OTish fibre broadband,home networking etc

News · 2015-04-29T16:41:02+00:00

Today is the day our high speed broadband went live. I got 44Mbps earlier this morning, same for Wifey. Our son, though, struggles to get 3Mbps download - but 12Mbps upload, which seems odd. We use homeplugs (yeah, I know) because solid, thick granite walls completely bollix wireless signals. Router is connected directly to BT main socket, and feeds a homeplug. There is another homeplug in the kitchen, to which our (self and wife) laptops connect, wirelessly. Son is in another room, and his desktop is hard wired to another homeplug, yet our downloads are far faster than his. My little Tosh netbook is W98, Wifey Tosh laptop W7 and son desktop W8.1 Why might son's download connection be so slow? I suppose I could buy a long CAT5 cable and connect his desktop directly to router? We have swapped the homeplugs around, but son's connection remains poor.

Apr 29, 2015 46 Replies

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News 11 years ago

Yes, I suppose it could be a 10Mbps hub.

Anyway, panic over. Having spent far too much of my life lying on the floor, trying various combinations, plugging, unplugging and constantly running speed tests, son says don't worry Dad, I can connect the PS wirelessly. Argh! Why didn't he say that before?

However, just in case that does not work, what do I need? There seem to be countless LB-LINK 5 Port Fast Ethernet Switch LAN Network Hub Wired RJ45 Splitter BL-S515 for less than a tenner delivered. That'll do the job?

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Dave Liquorice 11 years ago

Not a 10 Mbps hub that you've just tried. Apart from the 10 Mbps aspect a hub is just a glorified distribution amplifier. What ever comes in on any port goes out of all the others. A switch takes note of MAC address's and switches the packets to the correct port.

Gigabit switches are cheap, personally I've slightly gone off Netgear recently and would look at TP-Link first. But TBH if you stick to a known brand and a sensible price for a 5 port Gigabit switch your won't go far wrong.

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Tim Watts 11 years ago

Netgear GS105 is a 5 port gig switch for less than £20 - I've used the 8 port variant and they are quite respectable. Very simple, no features, just honest decent switching.

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The Natural Philosopher 11 years ago

almost anything will.

chipsets for 10/100/1Gnps ethernet switches exist at sub dollar pruces. The rest is just packaging

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Bob Eager 11 years ago

Bera in mind that unless it's the latest version, wireless won't be

*that* fast (theoretically about 50Mb/s, in practice possibly a lot less).

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News 11 years ago

In message , Bob Eager writes

We're very lucky - the DSLAM is right outside the house. I gather that is where fibre ends and copper takes over. The copper goes from the cabinet straight to the telegraph pole then into our house. Modem is plugged directly into the master socket, and, via cable, we get high sixties or seventy. Even wireless is 40+. Needless to say, son is NOT going to be happy unless he gets at least as good a speed as his parents do :-) That is why I've been buggering around with cables etc.

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