much quieter :)
 
Harlequin565 said:
I can't remember, I wasn't an exchange bod. You tell me :) https://www.dropbox.com/s/jvsebpifrfvpt07/selector.mp3?dl=0
Click to expand...

Can't tell until it releases :( but, I can definitely state it's a 2nd(3rd) selector hunting for a free Final Selector then the remaing two digits are dialled !

Cockney said:
I spent many hours bank cleaning both!
See if any of you recognise this?
" L relay operates" :D
Click to expand...

"... then once free 1st Selector is found, returns dial tone; K relay holds to the earth over the 'P' wire and initiates 'busy' condition to incoming calls"
 
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JonathanRyan said:
So I may finally have a solution to my slow broadband. If things work out, I will eventually have a choice of speeds up to 516Mbps.

However, I won't be able to cable the house with ethernet. I'll have a couple of rooms with desktops that need fast always on and a variety of devices around the house that will be fine with any kind of broadband.

What's the fastest speed I can push to 2 PCs in different parts of the house WITHOUT using ethernet?

802.11ac has some big numbers but it looks like real world it might top out at 120 Mbps or so. Powerline numbers are all over the place.

Mayeb the question is....with this setup is 516Mb worth it? Or would I get the same actual performance from 250?
Click to expand...

@JonathanRyan
Sorry to partially hijack your thread I'll offer a semi-serious response as recompense....

Unless you're using cloud computing or storage do you really need such a fast internet speed? Just recall motherboard I/O speeds a decade ago - did you experience disk access delays? Your Internet connection is still only going to be as fast as the slowest server to which you're connecting.
 
chuckles said:
Can't tell until it releases :( but, I can definitely state it's a 2nd(3rd) selector hunting for a free Final Selector then the remaing two digits are dialled !



"... then once free 1st Selector is found, returns dial tone; K relay holds to the earth over the 'P' wire and initiates 'busy' condition to incoming calls"
Click to expand...

We have a winner! No "butts" (see what I did there)? :D

PS I spoke to an OpenReach engineer the other day.
They still call pliers 81's.
 
chuckles said:
Unless you're using cloud computing or storage do you really need such a fast internet speed? Just recall motherboard I/O speeds a decade ago - did you experience disk access delays? Your Internet connection is still only going to be as fast as the slowest server to which you're connecting.
Click to expand...

No - I really don't (I'm not sure anybody does). But right now if I'm doing my online TaiChi class, then my wife can't use the internet at all let alone video call somebody. If one of the machines wakes up and decides to download a new version of Photoshop then we both get kicked off. Alexa acts like a drunk with a head injury and I literally can't use cloud based backups.

I'd like something that will cope with everything I can think of - and enough for the next few years. Fast enough never is :)
 
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