Does nbn Speed Affect Wireless Transmission and Speed

Hoju on 09/02/2020 - 21:40

Wonder if anyone can help

I’ve moved from nbn50 to 25 recently

When on 50, far from the router, the max speed we would get was about 10mbps ie the speed was obviously limited by wireless connectivity

As a result, I thought that the downgrade to 25 wouldn’t have much impact as we never reached the max download speed anyway

It seems to actually be way slower though, leading me to wonder if it’s more of a sieve effect - if you push higher speeds through at the source, you get higher speeds at the end

I thought it would be as simple as the walls and ceilings putting an absolute cap on speeds but maybe not??

Computing Broadband nbn

Comments

  • trustnoone on 09/02/2020 - 21:48

    Doesn't sound right to me, you should get pretty good speeds on either NBN50 or 25, modem shouldn't limit it based on the NBN speed. What speeds are you getting close to the router and what speeds are you getting cabled to the router?

    • Hoju on 09/02/2020 - 21:53

      That's what I thought. I get about 22mbps a few metres from router, and where we used to get 10, now get 5
      Haven't ever cabled direct to it as we seem to get close to full speeds on the downstairs computer (near the router) wirelessly

      Wondering if I forked out for NBN100 it would mean the more distant rooms would get a better final speed. Pump out more data from the router so more reaches the end point?

      • xuqi on 09/02/2020 - 23:02
        +3

        No, you're understanding of NBN & Wi-Fi are incorrect.

        With Wi-Fi the further you move away from the router, or the more obstacles in your way (sold walls), the slower your speed becomes.

        Best thing is for you to test your speed at the router using a cable connected to a PC, or using Wi-Fi on your phone or tablet whilst sitting close-by the unit.

        Routers provided by the service providers aren't know for their great quality & performance, so your device can be a contributing factor.

        Who is your provider? Companies like Dodo will screw you over with additional measures on their systems, designed to slow /limit connection speeds, so that too can play a part.

        https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/dodo

        You may need to:

        — Install CAT5/6 cabling from router to distant rooms (costly, unless you are or know electricians)

        — Invest in a better modem/router (need to know more about NBN tech delivered to you premises (FTTP, FTTN, FTTB, FTTC, HFC, etc.?)

        — Consider using a WiFi Mesh system to extend acceptable performance throughout your house.
        https://www.linksys.com/us/r/resource-center/whole-home-mesh…

        — Consider using Powerline adaptors to deliver services to distant locations:
        https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/c/technology…

        • alvian on 10/02/2020 - 01:53
          -1

          — A superior alternative to WiFi Mesh system is to consider installing an additional and better quality wireless access point.

        • ESEMCE on 10/02/2020 - 07:53

          Also affecting WiFi will be electrical noise and other WiFi routers.
          If you are sharing WiFi spectrum with a neighbor (which is highly likely unless you live on a huge block and your neighbors are more than 50m distant). Their WiFi may be interfering with yours (and yours, theirs). This interference increases when you're both using the WiFi, is it's not just sitting idle.

  • MS Paint on 09/02/2020 - 22:47
    +1

    Router may be rooted

  • littleDealFish on 09/02/2020 - 22:58
    +1

    I'd say get a baseline. Wireless is finicky at best.

    1. Test with cable (do you get the full 25mbps speed?)
    2. Then test with different router if wifi changes
    • netjock on 09/02/2020 - 23:14

      Test with cable definitely the best.

  • netjock on 09/02/2020 - 23:23
    +2

    Another possibility is you are using the same channel as your neighbor and it is causing a conflict.

  • Wickz on 10/02/2020 - 01:04

    As other have said there is lots you can do to narrow down the cause of your problem:
    1 - Test speed directly at modem / router. Are you actually getting the full 25Mbps speed?
    2 - Are you running a 2.4ghz or 5ghz network?
    3 - Check for interference from neighbouring networks and other device in your house. (You may be surprised what else is on the 2.4ghz frequency)
    4 - Can you run cabling to the far end of the house?
    5 - Check the quality of the cables you are using.
    6 - What modern / router are you using. (They are not created equally)

    If you can provide more info on your setup we might be able to help more.

  • Sinful on 10/02/2020 - 01:14

    Yea, sounds like your router is auto-switching to the 5ghz band instead of having separate connections.
    5ghz is faster but has less penetration which can have issues at greater distances & is more difficult to send through doors/walls.

  • Hoju on 10/02/2020 - 06:29

    Thanks for the replies

    In the same room on wireless 5m away I get roughly 22Mbps even in peak time so I know I’m getting max output from the router over wifi

    Using 2.4Ghz

    The channel comment is interesting I’ll have to do a scan and see what my neighbours are using but I didn’t change it when changing plans so I’m not sure why the drop would have been so noticeable

    The router is a simple Kogan one. What’s confusing is that before changing plans my speeds upstairs were tolerable although slower. Now they feel like dial up. The router, channel and frequency are all the same so I could only assume it’s the drop to 25.

    The only other thought I have, other than channel, is that some small devices like Alexa and smart bulbs are constantly eating small amounts of bandwidth such that at 25Mbps devices further away are being throttled

    • Wickz on 10/02/2020 - 06:56

      What is your connection type? FTTP FTTC FTTB FTTN HFC and who is your ISP.

      • Hoju on 10/02/2020 - 06:59

        We have HFC and provider is exetel
        When on NbN 50 we always got speeds of 40-44 even in peak downstairs so I feel like the connection at the router and at short range is good, it’s just really odd that at any distance now it’s hopeless… almost like it is connecting to 5ghz but it’s not

    • skid on 10/02/2020 - 08:05

      Try changing channels for sure - that's quick, easy and can have drastic results. One of your neighbours might have changed their channel causing interference.

      How many devices in total do you have on the router? It should be able to cope with 10 - 16 devices without slowing down.

      Do you have any old devices connected to the router? Old as in 802.11g or 802.11b? These can slow down the router.

      You're right about it being a sieve effect.

      • Hoju on 10/02/2020 - 08:52

        Thanks, did a scan and changed to the best channel, not too many networks near us.

        I don’t think we have anything old. Maybe an oldish iPad but it’s not on that much.

        It’s just weird. The network is at 100% of what I’d expect in the same room, but since dropping nbn connection speed by half the upstairs speeds have also dropped that much, even though they never received the maximum speed anyway due to wireless losses

  • alvian on 10/02/2020 - 20:20

    No one has given you the answer you are looking for but they were happy to speculate. Does nbn speed affect wireless transmission and speed?

    Here is how you can find out for yourself.

    1. Transfer a large file from a wired Ethernet device (PC, server, NAS, etc) to and from your problematic wireless device. Note the transfer speed.
    2. Disconnect from nbn (disconnect the cable or disconnect via the web config page). Repeat the transfer tests. Compare the transfer speed.
    3. Repeat these tests with different files and devices because scientific results must be reproducible. One test device must be connected via wired Ethernet and the other test device must connect wirelessly.

    Now you have the answer to "does nbn affect wireless transmission and speed". To answer "does nbn speed affect wireless transmission and speed" you will need to change nbn plan speed and then repeat the tests.

    I have recently connected to nbn 50 from ADSL (4.3 Mbit/s), and one of my customer has recently changed from nbn 25 to nbn 50. The conclusion from my experiments is that "nbn and nbn speed has no effect on the performance of the local area network", and particularly "nbn and nbn speed has no effect on wireless transmission and speed".

    Mesh fanboys will doubtless tell you to install a mesh wifi system to solve whatever problems they think you may be suffering from. Every time I write mesh is not a superior solution and is not the answer to every problem, my comment gets negged (these just the latest examples). But never once did the naggers contribute anything useful.

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