Question Slow speeds with a new network ?

[Oasis Curator]

I have had some 500Mb internet for a year now but recently got 1Gb for cheaper with a new provider.

I use TP-Link Deco M4s that connect straight to the ONT box to provide me with WiFi around my home. Connected to the "master" Deco is a switch for my TV, Hive, PC, HTPC and possibly a couple of other things. This is TP-Link branded (but I can't remember the exact model).

On the PC (which is connected via a long CAT6 cable), I was getting 400Mb+. Wireless was similar.

CityFibre came out yesterday and fitted a new line to the house with a new ONT.
The supplied TP-Link router (AX 3000 but I can't find this anywhere to buy) is a pretty good one - WiFi 6 and all that. Speeds were 600Mb / 700Mb wireless.
When I updated the config for my Deco and connected it, the speed dropped to 240Mb wireless. I can't get it over that.
The PC now only gets 90Mb - again repeated tests can't get over that.

The M4s should be able to cope with 1Gb internet shouldn't they?
I only use it so I have reliable wireless around my house. I will test the original router and connect the switch to that, which should give me full wired speed on the PC but not sure WiFi will blast around the house. It also means I need to change the Deco near the PC to a switch.
I also need to check the cables from the Deco to the ONT are capable - but then they provided a faster speed from the old internet so assume they're fine.
The ISP have also given a few tips, which I will try first (turning off and on again among others).

The new ISP needs VLAN turned on using the Decos but the old one didn't need anything like that. Perhaps I should ignore that and turn it off?

Is it worth upgrading the Deco towers to WiFi 6E versions?
Should I look at getting a CAT 7 or even 8 cable (for really future proofing!) to go from the Deco tower to the ONT?
I only got the M4s in 2021 so they're not that old but I understand perhaps not that well future proofed.

 

[bill001g]

If you are hardwiring the remote unit back to the main router then you can use simple AP or cheap routers acting as a AP.

"mesh" is stupid marketing word that really just means wireless repeaters. Even before repeaters/mesh networks have always been one network/subnet. All device and directly communicate with each other.

In theory at least some mesh units can be faster than repeaters. The problem with a repeater is they transmit the same signal a second time on the same radio channels they receive them on. This of course causes interference and reduces the total radio bandwidth...this of course ignores your neighbors wifi signals also share the same radio bandwidth. You at a minimum lose 1/2 your speed. Very expensive mesh units have a extra radio chip to communicate between the remote units and the main router.
This should reduce the interference between the main transmission and the repeated transmissions even though if you have multiple remote units they still interfere. It still does not solve the problem of not enough total bandwidth in the 5ghz radio band to actually have different radios running at full speed.

Before you get to far chasing speedtest numbers just be sure you really need to do this. In general wireless devices do not need much bandwidth. Even 4k netflix is only about 30mbps. Most applications are far less. The only thing that needs more bandwidth is large downloads and portable devices have little area to store data.

Online games are the exception but their problem is not bandwidth it is the fundamental issue of data recovery used in wifi. This affects the latency between packets which games use to sync the client and server. You should try to never use online games on any kind of wifi. Repeater/mesh systems might have more signal level but they also have 2 radio signals that can take errors from interference.

On your other questions.

Wifi6e is generally much faster. There is a lot more bandwidth on the 6ghz radio so you can actually use 160mhz radio bands. In addition not a lot of people are using it yet so there is less interference from your neighbors but I am sure this will not last very long. The downside to wifi6e is 6ghz radio has more issues being blocked by walls and ceilings.

Cat7 cables never were fully certified and likely never will be. They have no advantage over cat6a which is used to 10gbit networks.
Cat8 cables are only really used in data centers where they are using 40gbps or 100gbps connections. Close to 100% of the cable the general consumer can get are not actually certified cables. Real cat8 cables are sold by specialty shops that only deal with large corporate customers. Pretty much if you can afford the equipment that actually needs a real cat8 cable a extra $20 for a 1 meter patch cable is not a concern.

Even cat6 cable are stupid to buy. This was a cable that invented to run 1gbit over 2 pair of wires rather than 4. The equipment makers went with the cat5"e" standard that uses 4 pair so there was no equipment that actually uses the ability provided by cat6 cable. It was dead from the day it came out. The marketing guys of course put out lots of tech numbers that mean nothing to confuse people that go wow it sounds complex so it must be better. When you use all 4 pair a cat6 cable is the same as cat5e cable.

Pretty much you buy cat5e cables unless you need 10gbit then you but cat6a. There is no application that a home uses uses that needs even close to 10gbit so cat6a should be "future" proof enough. The cost of cat6a cable has come down or more the cost of all cables have gone up because of the price of copper metal. The extra manufacturing costs of cat6a over cat6/cat5e cables is hidden by the price of the base metal. Note the price of copper metal is why you see all the fake Ethernet cables. The thin/flat ones have smaller wires and use less metal and the CCA cables are using aluminum.