Wifi distance/drop for a simpleton

longwalks1

Right, we currently have PlusNet in our village (no fibre currently available in the village) and currently get 14Mbps download speed, and 1 Mbps upload speed.



We've signed up with a fibre company currently laying new cables to the whole village, and will bet 200 Mbps upload and download speed.


Will that automatically mean we have a better range on the wifi? Eg, if 14 Mbps drops to 4 Mbps in back bedroom, would 200 Mbps only drop to maybe 100, or 50Mbps? Or does it not work like that?


I guess we will need a new, more powerful wifi router which im happy to buy (if needed)


Just trying to work it out

Neil_Jones

The Fibre is just the speed of the internet coming into the house.
Bear in mind the wireless speeds you see are just the connection speed between your device and the router, not necessarily the same as the speed of the internet.

The drop off speed of wireless increases the further away you are from the box and dependent on what else is in the way of the signal.

telemarks

If I were you I would investigate repositioning the router, add new/additional routers or going wired. Even old WiFi should be capable of 54Mbit/s

Losing that much between router and connected wifi device dosen't bode well for a fibre future.

JJ_Egan

Test the new system before buying anything .
You may be able to position the router more centrally with a bit of thought .

longwalks1

telemarks wrote: »

If I were you I would investigate repositioning the router, add new/additional routers or going wired. Even old WiFi should be capable of 54Mbit/s

Losing that much between router and connected wifi device dosen't bode well for a fibre future.

Thanks, router is in lounge in corner of the room, and even sat beside it we only get 14 Mbps download, and were told we were lucky to get that as all the old connections at the exchange are (i think) copper, most others in our village currently get 7-8 Mbps download (you see them all moaning about it on a local village FB page)



I think at present, 14 Mbps is maximum for the village (so old its listed in the doomsday book, and hasnt been upgraded since then i dont think)

longwalks1

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Test the new system before buying anything .
You may be able to position the router more centrally with a bit of thought .

Thanks JJ, they had to get anough people sign up in the village to install the fibre, but at 2 local 'shows' in other villages everynoe was getting bang on what was promised, across the 4 tariffs, 50, 100, 200 and even 1000 Mbps

longwalks1

Neil_Jones wrote: »

The Fibre is just the speed of the internet coming into the house.
Bear in mind the wireless speeds you see are just the connection speed between your device and the router, not necessarily the same as the speed of the internet.

The drop off speed of wireless increases the further away you are from the box and dependent on what else is in the way of the signal.

Thanks Neil, so even when we have 200Mbps coming into the house, it could still well be 4Mbps in the bedroom, as it is now? (wasnt sure if a faster speed has more allowance to 'drop' over a certain distance?


I'm guessing I will need a faster or more powerful wireless router, but should get one with the new fibre package?

wongataa

telemarks wrote: »

If I were you I would investigate repositioning the router, add new/additional routers or going wired. Even old WiFi should be capable of 54Mbit/s

Losing that much between router and connected wifi device dosen't bode well for a fibre future.

Wi-Fi speeds are quoted half duplex. That means you have to divide the number by 2 to get maximum theoretical transfer speed. A 54 Mbit connection has a theoretical max transfer rate of 27Mbps. In reality it will be lower due to overheads. The max speed a 54Mbps connection is really likely to be in the region of 22Mbps. Then in the real world you get interference and signal attenuation due to distance and things between the router and device which lower the speeds further.

wongataa

britishboy wrote: »

Thanks Neil, so even when we have 200Mbps coming into the house, it could still well be 4Mbps in the bedroom, as it is now? (wasnt sure if a faster speed has more allowance to 'drop' over a certain distance?


I'm guessing I will need a faster or more powerful wireless router, but should get one with the new fibre package?

Yes. Newer routers have more capable Wi-Fi protocols that have higher speeds, as long as the connected devices support them though.

longwalks1

wongataa wrote: »

Yes. Newer routers have more capable Wi-Fi protocols that have higher speeds, as long as the connected devices support them though.

Never realised it could be a problem, we use 2 computers, 2 ipads and iphones indoors, am guessing they will all support faster speeds?

DoaM

Ipads and Iphones will depend on which models, but should support WiFi-n (up to 300 mbps).
Computers will depend on the WiFi adaptors that are fitted to them, but may well support WiFi-n.