Broadband speeds

[HPIMG]

I am switching broadband providers and wanted to know how much speed does a family of four actually need. Me and my wife maybe watch some YouTube videos on our iPads and like to watch a film on Netflix ect most nights. Oldest child same again ipad and Netflix most nights and youngest is into his Xbox so he’s online gaming most days.
My current setup is 200 download and when it’s working it’s more that fast enough and I remember a few years ago when we had BT it was only 35 download speed and it seemed to work just fine no problem although that’s before my youngest started playing Xbox online. So basically only three of us used the internet.
So what speeds to people need ?

 

[GreiginFife]

For your needs a 40-50mbps connection would be more than adequate.

Interesting that the discussion is always speed though. It’s just one part of the equation.

Ping, Jitter and Packet Loss are just, if not more, important. A fast download with a high ping is no good for a gamer. High packet loss creates errors and lines constantly needing bounced.

The headline advertising will always be speed (connection speed) to draw people in.

For example, we had Sky broadband for a while, it was awful. Connection speed (sync speed at router) was 58mbps. But ping was 58ms and packet loss was very high the result was impossible to game on (lag) and steaming services constantly buffering.

Switched to Vodafone and speed went down slightly to 51mbps but ping was 11ms and little to no packet loss.
So on a lower speed we had a more stable connection that gaming and streaming (plus me working from home) were flawless on.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I have 300Mpbs with a ping of 14ms. I'm running Virgin cable, and thats plenty for mine and the wifes needs

 

[Reemul]

I have a 200mb Virgin Line. there are 4 of us, 3 heavy gamers, the connection chokes if one of us downloads while gaming but in general 200mb is more than enough. However as I only use Virgin for the broadband the cost is very expensive and I can now get city fibre 900mb for around half the price, currently on what's app trying to get Virgin to upgrade my speed and reduce the price as I have been with them forever and the service here has been excellent but their customer serrvice is shocking

 

[HPIMG]

My new provider is offering 160 download so that sounds as if it will be more than enough. I will give them a call tomorrow and ask about ping, packet loss and jitter and I’ll report back.

 

[Crazyface]

We've had a free upgrade from virgin from 200 to 250 so now instead of not getting 200 were now not getting 250.

 

[CliveW]

The best I can get is around 8 Mbs . We can only get 4g on a good day and so far have tried EE, 3, Vodaphone and currently using O2. Downloading is a pipedream despite the SNP promising 100% superfast broadband to all homes by 2001!
(Last week we had our landline installed after a wait of over 9 months and now BT can only guarantee 2 Mbs.)

 

[Mudball]

Sorry to say this... but got 1G from Virgin... and is mostly being used for day long Teams call. and occasional Prime, Netflix.
It rapidly drops to about 450 mbps in the upstairs bedroom which is the furthest from the hub.

 

[Rooter]

Again, its not just speed. Can the ISP provided wifi kit cope with 30+ devices? If it cant, are you able to add a 3rd party mesh on top of it?

I am running Sky, which is fine, but their kit cant cope with the number of devices we have, so i run a Deco mesh system, then the SkyQ tv sits on its own wifi mesh.

 

[Bdill93]

Again, its not just speed. Can the ISP provided wifi kit cope with 30+ devices? If it cant, are you able to add a 3rd party mesh on top of it?

I am running Sky, which is fine, but their kit cant cope with the number of devices we have, so i run a Deco mesh system, then the SkyQ tv sits on its own wifi mesh.

I have this issue too!

 

[Piece]

I am switching broadband providers and wanted to know how much speed does a family of four actually need. Me and my wife maybe watch some YouTube videos on our iPads and like to watch a film on Netflix ect most nights. Oldest child same again ipad and Netflix most nights and youngest is into his Xbox so he’s online gaming most days.
My current setup is 200 download and when it’s working it’s more that fast enough and I remember a few years ago when we had BT it was only 35 download speed and it seemed to work just fine no problem although that’s before my youngest started playing Xbox online. So basically only three of us used the internet.
So what speeds to people need ?

We get by well on Sky's 50mb. This is with two boys on PS4 on-line, Netflix, etc. I find it's the amount of devices connected that affects things - surprising how many are connected!

 

[Mudball]

Again, its not just speed. Can the ISP provided wifi kit cope with 30+ devices? If it cant, are you able to add a 3rd party mesh on top of it?

I am running Sky, which is fine, but their kit cant cope with the number of devices we have, so i run a Deco mesh system, then the SkyQ tv sits on its own wifi mesh.

Did you check if it is Roo-ter problem or a ROW-ter problem...

 

[HPIMG]

Can anyone help. I am trying to get something hardwired into the internet. My router is on the ground floor and I want something wired in on the first floor. I will add a photo of my wall. Somone said plug a Ethernet cable into the slot but it doesn’t fit and it looks like a phone wire slot.
Is there some sort of splter cable I could put in the phone line ?

 

[PJ87]

Can anyone help. I am trying to get something hardwired into the internet. My router is on the ground floor and I want something wired in on the first floor. I will add a photo of my wall. Somone said plug a Ethernet cable into the slot but it doesn’t fit and it looks like a phone wire slot.
Is there some sort of splter cable I could put in the phone line ?
View attachment 45222

buy these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL...id=1668635158&sprefix=powerlin,aps,909&sr=8-5

 

[Region3]

Can anyone help. I am trying to get something hardwired into the internet. My router is on the ground floor and I want something wired in on the first floor. I will add a photo of my wall. Somone said plug a Ethernet cable into the slot but it doesn’t fit and it looks like a phone wire slot.
Is there some sort of splter cable I could put in the phone line ?

I use powerline adaptors. It’s 2 3-pin plugs that you plug in next to your router and in the room you want an Ethernet cable in, and they work very well.
You run a cable from your router to one plug, then from the other plug to whatever you want. The speed isn’t as good as plugged straight into the router but it’s much better than Wi-Fi.

 

[Bratty]

TP Link is great, but it can throttle the speed. I get 148mbs, but this drops to 78mbs when the TP Link was connected.
There is a way of sorting it, I believe, buy I just gave up!

 

[srixon 1]

buy these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-PA8033PKIT-Gigabit-Passthrough-Powerline/dp/B07GFHQXBP/ref=sr_1_5?crid=UFHLXGL7RF6P&keywords=powerline+adapter&qid=1668635158&sprefix=powerlin,aps,909&sr=8-5

I use power line adapters and have done for 2.5 years without a problem. Router is downstairs my workstation is upstairs. I think the internet wiglies use the earth cables in your house wiring.

 

[ColchesterFC]

Again, its not just speed. Can the ISP provided wifi kit cope with 30+ devices? If it cant, are you able to add a 3rd party mesh on top of it?

I am running Sky, which is fine, but their kit cant cope with the number of devices we have, so i run a Deco mesh system, then the SkyQ tv sits on its own wifi mesh.

Can you explain that to me in simple terms so that even an idiot can understand it please. We've recently got Sky broadband (FTTC as FTTP not yet available in our street) and Sky Q. There are three PS4s in the house plus four mobile phones and four laptops all connected. What's a Deco mesh and what does it do? And how does Sky Q sit on its own mesh (<---- to be honest I don't even understand what a mesh is).

 

[PJ87]

Can you explain that to me in simple terms so that even an idiot can understand it please. We've recently got Sky broadband (FTTC as FTTP not yet available in our street) and Sky Q. There are three PS4s in the house plus four mobile phones and four laptops all connected. What's a Deco mesh and what does it do? And how does Sky Q sit on its own mesh (<---- to be honest I don't even understand what a mesh is).

I have a mesh network

Basically broadband comes into main router. Set in modem only or slave mode

It then goes into mesh 1 .. which acts as the router .. other meshes around the house

Covers your house in WiFi so they get best signal possible moving from mesh to mesh

The units have their own WiFi signal they talk to each other with and share the internet .. this then is sent out as a mesh network and the mesh decides what device gets 5g or 2.4g signal and makes sure it maximises coverage and speed

 

[ColchesterFC]

I have a mesh network

Basically broadband comes into main router. Set in modem only or slave mode

It then goes into mesh 1 .. which acts as the router .. other meshes around the house

Covers your house in WiFi so they get best signal possible moving from mesh to mesh

The units have their own WiFi signal they talk to each other with and share the internet .. this then is sent out as a mesh network and the mesh decides what device gets 5g or 2.4g signal and makes sure it maximises coverage and speed

Thanks for that. Is it fairly simple to set up and is it possible to manually set the mesh to provide the best broadband to the PS4s for example as the kids playing online is what would require the best signal or would it do that automatically anyway? The phones and laptops are only used for internet browsing, rather than streaming etc, other than when the kids go on TikTok or YouTube. I'm an analogue kind of guy living in a digital world so the simpler the better for me.