The Boards.ie Explainer: FTTH and You

Airwire: MartinL · 27-11-2018 3:27pm

Giz1007 wrote: »

Just connected at the weekend with Airwire, using the Fritzbox 7530.
Rated for speeds upto 300mb.
Working off the 150mB package, getting 140/28 using 5G wireless on laptop.
It's a nice router, has a lot of functionality and recommend if your considering one of the lower speed packages.

As an Aside, I was told "informally by a friend" that pole to house has to be via Duct. KN network installer told me about 2/3 of all ducts are blocked.
I got delivery via pole. Very happy. Now to get rid of Eir phone....

The Fritz!Box 7530 is rated for 1000 Mbit/s on FTTH and capable of 300 Mbit/s on VDSL (supervectoring).

Wirelessly, we would have tested it to do up to nearly 600 Mbit/s with 5 GHz and 802.11ac. It really depends on your own devices, the distance to the router, the insulation in the premise etc. as to what speeds you get.

Also: if your house is 50m or less from the pole, there will be no problem going overhead. It's your choice.

ED E · 28-11-2018 2:17am

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

would it be good to have a 'glossary' post in this thread (if it hasnt been done already) citing what the abbreviations mean in the FTTH thread and used in the discussion of FTTH / Fibre in general.

I give a couple of examples - what does UG stand for ? - and LL and APQ and other abbreviations that pop up in discussions but where the installers might know what they mean but the average home user doesnt know what they stand for.

No, that's not the intention.

This thread is intended to be non technical. If we start with the nitty gritty of .11Q or WDM it'll be a head melter for Johnny from Galway.

Johnboy1951 · 28-11-2018 2:43am

..... and Johnnys from elsewheres also ....

Andy From Sligo · 28-11-2018 3:11am

That's the point lol, the glossary of these 3 letter cool abbreviations knocking around will explain to the Jonnies what they mean in a non technical way

kd82 · 29-11-2018 1:04pm

ED E wrote: »

Bungalows unless TINY should be served by two APs minimum. The nice bit is there tends to be easy attic access to every room.

Your router and ODP are probably at one end yeah? Run CAT6 from there along the attic to the "middle of the other end" and fit an AP like a Ubinifi Light or similar. At 150Mb you don't need to go mad.

So I'm at the "Available soon" stage according to airwire. A bit of work happening on the road but still a few months away I'd say. Similar scenario to above so was hoping to get things in place for the best possible solution.

I imagine the FTTH will enter at front room and I work at opposite end of house (non-linear bungalow). It's been renovated and has Cat5e cabling. I'm a bit thick when it comes to this stuff and I've tried to follow along as much as I can without asking. The Cat5e cables just dangle in the utility room. Is this where I should add a Network router so it will expand things to office? And if so do I add connectors to Cat5e cables and stick them in that router?

tuxy · 29-11-2018 1:18pm

If you have cat5e that runs from the front of the house to you office then you can have the router in the office if you want.
Just plug the cat5e into the ONT and connect to the router in the office.

ED E · 29-11-2018 1:20pm

kd82 wrote: »

...

You'll need a crimping tool and male terminations if thats not done.

The utility is great for a cabling hub (comms cabinet), it may not be ideal for wireless coverage though. You know the layout of the house. Distance doesn't matter, walls to pass through do so ideally your APs should be positioned so maximum two internal walls sit between the AP and the furthest user, ideally one.

Say its an L shape and the FTTH will feed into one "tip" you can put the ISP router there and buy one extra AP to go down around the bend in the L. Then a €20 switch in the utility to interconnect all the cat5 thats been run already.

Remember any extensions that were done to an existing structure may mean that an internal wall is really an external wall, often greatly hampering signal transmission.

kd82 · 29-11-2018 1:26pm

tuxy wrote: »

...you can have the router in the office if you want.
Just plug the cat5e into the ONT and connect to the router in the office.

Good to know thanks, would make more sense.

ED E wrote: »

You'll need a crimping tool and male terminations if that's not done.
....
Remember any extensions that were done to an existing structure may mean that an internal wall is really an external wall, often greatly hampering signal transmission.

Yes, that's the case, old external is now an internal wall. Thanks for the quick reply. Helps a lot. I'll look into the crimping, male ends and comms box for that area.

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 12:51pm

I've just got my 300Mb installed. Does it take time to build up as it's just over 100Mbps at the moment?

Also I have a cable (cat5) running about 150 feet from the new router but only getting about 20-30Mbps from this. Will I need to upgrade this to cat6 or cat 7 to have minimal loss?

Any info appreciated thanks

tuxy · 30-11-2018 12:54pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

I've just got my 300Mb installed. Does it take time to build up as it's just over 100Mbps at the moment?

Also I have a cable (cat5) running about 150 feet from the new router but only getting about 20-30Mbps from this. Will I need to upgrade this to cat6 or cat 7 to have minimal loss?

Any info appreciated thanks

I'd bet that you have 300mb right now but will be limited by that cable. You're lucky you can even get the speed you are getting.
cat5e is minimum for gigabit ethernet.

Marlow · 30-11-2018 1:05pm

The 100 Mbit/s hard limit is a dead giveaway.

That cable is either not good enough or only crimped for 100 Mbit/s.

If your sync between your router and the ONT only is 100 Mbit/s, then that's all you get.

/M

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 1:09pm

Marlow wrote: »

The 100 Mbit/s hard limit is a dead giveaway.

That cable is either not good enough or only crimped for 100 Mbit/s.

If your sync between your router and the ONT only is 100 Mbit/s, then that's all you get.

/M

I've signed up for 300Mb. It's now at 140Mb+

Marlow · 30-11-2018 1:11pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

I've signed up for 300Mb. It's now at 140Mb+

Take your router and bring it to the ONT. Use the cable supplied, when the ONT was installed. Use a cable between your router and the computer. Don't use wireless.

Test again and see, if you get 300 Mbit/s. Make sure to test on speedtest.net and make sure to use the Galway, Sligo or Carlow servers. Other servers may not have enough bandwidth.

That way you know, if the problem is with your cabling or your broadband.

/M

Andy From Sligo · 30-11-2018 2:29pm

sorry to jump in - could he not just plug the ethernet cable from the ONT strait into his Laptop with ethernet port (just for testing speed purpose because of the security aspect) but with a few things to note:

Up to date laptop with 10/100/1000 Ethernet chip,
enable Vlan on Laptop ethernet settings,
Check with ookla speedtest through Firefox and not chrome or edge,
Using the Sligo Nortwest Boadband server

to get a true speed cutting out the router and cat 5 cable - then if not 300 or near 300 then fault lies with cable or router or both .

correct me if I'm wrong though

tuxy · 30-11-2018 2:33pm

It would work but is not advised. Temperately moving a router from one room in the house to another is hardly much of an inconvenience.
And as said cat5 is not good for stable speeds above 100Mbit he need to test with cat5e or better.

Marlow · 30-11-2018 2:33pm

Enabling Vlan settings on the ethernet interface is over the top for most.

And that will only work with Eir. With other providers you would also need to create a PPPoE session on the PC then with the correct credentials. Moving the router is plug and play.

/M

Andy From Sligo · 30-11-2018 2:52pm

in this particular instance yes it most probably more than likely is the cat5 reducing the speed.

But could there ever be an instance where a Faulty LAN router ever develop a fault with speeds being restricted? - either with its ethernet socket or firmware of the router? or something like that?

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 3:07pm

I've laptop plugged directly into router (right beside it) and it topping out at 120Mbps. I rang engineer back and he said he just wires it up I have to ring eir. I rang eir twice (first with mobile and ran out of credit 12euros after 20 mins) and had to hang up again after holding for 45mins.

tuxy · 30-11-2018 3:11pm

Are you sure the cable and network interface in the laptop supports gigabit ethernet?

It should look like this

Check what it says under speed.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 3:17pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

I've laptop plugged directly into router (right beside it) and it topping out at 120Mbps. I rang engineer back and he said he just wires it up I have to ring eir. I rang eir twice (first with mobile and ran out of credit 12euros after 20 mins) and had to hang up again after holding for 45mins.

Can the machine you are testing on even do 300Mb? Have you tested it over the LAN with something like LAN speed test or iPerf? You'll need two machines with gigabit ports.

Also sofware like anti-virus or firewalls can have a detrimental effect on speed. Have you any of these running.

Posts the model and specs of the machine you are using.

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 3:17pm

tuxy wrote: »

Are you sure the cable and network interface in the laptop supports gigabit ethernet?

It should look like this

Check what it says under speed.

Yes of course. Think I'm just on the wrong profile. Can't contact anyone is the most fustrating bit to be honest

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 3:19pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

Yes of course. Think I'm just on the wrong profile. Can't contact anyone is the most fustrating bit to be honest

You should be at 140Mb down if you were on 150Mb. What upload are you getting?

ED E · 30-11-2018 3:20pm

If it were the profile you'd see 145Mb. 120Mb doesnt make sense that its the infra.

Is this some old Toshiba from 2008?

EDIT: 140 Above. So it could be the profile and other activity. If you upload is 30Mb then we know.

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 3:24pm

ED E wrote: »

If it were the profile you'd see 145Mb. 120Mb doesnt make sense that its the infra.

Is this some old Toshiba from 2008?

No lol. I've new xps 15, 16gb ram 512 ssd. Also a good desktop wired. Done speed on both and I know it's wireless on my note 8 beside router. All getting 100-120Mbps down and 45 - 50Mbps upload

tuxy · 30-11-2018 3:26pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

No lol. I've new xps 15, 16gb ram 512 ssd. Also a good desktop wired. Done speed on both and I know it's wireless on my note 8 beside router. All getting 100-120Mbps down and 45 - 50Mbps upload

You're on the correct package so. 30 Mbit up is max for the 150mb package. 50 up is for 300.
Something's not right with your home network, I doubt your provider is at fault.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 3:28pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

No lol. I've new xps 15, 16gb ram 512 ssd. Also a good desktop wired. Done speed on both and I know it's wireless on my note 8 beside router. All getting 100-120Mbps down and 45 - 50Mbps upload

You're not on the wrong profile then. 50Mb is the upload for the 300Mb package.

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 3:29pm

tuxy wrote: »

You're on the correct package so. 30 Mbit up is max for the 150mb package. 50 up is for 300.
Something's not right with your home network, I doubt your provider is at fault.

No worries thanks

Andy From Sligo · 30-11-2018 3:30pm

and you have the router plugged right in next to the ONT using the small grey ethernet cable coming from the ONT yeah?

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 3:35pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

and you have the router plugged right in next to the ONT using the grey ethernet cable coming from the ONT yeah?

This is a good point. Is the router directly beside the ONT connected by the short patch lead supplied?

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 3:38pm

Yes. Router right beside it

https:// imgur. com/a/vDK1IST

(sorry had to put spaces in as I'm new user)

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 3:44pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

Yes. Router right beside it

https:// imgur. com/a/vDK1IST

(sorry had to put spaces in as I'm new user)

Just to try to rule out cabling issues are you testing the Note 8 on 5GHz WiFi? Test right beside the router. The issue is I don't know what the max speed the Note 8 is capable of.

I assume you have varied the speedtest server used.

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 3:52pm

Charli Nice Spittoon wrote: »

Just to try to rule out cabling issues are you testing the Note 8 on 5GHz WiFi? Test right beside the router. The issue is I don't know what the max speed the Note 8 is capable of.

I assume you have varied the speedtest server used.

Have not tried the 5Ghz on Note 8. I've pretty good laptop also and tried wired on different ports on router. Can't really try anything else really. I've rebooted the router and white box also on wall. It's pretty consistent to be honest just not max speed. Ping is between 6 and 9 and download 114-117Mbps and upload 46-49Mbps. So maybe get the engineer back maybe?

ED E · 30-11-2018 3:55pm

The field service tech won't do anything once there's a linkup.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 3:58pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

Have done 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz on Note 8 beside it yes. I've pretty good laptop also and tried wired on different ports on router. Can't really try anything else really. I've rebooted the router and white box also on wall. It's pretty consistent to be honest just not max speed. Ping is between 6 and 9 and download 114-117Mbps and upload 46-49Mbps. So maybe get the engineer back maybe?

The thing with FTTH is it either works or it doesn't really so it's not like the engineer can redo connections to improve the speed. There obviously is an issue somewhere be it the router or at the exchange perhaps. Unfortunately you are going to have to contact eir. Explain all the different testing you have done so they can't fob you off.

1901 should be free to call from an eir line so you should not be wasting money ringing them. Best of luck and let us know if you get it resolved.

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 3:59pm

ED E wrote: »

The field service tech won't do anything once there's a linkup.

Not sure so what I can do

tuxy · 30-11-2018 4:00pm

Is it possible to contact Eir on 1901 at the moment?

This is the first time I've seen someone not get the full speed from FTTH. As said it usually either works perfectly or not at all.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 4:02pm

tuxy wrote: »

Is it possible to contact Eir on 1901 at the moment?

This is the first time I've seen someone not get the full speed from FTTH. As said it usually either works perfectly or not at all.

I got through in 15 minutes last week.

Andy From Sligo · 30-11-2018 4:02pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

Have done 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz on Note 8 beside it yes. I've pretty good laptop also and tried wired on different ports on router. Can't really try anything else really. I've rebooted the router and white box also on wall. It's pretty consistent to be honest just not max speed. Ping is between 6 and 9 and download 114-117Mbps and upload 46-49Mbps. So maybe get the engineer back maybe?

have you got any more Ethernet LAN ethernet cables lying around any where . Like something from an old router. - could try swapping out the supplied ethernet patch cable one at install with another ethernet cable. - its all a process of elimination unfortunately as frustrating as it is. I had a faulty lan cable on a modem once that caused a reduction in speed . Not sure whether it was the cable itself or the brass pins on the crimped plug or what it was but when I swapped it for another new lan cable it sorted it out . Worth a try?

tuxy · 30-11-2018 4:03pm

Nice one, maybe the new staff are trained in.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 4:05pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

have you got any more Ethernet LAN ethernet cables lying around any where . Like something from an old router. - could try swapping out the supplied ethernet patch cable one at install with another ethernet cable. - its all a process of elimination unfortunately as frustrating as it is. I had a faulty lan cable on a modem once that caused a reduction in speed . Not sure whether it was the cable itself or the brass pins on the crimped plug or what it was but when I swapped it for another new lan cable it sorted it out . Worth a try?

Yes definitely worth trying. Can't hurt anyway!

Andy From Sligo · 30-11-2018 4:10pm

Charli Nice Spittoon wrote: »

The thing with FTTH is it either works or it doesn't really so it's not like the engineer can redo connections to improve the speed. There obviously is an issue somewhere be it the router or at the exchange perhaps. Unfortunately you are going to have to contact eir. Explain all the different testing you have done so they can't fob you off.

1901 should be free to call from an eir line so you should not be wasting money ringing them. Best of luck and let us know if you get it resolved.

best thing on these customer support places where they leave you on hold for ages is to put the speakerphone on and put the phone on your desk, just carry on with what you have to do just keeping a listen out every now and again to see if someone finally answers . - i've known people hold the phone up to their ear for ages waiting for someone to answer and endure terrible telephone music - drives you insane and eventually give up (this most probably a technique used by them in some warped way as in make customers wait on the phone for ages in the hope they will eventually hang up!) and it works a lot of the time

littlecopilot · 30-11-2018 4:11pm

Apologies. I didn't try the 5ghz on my note. I got 217Mbps from the 5Ghz

onrail · 30-11-2018 4:11pm

If a premises is shown as 'available', is there likely to be any additional fees to connect? e.g. if a certain distance from the line.

I ask because we've been shown as 'available' according to eircode, but we're down a lane, approximately 250m from the main road.

tuxy · 30-11-2018 4:12pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

Apologies. I didn't try the 5ghz on my note. I got 217Mbps from the 5Ghz

There you go, can you check the cable again and make sure they are at least cat5e(not cat5!)

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 4:15pm

littlecopilot wrote: »

Apologies. I didn't try the 5ghz on my note. I got 217Mbps from the 5Ghz

That's roughly what I have seen from a 300Mb connection using an iPhone 8 on 5GHz on the F2000. It probably means the connection is working as intended so the issue is cabled connections from the router. That could be an issue with your setup or the router.

Andy From Sligo · 30-11-2018 4:15pm

is even 217mbps good though on a 300mbps package ... mind you we are talking on a wireless connection so that could be a factor.

Interested to see final figure when wired (properly)

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 4:17pm

onrail wrote: »

If a premises is shown as 'available', is there likely to be any additional fees to connect? e.g. if a certain distance from the line.

I ask because we've been shown as 'available' according to eircode, but we're down a lane, approximately 250m from the main road.

No. It should be covered under the standard installation. Most providers are charging an installation fee although some are not.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 30-11-2018 4:18pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

is even 217mbps good though on a 300mbps package ... mind you we are talking on a wireless connection so that could be a factor.

Interested to see final figure when wired (properly)

I think it may be the max the router can do over WiFi. I'm not sure I've seen a higher test for the F2000.

tuxy · 30-11-2018 4:19pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

is even 217mbps good though on a 300mbps package ... mind you we are talking on a wireless connection so that could be a factor.

Interested to see final figure when wired (properly)

You should expect at least 280 over ethernet on the 300 package.

ED E · 30-11-2018 4:20pm

SmartByte

There, it only took 30 mins to track down what that was. I knew I talked about it recently but couldnt find where.

Dell isntalls SmartByte through updates. It fvvvvvvcks your speed on faster connections. Find it, uninstall it, reboot.

The Boards.ie Explainer: FTTH and You

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