Need a decent Fibre mode - recommendations

[JollyJamma]

Hi all

I need to get a new modem. The one that the ISP provides is a turd.

(I know the difference between a router and a modem, I'm simplifying for the sake)

I'm getting 20meg/s for a 150meg line with the current setup, best speeds are 50.
Right next to the modem it's better but a short move away and it drops off.

If you have suggestions on how to improve the speeds before I spend the money, please let me know.

I was looking at this for as a modem: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/ubi...-dual-band-a-b-g-n-ac-lcd-touchscreen-display

Edit; Changing the wireless mode of the modem from the stock settings to a different and entirely random mode made a huge difference. (Mode is not the same as channel - it's on channel 3 which is the least common channel around me).

 

[SauRoN]

Simplifying it by calling it something it’s not? Okay...

Why is the ISP provided one a turd? Why do you feel you need another?

*****

That mode thing is a bit odd.

My advice would be not to replace your problem with another problem. Keep your router and your wireless separate.

Keep the router for routing and disable its wireless and break that out into a mesh product line that only does wireless and nothing else.

All-in-one devices are always compromising something somewhere.

 

[JollyJamma]

Simplifying it by calling it something it’s not? Okay...

Why is the ISP provided one a turd? Why do you feel you need another?

*****

That mode thing is a bit odd.

My advice would be not to replace your problem with another problem. Keep your router and your wireless separate.

Keep the router for routing and disable its wireless and break that out into a mesh product line that only does wireless and nothing else.

All-in-one devices are always compromising something somewhere.

Right so get a fibre router and then connect that up to a mesh system?

 

[SauRoN]

Right so get a fibre router and then connect that up to a mesh system?

No just keep the router you have.

Routing hasn’t changed much at all in the last 10 years, even longer than that so you aren’t going to get any better there.

Just get wireless mesh system and replace the wireless aspect of the router if that is your issue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[marcus.strydom.daedalus]

Hi all

I need to get a new modem. The one that the ISP provides is a turd.

(I know the difference between a router and a modem, I'm simplifying for the sake)

I'm getting 20meg/s for a 150meg line with the current setup, best speeds are 50.
Right next to the modem it's better but a short move away and it drops off.

If you have suggestions on how to improve the speeds before I spend the money, please let me know.

I was looking at this for as a modem: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/ubi...-dual-band-a-b-g-n-ac-lcd-touchscreen-display

Edit; Changing the wireless mode of the modem from the stock settings to a different and entirely random mode made a huge difference. (Mode is not the same as channel - it's on channel 3 which is the least common channel around me).

Just saying its a router not a modem,

Moving on, as @SauRoN said disable wifi on the router and maybe get something like a Unifi ap for wifi

 

[marcus.strydom.daedalus]

Ubiquiti UniFi AC LR | UAP-AC-LR Long Range Indoor Access Point @JollyJamma

 

[JollyJamma]

I got one of these a while back and it works - I wonder if it'll be best if I set it up as a router and then connect it to the fibre router via CAT5e and run it as its own separate network? I have it running as an extender at the moment with a separate name - this does help a lot.

AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender

TP-Link's RE450 comes with next generation 802.11AC Wi-Fi technology, 3 times faster than the standard 802.11n speeds.

www.tp-link.com

 

[SauRoN]

I got one of these a while back and it works - I wonder if it'll be best if I set it up as a router and then connect it to the fibre router via CAT5e and run it as its own separate network? I have it running as an extender at the moment with a separate name - this does help a lot.

AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender

TP-Link's RE450 comes with next generation 802.11AC Wi-Fi technology, 3 times faster than the standard 802.11n speeds.

www.tp-link.com

Just use it as a secondary AP rather than an extender. It can’t be a router anyway.

Give it an IP in the same range as the Fibre Router. Turn DHCP OFF (if applicable) and then connect it to the fibre router via Ethernet.

Then give it the same SSID and wireless key as the fibre router but set it to a different channel far away from the main router’s one.

Handover won’t be perfect as the clients manage it but you’ll still get pretty decent distribution for no money spent.

Or you could turn off the wireless on the fibre router and only use this one if it will give you reliable coverage by itself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[EELeat]

TIL about mesh systems.
Grand, okes, thank you.

 

[dirko.van.schalkwyk]

@JollyJamma , what is your mimo setup like?

1) Check that you don't have a BT potato. The mode settings is for setting the compatibility with devices :

What is the wireless mode feature on my BT Smart Hub? | BT Help

Mode 3 is for old farts like me with old devices that don't play nice. Check your modem's user manual. You most prob. want Mode 1.

2) After protocol overhead and marketing de-blurping, the speeds of different WIFI links might not match your expectations, see here at the bottom of the article :

What is the actual real-life speed of wireless networks ?

There are many wireless standards in use today, and newer technologies can bond multiple channels/frequencies together to achieve higher throughput.

www.speedguide.net

3) If you want the warp speeds, you need to make sure both your potatoes have a high mimo (antenna count, kinda), the client (your phone, or laptop WIFI card) and the fiber potato.

Want to learn more? :

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/pdf/next-gen-80211ac-wifi-for-dummies.pdf

What is MU-MIMO? How does it work and why do I need it? | DigitalAir Wireless

For MIMO to work, the transmitter and receiver (i.e., the access point and the client device) must each have multiple radio/antenna chains.

www.digitalairwireless.com

E.g. when I use one of my fiber potatoes ( Zyxel emg3525-T50B 2x2 mu-mimo) with my S7 Edge (2x2 mimo), I get up to 200Mbit/s. When I use a device without mimo, less speed and weaker signal (more interference) .

​

 

[JollyJamma]

Thank you for the replies everyone!

Going to have a deep dive for this later on - work is murder at the mo.

 

[JollyJamma]

@dirko.van.schalkwyk​

If I was an admin, I'd change your site username to Pretty Fly For A WIFI.

 

[JollyJamma]

Just use it as a secondary AP rather than an extender. It can’t be a router anyway.

Give it an IP in the same range as the Fibre Router. Turn DHCP OFF (if applicable) and then connect it to the fibre router via Ethernet.

Then give it the same SSID and wireless key as the fibre router but set it to a different channel far away from the main router’s one.

Doing this and moving the wireless mode to 1 made a huge difference.

Speeds next to the extender set as an AP are 140mb/s.

Decent speeds of 50mb/S further away.

I let my housemates use the stock router and I have my own WiFi router - they don’t deserve nice things.

Upstairs is a pain because its so high up but I have 2 routers from the isp and I can combine them to run together.

This has basically solved my issue and I no longer really need a new AP. That being said, I still want one.

I’m a sucker for nice tech and the 4X4 routers look good.