Fibre broadband

[SpokeyDokey]

Quite a large tad unless you have devices supporting 802.11ac connections. 50% reduction in my case, to 400Mbps on most devices. Not that it matters for anything other than moving very large files around. I'm not sure why I'm not seeing a full 1Gbps when wired; equally, I'm not bothered, merely a little interested, but not sufficiently to investigate as yet.

The whole 'dig trenches / drill holes / community' thing is really rather good I think. It certainly took a lot more physical effort on my part than most house services tend to (20m of trenching and tunnelling). The trunking to get to me is several kilometres across fields and under dry stone walls - also pretty pleasing somehow, when it disappears seamlessly within a few days of being laid and covered over.

Thanks for sharing those figures - v.useful.

No idea what 802.11ac connections are although I'll ask Google.

 

[Sea of vapours]

No idea what 802.11ac connections are although I'll ask Google.

Very roughly: 802.11 is wifi. The suffix is successive generations of transfer speed: a, b, g, n, ac. If your devices don't support n or ac then they'll be connecting at 50Mbps or less, much slower than the fibre link. n is up to 600Mbps and ac is up to 1,300Mbps. There are two more generations defined beyond those but they're not commercially available yet I believe, at least not for domestic use. Basically, the probable speed bottleneck moves from the connection outside the house to the connections inside it.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Very roughly: 802.11 is wifi. The suffix is successive generations of transfer speed: a, b, g, n, ac. If your devices don't support n or ac then they'll be connecting at 50Mbps or less, much slower than the fibre link. n is up to 600Mbps and ac is up to 1,300Mbps. There are two more generations defined beyond those but they're not commercially available yet I believe, at least not for domestic use. Basically, the probable speed bottleneck moves from the connection outside the house to the connections inside it.

Thanks - new stuff to me!

We currently have a BT router this one:

The BT Home Hub 5 uses the super-fast 802.11ac wireless standard, which only runs on the 5GHz radio band; the 2.4GHz band uses the older and slower 802.11n standard. If you have 802.11ac devices, you need to connect them to the 5GHz network for the best speed.

And the new B4RN spec':

This is the equivalent of your current router and has WiFi and 4 gigabit wired connections. ... The latest B4RN router has two wireless-N antennas inside: a 2.4Ghz and a 5Ghz. The 2.4Ghz has greater range but limited speed whereas the 5Ghz has faster speed but limited range.

Just checking my hardware:

Laptop is n.

iPads support all 802.11 modes.

Arcam rPlay (music streamer) is compatible with 802.11 b/g/n

TV - needs further research!

Huwaei phone is 802.11 b/g/n

Old Windows phone - who knows?

***

Thanks for the heads-up as I didn't have a clue about this technology!

We have a very open plan bungalow so most of our core device activities take place in sight of and very close to the router (Bt) and the B4RN router will be sited adjacent to where the current BT router is sited.

 

[marinyork]

Coincidentally, two days ago, I was finally reached by the B4RN (Broadband For Rural North) network. Being very rural here, my not-yet-cancelled copper broadband is showing 1.3 Mbps download and 0.7 Mbps upload. The B4RN connection is showing 873 Mbps download and 976 Mbps upload at the moment. Roughly a one thousand times improvement

Wow I like this. A good broadband story at last.

 

[marinyork]

We have a very open plan bungalow so most of our core device activities take place in sight of and very close to the router (Bt) and the B4RN router will be sited adjacent to where the current BT router is sited.

Depending on how close your neighbours are and their internet habits and their routers have a bearing on speeds.

5GHz was bliss when most other people were stuck on 2.4 GHz. These days loads and loads of people on both and depending where you live the wifi can be swamped.

If you want to get more into it you can use tools like Wifi analyser on your phone. You'll see it's an ever changing picture second by second. In my bedroom sometimes it detects a single neighbour's wifi, downstairs it's swamped with about 13 neighbours' signals on 2.4GHz.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

At least we don’t see copper anymore ( long replaced by alloy).

Interesting comment, British Telecom as it was in the 1970's moved from copper to aluminum as such as a jointer in the 1980's I spent a good amount of time taking it back out again, it was useless once water got to it. You could go into t joint to fix 1 fault & leave another 5, the only way to do it was to do a full rejoint, but even so, I've had a joint fall apart in my hands. Wasn't too bad if it was straight, but if it was a middle joint in a random run it was fun sorting it out.

 

[subaqua]

Interesting comment, British Telecom as it was in the 1970's moved from copper to aluminum as such as a jointer in the 1980's I spent a good amount of time taking it back out again, it was useless once water got to it. You could go into t joint to fix 1 fault & leave another 5, the only way to do it was to do a full rejoint, but even so, I've had a joint fall apart in my hands. Wasn't too bad if it was straight, but if it was a middle joint in a random run it was fun sorting it out.

Aluminium was used in the 70s as there was a copper crisis . It’s an awful material for cables as it just extrudes when things are tightened against it. Some buildings I have been to recently for surveys have had it wafer thin at terminations . Lugging it was a nightmare. Always required a non compression joint for longevity

 

[Racing roadkill]

Interesting comment, British Telecom as it was in the 1970's moved from copper to aluminum as such as a jointer in the 1980's I spent a good amount of time taking it back out again, it was useless once water got to it. You could go into t joint to fix 1 fault & leave another 5, the only way to do it was to do a full rejoint, but even so, I've had a joint fall apart in my hands. Wasn't too bad if it was straight, but if it was a middle joint in a random run it was fun sorting it out.

Aluminium worked as a conductor, but ( as you and they) found out, you couldn’t joint it.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Depending on how close your neighbours are and their internet habits and their routers have a bearing on speeds.

5GHz was bliss when most other people were stuck on 2.4 GHz. These days loads and loads of people on both and depending where you live the wifi can be swamped.

If you want to get more into it you can use tools like Wifi analyser on your phone. You'll see it's an ever changing picture second by second. In my bedroom sometimes it detects a single neighbour's wifi, downstairs it's swamped with about 13 neighbours' signals on 2.4GHz.

Fortunately there are not too many other wifi sources around us - we have no one to the front and no one to the rear of our property. Our house is detached and is well spaced from both of our neighbours.

You make a good point though.

 

[marinyork]

Fortunately there are not too many other wifi sources around us - we have no one to the front and no one to the rear of our property. Our house is detached and is well spaced from both of our neighbours.

You make a good point though.

Good.

I've not got a router that is ac myself. When I say neighbour's wifi in my bedroom, it's actually a house 23m away on another road.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Over the past couple of years I’ve been developing some new infrastructure fibres, as soon as they start to get qualified in the signal amps, and transmission repeater amps, things are going to get quicker, and signal quality is going to improve. We’ll still be limited by the quality of the transmission fibres, but that isn’t something I’d be likely to get involved in, as those tend to be made by places with the processes to make multi million meter batches, and that sort of production isn’t common in the U.K. anymore.