WiFi speed issues: Get a faster setup, a mesh network, or both?
October 1, 2018 8:51 AM Subscribe
My wireless internet connection is not meeting all my needs. Do I upgrade my speed, set up a mesh network, or both? Or something else? Details inside!
I'm a subscriber to Bell Canada's 50Mbps plan (located in Toronto, fibre to the home). Router is located in the top corner of my house and cannot be relocated for Reasons. Speed fluctuates as can be expected. In the middle of the day, far away from the modem, I can hit 50 with regularity, but when multiple devices are going, later at night, or whenever the 'net wants to be finicky it can dip down into the 15Mbps range, if not lower. This makes it tough to do some streaming through wireless boxes, or for my wife to do Facetime meetings. So, what do I do?
Option one: For an extra $15/month, I can go from 50Mbps to 1Gbps. My hope is that, even with the degradation due to distance, the way-faster speed will make every device work well even if used simultaneously. There is no step between 50Mbps and 1Gbps.
Option two: For an extra $5/month, Bell has a Plume mesh system. I'd put one in my basement, one close to my TV, and hopefully that would be good to help the distance issue, but maybe not the multiple device issue.
Option three: Combine #1 and #2. Though I'd rather not waste money.
We don't do any online gaming or high-intensity internet usage. Just standard internet surfing. Our main uses are streaming video and videochats, often done simultaneously on two separate computers in two separate locations. Note my TV has an ethernet connection and almost always works fine for streaming; the issues arise for using a Fire Stick/AppleTV, or for wireless Facetime on a Macbook.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
I'm a subscriber to Bell Canada's 50Mbps plan (located in Toronto, fibre to the home). Router is located in the top corner of my house and cannot be relocated for Reasons. Speed fluctuates as can be expected. In the middle of the day, far away from the modem, I can hit 50 with regularity, but when multiple devices are going, later at night, or whenever the 'net wants to be finicky it can dip down into the 15Mbps range, if not lower. This makes it tough to do some streaming through wireless boxes, or for my wife to do Facetime meetings. So, what do I do?
Option one: For an extra $15/month, I can go from 50Mbps to 1Gbps. My hope is that, even with the degradation due to distance, the way-faster speed will make every device work well even if used simultaneously. There is no step between 50Mbps and 1Gbps.
Option two: For an extra $5/month, Bell has a Plume mesh system. I'd put one in my basement, one close to my TV, and hopefully that would be good to help the distance issue, but maybe not the multiple device issue.
Option three: Combine #1 and #2. Though I'd rather not waste money.
We don't do any online gaming or high-intensity internet usage. Just standard internet surfing. Our main uses are streaming video and videochats, often done simultaneously on two separate computers in two separate locations. Note my TV has an ethernet connection and almost always works fine for streaming; the issues arise for using a Fire Stick/AppleTV, or for wireless Facetime on a Macbook.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
How is the actual strength of the wifi when you are far away from the modem?
And are you connecting on 2.4GHz or 5GHz band?
5GHz is a better signal but with a much shorter effective range.
Also are you in a congested neighborhood, wifi-wise? You could be getting speed degradation because there are multiple wifi networks nearby competing for the same channel. There are various tools you can download that can give you this sort of info, and if you find that you're on a congested channel you can try moving to another one (and override 'automatic').
You also might consider adding some access points throughout the house if the signal itself is weak.
Whether that requires mesh or you can plug directly into the network is a different question.
Do you have coaxial cable throughout the house?
Other than that, a speed upgrade will probably help either way, but only because there's more to lose ;)
Anecdotal evidence:
I recently upgraded from FIOS 50/50 plan to their Gbit plan, and while we definitely don't suck up all of that bandwidth all the time, there is plenty to go around and the difference is noticed when we have a ton of simultaneous things going on.
I also picked up a few "MOCA" devices to carry the internet over coax wires and set up a few more APs, because adding ethernet jacks in my house is a pain and it was still cheaper than a mesh solution.
But that being said, even when we were on 50/50, on the 2.4GHz channel in a suburban neighborhood without much congestion, I didn't have too bad of a degradation across the other side of the house, and when we weren't hammering the network we didn't have any trouble with streaming etc. So I would suggest starting with looking at your wifi setup before you upgrade the internet.
posted by jozxyqk at 9:17 AM on October 1, 2018
And are you connecting on 2.4GHz or 5GHz band?
5GHz is a better signal but with a much shorter effective range.
Also are you in a congested neighborhood, wifi-wise? You could be getting speed degradation because there are multiple wifi networks nearby competing for the same channel. There are various tools you can download that can give you this sort of info, and if you find that you're on a congested channel you can try moving to another one (and override 'automatic').
You also might consider adding some access points throughout the house if the signal itself is weak.
Whether that requires mesh or you can plug directly into the network is a different question.
Do you have coaxial cable throughout the house?
Other than that, a speed upgrade will probably help either way, but only because there's more to lose ;)
Anecdotal evidence:
I recently upgraded from FIOS 50/50 plan to their Gbit plan, and while we definitely don't suck up all of that bandwidth all the time, there is plenty to go around and the difference is noticed when we have a ton of simultaneous things going on.
I also picked up a few "MOCA" devices to carry the internet over coax wires and set up a few more APs, because adding ethernet jacks in my house is a pain and it was still cheaper than a mesh solution.
But that being said, even when we were on 50/50, on the 2.4GHz channel in a suburban neighborhood without much congestion, I didn't have too bad of a degradation across the other side of the house, and when we weren't hammering the network we didn't have any trouble with streaming etc. So I would suggest starting with looking at your wifi setup before you upgrade the internet.
posted by jozxyqk at 9:17 AM on October 1, 2018
Option two: For an extra $5/month, Bell has a Plume mesh system. I'd put one in my basement, one close to my TV, and hopefully that would be good to help the distance issue, but maybe not the multiple device issue.
Do this one first, because it's likely to solve your problem and it's cheaper. If you pay $5 for a month and it doesn't solve your problem, you can try something else instead. If it works, do the math on whether you'd save money in the long run by buying a Plume outright (or Orbi, or whatever other mesh system) instead of paying $5 a month for it. The big advantage of Plume is that you don't really have to think about where to put the devices, but two years of $5/mo is $240, which would be pretty close to breakeven for other devices that might be faster and/or more reliable. If the $5/mo includes the option to switch to whatever improved mesh system they may offer in two years, though, then leasing might not be the worst plan.
posted by fedward at 9:25 AM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Do this one first, because it's likely to solve your problem and it's cheaper. If you pay $5 for a month and it doesn't solve your problem, you can try something else instead. If it works, do the math on whether you'd save money in the long run by buying a Plume outright (or Orbi, or whatever other mesh system) instead of paying $5 a month for it. The big advantage of Plume is that you don't really have to think about where to put the devices, but two years of $5/mo is $240, which would be pretty close to breakeven for other devices that might be faster and/or more reliable. If the $5/mo includes the option to switch to whatever improved mesh system they may offer in two years, though, then leasing might not be the worst plan.
posted by fedward at 9:25 AM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Time-of-day related issues usually mean that the line into your neighborhood is oversubscribed. That’s on your provider. Unfortunately, they’re a giant company and won’t do anything without a tremendous amount of wheel squeeking.
I’d be curious how the gig connection they want to sell you on gets back to the central office. If it’s over the same oversubscribed link then it will still suck (though they may use traffic shaping to make it better, stealing some bandwidth from your neighbors until they cough up too, at which point everyone is back to the original point, but maybe they’ll have upgraded things by that time).
Definitely experiment to see if your wired connection is slow in the evening too. Also, the $5 for a month experiment sounds reasonable.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 6:39 AM on October 2, 2018
I’d be curious how the gig connection they want to sell you on gets back to the central office. If it’s over the same oversubscribed link then it will still suck (though they may use traffic shaping to make it better, stealing some bandwidth from your neighbors until they cough up too, at which point everyone is back to the original point, but maybe they’ll have upgraded things by that time).
Definitely experiment to see if your wired connection is slow in the evening too. Also, the $5 for a month experiment sounds reasonable.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 6:39 AM on October 2, 2018
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If your computer plugged in through ethernet is always getting good speeds, regardless of time of day or internet usage on other devices, than the problem is in your Router. If you computer starts to lag around the same time as everything else, the problem is in your internet speed.
50mbps - if you actually get that - should be enough for 4 devices to stream in HD all at the same time. If your PC ever shows speeds less than that when nothing else is really running, call up Bell and demand more. At least in the US, calling and threatening to switch providers is a tactic that can get you higher speeds. At the very least they might send you a brand-new modem or reset your router lines.
Routers are pretty cheap, even with mesh systems. I would look at Wirecutter for mesh router reviews. I'd rather pay $100 for a new router that lasts than pay $5 a month to borrow something that is only okay, but that's just me. If you buy a router, be sure you buy one with "Smart Network Switch" that can allow devices to switch between 2.4ghz and 5ghz without any issues.
posted by bbqturtle at 9:16 AM on October 1, 2018 [3 favorites]