Fibre to the property - FTTP

Chippy_Tea said:

Sorry mate i don't think i explained properly i have a twin socket in the location i would like the ONT but is it ok to have the ONT, Router and something else plugged in at the same time using
an adapter like the one below?

View attachment 105936View attachment 105937

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From an electrical point of view, all of the devices are low power, so they will all operate perfectly well plugged into that multi-plug dooh-dad on the right.

However, the size and orientation of the plugs may physically block you from plugging anything into the second socket, or the plugs might get in the way of eachother.

I’m out in the middle of nowhere and struggled with a 10/1 connection at best, while the villagers next door all had FTTP installed via different providers.

One day, a government scheme came along that allowed me to claim a voucher and redeem it with a little fiber company called InternetTY.

I now have a 1GB/1GB connection to my house that is super quick for downloading large files but not really that much different on a day to day basis. So much so I’ve dropped the speed down twice. Currently on 300/300 and may even drop it again

So basically, yes it may be worth it as a 100/100 connection will cost me £20 a month which is cheaper that my old copper copper connection

But with WiFi speeds will be all over the place unless you invest in a mesh system for many rooms. I have a Synology mesh and it’s not cheap.

I have a tp link mesh which has been great but I fear mesh systems won’t work with a lot of these fibre companies as they want you to pay a monthly fee for their mesh system . I’ll see when mine gets installed next week. But a mate of mine can’t use his so either has to pay a monthly fee for their mesh system or a monthly fee for a static IP address so he can use box current kit. Hate this kind of cynical ‘service provision’. Tempt you in with headline cheap rates but impose restrictions meaning you need to purchase additional ‘services’.

I managed to get Openreach FTTP installed last month after waiting nearly 2 months from the initial upgrade request.

My ping has gone down from around 12ms to 7ms and speed has gone from 72Mbps/18Mbps to 500Mbps/70Mbps, for £1 more per month with Vodafone.

I am using the Vodafone router as I need to use it for the landline, but have the WiFi disabled and am using Ubiquiti access points instead.

I have found that it’s now less likely for a single device to use the entire 500Mbps speed, so a single device won’t slow down everything else and I can now stream higher quality videos without buffering or transcoding.

Only issue with my network is that I’m using Powerline for any wired devices not in the lounge, meaning that they only get 150Mbps due to the amount of adapters and generations.

I moved to BeFibre about 18 months ago. Previously had FTTC with Vodafone but we were in a bit of a black spot for that so got about 25Mbps at best. I'm on a 720Mbps package with BeFibre and it's so much faster. Unfortunately the router they supply isn't great so I swapped that out for my own which is a TP-Link WiFi 6E mesh system.

On WiFi I usually see at least 200Mbps on that but the thing to remember with WiFi is that it's unlikely to match your providers speed, it all depends on the maximum speed the routers WiFi can do (WiFi 7 is the best), the device your using to access it, how close to the router you are, what the interference is like, and other factors. Usually if you want to see anything near the quoted speed you need to be on a device plugged into the router with an Ethernet cable.

Ok....maybe time to reveal my slightly geeky side...

We have Fibre in through the wall to the fibre connection under the stairs through to a separate hardware VPN Gigabit router, switch(non managed), and eero wifi 6 routers on mesh, with Cat6 cabling to several rooms including my office. There's a 16TB qnap server in a RAID 10 configuration as well which keeps backups of all our computers and runs a media server.



My cabling isn't very neat which I do appreciate could be better.


The original question was the speed of the wifi, which is dependent primarily on your wifi set up rather than the fibre speed in most cases. Generally using the wifi built into the router will not be sufficient in a stone built building, in part because for many people the fibre is just brought through the wall so the wifi is at the edge of the house. Wifi extenders will eat into your bandwidth and speed unless part of an overall mesh system or using more than one channel to connect to your router. If you can run a cat 6 cable from the fibre modem to the router further into the house that will help, but generally a mesh system with triband will be necessary to get the better speeds from fibre in a stone built building. My preference is to use the mesh in bridge mode and use the DNS on the router, that does mean you don't get some of the clever software some mesh systems have but it does make it fast and reliable.

I had been using the linksys mesh but the software and reliability was patchy so I switched to the eero pro's earlier this year. I am under utilising the new VPN router and plan to add a back up mobile internet connection which can switch over or act as a merged connection for the WAN.

hoppyscotty said:

I have a tp link mesh which has been great but I fear mesh systems won’t work with a lot of these fibre companies as they want you to pay a monthly fee for their mesh system . I’ll see when mine gets installed next week. But a mate of mine can’t use his so either has to pay a monthly fee for their mesh system or a monthly fee for a static IP address so he can use box current kit. Hate this kind of cynical ‘service provision’. Tempt you in with headline cheap rates but impose restrictions meaning you need to purchase additional ‘services’.

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Not true. Plenty of stand-alone systems available.

Most ISPs will also give you the details you need to use 3rd party routers too. Sky being the only exception I have come across.

@DocAnnaI have a similar set up in the loft. Synology NAS and router with wired APs scattered about the premises. A large POE switch for the CCTV etc.

LeeH said:

Not true. Plenty of stand-alone systems available.

Most ISPs will also give you the details you need to use 3rd party routers too. Sky being the only exception I have come across.

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To further support this. I used the livechat function with vodafone to get the broadband login for the router. Configuration did take a bit longer as I needed a laptop with an ethernet port to configure the router and that was a tad complicated as the autosetup didn't work... but mesh working in bridge mode connected to your provider's router is the simplest way and doesn't require any extra passwords.

Larse said:

My Sky Q box can only manage 40 from the same WAP. Useless pos.

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Sky boxes only use the older, slower 2.4Ghz WiFi. If you have multiroom then the boxes use 5Ghz to talk to each other, but that’s it.

Chippy_Tea said:

Thanks B that has put my mind at rest, my lad games (i think he hosts) so needs a decent speed that doesn't drop and i have no doubt we update our ageing TV to 4k in the near future so we will then be able to watch Netflix in 4k.

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If you want to be a popular Dad then run an Ethernet cable or use power line plugs to get from the router to his gaming machine.

It’ll keep his network latency (ping) low and stable.

JockyBrewer said:

Sky boxes only use the older, slower 2.4Ghz WiFi. If you have multiroom then the boxes use 5Ghz to talk to each other, but that’s it.

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I know. Ridiculous considering it's a unit that is used to download large files. And it doesn't even come close to the maximum for that waveband.

We got FTTP installed just under 2 years ago - BT / Openreach.

You do need a socket for the FTTP Box (needs space under socket for adapter) and a 2nd Power Socket for the Hub. (I put in 2 doubles and have used up all plugs with bits and bobs.

I ran a network cable to the Hub so that I could move it about to get best coverage from the attic.

I also ran a telephone extension / cable from the to the the location of the Copper BT Box and connected up the existing telephone extensions.

In terms of reliable speed, there was a significant improvement. However because we are at then end of a country lane, the winds just after installation, broke our fibre and we were left without a connection for about 2 - 3 weeks. We used the compensation to to tether the laptops to out mobile phones, but many ISP can supply the 5G as an option to the package. (I'm not sure if they can deliver Voice over 5G)

Thanks everyone for all the advice my order has been confirmed and i am looking forward to the install.

Stu said:

My laptop, which isn't the latest hardware is connecting via my 2.4ghz Mesh network. I'm getting 96Mb/s, which isn't far off the 92Mb/s that I used to get from standard BT copper (the cabinet is at the end of the road)
My phone, which is a fairly modern iPhone is connecting via the Trooli provided latest router. It's getting 760Mb/s.
So the answer is.... it actually depends on the hardware.

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I found this out the hard way today, the Wi-Fi dongle that came with the PC is supposed to be dual band so i thought i would test it (i have never used it having always used Ethernet) for some reason it would not connect at 5GHz but was fine on 2.4GHz when i looked at the adaptor properties there was nothing listed for 5GHz (unlike picture one below) so i had no way of forcing it to use 5GHz fortunately i found the site below which advises looking under Wireless mode option for 5GHz compatible standard 802.11be, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, or 802.11n (see picture two below) i chose 802.11ac and it then allowed me to use 5GHz which is faster than 2.4GHZ for my set up.

I hope this may help and save other members time if they find the same problem.


Trouble with online gaming on Windows 11? Here's how to force your PC to use a 5GHz network
João Carrasqueira
Aug 13, 2024

https://www.xda-developers.com/how-force-5ghz-wi-fi-windows-11/

1. Optional: On some older devices, you may also need to look for a Wireless mode option and make sure it's using a 5GHz-compatible standard, such as 802.11be, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, or 802.11n.

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and eero wifi 6 routers on mesh,

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@DocAnna

I believe new FTTP customers receive the Amazon eero 6 router which seems to get good reviews

Thats the router I have.
Ps I was about to buy a new Laptop at the same time as I was having it fitted and as Stu said it is dependant on the hardware. I would not get anywhere near the speeds with my old laptop.

The Baron said:

Thats the router I have.
Ps I was about to buy a new Laptop at the same time as I was having it fitted and as Stu said it is dependant on the hardware. I would not get anywhere near the speeds with my old laptop.

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What speed do you get with the older laptop?

What is the maximum speed they gave for your package what is the maximum you have seen?

From memory it was 60/70 so a massive increase
Now it is 450 up or down a little virtually no lag time.
I also run 2 mobiles the CCTv and the TV off it all wireless

Chippy_Tea said:

Can you explain this as you didn't quote any posts.

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Don't need to quote posts, it's networking 101 and one of my qualifications.

Your home network (wired & WiFi) is a local network that runs at a speed which is hardware dependent.

If you connect to something outside of that network it is routed (hence "router" ) to another wide area network in this case via your broadband. The maximum speed is now set by that network connection and provider.

So fibre to the premises is limited on your device by the speed of your local network in the first instance.

Please thank BT for blurring the lines (some call it lying) about WiFi and broadband speeds on their marketing.