Internet Bandwith for work and remote learning at home?

[Skippy918]

We have 200mbps. It’s about 125 via WiFi and a lot less on my work vpn. If you have to go thru a vpn, you should get a higher speed connection.

 

[kdonnel]

We have 200mbps. It’s about 125 via WiFi and a lot less on my work vpn. If you have to go thru a vpn, you should get a higher speed connection.

The VPN will be limited by the other end as well. No matter how fast your internet is, the VPN connection cannot be faster then the bandwidth available to the VPN at your company end. The encryption that is part of the VPN will limit the connection as well so if your computer is older the VPN connection will be slower then a newer computer on the same internet connection.

 

[HeatherC]

Thanks everyone. Now I am totally confused. . Think I will be passing this one on to dh to handle.

 

[RamblingMad]

We have 200mbps. It’s about 125 via WiFi and a lot less on my work vpn. If you have to go thru a vpn, you should get a higher speed connection.

I’ve had both Cox and Comcast, and both have provided me at least 10 over the speed I paid for. Right now, I have 150 with Cox, but I really get 160. Since the WFH thing started, I’ve had to cut back a lot of bandwidth to mitigate bufferbloat and keep my latency low. I get 130 after that both wired and wireless. I’m currently running a Kong build on my r7000p. It works fine even though I’d rather have a r7800 with one of his builds on it. This is run as a dedicated AP. I have a HP switch and a APU2. I use the APU as my dedicated gateway.

 

[sam_gordon]

We have 200mbps. It’s about 125 via WiFi and a lot less on my work vpn. If you have to go thru a vpn, you should get a higher speed connection.

How do you get a higher speed connection via VPN? If you only have a 50mbps connection at your house, how can you use the 500mbps connection on the other end of the VPN?

 

[FigmentSpark]

Spectrum speed test site -

https://www.spectrum.com/internet/speed-test
Keep in mind wifi will be slower.

This was my result from your test site:



Is that good for work meetings and 2 students (one in university, the other in HS) as well as my DIS surfing?

 

[kdonnel]

This was my result from your test site:

View attachment 514970

Is that good for work meetings and 2 students (one in university, the other in HS) as well as my DIS surfing?

It should be. The 10.4 upload is great for the 38.8 down. There is usually an even larger difference between the download and upload.

Any issues you might have would probably be wifi signal related and not internet bandwidth related.

From Zoom's website:
Bandwidth Requirements

• 2.0 Mbps up and down for single screen
• 2.0 Mbps up 4.0 Mbps down for dual screen
• 2.0 Mbps up 6.0 Mbps down for triple screen
• For screen sharing only: 150-300kbps
• For audio VoIP: 60-80kbps

 

[sam_gordon]

This was my result from your test site:

View attachment 514970

Is that good for work meetings and 2 students (one in university, the other in HS) as well as my DIS surfing?

The upload shouldn't be a problem. That's plenty of bandwidth. I'm at least slightly concerned about the download though. Will there be any non work/school stuff going on? Watching youtube/netflix/prime? Gaming?

What's the cost to increase it? How quickly can you get it increased if need be? Do they need to change your router if you increase? What about scheduling an install for more bandwidth a week after school starts? Then, if everything is good after a couple of days, cancel the install.

What will be different than what you're doing now? Just the school work?

 

[FigmentSpark]

The upload shouldn't be a problem. That's plenty of bandwidth. I'm at least slightly concerned about the download though. Will there be any non work/school stuff going on? Watching youtube/netflix/prime? Gaming?

What's the cost to increase it? How quickly can you get it increased if need be? Do they need to change your router if you increase? What about scheduling an install for more bandwidth a week after school starts? Then, if everything is good after a couple of days, cancel the install.

What will be different than what you're doing now? Just the school work?

i think we would have to have an equipment change to go up. Our plan is actually Supposed to be a 120 mb plan, but the router is downstairs and, yes, there’s gaming, Netflix and Disney+ going on at any given time. Also, I think the router they gave us isn’t that great. I noticed today that they are promoting a new one that’s supposed to be better and faster.

Yes, there’s gaming going on from time to time, one is a VR headset, while the other is those shooting games, so probably bandwidth hogs. We are also in a neighborhood that’s fairly dense with everyone working from home right now.

 

[RamblingMad]

This was my result from your test site:

View attachment 514970

Is that good for work meetings and 2 students (one in university, the other in HS) as well as my DIS surfing?

If I were to stream an Amazon 4K show on that line and try to work at the same time, I would run into problems. If I’m streaming normal HD content, then you’d be fine.

What result does this site give you?


http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

 

[FigmentSpark]

If I were to stream an Amazon 4K show on that line and try to work at the same time, I would run into problems. If I’m streaming normal HD content, then you’d be fine.

What result does this site give you?


http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

Using your link on my laptop (on wi-fi, not directly connected)


Using my provider's test software:



None of us have 4K and we all use the wifi, except one DS who uses one of those electrical line taps from the modem to his PC upstairs.

 

[RamblingMad]

You can try Netflix fast website too.

Your numbers don’t look good.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Keep in mind that's wifi, and not hard wired. Still bad numbers?

I've been toying with their next-highest plan, but I don't know if it will do any good. I suppose it's possible that my router in my PC isn't that great... it's 5 years old.

Anyway, our current plan is 120 mbps, but the next plan up is 360 mbps ($5 a month more, but I'd have to swap out the modem/router) It would be a newer modem, so maybe that makes a difference? Also, the router is on the main floor, while most of our devices are on the second floor.

 

[RamblingMad]

Keep in mind that's wifi, and not hard wired. Still bad numbers?

I've been toying with their next-highest plan, but I don't know if it will do any good. I suppose it's possible that my router in my PC isn't that great... it's 5 years old.

Anyway, our current plan is 120 mbps, but the next plan up is 360 mbps ($5 a month more, but I'd have to swap out the modem/router) It would be a newer modem, so maybe that makes a difference? Also, the router is on the main floor, while most of our devices are on the second floor.

You need better network equipment. It's most likely not your service. You can buy yourself a cable modem for less than $100. Just avoid the ones with the Intel Puma chipset.

Check out this site.

https://fast.com/
How's the latency? Under 30ms loaded?

What model router are you using? Are you by a bathroom? Wet walls have been known to cause trouble. How big is your home?

I run a r7000p in a 2700 sqft home with no trouble.

My Thinkpad is five years old. The tech should still be good enough for your service.

 

[Skippy918]

The VPN will be limited by the other end as well. No matter how fast your internet is, the VPN connection cannot be faster then the bandwidth available to the VPN at your company end. The encryption that is part of the VPN will limit the connection as well so if your computer is older the VPN connection will be slower then a newer computer on the same internet connection.

That’s interesting. I haven’t run a speed test on my new laptop yet, but I just got upgraded last week. I did have connection issues with the old laptop on the vpn with outlook disconnecting frequently.

 

[Skippy918]

How do you get a higher speed connection via VPN? If you only have a 50mbps connection at your house, how can you use the 500mbps connection on the other end of the VPN?

What I mean is that you want your non vpn connection to be high because the vpn will slow it down. I don’t know about your company, but mine recommends a minimum bandwidth for successful vpn. Several coworkers are having video conference issues cause they have poor internet speeds.

 

[RamblingMad]

What I mean is that you want your non vpn connection to be high because the vpn will slow it down. I don’t know about your company, but mine recommends a minimum bandwidth for successful vpn. Several coworkers are having video conference issues cause they have poor internet speeds.

VPN is definitely slower.

 

[FigmentSpark]

You need better network equipment. It's most likely not your service. You can buy yourself a cable modem for less than $100. Just avoid the ones with the Intel Puma chipset.

Check out this site.

https://fast.com/
How's the latency? Under 30ms loaded?

What model router are you using? Are you by a bathroom? Wet walls have been known to cause trouble. How big is your home?

I run a r7000p in a 2700 sqft home with no trouble.

My Thinkpad is five years old. The tech should still be good enough for your service.

We have the cable company's provided equipment: "Wi-Fi Modem AC Doc3.0 MOCA C24 " Not sure what it is, but when I google that it comes up with a Cisco product. This is out modem and router together. We also have a Dlink extender upstairs, which we have to keep unplugging to reset when our signal dies. The router is in one corner of a 2 storey (2300 sqft) home. we are all over the upstairs. Yes, to bathroom next door and if the microwave is on, it will impact my signal, too.

 

[Katiebird]

You need better network equipment. It's most likely not your service. You can buy yourself a cable modem for less than $100. Just avoid the ones with the Intel Puma chipset.

Check out this site.

https://fast.com/
How's the latency? Under 30ms loaded?

What model router are you using? Are you by a bathroom? Wet walls have been known to cause trouble. How big is your home?

I run a r7000p in a 2700 sqft home with no trouble.

My Thinkpad is five years old. The tech should still be good enough for your service.

What would you recommend for a router?

We are using whatever the cable company gave us, we have AT&T, we have a tall gateway that everything plugs into, and then a small thingy that does... something? And we added a WiFi extender which helps, but if two people are on video it still gets glitchy sometimes. Google says I can add a router by turning off the WiFi in the gateway and connecting the router. I think I can google my way through that, but I have no idea what to look for in a router.